“And you are?” she asked.
“This is my assistant, Sydney Edwards. She’s helping me with a project I’m working on.”
“Interesting,” Sharlene murmured as she gestured toward the love seat and pair of chairs nestled in the corner of the room. “I believe the last time I was over at Cain Enterprises, your assistant was Marion Green. I didn’t hear that she’d been let go. What a shame. She was with the company for so long.”
Griffin sat in one chair, so Sydney claimed the other. Sharlene sat on the loveseat, crossing her ankles to the side and draping her arm over the furniture.
Griffin smiled, as if he didn’t find Sharlene’s line of questioning odd. “Marion is still with the company. I suspect that even if we let her go, she’d keep coming to work every day.”
Sharlene laughed. “Yes, I suppose so. Well, come in, come in and sit down. My assistant will get drinks. Griffin dear, the last time you visited me at work you were still drinking chocolate milk. Somehow I suspect your tastes have changed. Let me guess.” She tapped one perfectly manicured nail against her chin. “Your father was always a Scotch man, but you don’t strike me as the type to drink during the day. Shall I have her just bring coffee?”
Griffin nodded stiffly. Sydney got the impression he didn’t want the coffee, but he also didn’t want to be rude. He went on to explain the situation with Hollister and his missing daughter before ending with, “We think we know who the woman who wrote the letter might be.”
“You do?” Sharlene asked in surprise. “Then you’ve narrowed it down from a fairly extensive pool.”
Griffin ignored Sharlene’s comment and said, “We had a nanny who lived at the house from the time just before I was born to when I was an infant. Apparently, she was pregnant and she had some sort of relationship with Hollister. My mother remembered that you helped hire the girl. Or at least found the service that sent her over.”
“Hmm…” Sharlene tilted her head to the side and tapped her cheek. “I might have. But I need more to go on than that. What else can you tell me about her?”
“Not much,” Sydney admitted. “But we have her photo. Would that help?”
“Certainly.” Sharlene smiled broadly.
Sydney pulled the folder out of her bag and handed it to Sharlene, but at that moment, Sharlene’s assistant came in to offer drinks, and Sharlene didn’t even look in the folder until the assistant had left. Then she made a great show of flipping through the pages within it.
“Is that photo supposed to be in here?” she asked.
“Yes,” Sydney said. “It should be on top.” She took the folder back from Sharlene, riffling through it herself before admitting, “I’m sorry, the photo must have fallen out in the car. I’ll go get it.”
Sharlene grabbed her arm. “Nonsense. Griffin was raised better than that. He’ll go.” A feline smile spread across her face. “Besides, this will give us a chance to talk.”
Griffin’s gaze narrowed. “Be nice.”
Sharlene blinked innocently. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“She’s my assistant. Be nice.”
“I’ll be fine,” Sydney assured him.
As soon as the door closed behind Griffin, Sharlene tilted her head coyly and said, “So. His assistant?”
“Just his assistant,” Sydney bit out.
“Oh, my dear.” Sharlene laughed. “I know exactly what that means. Don’t forget I was just Hollister’s assistant for nearly a decade.”
“I am truly just his assistant.”
“Yes. I’m sure you are.” Sharlene’s voice dripped with condescension, but there was a knowing gleam in her gaze.
Strangely, it wasn’t the condescension that bothered Sydney. It was that look. That look implied a kinship between them. That look implied they were one in the same, both part of the sisterhood of assistant-mistresses.
It was exactly that sisterhood that Sydney had never wanted to belong to. She’d never wanted the kinship or the glimpse into a future filled with bitter resentments.
That look made her all the more determined to convince Sharlene that the relationship she thought she saw was a figment of her imagination.
Needing to convince Sharlene—even if she couldn’t convince herself—Sydney gave the other woman the truth. “I’ve only worked for Griffin for a few weeks. Before that I worked for Dalton. Griffin sort of inherited me. I came with the office.”
“I see.” Sharlene’s eyes narrowed slightly as she studied Sydney.
It took every ounce of self-control she had not to fidget and squirm. Years of being interviewed by CPS officers served her well here. She was used to faking it.