A Colby Christmas. Debra Webb
the building, coming to an end at the freight elevator. Along that long, L-shaped hall were several additional smaller offices, the massive research department, the files room and a larger main supply room.
The agency’s last remodeling had included extensive decorating changes, including new carpeting and lush furnishings, for every square foot. Even the files and supply rooms were aesthetically appealing.
Elaine didn’t rush. It would take a few minutes for the musicians to load up their goods and set the elevator in motion. Joseph had said that some of their cases were pretty large. She wondered about that. Wasn’t the entertainment for tomorrow’s party supposed to be a small three-or four-piece band?
Oh well. She knew nothing about the equipment required to put on a musical performance. For the first time she wondered how long it would take for these guys to set up. She’d be lucky to be out of here by ten.
Elaine rolled her eyes and picked through the keys on the ring to locate the right one. Well, it wasn’t as if she had any real plans anyway. She pushed the designated key into the lock and turned it to the right. The door opened, revealing the keypad.
She got as far as the second digit of the code when the lights went out.
Total darkness swallowed her up for the space of two heartbeats before the emergency lights kicked on.
Elaine let out the breath she’d unconsciously held.
“Well, okay, then.” No electricity. No elevators.
She did an about-face and strode back in the direction of her office.
Blackouts in the dead of winter weren’t unheard of but they were generally precipitated by a serious snow or ice storm or plummeting temperatures. It was still snowing outside, she noted as she walked briskly down that long semi-dark hall, but it wasn’t that bad. She hesitated a moment or two to stare out that long wall of glass. Just a thick dusting on the ground so far. No big deal.
But there were lots of other things that could cause this kind of power outage. A major traffic incident involving a relay station would do the trick. The system could be overloaded. It was damned cold outside. She chafed her arms. Getting chillier in here as well. She should have grabbed her sweater.
When she reached Victoria’s suite of offices and the wider corridor beyond, she had the almost overwhelming urge to break into a run.
Ridiculous. She’d been here alone at night dozens of times. This wasn’t the first time the power had failed. Falling asleep at her desk had her feeling off balance. Not to mention she was running on overload herself where the holidays were concerned.
“Sheesh,” she muttered, “that’s it.”
The holidays. The whole city was decorated to the max, especially with lights. Lots and lots of extra lights. No wonder the power had failed.
At her desk she snatched up the receiver and entered the number for security. She waited through ring after ring. No one answered. Joseph was probably at the freight elevator with the musicians and their equipment.
“Damn.”
Usually there were two guards. Why didn’t the other guy answer?
“Don’t panic.” Both guards were likely busy doing whatever had to be done during a power outage. She should just calm down.
She had two choices. She could either wait for the power to resume or she could hustle down to the main lobby and see what was going on. It would be just her luck that halfway down to the first floor the lights would kick back on and she’d have to run back up to authorize the freight elevator doors to open.
Waiting was the best course of action. If she were wrong, Joseph or the other security guard would call and let her know what she should do.
Not a problem.
While she waited she tidied her desk. Separated the few messages she’d taken the last couple hours of the workday. Each investigator had his or her own slot in a carousel on her desk. Victoria’s messages were passed on to her assistant, Mildred. The week’s supply requests lay in a neat stack in Elaine’s inbox. She inventoried and ordered general office supplies each week. Any requests beyond the usual were dropped off in writing for her to have authorized. Mildred did the routine authorizing. Most of the time she helped Elaine check in the supplies when they arrived. It was a relatively big job, definitely made for two.
All in all Elaine liked her position here at the Colby Agency. She stepped back and considered her work area in the meager light.
Most of the time she liked it. Things got stressful at Christmas. Investigators were working hard to wrap up their assignments. Holiday work schedules were a pain in the rear. Everyone wanted extra time off between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Elaine was glad she didn’t get that same fever.
The holidays were, for the most part, just another day to her.
Last year she’d taken up Mildred’s slack so she could be off for her niece’s wedding preparations.
That was another big deal here at the Colby Agency. Weddings. Oh, yes, and births. The entire staff operated more like a large family than a group of unrelated employees. At times she found the pressure to be involved tedious.
Regardless, the Colby Agency was the best. She had to admit that. No matter how high-profile and complex, or how small and seemingly insignificant the assignment, the job always got done. That was the major reason she stayed. She could put up with most anything to be on the winning team.
Ten minutes passed.
Still no call. Still no power.
The memory of opening that control panel door and starting to enter the code for the elevator pushed to the forefront of her thoughts. She’d turned around and walked back to her office. She’d noticed the snow still falling outside. The dusting on the ground below.
And the lights.
She whirled toward the wall of windows behind her desk.
The whole city was lit up like a giant Christmas tree.
If there was a blackout, why wasn’t anyone else affected?
Her full attention glued to the lights outside, she moved to the window and stared down at the street. There were still a few pedestrians on the sidewalks. Not a single building anywhere in sight was dark.
What the hell was going on?
She called security again.
This time she got a strange busy signal, the kind that more often meant something was wrong with the phone line.
Fine. She’d just have to go down to the main lobby and find out what the problem was. It might be silly of her, but she couldn’t just wait around here. She reached under her desk to fish her cell phone from her purse. Her concern might be for nothing but she wasn’t about to head down a dimly lit stairwell in a deserted building without her cell phone. Maybe she’d seen one too many horror flicks.
Phone in hand, she strode determinedly toward the end of the corridor, where the emergency exit provided handy access for the head of the agency.
She twisted the knob and pushed but the door didn’t budge. Wait a minute. She stepped back and surveyed the door. This wasn’t right. It was an emergency exit. Emergency exits weren’t ever supposed to be locked.
Jiggling the knob again she had to admit defeat. It was definitely locked.
A spurt of mild panic surged in her chest.
Okay. Stay calm. There had to be an explanation for this. She looked at the ring of keys she’d shoved onto her wrist. She was the keeper of the keys. There had to be a key on here for this door as well, though she didn’t actually recall having been told about one. More than two years had passed since her initial training. Maybe she’d forgotten.
Using trial and error, she tried one key after the other to see if one opened the door. Wouldn’t you know it, the final