The Corporate Killer

It had been a frustrating evening followed by an even more frustrating morning.

Helena Roberts had spent much of the previous day thinking about Roy Robinson and the predicament he'd found himself in. Roy was more than a colleague. He was a friend, a trusted coworker, and, in many ways, a mentee. Over the years, she'd watched him develop into one of the most capable department heads in the company. More importantly, she'd come to appreciate the kind of person he was. Roy was dependable, thoughtful, and genuinely interested in the people around him. He deserved better than what Tom Burgess was doing to him.

When Roy had finally confided in her, Helena had promised to find a way out of the mess. She hadn't made that promise lightly. She knew how much was at stake, and she'd understood that Roy was relying on her to do something.

Unfortunately, the obvious solution had turned out to be... well, too obvious.

Tom was lazy. He'd always been lazy. Not spectacularly incompetent, not quite foolish enough to get himself fired, but a man who seemed to regard every task as an unreasonable demand on his time. Tom did just enough to remain employable, never enough to distinguish himself, and certainly never enough to earn the sort of advancement he seemed to believe was his birthright.

His scheme to force Roy out of the company must have been conceived with the same minimal effort. Helena had assumed the evidence would be somewhere obvious, probably on his work laptop. A man like Tom wouldn't go to elaborate lengths to hide something when he could simply tuck it away in a folder and assume nobody would look.

And yet, for the first time since Helena had hired him, Tom had surprised her.

Not only had his laptop seemed completely devoid of the fabricated evidence against Roy, but it had also contained almost nothing suggesting that Tom did anything outside the narrow confines of his assigned duties. No suspicious correspondence. No incriminating notes. No odd collections of files or documents that might point to a larger scheme. Just spreadsheets, project files, emails, and the ordinary clutter of an employee's work computer.

Apparently, Tom was good at one thing and one thing only: covering his tracks.

Helena had taken the laptop under false pretences, telling Tom that he'd be receiving a new one. The excuse had been deliberately mundane. She wanted to get her hands on the machine before he had an opportunity to clean anything up, and she hadn't expected him to put up much resistance. Tom had been delighted by the prospect of an upgrade.

The plan had seemed so straightforward. Find the evidence, establish what he'd done, and confront him with something he couldn't deny. Better yet, catch him red-handed and put an end to the whole ugly business before Roy was forced out.

Instead, Helena had spent hours at home searching through a perfectly ordinary laptop, growing increasingly irritated with every empty folder and unremarkable email. Whatever Tom had on Roy, it wasn't there.

The obvious explanation was that he'd stored it somewhere else. Perhaps in a personal cloud account, perhaps on a private device, or perhaps somewhere else entirely. It didn't really matter. Wherever the evidence was, it might as well have been on the moon. Helena couldn't get to it, and without something concrete, she had very little leverage.

The worst part was that she'd promised Roy she would help.

A glance at the clock reminded her that the morning was slipping away. There were meetings to attend, decisions to make, and an entire department that expected her to be doing her actual job. Yet her thoughts kept returning to the same problem. Roy was going to lose his position because a lazy, mediocre employee had decided he was entitled to someone else's career.

It was infuriating.

Still, the situation wasn't hopeless. They had a couple of weeks before Roy was supposed to leave the company, and Helena wasn't prepared to accept that outcome just yet. Even if the worst happened, she was confident Roy would land on his feet. She'd make certain he received an outstanding reference, although that might mean helping him find a position with one of their competitors. The thought wasn't especially appealing, but she wasn't going to sacrifice Roy's future to protect the company's interests.

Besides, Roy was exactly the sort of person other organizations wanted. He was competent without being arrogant, intelligent without making everyone else feel stupid, and approachable without being a pushover. He had a knack for making people feel comfortable, even when the subject was difficult. A good manager needed more than technical knowledge, and Roy understood that instinctively.

Hell, all those women who loved him couldn't be completely wrong, could they?

Helena had occasionally noticed the way some of her female coworkers looked at Roy. It wasn't the expression they wore when Tom entered a room, which was generally some combination of irritation and suspicion. Tom seemed to inspire the sort of attention that made women wonder whether they should alert security. Roy, on the other hand, attracted looks that suggested women were trying to work out how one ordinary-looking department head had managed to become so extraordinarily popular.

Sometimes Helena thought she understood.

Roy wasn't the sort of man who dominated a conversation or demanded attention. He didn't swagger around the office, show off, or make a production of being charming. He simply listened. He remembered things people told him. He noticed when someone was having a difficult day and took the time to ask how they were doing. There was something quietly reassuring about him, and Helena could see why women might find that appealing.

She'd seen it in his interactions with people at work, too. Even when Roy was under pressure, he rarely made anyone else feel as though they were the problem. He could take a stressful day and somehow make it feel manageable. A conversation with him could leave a person feeling better about things without either of them quite knowing how it had happened.

Oh, she would miss him if he left.

Not merely because he was a productive department head, although that mattered. Roy was a good friend. He was kind, honest, and one of those rare people whose presence made a workplace feel a little less like work. Helena had spent enough years in corporate environments to know how unusual that was. Too many people were interested in their own advancement, their own image, and their own little victories. Roy genuinely cared about the people around him.

He was the kind of man who could look at you and make you see your own value through his eyes.

The thought left Helena feeling even more determined. She couldn't let Tom take that away from him. Roy needed her, and she'd find a way to help.

Perhaps she needed to stop looking at the problem exclusively through the laptop. Tom might have hidden his work files, but that didn't mean he could hide everything about himself. People were careless in other ways. They talked. They complained. They confided in friends, family members, and romantic partners. Even a man as self-absorbed as Tom had to have some connections outside the office.

Helena leaned back in her chair and considered the possibilities.

Did Tom have any friends she could approach? Any acquaintances who might know what he was up to? More importantly, did he have a girlfriend? She was fairly certain he'd brought a woman to the last staff party. The two of them had spent much of the evening together, although Helena hadn't paid much attention at the time. What was her name?

Mary?

Melody?

Something along those lines.

It would come to her. If the woman was still in Tom's life, perhaps she knew something useful. Maybe she'd noticed something unusual, or heard him talking about his plans. Helena didn't particularly like the idea of involving someone outside the company, but she wasn't going to rule out an avenue simply because it was inconvenient.

In the meantime, Roy needed to know that she'd struck out with the laptop.

She picked up her phone and looked at his contact information. The message would be disappointing, and she wished she had something better to tell him. But she could at least reassure him that this was only the first attempt. She wasn't giving up, and she wasn't about to leave him to deal with Tom on his own.

Helena had not reached her position by allowing the occasional speed bump to derail her. There had been difficult people, ugly negotiations, and corporate battles that had required considerably more than patience and good intentions. She'd learned how to identify weaknesses, apply pressure, and make sure the people who tried to take advantage of others regretted their decisions.

In certain circles, she had a reputation as a corporate killer.

It wasn't a label she particularly enjoyed. Helena preferred to think of herself as fair, pragmatic, and willing to make difficult decisions when necessary. But she'd earned that reputation for a reason. She knew how to fight, and she knew how to win.

Perhaps it was time to put that part of herself back to work.

Tom had clearly underestimated Roy. He'd also underestimated Helena, although she suspected he hadn't given her much thought at all. That was fine. Being underestimated could be an advantage, especially when dealing with someone who believed he was more clever than everyone else.

Her expression hardened slightly as she considered the possibilities. The laptop had been a dead end, but it had also told her something useful. Tom was more careful than she'd assumed. That meant she would have to be more careful, too. She couldn't afford to make another obvious move and give him an opportunity to cover his tracks.

There were other ways to approach the problem. Other people to speak with. Other avenues to investigate.

Helena would find them.

Roy was worth the effort. More than that, he was worth fighting for.