"So theoretically, only Juliet could access her own desktop, email, et cetera?"

"Yes, although her assistant would have access too."

"The assistant who alleged Juliet fired her?"

"Yes, and you probably know Juliet claimed her assistant quit abruptly. Since neither of them could produce any proof, we had to settle with her assistant outside of court. Before you ask, yes! Juliet blamed that on the mythical stalker too!"

"Did you investigate whether the stalker could be real?"

"Sure, we did! Our IT team looked into it and they couldn't find any deviations to suggest that anyone other than Juliet sent her own emails and made her own trades. Let me be frank with you, Ms. Graves, I liked Juliet. She was a really good worker and she had great potential here, but I've seen it happen before. The trading floor is a stressful environment; and I've seen people burn out, screw up, and suddenly ditch their jobs before chasing their childhood dreams of running a lemonade stand and surfing all day long."

"Do you think Juliet just burned out?"

He fixed me with an angry look. "Maybe."

"When did you first start having problems with her?"

"When she kicked up a fuss over not getting interviewed for a promotion she didn't even apply for."

"What happened?"

"When I promoted another employee, a male, Juliet came to me, quietly and professionally. She asked me why she hadn't been interviewed for the job when she was more senior and better qualified. Truth was, if she had applied, she would have gotten the job. She was by far the better candidate, but she didn't apply. I couldn't give the job to her after I already made the offer. I thought she would sue."

"But she didn't?" I guessed.

"No, she just said there must have been some kind of error, assuring me she had applied, and hoped I'd consider her again in the future. She was really professional about it, but I think it left a bad taste in her mouth; I know it did in mine. I don't want my employees thinking I'm a sexist ass, and I sure don't want a lawsuit. We're an equal opportunity firm and draw the most excellent applicants because of that."

"Did you consider giving her a pay raise instead? One that would reward her skills and abilities?"

"It was mentioned in a management meeting that we could provide a raise linked to her performance, but then her trades went downhill. At first, I figured she was upset about the job and made a couple of mistakes. Things seemed to stabilize; then we got an alert about a rogue trade. Not just one either. We kept an eye on her, and things just kept getting worse."

"How so?"

"I think I've already said too much. I wish none of this happened. I really liked Juliet. She was a great team player, and a dream employee. I'm sorry it has to go down like this, but when you rip off a firm, costing us money, and attracting negative attention like this from illegal trades, everyone suffers."

"Everyone?"

"Rogue trades impact everyone! Her team, me, the people whose money she lost, and the money she gambled. Not only that, but we'll be fined crazy money for the insider trades that made profits. You know whose head is on the line now? Mine!" Mark snapped.

"I'd like to speak to her colleagues and her former assistant," I told him.

"No-can-do. We already brought in our own investigative team; and I don't want some myth-chasing PI interrupting their work."

"But..."

"I'm sorry to have wasted your time, Ms. Graves. I'm pretty sure I've just confirmed everything you already know, and I don't have anything more to tell you." Mark turned on his heel and strode away before I could tell him he didn't waste my time at all. What he told me was very useful, but I needed access to other people within the firm to corroborate my theories. Without that, and lacking the means to get past the receptionist discreetly watching me, there was no point in my staying; so instead, I simply turned and pushed my way through the glass doors. I went out onto the street, uncertain of what to do next.

A dot in the cloudless, blue sky caught my eye and for a moment, I stood there, watching the tiny plane climb higher before disappearing from view beyond the taller buildings of Montgomery's skyline. I wished I were on it. I bet Juliet wished she was on a plane too. An idea sparked in my head. After calling Lily, I asked her, "Want to go on a field trip?"

"I thought we weren't meeting until eight. Does this field trip involve snacks?" she inquired.

"Absolutely."

"Pick me up!"

~

"I really thought when you said 'field trip,' you meant shopping," moaned Lily.

"Shopping? For what?"

"Is that, like, the most ridiculous question ever?"

"Um..."

"Don't think too long. It's ridiculous! I have to buy things for the baby, and for me! I'm busting out of all my pants. I'm in a state of pants-mergency."

"We can go shopping soon. Maybe in there." I pointed to the airport as a plane swooped in low above us. We watched it through the windshield as it curved towards the runway somewhere beyond.

"You can't fool me," said Lily, "I know there's no shopping unless we check in. Are we checking in?"

"No, sorry."

"You owe me a day of shopping and carrying my bags and rubbing my tired feet."

"I don't remember marrying you."

"Fine, I'll let you off. I don't know how I can help you verify Juliet was here at the airport."

"You're here just for company."

"I feel so used."

Lily stopped moaning somewhere between the short stay parking lot and the airport terminal. That could have had a lot to do with my promise to go with her and shop for maternity clothes and accessories that would always fit, and very little to do with handing over the photos of Juliet allegedly trying to buy a ticket out of the country.

"I have a plan," said Lily, pointing to the blurred face of the check-in attendant. Solomon had the photo enlarged and the nametag read Kimberley. "Let's hunt her down and make her talk."

"Good idea, but let's not actually hunt her. Instead, we’ll ask politely if she's around and if so, can she remember actually talking to Juliet."

"And when she says no, we'll show her the evidence and catch her red-handed?" replied Lily, her voice full of enthusiasm for tackling the hapless attendant.

"Kinda, but we’ll show her the photo as a reminder in case that jogs her memory."

"Do you want to do good cop, bad cop?"

I pulled a face. "Maybe not today."

"Okay, fine. I can see I really got duped on this trip. I'll be the dumb, blonde friend instead, okay?" Lily tossed her mass of blonde curls and pretended to pop bubble gum. "What were you planning to tell the check-in attendant?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, the reason why you're trying to verify if it is Juliet in the photo."

"I... um... I don't know. I didn't think it through yet."

"We could say she was my lesbian lover and the baby I'm carrying came from her egg, and now she's abandoned me, and I need to find her because she's the only tissue match, and one of us needs surgery." Lily grinned at her story.

"Bit far-fetched."

"Do you think? Should we just stick with the runaway lesbian lover?"

"Let's stick with the suspected stolen passport."