Chapter57 The Cleaner Stole the Company Secrets
The cleaner froze under Miranda's cold stare, but quickly switched to an innocent, injured expression.
"Miranda, I don't know what you're talking about." She rubbed her hands, looking simple and honest. "I just pushed the door open to clean, like usual. I haven't done anything else."
Lisa stepped forward, glaring at the woman's feigned distress. "I locked that office door tightly when I left. Where did you get the key to open it?"
The cleaner paused for a second, her eyes darting around. She said, "Oh, I don't know. I just came by and pushed it open, and it opened. Lisa, is the lock broken?"
"Is that so?"
Miranda sneered, the look not reaching her eyes.
She ignored the cleaner's guilt-ridden face, walked straight to the bucket, put on a glove, and expressionlessly plunged her hand into the murky water.
Under their shocked and uncertain gazes, she slowly, inch by inch, withdrew her hand.
A single silver key lay quietly in her palm, wrapped in dirty water, reflecting a cold light.
Miranda held the key up to the cleaner.
"Then how do you explain this?"
The color instantly drained from the cleaner's face. Her pupils constricted violently, and she stumbled back a step, her lips trembling.
Just then, several figures in uniform walked in quickly. The lead officer looked around, his voice loud: "Who called the police? We got a report about someone leaking commercial secrets?"
Lisa immediately raised her hand. "I did!" She pointed her finger directly at the pale cleaner. "I'm reporting her. She stole our company's secrets!"
The cleaner shrieked when she heard this. "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!"
She suddenly spun around, glaring at Peter and pointing straight at him. "It's him! Peter must have done it! Look, he came back to the office in the middle of the night instead of going home. He definitely stole something!"
Peter's eyes widened in shock. His face was beet red as he frantically waved his hands. "It wasn't me! I didn't do it! I came back to the office tonight... just for some private freelance work. I really didn't leak any company information."
The police officer frowned, his expression serious. "Alright, everyone calm down." He waved his hand, his voice brooking no argument. "We'll sort out the full details at the station. Everyone is coming with us."
At the police station, the cleaner and Peter were taken into separate interrogation rooms.
An hour later, Peter walked out of the interrogation room, looking defeated. He looked up and saw Miranda and Lisa waiting outside. His face instantly flushed deep red, like it was about to bleed.
He hurried over to them and bowed deeply, his voice thick with shame and regret: "Miranda, Lisa, I am so sorry."
Lisa had been in the observation room next to the interrogation and now understood the whole story. Seeing him like this, she felt only a pang of sadness.
Peter's mother was gravely ill in the hospital, and the daily medical expenses were crushing him. His salary wasn't enough, so he was frantically taking on freelance work outside his job.
He had sold his home computer to pay his mother's hospital bills. Desperate, he resorted to using the company's computer.
The freelance work he was doing had nothing to do with the company's projects. To avoid short-changing the company, he even secretly calculated the electricity usage and quietly paid extra every time.
He thought he was being sneaky, but he was still caught. Embarrassment, humiliation, and the injustice of being mistaken for a thief all crashed over him at once.
Peter faced Miranda, his voice trembling. "Miranda, I was wrong. I promise I'll never do that again."
Miranda looked at him calmly, without a hint of reproach, but with a touch of warmth. She reached out and gently patted Peter's shoulder.
"The freelance work you do is completely unrelated to the company's projects. You even paid your own electricity costs. You don't need to apologize."
She paused, her voice softening further. "If you ever genuinely need help in the future, just tell Lisa. Don't hide it. The company will cover the electricity costs."
Peter's eyes immediately filled with tears. He couldn't hold it in anymore, and tears streamed down his face, hitting the floor. He couldn't speak a complete sentence, only bowing repeatedly. "Thank you, Miranda... Thank you..."
Leaving the police station, the night wind was cool, blowing away the oppressive atmosphere.
Lisa let out a long sigh and turned to Miranda, who looked composed. She finally couldn't hold back her confusion.
"Miranda, I still don't understand. How did you figure out the cleaner was the person behind this?"
Miranda paused, her gaze fixed on the city's distant neon lights. She fell into thought.
"The company was just started. I was certain that, besides you, nobody could freely enter and leave my office." Her voice was soft, as if stating something ordinary. "At first, I couldn't figure out who could pull this off right under my nose."
"Then, the day I returned to the office, the moment I stepped in, something felt wrong. It's hard to describe, like my territory had been invaded."
"That's why, before I left, I turned the lights back on and checked every single corner of the office."
A cold glint flashed in her eyes as she said this. "And then, I found a voice recorder hidden in the corner under the sofa."
Lisa gasped, sucking in a breath.
"From that moment, I knew the mole had unrestricted access to my office," Miranda continued. "That's why I made that call to you later—the one I intentionally let them overhear."
"And that's when I finally thought of the one person I had overlooked, but who could legitimately enter my office every single day—the cleaner."
After hearing Miranda's account, Lisa felt a chill down her spine, mixed with genuine admiration. With such meticulous observation and flawless logic, it was no wonder Miranda was able to carry the entire company on her own.
"I even suspected Peter earlier. I can't believe he was just..." Lisa sighed.
"I had someone check," Miranda said. "On the day of the celebration dinner, both Peter and the other colleague were genuinely dealing with family emergencies, which is why they couldn't attend."
Lisa nodded, the weight finally off her mind. "Well, that's a relief. The mole is caught, and the proposal is safe. We can finally relax."
"No," Miranda shook her head. "We can't let our guard down yet."
She looked at Lisa, her expression more serious than ever. "The police found that the money wired to the cleaner came from an offshore account. They couldn't trace it any further."
"That means the cleaner was just a pawn. The real person trying to hurt us is still hiding in the dark. They probably have a Plan B."
Lisa's heart sank, and the relaxed look on her face instantly vanished. She nodded heavily, her voice firm: "Miranda, don't worry. From now on, I will personally handle all strict background checks for new staff."
"I know I can count on you," Miranda said with a small smile.