“What do you mean you don’t think it’s true?” Something in my brain is ticking. The feeling in my stomach that something hadn’t been right with the deal was growing stronger.
“I was looking on social media, and there are a lot of residents of Coconut Beach who have been posting in different groups in the last year saying that they’re trying to come up with ways to increase tourism to the area because it’s been down for the last five years, and they’re worried that all their businesses are going to go under. Does that sound like a place that is having the best tourism of its life?” She grabs my arm.
I frown. “No, it doesn’t. Continue. What else have you seen?”
“I went onto TripAdvisor and Expedia and all the other travel sites and I looked at reviews, and the hotel doesn’t have great reviews. People said that the restaurant was closed down. And that all the rooms needed updating. And all the photos were fake.” She stares at me. “I think this man, Mr. Johnson, I think he’s lying. I think he’s deliberately giving you false information.”
“But I had the attorneys go through everything,” I frown. “They got paperwork from accountants.”
“I don’t know what to say, Jack, and I’m sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I think this deal isn’t good for you. I think that there’s been a cover-up, and I know I’m new to this job and I know that I’m not an expert, but based on all of the research I’ve been doing, this is not a good deal.” She stops and her eyes bore into mine. I stare at the conviction in her eyes and I realize that she’s been taking this job much more seriously than I’ve given her credit for.
“I believe you. Let’s go and sort this out.”
“What?”
“Do you want to come into this meeting with me?”
“Me? Wait. Are you sure?” She suddenly looks unsure of herself. “I’m not at that level, yet.”
“You’ve done the research. Mr. Johnson, the hotel owner, is there. I want you to ask him some questions based on your research. I want to see how he responds. Do you feel comfortable with that?”
She nods slowly. “I do, but are you sure you want me in there?”
“Of course I’m sure.”
“I mean, I’m not an executive or anything like that, and maybe I’m wrong.”
“Don’t second-guess yourself. It was important enough for you to come and find me,” I smile at her. “Thank you for that. Now, let’s go and see what Mr. Johnson has to say about these allegations. Okay?”
“It’s not an allegation. It’s an accusation,” she says, grinning at me. She takes a deep breath and straightens her skirt. “Let’s do this.” We step back inside the conference room, and I pull another chair over for Katherine.
“Hi everyone, this is Katherine. She’s on the research and marketing team. She’s been doing a lot of research into this deal. Mr. Johnson, Katherine has some questions that I was hoping you could answer before we continue with the paperwork.”
“Of course,” Mr. Johnson shifts back and I can see he looks more tense. “Hello, pretty little lady.” He gives her a hard look. “I think you’d look mighty nice in a bikini in Coconut Beach.”
I frown at his words, but Katherine gives me a look that says she can defend herself. She squares her shoulders and just stares at him.
“Mr. Johnson, I have a question for you.”
“Well, go ahead, little lady.”
“Firstly, my name is Katherine. You can call me Katherine, or Miss Jenkins. I don’t like to be called a little lady. I’m not that little.”
He pauses and just shrugs. “Fine. Go ahead. What’s your question, Ms. Jenkins?”
“So you say that you made fifteen million in profit last year, and the previous year you made ten million. Is that correct?”
“I think those are the numbers,” he says, nodding and grinning widely. “Yes, that’s right.”
“May I ask you approximately how many visitors you had that led to that amount of profit?”
“I don’t know the exact numbers. I just own the hotel. I don’t run the front desk.” His smile slips.
“An approximate amount? An estimate of the tourists you housed?”
“I don’t know. Thousands,” he says, shrugging. “Maybe hundreds of thousands.”
“Hundreds of thousands,” she says, scoffing. “Do you mind if I use this?” She grabs my pen and a pad and I shake my head.
