"Hello, Arrendale," Andrew greeted Lawrence as he came by his desk to collect the day's mail. Though he chose the more formal attitude of addressing co-workers by their last names while on the job, his tone was always friendly. "Mail time already?"
"Yes, sir. It is."
Andrew reached towards his desk. When he didn't find the envelopes he was looking for right away, he took a closer look. He shifted through his papers before turning back to Lawrence, confused. "My letters were right here," he explained as he continued to search under the desk and between the pages of his day planner. Finally he gave up with a shrug. "I'm sorry. I can't seem to find them, but I don't want to put you off schedule. Do you mind if I bring the letters by the mailroom later, once I find them that is?"
"Not at all."
Lawrence left Andrew behind and continued with his daily work. He had only been working in the company's mail room for a few weeks, but already the job had become routine to him. He did the same tasks at the same times everyday without thinking much about them.
Lawrence had nearly forgotten about Andrew and the missing letters until he happened to glance inside the wastebasket as he was throwing away some trash. Laying on top was a small stack of sealed envelopes with Andrew Martin's name listed as the return address.
Lawrence picked up the letters and headed over to Andrew's desk, just as Andrew was on his way to the mail room."I don't know what happened," Andrew spoke up first. "I looked everywhere, but they're gone."
"Are these the letters you were looking for?" Lawrence asked.
Andrew took them from Lawrence and adjusted his glasses as he examined them. "Yes, they are. Where did you find them?"
"In the trash can."
Andrew frowned, confused. "Wonder how they got there. Anyway I'm glad you found them. Those envelopes contain important correspondences with our business partners. The company would be in a lot of trouble if those didn't get sent out."
The mystery of how Andrew's letters got into the trash bothered Lawrence for the rest of the week, but he was even more concerned when he began to notice other letters out of place. Letters that were addressed from Andrew to rival companies were appearing in stacks of in-going mail for Mr. Stuart and Mr. Townsend. Lawrence was convinced that he hadn't mistakenly put them there himself, yet he knew of no other explanation as to how they got there.Something about the letters didn't seem quite right to Lawrence, although he wasn't sure why. Instead of mailing them, he decided to talk to the bosses about the strange happenings and see what they thought.
When Lawrence couldn't find Mr. Townsend or Mr. Stuart in their offices he returned to the mail room where Hector was waiting for him.
"Hey, Lawrence. I just stopped by to say hi. Where have you been?"
"I wanted to talk to Mr. Stuart or Mr. Townsend about something, but I couldn't find them."
"They're both in a meeting in the conference room. Want to talk to me about it?"
Lawrence filled Hector in on what was going on to which Hector replied, "I'm glad you didn't bother the bosses with this. It was probably just a little prank to test out the new guy. If you want to get ahead you have to prove that you can handle these problems yourself."
I guess so," Lawrence replied.
"Sure," Hector said as he started to leave. "If you come across anything like this again, next time just come to me, ok. I'll look after you, buddy."
Lawrence spent the rest of the day thinking the situation over. He was convinced that this was more than a prank. It seemed like someone was trying to sabotage him, but who would do something like that? Everyone seemed to like him and he didn't pose a threat to anyone at the company.
He considered Blaine for a moment, just because he had been the previous mail clerk. But Blaine had been promoted to a better job, one that he seemed to like. He wouldn't have any reason to be jealous of Lawrence.
The next person that came to mind was Andrew. All of the misplaced letters had his name on the return address . . .Suddenly Lawrence had another thought. Maybe he wasn't the one being sabotaged, maybe Andrew was.
A quick comparison of the handwriting on the letters he found misplaced in the bosses' mail and some of the other letters in the mail room confirmed his suspicions. He couldn't believe it was true.
Lawrence didn't go home right after work that evening. Instead he sat next to the fountain in front of the office, thinking about how he should approach this delicate situation. He waited there until Hector passed by on his way home for the night.
"Hey, Laurie. Why are you still hanging around out here? Can't get enough of this place?"
"I just thought I'd see if you wanted to have a drink with me after work. To return the favor."
"Aw, I'd like to, but I can't. I've got to meet my girl tonight. I can't afford to be late when I pick her up." He explained with a wink, "She's the boss's daughter."
"Yeah, well . . ." Lawrence started. "Listen, Hector, I need to talk to you."
"Sure, I've got a few minutes. What's on your mind?"
"I know how the letters got misplaced."
Hector raised an eyebrow curiously, but showed no other sign of emotion. "Oh yeah? How?"
"I should ask you that question," Lawrence said sternly. "But I'll tell you what I noticed today. The letters supposedly from Mr. Martin that I found in with the bosses's mail was addressed in the same handwriting as your letters. While the rest of Mr. Martin's mail, including the letters I found in the trash, matched each other, but not those letters."
Hector considered Lawrence's words and nodded slowly. When he spoke again he chose his words calmly and deliberately. "I always knew you were a smart guy, Lawrence. Smarts like that can get you places if you know how to use them. Do you know how you're going to use yours, Arrendale?" he asked with a menacing edge to his tone.
"Why did you do it, Hector?" Lawrence asked, appalled at the coldness he saw in his old "friend."
Hector ignored the question and continued, "I'll tell you what you're going to do. You're going to keep this quiet. You and I are in this together. If this stays between us, I'll get the promotion and I'll see to it that you move up too. But if you tell anyone, I'll take you down with me." Lawrence stood silently, too stunned to know what to say, but Hector only smiled and tapped Lawrence on the shoulder before walking away. "Why do you think I got you the job? See ya Monday."
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