The Corner Office
The Quiet Transfer

A Visit From Upstairs

August 25, 2026 · Part 6 of 10 · 2 min

A week after the audit rumors started, someone I'd never met before appeared at the door of B2, heels clicking too crisply for a records room.

"Naomi Castellan? I'm Odette Marlow, Deputy Finance Director." She smiled the way people smile when they've rehearsed it. "Gregory mentioned you'd settled in down here. I wanted to see for myself."

"That's kind of him."

"He speaks very highly of your work ethic." She wandered the room, trailing a finger along a shelf of boxes like she was inspecting for dust rather than looking for something specific. "There's actually a position opening in our Denver office. Senior role. Significant raise. Relocation package. I thought of you immediately."

"I have a life here."

"Of course. I only mention it because sometimes a fresh start is exactly what someone needs — especially when they're carrying something heavy that isn't really theirs to carry." She turned to face me fully now, the smile still there but doing different work. "This audit business will resolve itself, Naomi. These things always do. The people who get hurt are usually the ones who insert themselves where they don't need to be."

"Is that a warning?"

"It's advice. From someone who'd genuinely like to see you land somewhere good." She glanced at her watch. "Think about Denver. The offer's good through Friday."

She left the way she came, heels clicking down the concrete hallway until the sound faded. I stood there a long moment, my heart doing something uneven, before I remembered the drive.

I pulled open my bottom desk drawer, the one I'd moved down here with me, the one where I kept the small external drive tucked beneath a stack of old notepads.

It wasn't there.

I dumped the drawer out onto the desk, notepads and paperclips and a half-eaten roll of mints scattering across the surface. No drive. I checked the drawer above it, the one below, the shelf under my monitor, my coat pocket, my bag.

Gone.

Nobody had been in this room except Odette Marlow, admiring a shelf of boxes she clearly hadn't cared about at all.

Continue the story Part 7: Missing Copies →

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