3

When Fred pulled onto Summer Road , Daphne repeated the directions the satnav was giving them and they soon found the warehouse with TW FOODS on a bright blue sign above.

It is a huge grey two-story warehouse with a large full parking lot and a barbed wire fence surrounding it all.

Fred drove around looking for a parking space. Daphne noticed most of the cars to be family cars; SUVs and estates, some of them with "baby on board" stickers in the rear window.

Fred found a space between a red Toyota RAV4 and an old rusty Volkswagen estate.

Fred and Daphne climbed out of the car. Fred used his phone to take a photo of the warehouse.

As they walked through the parking lot, Daphne noticed that there seemed to be nicer, more expensive-looking cars as they went closer to the warehouse. Rather than the SUVs and estates, there were a lot more soft-top convertible cars. BMW's, Mercedes, and a few Mazarati's. She suspected these must be for those who worked in the office, the ones who made the most money.

As they approached the building, they saw two glass doors with PULL on the handles. Fred pushed the door, 'It's a pull door, Freddy.' Daphne informed and Fred pulled the door open. 'I knew that.' He blushed and Daphne breathed a laugh.

The glass door led them into the reception area. It is an open space with a semi-circular desk in the middle and a woman with dark-hair sat behind the desk.

There is a black curved couch in the corner of the reception which has a smart glossy black coffee table next to it with magazines displayed on it.

The walls are cream with large photos hung up. Most of the photos are black and white; the land surrounding the warehouse, a man in a suit standing among a group of school children, and an old photo of the warehouse probably before it was taken over by TW Foods.

Fred assumed the man in the photo with the children was Theodore Wilkins.

'Hello, can I help you?' A friendly voice asked from behind the desk.

The woman, perhaps in her mid-forties and dressed in a black suit with the name badge reading AMANDA smiled at them.

'Hello, I'm Daphne Blake, this is my partner Fred Jones, we have an appointment with Layla Black.' Daphne explained.

'Oh yes, she just told me you were coming. If you'd like to take a seat, she'll be with you shortly.' Amanda explained motioning to the black curved couch in the corner.

'Thank you.' Daphne spoke.

She and Fred sat on the couch. Fred picked up one of the magazines; FARMING TODAY was the title and he put it back on the table.

Daphne looked at her watch the time read 4:39 PM.

They sat quietly listening to Amanda answer a phone call, 'Hello TW Foods how can I help? Oh hello, yes the order is scheduled for tomorrow. Ok thank you bye.'

Fred looked at the photos on the walls when a woman entered the reception area.

Though she's wearing heels, Fred notices how tall she is. She's dressed in a knee-length black dress exposing her shoulders. Her long blonde hair hung to her elbows and her red lips formed a smile as she approached Fred and Daphne.

Fred stood up quickly. Daphne looked up at him, raising an eyebrow.

'Hello, you must be Daphne Blake.' The woman said, extended her hand to her, Daphne shook it, 'I'm Layla Black.'

'Hello, this is my partner Fr-'

'I'm Fred Jones.' Fred said quickly and shaking Layla's hand.

'Nice to meet you.' Layla Black smiled.

'Thank you for meeting us.' Daphne said and Layla smiled politely, 'It's no trouble. Let's take this to my office.' Layla said and she instructed them to follow her.

They entered a door just off the reception area and walked along the corridor. The corridor had the same cream walls, except there were no photos displayed.

Layla opened the next door which had her name on a plaque and underneath was the title MANAGER, and they stepped into her office.

It was cosier than the reception. There was a large desk towards the back of the room and bookshelves with ring binders filling the shelves; all different colours and all labelled.

'Please, take a seat.' Layla pointed to the two chairs on one side of the desk, and she sat in the oversized office chair.

'Do you mind if we record this interview?' Daphne asked, 'The reason being for referencing when we come to putting things together.'

Layla smiled, 'Not at all Miss Blake.' As she laid her hands on the table, Fred noticed her nails painted red; matching her lips.

Daphne pulled her phone out of her pocket and opened the voice recorder app. She pressed record and laid the phone on the table.

'What do you want to know about Jenny Hopkins?' Layla asked, 'Obviously I cannot tell you too much, due to confidentiality, but I hope I can help with what I can tell you.'

'I'm sure you will.' Fred smiled.

Daphne pulled out her notepad, 'We're just looking to re-trace Jenny's last day before she went missing.'

Layla folded her hands together, 'Well, her last day would have been Friday. I don't think there was much difference with Jenny than on previous days.' Layla explained, 'She wasn't one to talk much about her home life at work, but she had explained in the break room that her parents were planning on taking a trip to Mexico. That was all she spoke about.'

'Did she seem like any problems were going on? Like, with her boyfriend, her friends or family?' Daphne asked.

'No, I don't think so.' Layla responded. 'Like I said, she didn't talk about her home life too much, but she was a wonderful person. She had a great work ethic and all her jobs were done before the deadlines.'

Daphne raised her eyes from her notepad and looked at Layla as she asked her next question, 'Did she say anything about the workload?'

'No, not that I'm aware of. Like I said, she did her job and never complained. She had no problem with the people she worked with and vice versa. She was a lovely girl and amusing with an uplifting spirit.'

'And there's nothing you can think of that would raise suspicion about Jenny?' Daphne asked.

Layla shook her head, 'I spend a lot of time in my office, I go to the offices to make sure everyone is doing their job and Jenny was always hard working. I sometimes go to the break room with them and there's always laughter, especially from Jenny.'

Daphne looked at her notes, 'The police said she argued with her parents the night she went missing.'

Layla shook her head again, 'I can't think of anything, she was fine when she was at work.'

'Did she have a temper?' Daphne asked, 'That was something that was in the police report, her sister said she has a temper.'

'We're all different at work than when we're at home.' Layla laughed, 'I'm wearing this now but when I get home I'm getting into my fleece pajamas and watching TV in bed with a tub of Ben and Jerry's ice cream.' She laughed and Fred laughed too.

Daphne glanced at him but continued with the interview, 'So there's nothing that concerned you when you last saw Jenny?'

Layla shook her head again, 'Nothing at all.'

Daphne pressed stop on the voice recorder, 'Thank you for your time Miss Black.'

'Anything to help.' Layla smiled, she stood from her chair as did Fred and Daphne and she walked them to the door.

'If there is any information that comes to mind, I will be in contact with you immediately.' Layla smiled, shaking their hands again.

'I'm sure you will do, thank you so much for your help.' Fred smiled widely.

They walked back through the corridor which brought them to the reception area. Amanda was on the phone when they exited through the glass doors.

'She's hiding something.' Daphne said as they walked through the parking lot.

Fred scoffed, 'What? No, she isn't, she was really helpful.'

Daphne rolled her eyes, 'While you were busy fantasising and staring at her cleavage, I was paying attention to what she was saying.'

'I was not staring at her cleavage!' Fred defended but he slowly turned pink.

Daphne raised her eyebrow "what does it matter?" She thought to herself. 'That's not the point, Fred. She's hiding something and I know it.'

Fred knew that whenever Daphne had a hunch she was usually right. 'Why do you think she's hiding something?' Fred asked, 'She was really helpful.'

'That being the reason, most of the time killers and kidnappers insert themselves into helping with the investigation to refrain from becoming suspects.' Daphne explained.

'But we're not investigating. We're reporting.' Fred replied. 'Same thing.' Daphne responded.

They arrived at Fred's car and he pulled his keys from his pocket and pressed the unlock button and the lights flashed as it unlocked.

'So she knows we're just reporting.' Fred said as he opened the car door, 'Like I said, she was being helpful.'

Daphne climbed into the front passenger seat, 'That being said, did you notice how she referred to Jenny in the past tense?'

'What?' Fred asked.

'She said, "Jenny was a lovely girl", "she was a wonderful person".' Daphne said, putting on the voice of Layla Black and flipping her long red hair off her shoulder.

Fred put on his seatbelt, admittedly he hadn't noticed Layla referring to Jenny in the past tense.

She was gorgeous he had to admit, but he knew he would always be drawn to Daphne.

But could a woman like Layla Black honestly have had something to do with the disappearance of one of her staff members?