The Case of the Missing Papers

"President Enriquez! Good afternoon!" Maia said, slightly bowing her head.

Jane also stood up, surprised at the President's presence. "Good afternoon, Sir." Her voice trembled. She cleared her throat twice before repeating her greeting.

President Enriquez didn't reply. He simply looked at Maia and then at Mandy. He completely ignored Jane.

Rae and Carla stood up almost at the same time as courtesy to President Enriquez. "Good afternoon, President Enriquez." The two of them said in unison. Rae smiled, slightly lowering her head as she finished speaking, while Carla simply looked at the President after saying her greeting.

"Good afternoon, President Enriquez." Josh said after Rae and Carla greeted.

This time, President Enriquez replied to their greeting. "Good afternoon, everyone." He didn't smile but looked at them, one after the other, except for Mandy whom he looked at longer than he did the others.

Maia nudged Mandy with her elbow. She was motioning for Mandy to greet President Enriquez. It took a while before Mandy remembered that in that moment, she was an employee, not the daughter of the company President.

"Good afternoon, Da-, I mean President Enriquez," Mandy faltered, almost saying "Dad".

President Enriquez nodded at Mandy without saying a word.

Mandy looked at her Dad. He was wearing a blue suit and a tie. His shoes buffed and shiny. She suddenly felt adoration for her dad. She has never seen him at work. Clearly, people in his company have deep respect for him.

"What is going on here, Maia?" Josephine asked. She was smiling but her eyes were wide, like she was threatening Maia.

"Nothing, Josephine. There has just been a slight misunderstanding here that I am very sure Jane and Amanda will resolve on their own." She glanced at Mandy and Jane, imitating Josephine's expression — smiling but eyes wide, warning both the ladies. She took a quick scan of the room and saw that everything seems to be in order — except of course for the missing documents.

"I would expect no less," Josephine's tone was serious. "President Enriquez, allow me to introduce the team to you."

Josephine then proceeded to introduce everyone to President Enriquez, briefly explaining what each one did. President Enriquez nodded while Josephine introduced each one. He patiently waited for her daughter's turn to be introduced to him. Mandy wondered if he was actually listening to Josephine talking about his employees.

"And lastly, Sir, this is Amanda Garcia, the newest member of Maia's team. She is the Office Assistant, along with Josh. Actually, she just started today," Josephine said as she introduced Mandy to her father.

Mandy smiled.

"It's an honor to meet you, Sir."

"We are glad to have you in this company. I hope you will be able to learn many things here — things that you can use to advance in your profession," President Enriquez said to Mandy. Everyone looked at each other, clearly surprised at what he said.

"I'm sure I will, Sir."

"Very well, then," Josephine cut in. "Shall we proceed to the next floor, Sir?"

"And how has your day been so far?" President Enriquez ignored Josephine.

"It's been good so far, Sir. The people are nice and very helpful." Mandy replied. But the truth was, it was the exact opposite.

"Very well. Welcome to the company." President Enriquez smiled at Mandy. "And I'm glad to have met your team," he said as he looked at Maia. "And I'm glad to have met all of you," he said as he addressed the rest of them. And then he turned around to go out the door, Josephine following him. And then Josephine looked at Maia, she said something to Maia, but did not make any sound. Mandy read her lips: "We'll talk later," she seemed to say.

"You guys just got me in trouble with Josephine!" Maia said as soon as the door closed behind Josephine. Maia was exasperated.

"Amanda, you look for those lost documents! Everyone, check your areas, it might be accidentally placed in your incoming or outgoing racks. All of you will answer to me if those documents are not located. Do you all understand?" Maia went back to her desk without waiting for an answer. The heels of her shoe thumping as she walked away.

Mandy was pissed. She remembered leaving those documents on her desk. If there is anything her friends can say about her, is that she has a memory like an elephant's — she never forgets.

"Somebody took them, I just know it!" Mandy said to herself as she sat on her desk, looking at each of her colleagues. She tried to retrace her steps. She closed her eyes and pictured her day in her head, from the time Jane gave her the papers.

"Amanda! Don't tell me you're taking a nap!" Maia's voice boomed. "I told you to look for those documents didn't I? You sitting there with your eyes closed doesn't look like 'looking for the documents' at all!"

"I was just thinking where I might have left it," Mandy was getting irritated now. "Don't worry I'll look for it." She said indignantly.

"You had better!" Maia warned as she went out the door.

Mandy cupped her face in her hand. Her prediction was right — it will be a long day today.

. . .

"How's your search going?" Josh asked Mandy as she went through her drawer for the hundredth time.

"Not good," Mandy said. "I can't find the documents, Josh. And between you and me, I think somebody took them." She whispered the last sentence.

"What! No way! Who would do that? Besides, you're new here so I don't think anybody would have any grudge against you to give them reason to get you to trouble."

What Josh said made sense. But Mandy still can't get the thought out of her head.

"If nobody took them, where are they, then?" Mandy felt frustrated. "I checked this room hundreds of times already! If they're not here… Then they're somewhere else." She looked across the room at her colleagues who were busy working.

Just then, she remembered Lee and his visit earlier.

"Where are those boxes you brought to Lee earlier?" Mandy asked Josh.

"They're outside already."

"Where exactly outside? I think the papers might be there."

"They can't be there," Josh said, rubbing his chin as he was thinking. "I checked those when I brought them out. They were all empty."

"Come on! Take me to those boxes. I can feel they are there." Mandy begged Josh.

"Okay. Let's go."

They both took the elevator going down. As they approached the stack of boxes, Mandy's heart kept pounding. Half of herself doesn't want to find the papers there, but the other half wants to. But, finding those papers there could mean that somebody might have intentionally threw those papers out. She shook the thought from her mind. Right now, finding those papers is what's important. She'll deal with how they got to those boxes later.

When they were close enough they saw nothing else but the boxes.

"See? I told you they aren't here." Josh said to Mandy, his forehead had beads of sweat.

"How about we take a look inside?" Mandy said. She felt out of breath from nervousness.

Josh hesitated but Mandy looked so hopeful.

He opened the topmost box. Nothing.

Josh put down the first box so that he could open the second one which was under it. Still nothing.

Mandy's palms were getting sweaty. All the suspense was getting to her.

Josh put down the second box. Mandy took a deep breath.

Josh opened the box slowly. Even he was getting nervous that they might find those documents in there. He glanced at Mandy before opening it.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Mandy couldn't believe it. She took a look herself. Now she's out of ideas about where she could have left the documents.

They went up again to their office floor. Mandy walked slowly as she played and replayed everything that happened that day. She was thinking where those documents might be. She looked at her watch. It was almost 3:15PM. She had used up Josh's coffee break looking for the documents.

"Oh, no, Josh I'm so sorry. You didn't get to use your coffee break because I insisted on going down to where those boxes were."

"It's okay, don't worry about it." Josh winked at her. "It's always a pleasure to save a damsel in distress."

"I promise I'll buy you coffee when I find those papers. I'll make it up to you."

As they entered the room, they saw nobody was there.

"Everyone must be out on a break. They should be back soon." Josh walked over to Rae's desk and picked up some papers to put in the filing drawers.

Mandy didn't hear what Josh said. She was staring at her desk. Josh looked back at her when he realized she didn't say a word.

Mandy wasn't listening to Josh. She was staring at her desk, eyes wide, her mouth open.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked. Josh saw Mandy cup her hand over her mouth. He followed Mandy's gaze. He almost dropped the papers he had just picked up.

There on top of Mandy's desk, were the documents they were looking for.