A Taste For Danger (2 page)

It turned out that any door would have worked. The suite circled all the way around the elevator landing and looked gigantic. The secretary who buzzed him in sat behind a Herman Miller open cubicle with a counter. The rest of the suite was filled with offices on one side and cubicles everywhere else. All the offices had cipher locks as well. Still an expensive suite, he could see, but not like the other building. A man came out to greet him.

“Jack, is it?” asked the man. “Surveying the landscape I see. You won’t find quite the luxury here that you do at headquarters, but we do all right. I’m Bob Hillman.”

“Good to meet you.” The men shook hands.

“Technically, I’m your supervisor, but since I know you report to HQ I’ll be pretty hands-off.” He paused. “Unless you do something egregious,” he said and chuckled.

Jack surveyed his surroundings. “How many people are on this floor?” Cubicles and offices ranged as far as he could see and then they seemed to round a corner.

“One hundred twenty-five in all,” answered Bob. “The main departments of Devonshire are housed here. Mine is only one of them. We also have a Head that oversees all the divisions. Come,” he directed. “We’re having the manager’s morning meeting now. I can introduce you to everyone.”

A little way down the hall sat a narrow conference room with a table that spanned the length of the room. Bob knocked on the door, then without waiting for an answer, stepped in. On each side sat people in high-back rolling chairs. White boards covered the walls. Bob took his chair to the left of the “Head,” Jack guessed. Bob motioned for Jack to sit next to him. The man sitting at the head of the table assessed Jack with his eyes.

“Everyone, I want you to meet Jack Heart. He’s a new recruit, stationed in my division, but brought in from Headquarters.” At the mention of Headquarters, Jack saw several people’s faces grimace. The head of the table tilted his chin and appraised Jack anew. “Why don’t we go around the table and introduce ourselves,” said Bob. He started with the Head. “Jack, this is Randolph Hanes. He runs all the divisions here.” Mr. Hanes nodded.

Then the group went around the table: Cynthia Roberts- head of Human Resources; Dick McLellan, head of Reinsurance; John Vance, head of Insurance; Cheryl Wong, head of Government Contracts; Rance Masters, head of Claims; somebody somebody, head of Accounting; somebody somebody, head of Sales, Victoria White, head of Managing Agents; somebody, somebody, head of Underwriters: somebody else, head of...something or other. Jack lost interest, nor could he keep up with all the names. Most of the men looked exactly how he pictured pasty, corporate, yes-men. The women varied. Overwhelmed, Jack wondered whether he’d made the right move or not. Corporate people played high-stakes corporate games. He wasn’t naïve enough to think they all got along, and Jack had neither time nor patience for corporate game playing. While he was thinking, the table intros reached back around to Bob. “...and I’m Bob, head of Loss Prevention.”

Introductions gave Jack no idea what he was here for, and he hadn’t met with Tom yet to get the details.
What had been lost?
No wonder some of them had grimaced. Now he understood. He was here to catch someone and would never be on any of their teams. Jack was an outsider, brought in to assess. They all hated him on sight.

The meeting broke up shortly after. It seemed to be a meeting where each manager gave a rote report on their area to Mr. Hanes. No discussion. No questions and answers. He wondered if all their meetings were such a waste of time.

Bob and Cynthia stayed back with Jack. Cynthia had Human Resource paperwork for him to fill out and Bob wanted to show Jack to his office. Cynthia said she would stop by later with the paperwork. Bob led him down the hall past thirty or so cubicles full of activity and into one of the offices on the right. “This is your home,” said Bob. “IT already has you set up, so your computer is a go. All you have to do is log on with the name and password they gave you then change it to your own. Oh, and we log off every night. Security comes around and signs off on the suite every night at 7:00 pm, except weekends. So make sure you don’t leave anything confidential out. You have a locked file cabinet for that stuff.” He pointed to the cabinet in back of the new office. “If you find you need something more, we can get you a safe. Just let me know.”

“Thanks.” He liked this Bob at least. Seemed like a straight-shooter.

“If you have any questions or problems, I’m in an office across the floor. Number 714. I’ll leave you alone now. Oh! And I almost forgot—Tom said he would be stopping by to take you to lunch and discuss the job, so you’re free until then. Get settled in.”

“Thanks, Bob.”

“Oh, and one more thing. We don’t have to wear suits around here. It’s good you wore one today because Tom is coming, but for the rest of us, it’s business-casual. We never actually see the customers so the only time we need to dress up is for Headquarters. I’ll give you a tip, just bring a suit to work and hang it on the hanger on the back of your door. That’s what we all do. Then if for some reason you’re called to HQ, you change. Simple.”

Smart.
“Thanks again, Bob.”

“We’ll go to lunch another day and I’ll give you the lay of the land,” said Bob as he left, causing Jack to wonder if all the real work was done over lunches.

Jack glanced around his office. Nice layout, wooden furniture, leather chair, two filing cabinets, a computer and a monitor. Regular office set up. He opened the desk drawers. Pencils, pens, writing tablets, highlighters—they’d already taken care of everything. His office possessed a window, but a brick wall stared back at him.
Oh well, can’t have everything.

About a half-hour later, after Jack had logged on and finished exploring his computer, Cynthia stopped by. He remembered her. Head of H.R. She wore a pencil skirt and shortsleeved sweater. Attractive. She clasped a pile of papers with her hands and came over to his side of the desk.

“You need to fill out these by tomorrow and get back to me, ok?” He could smell her perfume as she bent over him.
Nice.

“Sure.”

She stood up straight again. “Where did you say you worked last?”

Jack paused. He wasn’t their usual new hire, that’s for sure. “I was an independent detective. Cases for hire and all that.” Cynthia nodded. She didn’t leave, but rather stood in front of him looking him over.

“You can call me Cindy,” she finally said.

“Sure, ok.”

She took a seat in one of the chairs at his desk and observed him. He glanced around, suddenly uncomfortable.

“What did Tom bring you in for?” she asked as if they were having a friendly chat.

“I don’t know. He hasn’t told me yet.” An honest answer. Jack was glad he didn’t know. For some reason, he didn’t want to have to lie to this woman.

“I see,” said Cindy. She rested her chin on her hand. Jack watched her face. It gave away that she was trying to make a decision. Then her eyes moved toward the window.

“You don’t have much of a view,” she said.

“Those kinds of things don’t really matter to me.”

She smiled a little for the first time. No teeth, just a tiny smile. “You’d be surprised how many people fight over the views. As if a better view made them superior.”

Jack laughed. “Well, don’t worry, I know my place.” He watched her face again. She had concluded something. What, he didn’t know.

“If you can excuse me for a minute, I have something to show you. Just let me run to my office and get it,” she said abruptly.

“Okay.” Jack had no idea what was going on, but this woman clearly had something on her mind, and now she planned to bring him into it.

Chapter Four

Fifteen minutes later, Cindy came rushing into his office. She closed the door as she entered. “I’m sorry it took so long.” She plopped down in the desk chair with a stack of files held closely to her chest. “I had to get these out of the safe and safes are a pain in the you-know-what.”

“No problem,” said Jack. “It’s not like I have a lot to do yet.”

“When’s your lunch with Tom?”

“I don’t know.”

Cindy looked at her watch. 10:00 am. “Okay, we’re okay. He won’t be around until at least 11:30.”

What the hell?
Cindy obviously didn’t want to run into Tom with whatever she was about to show him.
Some first day.

Cindy dumped the files on the desk in front of him. “Here, hide these. Then take them home and read them.”

“What? I just started here. I really don’t know what’s going on.” Jack’s brows furrowed.

Cindy sat back further, leaning against her chair. “I know. But you’re from the outside. And you’re a detective. I don’t know what they brought you in for, but you need to know this.” She leaned forward. “This firm is committing one of the biggest scams in history. We’re just so above-board that no one has noticed. But it’s all going to blow up one day and someone needs to know the truth.”

Jack shifted uneasily in his chair. “This
isn’t
what Tom brought me on for?”

“No! And you can’t mention a word of this to him or we’re all cooked. No one from Headquarters can know.”

Jack sighed. Leave it to him to walk right into trouble. “Even if whatever is in here is true, what do you expect me to do about it?”

Cindy frowned. “You’re a detective! You have connections. People need to know about this.”

Jack sighed again and eyed the files. They were legal documents of some sort.

Cindy stood up. “I need to go. Just promise me that you’ll take a look at them tonight. Please.”

Jack figured he could smuggle them out in his briefcase.
Damn. What am I getting into now?
“Okay,” he finally said. After all, taking a peak at them couldn’t hurt. He could always tell her tomorrow that whatever was in there didn’t fit his area of expertise.

Cindy palpably relaxed. “Thank you.” Before she opened the door she cautioned again, “Remember, not a word of this to Tom.”

“Got it,” said Jack. He put the files in his briefcase. By the time he finished, Cindy was gone, and his door was still closed. Not a good impression on the first day. He stood up and went over to open it.

No one stood nearby. All he saw was a hallway full of busy cubicles and people wandering around, going about their normal business. He walked back to his seat and took a deep breath. Cindy made him nervous.

***

While waiting for Tom, Jack milled about and discovered a well-supplied kitchen, two copier rooms with every kind of equipment, and two sets of restrooms—one set inside the suite and one set outside near the elevators. He also discovered that the secretary’s desk functioned as the main hub of social activity due to a candy bowl, tasks that were shifted to her, and the secretary’s—whose name he found out was Felicia—general beauty and good nature. Felicia gave him his cipher lock code and a sheet with all the nearby restaurants one might frequent for lunch. She also supplied him with a seating chart. Exactly what he needed.

As he wandered the halls with the seating chart, he happened to pass by Bob’s office. The door stood open, and he heard Bob on the phone: “No we can’t! It’s headquarters.” Bob sounded annoyed. Jack wondered if he had misread Bob’s seemingly easygoing nature. He passed by another office and looked on his seating chart. He heard what sounded like Chinese or Japanese on the phone. He must have cocked his head because one of the managers from the meeting walking past him stopped.

“That’s Cheryl,” said the woman, Fathoming Jack’s questioning face “She speaks four different languages. Comes in handy for the government contracts she’s in charge of.”

At a loss, he couldn’t remember this woman’s name. She seemed to catch on though.

“Victoria White,” she said and held out her hand. “It’s nice to meet you in person.” Victoria had long, wavy blonde hair and wore heavy make-up. She also wore a stylish dress and a number of what looked like expensive rings on her fingers. Jack categorized her as one of those women always put perfectly together.

“I’m sorry.” said Jack, shaking her hand. “I’m not good at names.”

“That’s okay,” said Victoria. “There’s quite a few of us to remember.” She smiled. “I’m the one in charge of the Managing Agents.”

Jack didn’t know what a Managing Agent was but figured he’d find something sooner or later to read up on and explain this gigantic company to him.

“Anyway, that’s Cheryl Wong you’re hearing. She speaks Chinese, French, Italian, and Spanish. And of course English,” she added.

“I’ll do my best to get up to speed fast.”

“Since you come from HQ, I don’t think there’s anything you could do wrong. Take your time. And don’t take it personally if some of the people don’t take a shine to you,” said Victoria. They’re suspicious of anyone from HQ.”

“I guess it’s that way in all companies.”

“Hmmph, I guess so,” said Victoria with a little smile. Then she continued down the hall.

Jack made his way back to his office and dug into the H.R. papers that formally made him an employee. He spent an hour or so filling out forms. He also found a manual explaining the company and how it worked.
Some more late-night reading.

At 12:10, Tom Stokes knocked on the wall inside Jack’s office. “Making yourself at home?” he asked.

“Yes,” answered Jack. “It’s quite nice.”

“Great!” bellowed Tom. “Come with me. I’m going to show you some great steak.”

Jack followed Tom like a puppy to the suite doors and then the elevators. As they rode down, Tom asked about the people he’d met.

“They all seem very nice,” said Jack.

“Anyone stand out to you?”

“Um, I haven’t really interacted with many of them yet,” Jack hedged. He didn’t know what Tom was fishing for, and until he did, he planned to stay mum.

They took the elevator all the way down to a garage. “Make sure you see the secretary about a parking space.” said Tom. They climbed into a company car. Tom pulled out a company card to exit the garage. It would be the same card he pulled out at lunch.

***

Lunch was a steak place somewhere in the middle of town. Jack ordered a T-bone to fit in. Tom had the prime-rib. Tom looked like he ate lunch like this every day. Jack figured he’d be going taco or vendor dog after today. He wasn’t much for wasting time at restaurants. Unless in the company of a female. Females overrode many of his rules.