With the high ceiling and the line of bay doors open to the sunshine, the shop itself was cavernous and almost airy. Or maybe it only felt that way after being trapped in her small office. She asked a man in mechanic coveralls, standing next to a trailer, where Richard Campos was. She had to repeat herself three times thanks to the whir of power tools and the rumble of truck engines bouncing off the metal walls.
He finally pointed to a short man with glasses by a standing desk, who was talking on the phone. She gave the mechanic a smile and headed toward the manager. His navy button-down shirt with the SL logo hung untucked.
Dani smiled sweetly as she approached. He glared and continued his conversation on the phone.
“It was your mistake. I’m not paying for the shipment. That’s final.” He hung up and turned to Dani. “What do you want?”
“I’m the temporary accountant. Dani Kim.” She held out a hand.
He didn’t make a move to meet it. “You’re wasting my time. I’ve got five trucks out of commission and grocery deliveries that can’t wait, but my reefer is on the blitz.”
“Reefer?” Surely he wasn’t talking about the kind of reefer she’d been introduced to in high school at Philippa Jordan’s party? She’d been grounded for months after that.
“Reefer. A refrigerated truck?” He spoke loudly and slowly while he pointed to one of the trailers on the other side of the shop. “So if you’re done now, I’ve got work to do.”
“Sorry, I’ll get to it. I’m figuring out the accounts and need to know why there are so many different waste management companies.” She pointed to the list of account numbers on her sheet of paper.
He let out an exasperated sigh and looked at her sheet. “Different companies each do different jobs for us. Peak Cleaning Solutions, the janitor company, is in this category.” He tapped the next number. “We also have this number for Rocky Mountain Recycling, but they only take care of all the cardboard and paper waste. This account is for Renegade Waste Management.”
“And why double the number of payments to them?”
“That’s because this one is for the normal garbage company, which is one payment. The other payment for them is the oil recycling they do for us. For all we go through, we have to dispose of it somehow.” He slapped the paper back in her palm and started to walk away.
“How much oil do we go through?” Dani jogged after him.
“A lot.”
“I need numbers.”
He spun around. “You figure it out. Every truck needs between ten to fifteen gallons depending on the type of engine. Oil’s changed about every fifteen thousand miles, give or take.”
“Oh. So what about this last number?” She handed the paper back to him. He looked confused for a moment. “That’s an old number. Rocky Mountain Recycling used to be RM Refuse and Recycling. Back in the day, they had a plant out in the foothills, but the city outgrew it. RMR bought the business and moved a couple years ago. That’s their previous account number.”
Then why was it still being used? She kept the question to herself. To Campos, she smiled. “Okay. Thanks.” Finally, she had something to investigate, and it was only her first day.
So where did they keep the recycling?
Campos turned and marched to the other end of the warehouse. Dani pretended to be looking at her paper as she scanned the rest of the building. At least six different mechanics worked on trucks. One worker wore a welding mask over in the corner. Sparks flew as he worked on a big metal trailer. A large shelving system off to her left held rows of boxes of what must be truck parts. It was all organized and pretty clean for being a big garage. But she didn’t see anything for recycling except one container for collecting pop cans.
She walked out the doors and looked around the property. Off by the edge of the parking lot stood two big dumpsters and a line of oil drums. Maybe they kept the recycling stuff over here too. Couldn’t hurt to see if there was anything with the old company name.
Ten of the blue barrel drums were labeled for oil, and three said they were for biohazard. There must be other chemicals and liquids needed to maintain a fleet of trucks. The dumpsters were both labeled RWM for Renegade Waste Management, but there was nothing for recycling.
She went around the back of the shop building, and there she found the huge recycling containers with big labels of what they would and would not accept. All signage had the correct name, Rocky Mountain Recycling.
“What are you doing here?” a sharp voice called.
Dani jumped. “Sorry!” She turned to see one of the mechanics who’d come into the office earlier. What had Shirley called the one with the crew cut? “Jim, was it? I didn’t hear you.”
“I asked what you were doing.”
“I’m just trying to get a feel for the place, see where things go?—”
Jim stepped into her space. He was average height but built thick. Still, she could take him down if needed. But she couldn’t break her cover the very first day on the job. She forced herself to cower, but only a bit.
He leaned into her face. “You’re new, so I’ll give you a word of advice. Don’t go poking around where you’re not supposed to. Understood?” Jim’s eyes narrowed as he watched her.
She kept her voice light. “I just wanted to look around.”
