I guess what they say is true. Sometimes the ones you care the deepest for, you are the most blinded by. I almost laughed atmyself.And I was supposed to be an expert on human emotions and behavior?That was friggin’ funny.
Chapter Fourteen
THE MEETINGS had been absolutelyinteresting. I had never before been able to sit back and watch people in a group setting of “getting-to-know-you” and then individual meetings of “how-do-you-do-your-job”. I had been literally bouncing on the balls of my feet in excitement before the first group came in and Brent had taken me aside and given me a small, polite lecture on professionalism. I had taken it to heart. This was a life experience I hadn’t been privy to yet, so I listened and took his advice like an actual employee of Lion Security’s. No offense taken.
The groups hadn’t met the crew of Lion Security’s yet, but I decided they had heard of them from the other employees at the main hub from their initial reactions. Some were excited to meet them and enthusiastic about sharing experiences they’d had with customers, some were naturally nervous individuals, making my job harder, some wanted to hit on the attractive fresh meat in front of them, irritating me, some were tired clock watchers, enjoying any reason to get away from their desks, and then there were some that I took notes about and watched closer than the others during the personal interviews, paying special attention to the security staff as Mr. Fresby had asked of me. At the end of the day, we sat around the conference room table again for a quick end of the day summary, going over a few important findings and courses of action that might need to be taken.
Zane and Cole were just finishing up talking about correcting procedures for the employees hired from overseas to staff their cruise ships when Mr. Fresby turned his attentions to me. He rested back in his hair, bouncing the end of a pen on thegranite table and asked, “So, Ms. Lerrus, did you learn anything today that needs to be brought to my attention?”
Miranda was in the room, as she had been for the past half hour, glowering and silent, watching me with an intensity that I didn’t think boded well for my health. I had been trying to ignore her, but then she smirked when I realized I would have to speak today and fumbled around with my notes. The hour was getting late and I had thought I would have another day to assemble all of my chicken scratches into some semblance of order before presenting them. Now, I was put on the spot with an overeager vindictive woman, who was enjoying my discomfort way too much.
Nervous, I started babbling, “Sure, Mr. Fresby…let me see here,” shuffling of notes, “Mr. Swaysess in your janitorial department…”
Mr. Fresby held up a hand.
My mouth snapped shut.
Miranda’s smirk grew.
“Our janitorial department? Mr. Swaysess is in accounting,” Mr. Fresby stated slowly, watching me like a hawk.
I started to sweat.
“Oh! Sorry! Sorry!” I ran a hand through my hair and quickly stuffed it under the table when I noticed it was trembling. I stared down at my notes, trying to see past my jumpiness to what the heck I had actually written. I really wished Miranda would quit staring at me. It was unnerving.
Sitting next to me, Cole’s hand suddenly grasped my clammy one under the table, running his thumb back and forth over my palm, and Brent stood up and brought me bottled water. Brent didn’t do anything else, like smile encouragingly or pat my shoulder sympathetically, but the simple gesture let me know he was there for me without telling everyone else that I needed the comfort. Also, Cole’s hand wasn’t apparent to anyone elseas he stared at his laptop, clicking away with his free hand and squinting at the screen.
I took a deep breath and a swig of water and started again. “I found five individuals you should be watching. Mr. Swaysess in accounting either doesn’t know his job very well or was playing dumb for the individual questions. And he’s not stupid. In fact, he’s the exact opposite. He slipped a few times in the group session…” I went on explaining about each of the five individuals and my assessment of them. Mr. Fresby’s eyes changed during my spiel – blank to attentive, attentive to surprised - during the time I spoke about his assistant, surprised to thoughtful, and finally, thoughtful to utterly captivated.
I finished, stating, “Overall, your security and port officials seem solid and honest, excluding Mr. Ellis, of course.” I shook my head, remembering Mr. Ellis’s shifty eyes and downright guilty expressions when asked his procedures for customers declaring goods bought overseas. I had already mentioned him to Mr. Fresby, but it I’m not sure I had gotten my point across as well as I would have liked. So, I pushed.
“Honesty, I’d can him right now. Who knows what that man has already let your ships carry and bring over to the States? If you really want to know what he’s been up to, instead of having plausible deniability, you could check any recent purchases he’s made or even deposits to his bank accounts. I got the impression that this has been an ongoing business for him.” A remembered vision of Mr. Ellis’s carotid artery beating such a heavy rhythm that I had been able to visibly see it going a mile a minuteandthe sweaty palm marks he had left behind on the table flashed through my mind. I clucked my tongue. “He was so guilty, he practically stank of it.”
Mr. Fresby murmured thoughtfully, “You’re better than a lie detector test.” His eyes cleared and he asked, “You’re sure you don’t want to work for me?”
I smiled, feeling better now that I had said my piece intelligently. Plus, I was doing a dandy job of ignoring Miranda’s dagger-eyes. I shook my head and said, “Sorry. They got me first. I’m happy where I am.”
“I bet you are,” Miranda hissed under her breath. The whole room heard that spiteful comment.
Mr. Fresby cleared his throat quickly and diffused the growing hostility from his employee by asking what his hired team would be doing tomorrow. Brent stated there were still a few members of the purchasing department they needed to speak with, Bas still needed to finish reviewing their on-site weapons that Sensations armed security carried, and then Peter and Chloe would be checking their surveillance and computer software.
The meeting concluded directly after that and everyone rushed off to grab their bags. Mr. Fresby lagged behind and so did I because all I had was my bag ‘o purse. When everyone was out of eyesight, Mr. Fresby placed his hand on the small of my back and steered me down a maze of hallways to a dimly lit area that was being refurbished. Plastic wrap hung over open doorways, fluttering from the open windows and the smell of wet paint and new carpet attacked my nose. I didn’t say anything as he led me, wondering silently what he was up to. He wasn’t the bad sort, so I didn’t pitch a fit.
Curiosity. It was a horrible trait.
He also kept silent until he stopped us inside a gutted kitchen/break room. He dropped his hand and peered down at me seriously. “I did a check on you.” He paused. I waited. I don’t know if he expected me to flinch, but I didn’t. I knew he was going to do it. It wasn’t news to me.
He rubbed his chin as I stared back into intelligent grey eyes. He stated slowly, “I didn’t go through my normal channels as you requested. In fact, I also had my outside source investigatemy normal team. Funny thing was, my new source found emails to one of my now-fired team members from Lerrus Energy right before bids were placed on the land deal.” He watched me closely. I stared back, mutely. He sighed when he got nothing off me. “Unfortunately, the emails weren’t incriminating. They were only based on personal dealings.”
He paced. “But, I imagine that’s how your father does business. There’s no need to bribe anyone when you can manipulate them into doing what you wish.” He chuckled. “Damn cost effective. And legal.”
He went silent, and I became impatient. “Was this what you wanted to speak to me about?”
“No. It wasn’t.” He stared me in the eye, dead serious. “I believe you didn’t have any dealings with the double cross from my employees. Only because my source also found out that you were busy dealing with your mother’s illness. I’m sorry for her passing, by the way.” I shrugged and his eyebrows rose slightly, but he continued, “I don’t think your completely innocent of all immoral transgressions that Lerrus Energy has committed in the past, but I also know that you are running from your father and his business. That was a smart and gutsy and dangerous move. What I wanted to tell you is that my source found out that your father has hired a crew to find you. I understand they’re actively searching for you. There is also a certain individual on this team that states he is an important person in your life. He’s supposedly…”
I stopped him with a hard shake of my head. “No. He’s not. Don’t even say it. And I’d appreciate you not mentioning that to Brent or Cole in the future.” I paused. “Any of this, for that matter. I’ll tell them when I’m ready.”
Mr. Fresby hummed softly in his throat. “Interesting.”
