A Taste For Danger Page 5

  “So who did you have suspicions about?”

  “Someone at Headquarters, though I don’t know who, was one. But you know there are about twelve Vice-Presidents and twelve Deputy Vice-Presidents along with the CFO and CEO. There’s a team for each department.”

  “So you think whoever’s department the embezzling is in, the team at HQ might want it covered up or it’s their ass?”

  “That’s what I figured. Then there is something strange about Bob.”

  “Bob? He’s one of the only ones that seem normal to me.”

  “Yeah he does, but give it awhile. His actions are strange at times.” Jerry twisted his napkin tight.

  “Are you sure you don’t mean Edward at Accounting?”

  “Have you met with him yet?”

  “No,” said Jack, “he’s on my list for next week.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with Eddie. He’s just an eccentric. His personality is extremely quirky, but he’s fastidious and knows the company’s accounting inside and out. You just have to pay no attention to his quirks. He doesn’t get much respect because he doesn’t know how to play the social games, but he has a brilliant mind.”

  “Can you give me any tips on the social games? They’re really throwing me for a loop. I’m used to the street, not some white-collar dress-up play every day.” Jack crunched a piece of ice in his teeth. Both men ordered another round.

  “Let’s see. Felicia is a gossip. She’s a sweet girl, but anything you tell her will be around the whole office in five minutes. That’s one of the reasons people hang around there.”

  “Already found that out,” said Jack glumly.

  Jerry laughed. “Um, what else. Victoria seems nice and is ok, but don’t get on her bad side. She’s one of the most expert game players there. She protects herself at all costs and isn’t above sinking someone else if it’s to her advantage.”

  “Too late,” said Jack, even glummer. He took a swig of beer.

  “Oh?” Jerry laughed again. “You’ve had an educational first week I see. Since I was their boss, even if only on paper, I got to see their maneuverings for favorable positions around me. You probably won’t see that in your position. You’re just another flunkie, but they brought you in from corporate so basically everyone will be trying to bring you down.

  “Jesus. You make it sound worse than I thought.” said Jack.

  Jack hated to ask, but he had to: “What about Cindy?”

  “She’s straight as an arrow but totally stressed out. I never got to see into her character too much. She didn’t play the ‘I want the boss’s favor’ game like everyone else. Neither did Eddie of course, but he wouldn’t know how to.

  Jerry made no mention of H.R. files, so Jack didn’t bring it up. Perhaps in the position of boss, Cindy didn’t trust Jerry enough to show them to him. Whatever the hell is in them...

  “Anyone else?” asked Jack.

  Jerry took another swig of his bourbon. “Um, let me think. It’s been awhile. I basically tried to put them all out of my head.”

  “Yeah, I can see why,”

  “Um, most of the others there are just trying to stay under the radar, keep their jobs, and jockey for position when they can. The ones I mentioned are the ones that really stand out.”

  Jack took a drink from his water.

  “Oh wait, I forgot about Cheryl Wong.”

  “What about her?” asked Jack.

  “Well, she tried to come on to me. I guess that’s her way of jockeying for position. She’s smart, but secretive.”

  Jack felt like a rube. Her game obviously hadn’t worked on Jerry. Whereas she had played Jack like a violin. On the other hand...he thought for a minute. On the other hand, she wasn’t jockeying for position because I have no authority or power, so the question remains; why did she sleep with me? Jack wasn’t so vain as to think it was his personal magnetism.

  He didn’t tell Jerry he’d slept with her. He had his pride. “Anything else?” asked Jack. “This has been really helpful.”

  “Well, if you ask me, the problem lies with Big D, not little D. Although little D is teeming with vipers of course.”

  “Hmm,” said Jack. “I want to interview the CFO, but Tom hasn’t been able to get me an appointment yet.”

  “You went through Tom?”

  “Well, he’s the one who hired me.”

  “Don’t go through Tom. Who knows what any of them at Big D are up to. Go through the CFO’s personal assistant. She schedules all his appointments and knows when he has free time.”

  “Do you have their names? I don’t even know their names.”

  Jerry laughed again. “You just reminded me how glad I am not to be in your shoes. The CFO is Ron Littleford. His assistant is Peggy Johnson. She’s okay to go to. The CEO is Frank Oden. In case you need it, his personal assistant is Janice Berry. You can find all their phone numbers and emails in your email gallery.”

  “Thanks, Jerry. Again, I really appreciate this. I should have asked before, can I buy you a drink?”

  Jerry chuckled. “No, I need to get home to the wife, but thanks for the offer.” He got up to leave. As he walked by, he turned. “Be careful Jack. They really are vipers there.”

  Jack nodded. He downed his water, threw a tip on the table, and left the beer sitting. When he got home he made a beeline for Cindy’s files. The files told him a lot. No wonder Cindy was paranoid. They shed light on other things that happened on his first two days as well. Jack used up a few hours doing internet research on insurance, managing agents, underwriters, and the BP oil spill. Now he understood. Something was very wrong at Devonshire. But he was still no closer to the reason he’d been hired. Nothing he’d been told or seen had anything to do with embezzlement. He had to be missing something. Something key.

  Chapter Nine

  Monday morning Jack got out of his car as if he were going to war. Worse, he had a feeling that he’d only scraped the surface of the ilk. He now had two cases to work: the embezzlement and the one that had just been thrown in his lap, corporate malfeasance. Nowhere near his cup of tea. He made sure to put on his smiling face when he entered the suite. “Good morning, Felicia,” he said with a fake smile then walked on.

  “Oh, Mr. Heart!” Felicia called after him. He turned around. “Your corporate phone came in!” She handed it to him.

  “Thank you, Felicia,” he said. Felicia was a talking robot, and from now on, he would keep that in mind.

  He dressed more casually today and hung up a clean suit on the back of his door. Once he settled in, he called Cindy. She was already in.

  “Hello Jack.”

  “Can I bring you those items we discussed?”

  “Yes, now is a good time.” Her voice sounded relieved.

  “Okay, see you in two.”

  Jack had no idea why he spoke in veiled reference on the phone. Is all this getting to me? Am I becoming paranoid? No. If the files were any indication, he was justifiably cautious.

  On the way to Cindy’s he passed Cheryl Wong’s office. She was on the phone again and sounded upset, but he couldn’t tell about what. She was speaking Chinese. His gut gave him one of those weird feelings again. He’d have to revisit it later.

  He knocked on the wall inside Cindy’s office and sat down in one of her chairs.

  She swiveled towards him. “Can you shut the door?”

  “Won’t that look weird?” asked Jack.

  “No. I’m H.R. We have to close the door all the time for personnel issues.” She paused. “I know what you’re here for now. Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. Although if I were you, I would make sure I didn’t say anything to anyone here about it, or you may never solve your case.”

  “How do you know all this?”

  “I’m the head of Human Resources. I know everything,” she said and smiled a real smile. She reminded him of Carolyn again. The way she parried around while still deadly serious.

  He handed the files back to her. She wasted no ti
me in locking them up in her safe.

  “So, what did you think?” she asked.

  “I think there’s more than one case here.”

  “I agree. My question is, are you going to focus on the one you were hired for or both of them?”

  Jack gave a real laugh. “You’re statement presupposes there are only two.”

  Cindy smiled again. “You’re right. There definitely could be more. I just don’t happen to know about them.”

  “I thought you knew everything.”

  “Give me time and I will.”

  “That’s my line.” Jack smiled.

  “So it is. So what do you plan to do today?”

  “I want to have a talk with Eddie. Any opinion on that?”

  “I think that’s a very good idea, actually. Don’t be put off by his personality. He’s really quite sweet. And smart.” She dug into her top drawer. “It’s hard to get him to trust you though. Here—” she held her hand out. In it were two pieces of hard butterscotch candy. “Sometimes this helps to break the ice.”

  Jack took the candy. “Thanks. I was also going to try to get an appointment with the CFO.”

  Cindy looked thoughtful. “That’s fifty-fifty. Even I don’t know. It might help or you might be fired.”

  “Thanks for the heads up.” Jack thought for a moment. “Would you like to go to lunch?”

  Cindy looked at her watch. “It’s nine in the morning.”

  “I mean at lunch time.”

  Cindy looked at him closely. She had pretty hazel eyes. “Please don’t take this personally, because I’d like to, but I really never have time in my schedule for lunch.”

  “You don’t eat?”

  Cindy pulled open her bottom desk drawer and pulled out a paper bag. “I brown bag it while I’m working. I’m just too swamped to take lunches, unless I have errands to do for Bog D.”

  “Well, that’s different from most around here.”

  “I know. Believe me, I know. I do the Head’s expense reports.”

  “Okay,” said Jack. “I don’t want to take up any more of your time.”

  “Stop by whenever you want,” said Cindy. “I’m interested to hear any new revelations.”

  “I’ll do that,” answered Jack, even though this was expressly what Jerry had told him not to do. Then again Jerry had also called Cindy straight as an arrow.”

  Jack got up to leave. As he stepped out into the hallway he heard “Jack—” and turned around.

  “Good luck,” said Cindy.

  “Thanks. I’ll need it.” Then he was off to get his seating chart and find Eddie.

  ***

  Before heading to Eddie’s, Jack made a call to Peggy Johnson, assistant to the CFO. He introduced himself, and she said, “Oh yes! Tom mentioned you! What can I do for you?”

  “I’d like to make an appointment to talk with Mr. Littleford when he gets back in the country.”

  “Oh, there must be some mistake,” said Peggy, “Mr. Littleford is in the country now.”

  Jack was confused. “Wasn’t he just out of the country?”

  “Oh yes,” said Peggy, “but that was two weeks ago.”

  “Oh.” He said nothing about Tom telling him the CFO was out. Maybe Tom got his wires crossed. “Well then may I make an appointment?”

  “Certainly,” said Peggy. “Let me look at his calendar. How much time do you need?”

  “Only like a half hour,” said Jack.

  “Hmm...he has time open tomorrow if you can get here early in the morning. Around 8:30?”

  “I can do that,” said Jack.

  “Great!” said Peggy. “I’ll put you down.”

  “Thank you so much,” said Jack. Easier than I thought. Now he needed to really dig deep with Eddie in preparation for tomorrow. He printed out the financials Tom had sent him via email.

  According to the seating chart, the office with the door almost all the way closed, but not quite, was Eddies, or Edward Cunningham as the door sign read. Jack knocked lightly on the door without opening it. A nasally voice called across, “Who is it?”

  “It’s Jack. Jack Heart. I was hoping to talk to you for a bit.”

  Silence.

  “Did Victoria send you?” The voice called out again, only it sounded whiny. Who was this Eddie?

  “Um, no, Victoria didn’t send me. I’m here on my own.”

  More silence. Why did he feel like he was going through war negotiations? Jack thought he’d try something. He called out through the opening “Cindy said it might be a good idea for you and me to talk.”

  “Cindy,” said the voice. “Okaaay I guess you can come in...”

  Aha. Cindy was the password. No wonder people didn’t like to deal with Eddie. This was going to take an infinite amount of patience. Jack opened the door slowly.

  Inside the office hunched in a corner sat Eddie. He had also redone his office like Victoria, but the two atmospheres couldn’t have been more different. Eddie’s office was filled with action-figures. The kind one might collect. The office also seemed to be brimming with science toys. Wooden puzzles of octagons and geometric figures. A Rubik’s cube lay tossed in the corner. There was also a lamp with Spiderman on it. Just what the hell am I dealing with here?

  Eddie himself looked like a man-child. He couldn’t have been over thirty with a boyish face and physique. His body looked skinny, but from the way he hunched over, he appeared tall. Jack didn’t try to shake his hand, he had a feeling that wouldn’t go over well. There were also dozens and dozens of financial ledgers on Eddie’s desk, all over his credenza, on his filing cabinets, and piled on the floor. He had two computer screens as well.

  Once inside the office, Jack stood still, unsure of what to do. Eddie rested his elbows on the desk, chin in hands, covering his mouth completely. He looked up at Jack without moving his head.

  “What did you want to talk about?” asked Eddie. He regarded Jack with suspicion.

  Jack came a little closer, but didn’t sit down. He didn’t try to smile. He had a feeling Eddie could read fake. Something about this reminded Jack of trying to gain the trust of a dog. “I was hoping that you and I could have a casual conversation about finances.” Eddie’s brows furrowed when Jack said “finances.” Jack continued. “I need to learn some things and I was told by other people, including Cindy, that you were the genius behind the finances.” There. Jack hoped he hadn’t overdone it.

  Eddie’s expression looked satisfied. “Sit down,” he ordered.

  Jack sat in the chair farthest from where Eddie hunched.

  The two stared at each other in silence. Eddie’s hands still rested over his mouth. His eyes darted up and down contemplating Jack.

  Jack thought of the candy. He took the pieces out of his pocket and held his hand out. “Would you like a butterscotch?”

  Eddie’s eyes moved down towards the candy. He took one hand away from his mouth, reached out and took a piece. Opening the candy he said, “Thank you,” as he pushed it in his mouth. Then, to Jack’s surprise, Eddie became a wellspring of chatter.

  “I know why you’re here,” he started, “but the question is—is that the best reason for you to be here because there are many reasons you could be here and some are better than others, although all of them are good reasons. I don’t think you are here for some of the reasons that I know, because I don’t think you know them yet. Whether you will, depends on if you last that long—” Here he broke into a childish laugh, then said, “—I’m sorry, that was rude of me. I’m very sorry.”

  Jack paused a second to take all this in. Then he said, “That’s okay, Eddie. I know that my predecessor wasn’t here very long. I’d like to work with people like you to get to the truth so I can stay around.”

  Eddie smacked his lips together. “I guess it’s okay if you call me Eddie.”

  Wow. Aware that every word might be a minefield, Jack decided he would simply get Eddie to talk as much as possible and then try to decipher it. It seemed th
e best course of action. The butterscotch candy worked, but for how long?

  “Only two people came to my last meeting,” said Eddie.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  “That’s why things just go on and on and on, and nobody wants to make it better.”

  “I want to make it better, Eddie.” said Jack. He added, “I may not be in a position to, but I’d like to try.”

  Eddie peered over to evaluate Jack again. Apparently he passed.

  For his part, Jack tried to keep his face from showing that he felt sad. He could tell Eddie was very intelligent. Only he didn’t articulate it like everyone else and Jack could envision the disasters that probably happened in Eddie’s past when he did try to speak to any of the Heads, or worse, those from Big D. Eddie could be sitting on the world’s greatest secret, and no one would know because he didn’t possess the ability to subscribe to the required social rituals, much less the intricate mind games that corporate politics required. Jack figured that’s why Eddie was in charge of the financials. He was probably meticulous and always correct. Eddie wouldn’t be corrupted by any of the corporate goings-on.

  Jack sat still. He didn’t know what to ask. Then he had a thought. Taking Tom’s emails out of his jacket pocket, he showed them to Eddie. “Eddie, can you tell me if these are correct?”

  Eddie took the papers and glanced over at them. Then he said, “Correct relative to what?”

  Jack had to think. Talking to Eddie was like speaking to an oracle. “Correct relative to your financial books,” he finally answered.

  Eddie tossed them back to Jack. “No. Within themselves they are correct, but they are erroneous when compared to the actual books of the company that I protect.”

  Jack noticed the word “protect.” Eddie took his role very seriously.

  “Eddie, what if someone said that these financials were the right ones, and yours were wrong?” Jack prayed this would not cause an outburst. He didn’t really know what to expect with this guy.

  However, Eddie simply said, “They would be wrong.”

  Jack tried another tactic. “Eddie, you said there were many reasons I might be here. Can you tell me some of the other reasons? Some of the ones I might not know?