Behind the Pine Curtain (19 page)

“You know where to find me.”

She watched him drive off, dirty jeans, work hat and all. No, he wasn’t a businessman or entrepreneur. He was just a man who loved his work.

And, if she sold to a large corporation, he would be very easy to take advantage of. They would have him for lunch.

She sighed, finally taking off the hardhat and running her fingers through her hair. She couldn’t worry about Walter now. She had her own problems. With that, she climbed the steps to the offices, pausing only briefly before opening the door. It was cool and quiet inside. A young woman sat at the reception desk and smiled politely at her.

“Good afternoon. How can I help you?”

Jacqueline moved forward, smiling slightly. “Is Greg around?”

“Yes, ma’am. Do you have an appointment?”

Jacqueline raised an eyebrow. For a small town, they were awfully concerned with appointments. “No. But please get him for me, would you?”

“And your name?”

Jacqueline grinned. “Jackie.”

“Jackie?”

“Just Jackie.”

She nodded slowly, pointing to one of the visitor chairs. “Stay here.”

“Right here?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

Jacqueline rolled her eyes. God, she’d rather be anywhere than going through all this. Well, actually, she’d rather be sitting on the floor with Kay, talking. It occurred to her that Kay was still as affectionate as ever.

Kay was always touching her when they were kids and that hadn’t changed. Jacqueline liked it. In fact, she—

“Jackie?”

Jacqueline blinked, putting thoughts of Kay from her mind. “Greg.”

“Trying to scare the hired help?” he whispered.

She laughed. “Sorry. Couldn’t resist.”

“Come on back.”

His office was a mess, littered with computers and cables and papers and, God, a thousand pictures of Rose and the kids.

“Excuse the clutter, but I swear, I know where everything is.”

Jacqueline picked up a picture, smiling. It was from years ago. Rose was still thin, and there was only one kid in the photo. Lee Ann, no doubt. “Cute.”

He blushed, but straightened the picture when Jacqueline put it back.

Then he sat down in his chair, waiting for Jacqueline to start.

Instead Jacqueline looked around, counting monitors. “You have four computers in here?”

He grinned. “Actually, I have nine. Each monitor can be hooked up to several at once.”

“So, you really are a computer geek,” she said as she took a seat.

“Yep.”

She smiled. “In my day, that was considered an insult.”

“Quite a compliment today, thank you.”

She nodded. “So, what exactly do you do here?”

“My title? I’m the network—”

“Not your title. What do you do?”

He shrugged. “A little of everything, actually. I run the network, of course. And the security cameras are all online. I manage all the servers—we have five of them. And most recently, I’ve been doing the purchasing online, and sales.”

“Purchasing and sales? What do the managers do?”

“Each plant has a manager. They keep track of inventory, mainly. They let me know what we’ve got to sell. If the demand is more than we can produce using only the sawmill for by-products, we’ll purchase waste from another mill and ship it in.”

“Doesn’t that cut into the profit?”

“Yes. But your father didn’t want to lose business.”

“What about maintenance?”

“Maintenance? On the equipment?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a crew. We’re round the clock now. Have been for the last six years or so. Maintenance has a regular shift, just like everyone else.

Why?”

“Just wondering if that was outsourced or not.”

“No, no. Keys Industries is pretty self-sufficient.”

“How many managers are there?”

“Well, let’s see.” He counted silently, marking off names on his fingers.

“Counting Walter?”

“Yes.”

“Five managers over the plants. Then, maintenance has one, but they’re not really involved in the operations, you know.”

“Are they all here today?”

“No. Peterson lives all the way over in Jasper, and he only comes in once a week. He works from home. Mark Edwards is traveling this week.”

“Traveling?”

“He’s creosote plant. The regional office for the phone company is taking bids on poles.”

“So, there’s not like a sales group?”

“No. Your father was it. But, everything is pretty much set. We’ve got contracts for most of the home building suppliers in the entire state, not just East Texas. And we ship to six surrounding states. There is one thing that he was working on that someone’s going to have to take over, though.”

“What’s that?”

“Cattle feed.”

“Cattle feed?”

“There’s a place in Canada that buys most of our sawdust and wood chips. They make wood molasses—it’s used in cattle feed.”

“And?”

“And your father didn’t want to sell the sawdust for pennies and let some company in Canada turn around and sell the feed for a huge profit.

We’re making next to nothing on the deal.”

“So, make it yourself?”

“Yeah.”

“He obviously had too much time on his hands.”

“Well, like I said the other night, he had a vision.”

She closed her eyes.
A vision? Great
. “Okay, accountants? Did he have a CPA firm in town or what?”

“No, they’re all here. Four in that department, plus a secretary.”

“They handled all finances?”

“Yes.”

“And who, you know, audited them?”

“Your father has a firm out of Houston that audits and does the taxes.”

“That’s smart.”

“Yeah. We haven’t had any problems since I’ve been here. No one’s lost their job, anyway.”

“Okay, you know what? I’m on overload right now. I wanted to meet with some of them, but not now. Right now, I think I need a drink.”

Greg laughed. “I know what you mean. You want me to tell them you’ll come back, what? Tomorrow?”

“How about you send out an e-mail to everyone that we’re going to have a staff meeting? I’d like everyone to attend, even this Peterson person in Jasper. And the accounting staff, of course. I’ll see if Mr.

Lawrence can make it, too.”

“I’ll get right on it. What time?”

“Let’s do it Friday morning. That’ll give everyone notice. What about the traveling guy? Edwards?”

“I’ll get in touch with him. He’s in the Dallas area.”

“Thanks, Greg.”

“So? Are we still on for tonight? Rose wanted to know if she needed to do dinner or if you’d come after?”

“Tell you what. I think Kay gets cranky if she doesn’t get her pizza fix at least once a week. How about we pick up a couple to bring over?”

“That sounds great.”

“What about the kids? Anything special?”

“Kay will know.”

Jacqueline stood, extending her hand to Greg. “Thanks Greg. We’ll talk more tonight, okay?”

“Sure. Look forward to it.”

Jackie paused at the door. “One more thing. Where was my father’s office?”

“Second floor. You want to go up? I’m sure Mrs. Willis would show you around.”

“Mrs. Willis? That was his secretary’s name way back then.”

“She’s still here.”

Jacqueline nodded. “Tell you what. Why don’t you call her, tell her I’m on my way up. I just want to look around some.”

“Of course.”

Jacqueline took the stairs next to Greg’s office, wondering how many times a day he used them. At the top, she paused only slightly before opening the door. She entered at the edge of a large lobby. A vase of a dozen roses sat on one of the two tables, which were both littered with magazines.

“You must be Jacqueline. Come in, dear.”

Jacqueline saw the tiny woman move gracefully into the lobby, beckoning her closer.

“I’m Mrs. Willis, you probably don’t remember me.”

“Yes, I do, actually. You’re looking well.”

The older woman blushed. “As charming as your father. I swear, no one took the news harder than I did. That man was a saint, as far as I’m concerned.”

Jacqueline nodded, then looked around. “Nice. Did he occupy the entire floor?”

“Half.” She pointed. “Through the double doors down there, the managers all have offices. And Mr. Lawrence, of course.”

“He has an office here?”

“I assume John only told you as much as he thought you needed to know.”

Jacqueline shoved her hands in her pockets, walking slowly toward the office that bore her father’s name. She turned. “My father obviously trusted you, you’ve been with him forever.”

The old woman just smiled. “How do you like living by the bay? I understand it’s beautiful there.”

Jackie hid her surprise, or thought she did. “It’s quite lovely, Mrs.

Willis. Very different from East Texas.”

“Oh, I imagine.”

Jackie nodded. “I assume then, that you are aware of my position?”

“Of course, Jacqueline. May I call you Jacqueline?”

Jacqueline grinned. “I doubt I’ll answer to Ms. Keys.”

“Speaking of her, rumor has it that you’ve been banned from the hospital.”

Jacqueline’s eyes twinkled. “Who controls the hospital, Mrs. Willis?”

“Why, Keys Industries, of course.”

Jackie smiled. “Shall we have her discharged?”

The old woman bent over in laughter, then drew Jacqueline into her father’s office.

“Come, look at where he spent his time. He was very happy here, Jacqueline. He spent much more time here than he did at home. Were you aware that your parents had separate wings in their home? Tragedy, what she drove him to.”

Jacqueline ran her hands across the shiny, wooden desk. Everything was neat, tidy. Her mouth fell open when she saw the picture. It was of her. She was walking along Monterey Bay. Her eyes flew to Mrs. Willis.

“He kept up with you, yes.”

“You knew about the will in advance? About Keys Industries?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Yet Madeline never knew?”

Mrs. Willis stood up straight. “I never gossip, Jacqueline. Whatever is spoken inside this room, never leaves this room.”

Jacqueline moved to the windows, looking out at the plants. “Who did my father trust the most?”

“What do you mean?”

She turned back to the room. “Of the managers, of the staff, who did he trust the most?”

“What exactly is it you’re asking?”

“Who was his right hand?”

Mrs. Willis smiled. “Oh, that’s easy. Greg Kubiak. He’s one smart young man. Your father relied on him for nearly everything.”

Jacqueline frowned. “Yet he wasn’t one of the managers.”

“Well, no, he knew too much about the whole operation to be one of the managers.”

“What’s his salary?”

“Oh, I don’t have access to payroll records.”

Jacqueline cocked her head, eyebrow raised.

“But I could find out, of course.”

Jacqueline pointed at the phone. “Now?”

It was after four when Jacqueline finally drove into Kay’s neighborhood.

She was on overload. Mrs. Willis had been very talkative, reminding Jacqueline again that what was spoken in her father’s office went no farther. But still, she had been appalled by Greg’s low salary, especially when compared to what the managers received.

But she didn’t have time to think about it all now. She was out of clothes. The first thing she did when she walked in the house was start laundry. She stripped and stood naked, shoving her clothes into the washer. She was hesitant about adding Kay’s clothes to her own, but she thought it would be rude not to. She sorted through Kay’s hamper, pulling out darks that she added to her load. The whites, well, maybe they could wait. She thought Kay might kill her if she knew Jacqueline had been sorting through her underwear.

She took time to read her e-mail, pleased that Ingrid
loved
the first draft she’d sent.

“Great. Maybe she’ll leave me alone for awhile,” she murmured.

She replied, telling Ingrid that she wouldn’t be leaving until next week at the earliest. She didn’t elaborate. Ingrid would be pacified now that she had the draft.

After a quick shower, she pulled on sweats and waited patiently for the dryer to finish. Jeans took forever to dry and she wondered if she’d be reduced to wearing her sweats to Rose’s house. Not a great way to talk business with Greg.

She was still pacing in the laundry room when Kay arrived home. She stuck her head out just as Kay stepped in the kitchen.

“Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Kay looked her over, then looked into the kitchen.

“What’s that I don’t smell?”

Jacqueline smiled. “Pizza.”

“Pizza? I thought you were working on your points.”

“I thought you loved pizza?”

“I do. I’m just teasing. Rose called me. I understand we have a date tonight.”

“You don’t mind, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“I did laundry, too.”

“Turning into a housewife, huh?”

“Very funny. Don’t think I didn’t consider stealing some of your jeans.”

“Good thing I’m shorter than you.” Kay put her purse on the counter, then turned back to Jacqueline. “Did you at least do mine, too? I hate doing laundry.”

“Yes, I did. I was worried about that little sweater thing you wore the other day. It wasn’t supposed to be dry cleaned, was it?”

“Not dry cleaned, no. But it doesn’t need to be in the dryer.”

“Oh shit.” Jacqueline rushed back into the laundry room, opening the dryer and shuffling through the jeans to find the sweater. She pulled it out. “Damn,” she murmured. She held it behind her back. “Was it one of your favorites?” she called.

Kay stepped behind her. “Why? What’s wrong?”

Jacqueline held it up. “It might fit Lee Ann now.”

Kay smiled, then laughed. “Oh, Jackie. Some things never change, do they?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you do. I doubt my mother has forgiven you yet.”

“That was not my fault. She said to do all the whites. That sweater was white.”

“That sweater was . . .”

“I know, I know. Hand knitted by your great-great-grandmother a hundred years ago.”

Kay leaned forward. “I hated that sweater,” she said quietly. “And I wasn’t really fond of this one, either.”