It was the smell that aroused her finely tuned detective instincts. Sitting at her computer terminal blithely determining the fates of those opposed to the Bricklayer union she was struck by the noxious smell coming from the break room. Her senses primed she moved cautiously to the kitchen. She spotted the culprit immediately. The toaster oven lay in ruins, slightly smoking, the charred remains of a piece of toast still hot on the rack. Anna couldn’t let this go unnoticed. She quickly whipped out a post-it note from her belt stash and wrote a strongly worded, concise, yet angry note about how to use the oven. She also managed to admonish the culprit (or perpetrator) and deliver a careful warning should it happen again. Satisfied Anna went back to her terminal determining to finally finish off that annoying Mr.Brisnell who refused to join the union.
The next day at work Anna came in at her usual time, noon, and went to her desk. The stale odor of burnt toast and sweat still seeped through the office. She pulled a mini-air freshener from her tool belt and sprayed her office. Soothed by the odor of Febreeze air effects spice and delight, a scent with overtones of nutmeg and apple, she went to work. Mr.Brisnell had ceased to be persuaded and it was time now for Anna to deliver her final judgment. She quickly fell into her usual routine and was typing merrily when it hit again. She noted the time, 2 o’clock, and went quickly to the kitchen hoping to catch the perpetrator in the act. However, the same scene greeted her, down to the toast remains. Her note had fallen to the floor, ripped in half. It’s yellow edges curling up in a silent plea to be noticed. She picked up the note and through it in the waste paper bin, she abhorred litterers, and approached the crime scene. Pulling some tweezers from her belt, Anna picked up the toast remains and tasted them. Though it was burnt beyond all recognition she could tell it was whole wheat. To her dismay this was the only clue to go on, the criminal had been thorough, all the counters and surfaces were clean of prints. Only the toaster oven itself had been left, perhaps in an attempt to torment her. She cleaned out the toast crumbs and wiped down the rack restoring the oven to pristine glory. She returned to her office in a foul mood, but determined to find out whoever was doing it. She sighed and pushed the incident from her mind, she had an appointment with Mr.Brisnell at three.
The next day she came in earlier than her usual time in order to make a list of suspects. She knew all of her co-workers ate bread in consequence of a small dinner party she had hosted some weeks prior, but who preferred whole wheat. For that matter she had no information on the lunchtime eating habits of any of the staff. She sat down at her desk, and frowned at her computer. There were seven of them including her. Amy was next door in accounts. There were two temps, Sean and Steve, who did odd jobs for the union. Mary and Sheila were in PR. There was their secretary, Connie, and her boss John. Any of them could be the culprit. They all had access to the kitchen and were all incredibly inconsiderate. No one offered to help her clean up after her dinner party. She resolved to figure this out by any means necessary. However, this could wait. The unfortunate Mr.Brisnell was still being troublesome. She called Sean into her office to resolve the matter. As she waited a slow smile spread across her face, the case was on.
