“Take my deputy with you,” Russ said. “Report back if you find a problem.”
“Will do.” Ryan went outside, tapping the screen of his phone as he went.
Now that he was gone, Mia didn’t need to keep up the pretense of feeling fine. “Would it be okay if I sat while we talked?”
“Fine by me,” Russ said.
She gently lowered her battered body onto the cracked vinyl chair by Verna’s desk.
“Tell me what happened,” Russ said.
She described coming upon the intruder and her attempt to blind him. Russ interrupted frequently to ask clarifying questions, making the process take forever. His questions went on and on, eating up time Mia could better use to determine who’d broken into the office.
“Can you describe him?” Russ asked.
“Not other than he was big. Over six feet tall. Strong. Bulky, like a football player. He plowed through us both like we were nothing.”
Russ gestured at the room. “Can you tell what’s missing?”
She started to shake her head, and everything spun. “No, but he dropped the pillowcase by the door and it’s filled with files from the cabinet he broke into. Verna told me today that she kept employee files in there.”
“That should give Sierra something to go on.” Russ pointed at her lap. “Is that the camera?”
She lifted the mangled body. “It is.”
“Did our suspect touch it?”
“No,” she said. “He wore gloves, but even if he didn’t, it flew from my hand when he barreled into me.”
Russ scowled. “If I remember right, you’re a photography buff. Any hope we can get a picture of the guy off that camera?”
“Depends. If the flash was bright enough, and if the memory card is still intact then maybe.” She tried to open the small compartment housing the memory card. “Card holder is damaged. I can’t get it out, but maybe Chuck can remove it without damaging the card.”
“Who’s Chuck?”
“The camera’s owner and a photographer on the documentary crew.”
Russ tapped his chin. “He might well be able to do it, but he’s a no-go. We need to maintain chain of custody. Sierra can retrieve the card then Chuck can have his camera back.”
“I’ll let Chuck know in the morning that Sierra has this.” Mia handed the camera to Russ.
“Before I let you go, let’s take a look in that pillowcase to see if the contents mean anything to you.” He set the camera on the desk and then snapped on gloves. He crossed the room and lifted the case onto Verna’s desk.
“It’s full of files like you said.” He removed a stack of manila folders and then handed her a pair of gloves. “Check these out. Anything significant?”
Mia put on the gloves and flipped through the stack. “Looks like personnel files like she said, but it’s also financial files for Evergreen.” Baffled, she looked at Russ. “I can’t see why someone would want to steal only these files, but maybe he was planning to take even more of them if we hadn’t interrupted.”
Russ gave her a clipped nod. “I’ll get Verna’s take on them tomorrow.”
The idea of Verna looking at these didn’t sit well with Mia. “Verna’s been acting odd lately. Like she has something to hide. So if she’s up to something, there might be evidence in these files to implicate her.”
Russ’s eyebrow went up. “You think she’s cooking the books?”
“I think it would be impossible to do with my brother’s firm handling the finances for Evergreen.” She reminded him of the separation of duties that Kurt had explained to her. “Keeps things on the up and up.”
Russ scowled. “Then I should probably have them evaluate the files before I talk to her.”
“Sounds like a good idea.” Mia took a breath. “And then talk to Verna not only about the files, but about her debts.”
