Chapter 37

Claire's face shifted a bit. She pushed down the irritation rising in her chest, kept her cool and asked, “Why lock the door? Is what I’m asking... supposed to be a secret or something?” She paused, glanced at the others. “Confidential?” Patrick quickly smiled. “No, no, don’t overthink it, Miss Richards. Director Williams locking the door wasn’t for any shady reason. Just… it’s not the kind of thing we want spreading around.” “Oh? Sounds like there’s more to it than meets the eye.” “Yes, actually. Here’s the thing, those two people you asked about? They’re one of our earliest workers, husband and wife. They had a workplace accident ages ago, ended up disabled and couldn’t work anymore. Back then, we didn’t want the situation to blow up, so we, uh, came to a private agreement with them. They were odd about it too—asked for fifteen years of disability pay.” “…” That’s a creative story, I’ll give you that. Claire pursed her lips and stayed quiet for a few seconds, then nodded like she bou