CHAPTER 2
"Jane, what are you doing?" Shane bellowed, with his fists on his waist.
The young woman gave a startle gasp and jumped. She looked like a person who had been caught with her hand in a cookie jar. "M-Mr. Unterhauser!" she stammered. She forced a smile, as if trying to assure him she had done nothing wrong.
The woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties, with shoulder-length brown hair, and a pair of brown eyes. There was a small mole on her upper left corner of her mouth, which Joe thought looked cute on her.
"It's not what you think, Mr. Unterhauser," the woman tried again, in a calmer voice.
"And what do you think I should think?" Shane challenged. He looked at the woman with slight suspicion.
"I was checking to see if you were in your office. I tried knocking, but there was no answer," she explained hastily.
Shane regarded her explanation with a silent stare before he spoke, "So, what is it you want to see me about?"
"Ms. Matteo called, and she demanded that you called her immediately," she told him. Joe could see that she looked relieved when Shane didn't ask her any more questions.
Shane muttered something unintelligible under his breath, but he didn't comment anything further. Instead, he turned to the Hardys with a smile, which seemed a little forced.
"Boys, I'd like you to meet Jane Rosso. She's working here as my secretary," he introduced the woman to the brothers. "Jane, this is Frank and Joe MacAllister." He gave the same explanation why the boys were staying here as he had given to Jim.
"N-Nice to meet you," Jane said, shaking hands with the Hardys. Then she began fidgeting nervously on the cuffs of her shirt. Joe was puzzled by her agitated manner. She seemed a bit afraid of them. She couldn't have known about their real identity, could she?
"Me, too," Frank replied, smiling – hoping it would ease the tension.
She returned with a quick smile. "Is there anything else you want me to do, Mr. Unterhauser?" Jane asked, turning to her boss.
"No, you can go back to your desk," Shane replied.
Jane nodded, and quickly left without looking at them.
"How long has she been working for you?" Frank asked Shane when the woman was out of earshot.
"I hired her at the same time I started this project. So, she's still brand new," Shane replied.
"What about Jim?" Joe asked.
"Same," Shane replied shortly. "I can show you their files, if it'll help you in this case."
"Thanks, we appreciate that," Frank said and nodded. "But how come you didn't hire from your other employees in Chicago, or someone who has been working for you quite a while?" he continued asking.
They continued walking toward Shane's office. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door.
"We haven't got anyone in this field. This is my first time venturing in this business," Shane admitted.
"Who's taking over the office in Chicago, now that you're here?" Frank continued asking.
"My assistant, Norman Spencer," Shane replied simply, as he led them inside the room.
His office was quite large. There was a slight scent of paint when they stepped inside. Like the building, everything inside the room was new. The floor was covered with beige carpeting and the walls were painted in white. There was a large white semi-circle table in the middle of the room with a laptop and a telephone on it, an empty bookcase on one side of the room and a beige metal filing cabinet. There was a door at the corner of the room. The door was ajar, but Frank could see it led to the bathroom.
Shane motioned the Hardys to sit on the chairs in front of his desk, before he walked around and sat on his black leather chair, facing them.
"So, do you have any questions so far?" Shane asked them.
"Yeah, how many employees do you have here at the moment?" Frank asked.
"Three at the moment, and the rest you probably have seen working at the construction site are just contracted builders," he answered. "I'm planning to hire more as soon as the guests' houses are ready."
"Are there anymore incidents before we arrived here?" Joe asked.
Shane frowned thoughtfully. "There was one incident, but I can't say it's intentional," he began slowly.
"Go on," Frank encouraged.
"It didn't happen to me," Shane admitted. "Jane almost had an accident when one of the pipes of the scaffolding almost knocked on her head," he told them. "It's a good thing Neil was there to save her."
"Neil?" Joe prompted in surprise.
"Neil Sterling, the third employee. I've hired him to work in the security part of this place," Shane explained.
"What was Jane doing at the construction area?" Frank continued asking.
"She told me she was just taking a walk," Shane shrugged. "Neil has checked for any tampering, but he couldn't find any. So, I guess it was just a pure bad luck on Jane."
"Do you have any suspects now? The last time you told us, you didn't have any," Joe asked.
Shane shook his head, and sighed wearily. "No, I still don't have. I can't think of any," he admitted.
"Do you think if we could take a look at your employees' files?" Frank asked.
"You think one of them did it?" His question sounded more like a statement.
"Just covering all the bases," Joe replied as Shane just nodded and walked over to the filing cabinet. He pulled out some manila folders.
"I only have my employees' files, not on those contracted builders, though. I think it's better if I make a copy of these for you," Shane suggested before walking toward the door. "I'll be right back," he said before he went out.
When he was gone, Joe turned to Frank. "So, what do you think?" he asked his brother.
"I've already included Jim in the suspect list," Frank admitted.
"Yeah, that guy seemed to have something against Shane," Joe agreed. "What about Jane? I can't figure her out."
"I know what you mean. I'm not sure if she's nervous around us or Shane," Frank agreed with a thoughtful frown.
"Or both," Joe added.
"Maybe she just has a nervous nature. If not, we'll find out what makes her acting that way."
Joe was about to speak up when Shane entered the room. He handed them the photocopied papers before he kept the folders back into the drawers.
"Thanks," Frank said as he took the papers and put them in his jacket.
At the moment, they heard a sudden commotion outside of the room.
"What in the - " Shane didn't manage to finish when the door of his office burst open.
A woman in her late twenties with long blond hair and pale blue eyes stormed inside. Her eyes flashed angrily when her gaze landed on Shane. Jane was following behind the woman, looking flustered and embarrassed.
"Jane, what is going on?" Shane asked his secretary. His jaw clenched. Frank could tell he was controlling his anger.
"I'm really sorry, Mr. Unterhauser, I tried to stop her, but Ms. Matteo insists to talk to you. She didn't want to make any appointment," Jane explained in a rush. Her hands began fidgeting the cuffs of her shirt.
"Don't worry, I'll handle this," Shane said. "You can go back to your work," he told Jane.
"All right," Jane said, before reluctantly walked out of the room.
"You think you can get away, don't you? Guess again, Shane Unterhauser," the woman continued in anger. She didn't seem to notice the Hardys, but if she had, she deliberately ignored their presence.
"What are you talking about, Ms. Matteo?" Shane asked levelly.
She gave a sardonic laugh. "Pretend all you want, Mr. Unterhauser," her voice turned cold. "I'm talking about how you steal this island from my father."