“I guess you’re right,” Lily said with a sigh. “I just would be happy to see you fall in love, for a change.”
***
Chapter 2
Mia woke up bright and early the next morning, ready for the challenge of starting her investigation into Alexander Will. She dressed in subdued, professional outfit--- grey pencil skirt and navy blouse, and tied her hair back into a neat chignon. Her plan was to go to the Will Golden Corporation headquarters downtown and see if there were any open positions she could apply for.
Mia got off the train about two hours later and looked up at the skyscraper where Will Golden was housed. It was huge, and would have been quite intimidating. Had she been actually serious about a career there? She squared off her shoulders and walked in, heading for the reception desk.
“Hi!,” she said brightly, addressing the young woman at the front desk. “I just wanted to inquire about any open positions you may have.”
“As a matter of fact, we actually did just have a job open up,” the receptionist replied. “Jayden Steele’s secretary just quit a few days ago. We still haven’t found a replacement. Is that something you might be interested in?”
Jayden Steele was the vice president of the company, as Mia had found out last night when she was doing some research to prepare for the case. She had no idea she’d have the opportunity to work for someone with such a high ranking in the company!
“I’d love to apply,” Mia said. “How do I do that?”
“I’ll set up an interview for you right now, and you can fax your resume over to us later. What’s your name?” the receptionist asked.
“Umm… Sarah. Sarah… Shaw,” Mia said.
Jayden Steele’s office, predictably, was huge, located on one of the corners of the twentieth floor, and had full floor to ceiling windows on two sides. It was minimally decorated, and outfitted with a sleek grey computer and ergonomic chairs. Mia was peacefully reclining in one of the chairs when Jayden burst through the door. She sat up immediately and assumed her best, most professional posture. Jayden was tall and blonde, sort of Scandinavian looking, with a friendly, boyish air about him. Mia relaxed as she realized that he wasn’t the slightest bit intimidating.
“Hi, you’re Sarah, correct?” he asked. “I’m Jayden Steele. I just want to get to know a little bit about you before we can hire you officially. Honestly, I’m completely desperate for a secretary right now. Four days of trying to work without one has left me completely swamped. As long as you’re relatively competent and polite, I’m sure we’ll work well together.”
Mia laughed a bit, starting to loosen up. This was going to be the easiest piece of detective work ever. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Steele. My name’s Sarah Shaw. I have my bachelor’s degree in business from UCLA, and I moved to New York a few years ago and have been doing secretarial work ever since. I like to think I’m pretty organized and efficient, and can work well with a wide variety of people.”
None of this is even really a lie, Mia thought. There’s no harm in using a different name.
“Well, that sounds great, Sarah! I’m just going to ask you a few more questions, and you’ll be officially hired. In fact, I really need you to come take minutes at our board meeting this afternoon. Are you up for that?” Jayden asked enthusiastically.
“Of course,” Mia replied with a smile. She’d have to remember to start responding to the name Sarah from now on.
The board meeting was to be held in a very large conference room on the top floor of the building. Mia sat in a chair in the corner away from the table with a laptop, ready to record the minutes of the meeting. The room was starting to fill up, and people were slowly finding their places at the table. Mia looked up from her computer to see Jayden walking towards her.
“Just do your best, okay?” he said. “I know we sort of threw you in here, but even if you don’t get everything right on the first try, it’s better than me not having a secretary at all.”
“Okay, thank you, Mr. Steele,” Mia said with a smile.
“Please, call me Jayden,” he replied with a wink.
Then the door opened, and a very tall man with dark brown hair and an arrogant swagger about him entered the room. Mia correctly assumed that this was the infamous Alexander Will.
“Okay, everyone, what have we got going on today? I want to hear all of your ideas about how we can improve this company’s performance,” Alexander said.
He had a deep voice and an extremely confident air about him. Mia got the impression that he could have been talking about something completely insignificant and the entire room still would have listened, completely captivated.