Chapter 42 Playing Along
"Yes," Peter said, nodding.
Soon enough, he came back with a USB stick loaded with the surveillance footage from when Margaret hit the airport and came back this morning.
"Got it," Peter said, handing it over to William.
William took the USB, leaned back a bit, and squinted.
What did the cameras catch?
With a cold look, he tossed the USB on the table and said, "Play it."
"Sure thing." Peter got the computer and projector going to play the video.
Ella wiped the sweat off her forehead, trying to calm herself down.
She thought, 'So what if they see the footage? I didn't swap the blueprints myself. I set it up perfectly; they won't trace it back to me.'
The video showed Margaret organizing her folder. She pulled out the design blueprints and checked them carefully.
It was clear she had the blueprints, not blank paper.
After checking, Margaret put the blueprints back in the folder, stashed it in the drawer, and headed to the airport.
No one touched Margaret's desk until lunchtime.
The office was empty since everyone was at the cafeteria.
Then, a middle-aged woman in a janitor's uniform, carrying cleaning tools, walked in.
She tiptoed to Margaret's desk, made sure no one was around, quickly opened the drawer, swapped the blueprints with blank paper, and closed it.
"So it was the janitor who swapped the blueprints," Ella said, relieved.
They watched the footage, and she figured she was in the clear now.
That janitor, who took her money, should be hiding out in the sticks by now.
She thought, 'Let's see how long Margaret can keep that smug look!'
"Margaret, you accused me of swapping the blueprints. Now that we've seen the footage, it's clear it wasn't me," Ella said, regaining her cool. "You were so quick to accuse me in public. Shouldn't you apologize?"
"Hold up," Margaret said calmly, signaling Peter to pause the video.
"Yeah, we all saw it. It was the janitor, Felicity Banning, who swapped the blueprints," Margaret pointed to the janitor in the video. "But why did she do it? What did she get out of it?"
"Just find her and ask," Ella said confidently, knowing Margaret couldn't find Felicity.
William frowned and signaled Peter to find the janitor.
Peter made a call and then reported, "Sir, Felicity resigned at 1 PM today."
That was right after she swapped the blueprints.
She quit right after swapping the blueprints, so it was all planned out.
"Find her, no matter what!" William said coldly and firmly.
Margaret smiled slightly. "No need to go through all that trouble. I'll have Felicity come over right away. The truth will come out then."
"You?" William was a bit surprised.
Margaret picked up her phone and made a call. "Felicity, you can come over now. Yeah, to the conference room on the 18th floor."
Ella freaked out. How the hell did Margaret have Felicity's number? And how could she get Felicity to show up now?
No way.
This was totally impossible!
Margaret had to be bluffing to mess with her head.
She couldn't lose it; she had to stay cool.
Ten minutes later, the middle-aged woman in the janitor's uniform from the video showed up at the conference room door. It was Felicity.
"Felicity, come on in." Margaret nodded at her, signaling her to enter.
Felicity looked a bit nervous but walked in with determination.
Seeing Felicity, Ella's face went pale.
She was sure Felicity had quit and gone back to the countryside. Why was she here now?
"Felicity, did you swap the blueprints in my folder?" Margaret asked calmly.
Felicity nodded and admitted. "Yeah."
"Why'd you do it?" Margaret continued.
Felicity lowered her eyes. "Someone paid me $500,000 to swap your blueprints."
"Who gave you $500,000 and told you to do it?" Margaret scanned the room with sharp eyes. "Is that person in this room?"
"Yeah, it's her!" Felicity suddenly pointed right at Ella. "She told me to do it!"
"Don't lie! Did Margaret put you up to this? She must be trying to frame me!" Ella shouted, panicking and trying to shift the blame.
Seeing Ella's freak-out, Margaret smiled.
Everything was going just as she planned.
That day, she overheard Ella and Lucy's phone chat in the restroom, learning about their plot to set her up.
She had Anthony secretly listen in on Ella's calls and found out that Ella's plan was to swap the "Ice and Fire" blueprints, hoping William would fire Margaret for negligence.
Ella knew Felicity's son was seriously ill and needed money, so she tried to bribe Felicity to swap the blueprints.
Margaret found Felicity and arranged for the top-notch doctor who treated her as a kid to treat Felicity's son.
Felicity's son's condition quickly improved, and she was grateful to Margaret, agreeing to do anything for her.
So, Margaret came up with a plan to have Felicity pretend to take Ella's money, agree to swap the blueprints, and secretly gather evidence.
The goal was to expose Ella's scheme!
Ella wanted to frame Margaret and get her fired. But now Margaret was flipping the script on her!
"Felicity, did I tell you to frame her?" Margaret asked calmly.
Felicity's expression turned serious, and she quickly shook her head. "No, it was Ella who told me to swap your blueprints."
"You're lying!" Ella denied repeatedly, "What did Margaret give you to make you frame me?"
"I'm not framing you, Ella. This is the recording I secretly made when you gave me the money and told me to swap the blueprints," Felicity said, pulling out a voice recorder from her pocket.
As soon as William's eyes landed on the voice recorder, a flicker of emotion passed over his usually stern face.
He had seen that voice recorder in Margaret's room.
Did Margaret give it to Felicity?
So, Margaret had seen all this coming?
And Felicity's appearance and betrayal were all part of Margaret's plan?
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