Searching for Clues

In DAAG, our continued story, Janelle is still investigating Jed Thorne’s office.

Chapter Twenty-one

Janelle spent the rest of Thursday in Jed’s office and continued her search on Friday morning. She moved furniture, tapped on the walls, looked behind framed pictures—and found nothing.

Friday was “casual Friday,” as Helga had told her yesterday. Janelle wondered how much more casual Helga could get, but this morning she was dressed in tight black jeans, wearing a T-shirt that read, “A Smile is a Curve that Sets Everything Straight.” Ben had opted for jeans and a blue polo shirt, and all that blue brought out the color of his eyes. When he opened his dad’s office for her, Janelle had to pull back on the reins of her heart to keep it from galloping away.

Ben didn’t realize how handsome he was.

But despite the dinner they shared on Wednesday evening, after their imprisonment in the elevator together, and in spite of his wink on Thursday morning, Ben didn’t take any notice of her .

It was depressing.

Perching on the sofa in Jed’s office, she sighed. Was Ben a workaholic with no social life? Janelle needed something to force him to take an interest in her. If only they could get stuck in the elevator again!

But the elevator was working fine now.

And Janelle was no closer to finding how the murderer escaped this room. The three filing cabinets were the only things left to search. Most likely she would find no clues—unless there was a secret door in one of the drawers.

She rolled her eyes.

After searching the first two cabinets, she knew the search was fruitless. All she found were old orders, statements, and invoices dating back to the 1960s.

The third filing cabinet was locked.

Janelle buzzed Ben in his office. “Do you have the keys to your dad’s filing cabinets?”

“Yeah, I have all the keys he owned. We’ll see if one of them fits.”

In a few minutes Ben stood beside her, a huge key ring in his hand. It jingled as he tried key after key in the file lock. “I have no idea what all these keys are for.” He fitted another key but without success.

Janelle didn’t mind waiting. She inched closer to him and took in a whiff of his aftershave. It had a woodsy smell that reminded her of camping in the Ozarks.

With the next key, the lock popped open. “Finally.” He pulled out the top drawer.

She peered inside. “Looks like more file folders.”

Ben pulled one out. “Hmm… 1974.” He opened the folder, glanced at the first page then flipped through the rest. “Why would he lock these up?”

“What is it?”

He held the folder open for her. An advertisement, torn from a magazine with a ragged left edge, showed a picture of a slim, blonde woman modeling a bra and girdle. The words, Let Our Foundation Garments Shape You, were emblazoned across the top of the page. At the bottom was the logo for Thorne’s Bra and Girdle Company.  

Ben tapped the ad. “Good-looking model.” He chuckled, his laugh tinged with embarrassment.

Taking the folder, Janelle paged through the advertisements. Each one pictured the same woman. “She looks Swedish, like Helga, but I can’t imagine her ever being this thin.”

“Hey…” His voice held a note of surprise. “It is Helga.” He glanced at Janelle. “Can you believe that?”

“It can’t be.” Janelle took a closer look at the model’s face and saw a resemblance. “Maybe it was her sister. Look how thin she is.”

“My grandfather must have hired Helga as a model when he was running the company.” Ben took the file and stuck it back in the cabinet. 

Janelle frowned. “Are you sure that’s her? Helga has really changed.”

“Yep.” His eyes met hers. “That was almost forty years ago, Janelle.”

“Your grandfather must have really liked her to give her a job when she got older.”

“She’s a good bookkeeper, probably the best the company ever had.” Ben glanced through another file from 1976. “More ads torn from magazines, and all of Helga. Wow, she was beautiful back in the day. I’ve known her all my life. Hard to believe she was young and pretty at one time.”

“You’ve never seen these ads?”

“Nope.” He replaced the file, took out another one and glanced through it. “More of the same.”

“Why would your dad save all these ads of Helga?”

“I don’t know. The company had other models and none of them are here.”

Janelle leafed through another folder, then held up a photo. “She has this bra in her office. She said she likes to see them displayed, and those must be the bras she modeled years ago.”

“Helga is weird.”

“She was proud of her modeling job.” Janelle paused. “Helga has eight busts in her office, but only seven have bras.” She placed her hand on Ben’s arm. “Do you think she used that eighth bra as the murder weapon? Maybe that’s why it’s missing.”

He shook his head. “The murder weapon was made by Corrine’s Lingerie and had been laundered forty times. Remember?” Ben shut the file drawer. “I don’t think Helga is the culprit.”

Janelle wasn’t ready to dismiss Helga yet but Ben obviously didn’t want to discuss it. She decided to get his take on another suspect. “Howard seems suspicious. What were he and your dad arguing about anyway?”

“Money. What else? Howard wanted a bigger budget for advertising.”

“How could they argue about that for two hours?”

Ben raised one eyebrow. “We’re talking about two stubborn men. It could happen.”

Janelle walked to the door. “And since the door was locked on the inside—” She turned the deadbolt knob, and the lock shot across like a bullet. She jumped back. “That thing is fast.”

“And loud.” Ben shoved the drawer shut. “If you want to dig through this cabinet, be my guest. I have work to do.” He unlocked the deadbolt and left the room.

A sigh slipped from Janelle. Her dream of marrying Ebenezer Jedadiah Thorne III evaporated with his departure. Ben obviously had no interest in her.

Or maybe her wasn’t interested in her sleuthing.

* * *

We’ll see where Janelle’s investigation leads her tomorrow. Until then, God bless!