Then he’d found a sealed brown folder.
It contained documents involving Claire Bell.
She had worked at Harlow for eleven months.
Not in a prestigious position.
She’d been an administrative assistant in the company’s medical benefits office.
In 1999, she’d apparently raised concerns about discrepancies in employee health claims.
“What kind of discrepancies?” I asked.
“That’s the strange part. The documents I saw never explained.”
Stephen leaned forward.
“There were internal letters discussing Claire’s allegations, but not the allegations themselves.”
“And then she disappeared?”
“That’s what I assumed.”
“Why?”
“One memo used that word.”
“What did it say?”
He closed his eyes, remembering.
“Something like, ‘Following Bell’s disappearance, no further communication should be made through departmental channels.'”
I felt cold.
“That sounds awful.”
“It did.”
“Did anyone report her missing?”
“I searched afterward. Couldn’t find anything.”
“Then why did you think she’d disappeared?”
“Because another document mentioned an investigator.”
He paused.
