"Lucy! How are you?" Eileen greeted her friend with a hug as she was let in the front door. "It looks like motherhood is treating you well."
Lucy laughed. "I'm fine. I think I'm doing well with the whole motherhood thing, but I will be glad when I find a nanny to help."
"Have you started interviewing?"
"Not yet, but I've started asking around. There really isn't a hurry. It's going to be awhile before I'm able to go back to work anyway."
"Where is the baby? I'm anxious to see him."
"He's upstairs in the nursery," Lucy said as she led the way. "Come on up."
"Here he is," Lucy said quietly as she and Eileen approached the crib.
Eileen peered over the edge of the crib at the baby. "Oh, he's so adorable. Can I hold him?"
"Of course," Lucy smiled. She reached into the crib, picked up the baby and set him in Eileen's waiting arms.
Eileen cooed at the baby and cuddled him in her arms. "And his name is Stuart?"
Lucy nodded. "Yes. I thought that something should keep my family's name since your father renamed the company."
"Yeah," Eileen said quietly, hoping this topic of conversation would quickly pass.
"I don't mean to speak badly about your father, but I don't understand how he could have done this to my family. I know what my father did was wrong, but Arthur promised he was going to keep quiet about this. How did it end up as front page news?"
Eileen shrugged. "I don't know. I'm sure he had his reasons. This situation hasn't been easy on him either. You do know that he resigned from the company?"
"I heard," Lucy said as she turned away and busied herself by straightening a pile of baby clothes stacked on the changing table. A moment of silence passed before Lucy quickly turned around again. "A few years ago would you have ever imagined it would be like this? I still have trouble believing my dad stole money from the company and that someone murdered him."
Eileen grew tense. "Have there been any leads about your father's death?"
Lucy shook her head in frustration. "I don't know. The police won't tell me anything."
"Maybe it's for the best . . . Are you sure you really want to know?"
"Yes! I need to know the truth about what happened, for justice and for my own peace of mind. If you were in my place, wouldn't you want to know?"
Eileen sighed. "Probably, but I wonder if knowing the truth might be more painful than not knowing."
"Maybe at first, but I will be relieved when this case is solved and the person who killed my father is in jail where he belongs." When Stuart started to cry, Lucy took him from Eileen. "It's time for his bottle."
Hector sat at his desk in the office, sorting through a stack of papers in front of him. He quickly scanned the desktop for a pen to jot down a note, but didn't see one handy.
As he searched his pockets for a writing utensil, Hector's hand brushed across a folded scrap of paper. Curious, he took it out of his pocket. Once he saw it, he recognized what it was before he even unfolded the note. It was the piece of paper Eileen had dropped on campus.
He stared at the words again and shook his head. He couldn't believe Eileen was involved in something like this.
"Hector," Amanda called out as she approached him from behind. He jumped and quickly folded the paper in his palm. "You're needed in the boardroom."
"I'll be there in a minute," he said and placed the paper back in his pocket.
When Hector walked into the boardroom, Arthur was seated at the head of the table with Andrew and Lawrence on either side. He took a seat next to Lawrence, as Amanda sat next to her husband.
Arthur cleared his throat and began the meeting. "The board has reached a decision and I wanted to be the one to make the announcement to you all. The board was unanimous about who the officers should be, but they were split on which should be president and which should be vice president. By a two to one vote, the company's new vice president is Andrew."
Andrew looked surprised for a moment before turning to Amanda with a proud smile. He expected her to be happy for him, but instead she pouted and glared across the table at Lawrence and Hector.
Hector and Lawrence watched Arthur anxiously as he continued. "And the new president is Lawrence. Congratulations."
Hector blinked. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "You're kidding me, right?"
"I'm afraid not," Arthur replied.
Wordlessly, Hector rose from his seat. He shoved his chair towards the table and stormed out of the room.
Andrew watched Hector's reaction with a satisfied smirk. As he stood to offer Lawrence his congratulations, Amanda quietly slipped out of the room.
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