Be here

The next morning.

Mandy drove into the farm as she saw several police cars gathered everywhere, even her usual parking spot was blocked by one of the police cars, so she parked elsewhere.

"What in the world is going on here?" asked Mandy to herself as she got out of her car and she walked to her office, passing by some other police officers, now she was starting to get worried, just what were all these police officers doing here.

"Hey, do you know where Chloe is?" asked Mandy as she stopped to speak to the woman sitting at the front desk as she looked up.

"Yes, she just stepped out a few minutes ago" replied the woman.

"Stepped out to where?" asked Mandy.

"I don't know where exactly, but she said that she wouldn't be long" replied the woman.

"Okay then…" said Mandy as she walked to her office, wondering what was going on with the many police officers over here, the atmosphere was strange.

Mandy was on her way to her office when she passed by Natasha's office and she saw the door opened as she moved back to see Natasha in her office.

"Oh madam, I did not know that you were here, good morning" said Mandy as she entered into Natasha office and Natasha looked up at her.

"Good morning Mandy, you are late" replied Natasha as she already did not look like she was in a good mood, and Mandy's lateness only added to it.

"Ah… umm I… I got held up in traffic" said Mandy.

"Oh and it's 10 am, while you are supposed to resume at 9am?" asked Natasha.

"I was held up in traffic, I promise you madam, it will not happen again" said Mandy.

"Mandy, you always make promises that you cannot keep, so just stop it" said Natasha.

"I apologize madam" said Mandy.

"Have you heard about what happened?" asked Natasha.

"No what happened?" asked Mandy.

"The greenhouse with the tomatoes burnt down last night" said Natasha.

"No way, what??!" asked Mandy as she gasped.

"Chloe called me last night, everything burnt down and we had to drive over here to see the damage" said Natasha.

"But what could have caused a fire so big enough to burn down everything? That greenhouse was in top condition, this is a lot of money gone, we are never going to be able to recover" said Mandy as Natasha ignored the last part of her sentence.

"We have no idea, the firefighters deemed it an accident, probably to do with faulty electrical wires, but we know better than that" said Natasha.

"We do??" asked Mandy.

"I sense some tampering, fires don't just start, especially not when we made sure to safe proof everything" said Natasha.

"Is… is that why the police are here?" asked Mandy.

"Yes, they are opening up an investigation, no one is allowed to go to the scene of the crime" said Natasha.

"How are you so sure that it was a crime, it could just be an accident" said Mandy.

"Trust me it's not" replied Natasha.

"How… how long are the police going to be here?" asked Mandy.

"As long as it takes them to find evidence" replied Natasha.

"But… don't they have other cases to work on other than find evidence over here?" asked Mandy.

"I'm friends with the Police commander, and he assured me that his men would not leave until they found evidence" said Natasha as Mandy's heart dropped.

"Oh… yeah… I… I forgot that you are friends with the police commander" said Mandy.

"Very good friends" replied Natasha.

"Which reminds me, be prepared to answer some questions, the officers are going to interrogate all the staff" said Natasha.

"All the staff??" asked Mandy in a panicked cracked voice as she felt a cold sweat run down her face, she was nervous.

"Yes all the staff" replied Natasha with a raised eyebrow as she noticed Mandy's nervousness, which was not aa good sign, she was not going to overlook Mandy's jittering, and stammering while asking questions.

"Mandy" called Natasha in a low calm tone of voice.

"Yess?" asked Mandy as Natasha´s sudden change of tone scared her.

"What time did you leave the office yesterday?" asked Natasha as Mandy felt a shiver run down her spine.

"The usual time… why do you ask?" asked Mandy as she quickly replied.

"Well Chloe left early yesterday, and you were obviously in charge, did you see any suspicious activity?" asked Natasha.

"Well no, everything was fine as usual" replied Mandy as she shook her head.

"Then tell me what time exactly you went home yesterday" said Natasha.

"Ahh at 10pm… ahh I mean 8pm, I had some work to finish before I left" replied Mandy.

"Mandy, are you sure?" asked Natasha.

"Very madam, I left at 8pm" said Mandy.

"Alright, so if I was to check the security cameras right now, It would confirm what you told me?" asked Natasha as Mandy felt her heart race.

"Yes madam" said Mandy.

"Do you have anything to tell me Mandy?" asked Natasha as she smiled coldly.

"No madam, I told you everything I know" said Mandy as she fidgeted with her hands.

"Alright then" said Natasha.

"Yes madam, I have to go now, I have lots of work to do" said Mandy as Natasha just waved her off and Mandy quickly left her office as Natasha looked up for a moment and picked up her phone and dialed a number.

"I need the security camera footage from last night, the time frame is from 5pm till this morning, get it for me now" said Natasha as she ended the call and dialed another number.

"Pete, call your men off, I think I have an idea of who set the greenhouse on fire" said Natasha.

"Are you sure Nat?" asked Pete.

"Very, I know who it is, and I have evidence, I just need you to play along with me" said Natasha.

"What do you need?" asked Pete as he knew that Natasha was up to something.

"Get me a police car and two police men" said Natasha.

"Consider it done, what time do you want them to come over?" asked Pete.

"5pm, I need to teach a little rat a nice lesson" said Natasha.

"Don't go too far Nat, we can handle it the legal way by you pressing charges" said Pete.

"I don't have time for a process that long Pete, I just want to teach her a little lesson about being a traitor" said Natasha.

"Nat, I don't like that tone of yours, be careful" said Pete.

"I am always careful Pete" said Natasha.

"Yeah, yeah" replied Pete as he ended the call and Natasha thought to herself.

…

Mandy walked out of her office and slipped into the restroom as she panickily brought out her phone and dialed a number.

"Oh come on, come on, pick up" said Mandy in a panic as she paced around in a panic as her call was finally answered.

"Babe, babe, I am in deep trouble, serious trouble" said Mandy in anxiety.

"Calm down Mandy, what are you talking about?" came a familiar man's voice from the other side of the line.

"What I did, I am going to be caught, Natasha got the freaking police involved, I forgot that she's very close friends with the Police Commander, he sent his men over here and they won't leave until they find evidence, I'm screwed" said Mandy.

"Can you relax Mandy, nothing points to you… unless you left evidence of what you used" asked the man.

"No, I got rid of it all" replied Mandy.

"Good, then nothing can be traced to you, so chill out and stop stressing me out" said the man.

"Babe, I am scared, what if I get caught? I could go to jail because of this" said Mandy.

"You won't get caught, so stop panicking, I don't have time for this, you know I hate it when you act irrational like this" said the man.

"Alright, okay, okay, I'm sorry, I was just freaked out" said Mandy as she sighed.

"I want to resign more than ever, that was the plan right, I resign after doing this and come work with you" said Mandy.

"I still want you over there for a little while longer, after that, then you can resign" replied the man.

"Okay…" replied Mandy.

"Are you coming over tonight?" asked the man.

"Yes after work, I'll be there" said Mandy.

"Good" replied the man as he ended the call and Mandy sighed to herself as she tried to calm herself down, no one would find her out, no one.

"Relax Mandy, you will be fine, just hang on a while longer to this stupid job…" said Mandy to herself with a sigh as she fixed herself up, took more deep breaths and walked out of the restroom.

…

Natasha tapped on her phone as she looked at the time, she would soon have to go and pick Joy up from school.

Natasha stood up and she tidied her desk and left her office, she was sure that there were going to be some nice, bitter tears today.