Chapter Thirty Four
The next morning Erin was at her desk in the officer’s room preparing her report. She had moved her seat closer to the outside edge of the desk to give herself a clear view along the corridor - and Karen Blakely’s door.
At ten past ten she noticed the director’s door open and Karen head out with a briefcase in hand. Well it’s now or never, she thought.
Standing up she stretched and then looked out of the window. There was only one other officer in the room, and he was engrossed in writing up a report. She strolled out of the room and entered the corridor with her pulse rate rising.
Erin pushed open Karen’s door and walked into the empty room. She then closed the door as far as she could without actually shutting it and walked in behind the desk
The monitor screen had dolphins swimming across it as she sat down in the swivel chair. She tapped the mouse; a rectangle appeared and asked for a password. Erin typed in ‘big red’ and the screen changed to one with icons on a blue background. Karen Blakely had been nicknamed ‘big red’ as a trainee due to a fondness for the gum of that name and, because she was a tall redhead.
She scanned the folders, eventually finding one entitled ‘dimensions’. She clicked on the icon, and reports from her and Michael appeared along with a list of events.
At her car, Karen found that she had left her cell phone on her desk. She opened the BMW and laid her briefcase on the front passenger’s seat. Then, after locking the car, she headed back along the walkway toward the building.
Erin looked down the list and found nothing very interesting except one insert dated the 20th of April which read: ‘meet L to discuss Project Proteus’. She gazed thoughtfully out of the window at the large white cumulus which drifted over the building. She emerged out of the reverie with the sound of a voice from the corridor. “Can I have a word Karen?”
Erin froze; oh my God she’s coming back, she thought. She closed down the folder then stood up and moved toward the window as Karen and Jim Phillips, a director from another department, entered the room.
“Erin!” Karen said. “Can I help you with something?”
“I wanted to see you about some leave, but I’ll come back when you’re free.”
“All right,” said Karen stretching the second word as she looked at her computer screen.
Erin finished the report and then left the building with two things prominent on her mind: who was ‘L’ and what was Project Proteus?