Fire Engine Dead by Sheila Connolly

Author:Sheila Connolly [Connolly, Sheila]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group, Inc.
Published: 2012-03-05T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Now I had to go explain the whole situation to Latoya. How was it that I kept having to defend myself to that woman? Yes, collections was her domain, and she was entitled to make decisions that pertained to collections—acquisition, cataloging, physical maintenance. I subscribed to the idea that one should hire good people and let them do their job, without hovering over their shoulder and second-guessing all their decisions. Not that I’d been the one to hire Latoya, although I had no argument with her qualifications. Still, I know I’d resent that kind of treatment, and yet here I was, stepping all over Latoya’s toes. But I was in an unusual and awkward position, since it was my special relationship with the FBI that had created this problem. There was no way I was going to give Latoya the option of saying no to the FBI.

I squared my shoulders and marched down the hall. When I reached Latoya’s door, it was closed, so I knocked and waited politely for her to invite me in. She took her own sweet time about it. When I finally walked in, she looked up in surprise. “Oh, Nell—I didn’t know it was you. What can I do for you?”

I sat without waiting for her to ask. “I wanted to give you an update about what’s going on with that material we received yesterday.”

Latoya sat back in her chair. “Ah, yes, the FBI dump. I did check in on the young ones this morning and encouraged them to cooperate with each other. I take it you’ve talked to your, uh, contact at the FBI?”

“I have. He says the agency wants us to go through it and see what we can identify. Our missing items, of course, but we should at least give him enough written detail on the rest that he can compare the other pieces to any of the available databases of stolen items.”

“I see. Did you tell him we have no space, no staff, and no time to undertake something like this, particularly without warning?”

“I did, but I also told him that we would find a way to make time. We stand to gain much more than we lose by doing this, starting with the goodwill of the FBI. Not to mention, they’ll pay us, enough to support the new staff for the time it takes. Plus there’s some possibility that we might get to keep the confiscated materials, if legalities permit.”

“Ah,” she said. “I wish you had done me the courtesy of discussing this with me first. But all right. What do you want me to do?”

“Supervise the team. I’ve asked them to do a first pass and create an action plan and a timetable. You need to make sure they’re on track.”

“What about the Terwilliger Collection?”

“I’ve already talked to Marty, and she’s okay with this. You can bet that she’s going to be involved all along the way, because she’s the best person to sniff out her family’s documents from the piles.

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