“Possibly, but why? And who?” Regina pondered.
“Can I ask you something?” Izzie queried.
“Sure.”
“Has this place always been this, I dunno, creepy?”
“To be honest, things started getting a little weird a few months ago, when they announced they were opening a third community.”
“Weird. How?”
“Believe it or not, Crabby Clayton wasn’t always as crabby. I mean, she’s always been crabby, but the past month, she has been flying on a broomstick.”
Izzie almost spit out her drink, imagining the portly woman soaring overhead.
“And get this. When I tried to look up Jeremy’s profile, to see if I could get some family info, his file didn’t exist.”
“What do you mean, didn’t exist?” Izzie was dubious.
“I know I only have access to a few file folders, but one is for employees. For payroll. And I went over it and could not find a record of him anywhere.”
“Interesting.” Izzie felt she was getting closer to the fire. But what exactly was burning?
Pensacola, Florida
Landscaping Facility
Around the same time Izzie reported to Edith Clayton, Yoko arrived at the facilities building. Once she got past the security guard, she stepped inside. It was an extremely large warehouse and resembled the inside of a Home Depot. Yoko surmised they could build an entire complex with the supplies and tools they had on hand.
A tall, thin man with what sounded like a Russian accent approached her. “Miz Akia? I am Zhukov. Manager of Facilities. You come to do landscaping?” He eyed her petite form with suspicion.
Yoko gave him a slight bow. “Yes. There is much I can do.” Her thought balloons were already fired up.Like kick your butt across this concrete floor. He had no idea Yoko held black belts in many of the martial arts. At any given moment, she could kill someone without flinching or leaving a trace. But that is not what the discipline was about. Unless it was absolutely necessary.
Zhukov shrugged. “Follow me.” He showed her to a small locker room area. “You get clothes and change.”
Lockers with padlocks lined one wall, and several changing booths with curtains lined another. There was another wall with shelves that contained clean, army-green, folded jumpsuits with the Sunnydale logo. “You take one. Change. Lock your things. I wait outside.”
Each shelf marked the sizes of the uniforms. There was only one marked SMALL, and it was already too big for her diminutive frame. The crotch of the pants was down to her knees. She guessed it was for a small man, not a woman of her size. She rolled up the cuffs and stuffed her hair into a cap that also held the logo.
Zhukov eyed her as she exited the locker room. “You very small person.”
Yoko smiled. “Yes, but I am a very strong small person.” She nodded again.
“Come.” Zhukov motioned for her to follow him to where the topsoil and mulch were stored. “You take Danny in cart and finish front entrance. Needs refreshed.”
Yoko introduced herself to Danny, since Ivan was short on pleasantries and decorum. Yoko figured Danny was in his early thirties, but with his sun-leathered skin, it was hard to pinpoint within a ten-year range. Danny had a neatly trimmed reddish beard with a bit of matching hair poking out from under his cap. He was neat and trim. “Welcome, Yoko. I hear you’re a famous designer.”
“I am a landscape designer and florist, but famous? No.”
“I thought, maybe they’d hire a high-profile person.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I hear they’re planning on building another place and are trying to get investors. Having a well-known name on the roster couldn’t hurt.”
“They’re planning on another location?”
“That’s the rumor. New Mexico, I think that’s what they said.”
