I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 11:15 PM. Elise would have to leave soon, or she would be here all night.
I quietly retreated to the deepest part of the stockroom, hiding behind a towering wall of shoe inventory boxes, and waited in the dark.
For forty-five minutes, I listened to the sound of Elise pacing, shredding, and cursing. Finally, at 11:50 PM, I heard the heavy click of the office door shutting. Then, the chime of the front security gate locking. Elise was gone.
The store plunged into total darkness, save for the emergency exit lights casting an eerie red glow across the marble floors.
I stepped out from behind the boxes. The silence of the empty store was suffocating. I turned my phone flashlight on, keeping the beam aimed at the floor, and made my way toward the back of the building.
The Archive Room wasn't a place employees went. It was a reinforced, climate-controlled vault in the basement that supposedly held original sketches and vintage garments. The door was hidden behind a mirrored panel in the executive hallway. I had only ever seen Elise go in there once, and she used a physical key.
I found the mirrored panel. I pushed against it, and it swung open, revealing a heavy steel door with a digital keypad.
I typed in the numbers from the note. 8... 2... 4... 0.
The lock flashed green and clicked loudly in the silence. I pulled the heavy door open and stepped into the pitch-black room. The air was cool and smelled sharply of cedar and old paper.
"Hello?" I whispered, my voice trembling.
Suddenly, a bright beam of light hit my face, blinding me.
I gasped, throwing my hands up to shield my eyes.
"Who's there?" a sharp, angry voice demanded.
It wasn't Margaret.
The light lowered, illuminating the face of the person holding the heavy metal flashlight.
It was Elise.
She hadn't left. She had faked locking the front door.
"Harper?" Elise said, her voice dropping into a dangerously quiet register. She stepped forward, illuminating the space. The room was filled with filing cabinets, and Elise had a crowbar in her other hand. She had been prying them open.
"Elise," I stammered, backing up until my shoulders hit the cold steel door. "I just... I came back for my daughter's medication."
"In the basement?" Elise sneered, taking another step toward me. The beam of the flashlight cast terrifying shadows across her face. "You broke into the restricted archive. You used a stolen code. You're trying to steal from the vault to pay your bills, aren't you?"
"No!" I said, panic rising in my chest. "I didn't steal anything!"
"It doesn't matter," Elise smiled, a cold, predatory look. She pulled her phone from her pocket with her flashlight hand. "I caught a disgruntled, fired employee breaking into the company vault at midnight. By the time the police get here, they'll find your fingerprints all over the lock, and I'll find a few missing diamonds in your bag."
"You're destroying the VIP ledgers," I blurted out, desperate to shift the power. "I heard you on the phone. You're embezzling."
Elise froze. Her smile vanished.