Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (12 page)

She smiled at his angry tirade on her behalf. “Which
reminds me, is it okay for me to park in your parking space this weekend?”

He frowned.

“If it’s a problem, I won’t.”

“To get in you have to have a placard and if I give you
mine then—”

“I have one. Dan gave me his.”

He smiled. “Feel free to use my spot. May I ask why you’re
coming in?”

“To fix up my office so I’ll be able to spend eight hours
in it without falling into a severe depression.”

“Then by all means, use my space. But you still lack a
computer.”

“Destiny’s taking care of the problem.”

“Good. I feared you’d quit after two days in a hellhole
with no equipment to do your job.”

She snorted. “I’d move into Greg’s office and stare at him
pitiful
ly
before I’d give up this job.”

Jeff laughed and leaned back. “I’m going to miss you. While
unintentional, Sandra did me a great favor when she blackmailed me into taking
you.”

Carrie almost choked. “She blackmailed you?”

He nodded. “She overheard one of the young ladies who works
here profess her love for me. I ran from the room as fast as possible and have
avoided said lady ever since, but Sandra threatened to tell the young lady’s
boss.”

“You have to tell Dan! He needs to fire Sandra at once.”

“I can’t tell him; the young lady is his daughter.”

“Destiny? Oh… He’s very protective of his little girl.”

“Yep, and as long as Sandra’s blackmail remains a minor
inconvenience, I’ll endure it.”

“Besides training me, what else has she made you do?”

“I had to find jobs for several of her candidates.”

Carrie leaned forward. “Do you remember their names?”

“Not off the bat.”

“Could you find out?”

His brow furrowed. “Yes…why?”

“Because I think I can get her fired without Dan ever
knowing about the blackmail.”

He dived into his files, pulling out three folders, and
gave her the names. She wrote them down, certain when she looked them up, she
would find they quit a day after Dan paid the consultant commission.

“Okay if I skip this next interview? I need to see
Destiny.”

His eyes rounded.

“Nothing to do with your situation. I need to search the
database for these three people.”

He remained worried. “Don’t make me sorry I trusted you.”

“I won’t. I’ll take all confidentialities to my grave.” She
hurried from his office. When she arrived at Destiny’s, a Post-it note on the
door said she’d be right back. Carrie pulled out her phone. She smiled when she
noticed Mars had inputted his office number.

However, he hadn’t put in Trent’s numbers. For some reason
he refused to believe she and Trent remained a couple.

She dialed Mars. He picked up at once. “Mars speaking.”

“Carrie calling.”

“Miss Carrie, it’s good to hear from you. I gather you’ve
received the phone I sent you?”

“Yes, and it had your number inside. Are you still at the penthouse?
I thought you intended to take over the Long Island Estate.”

“I have moved. And I am very pleased with the estate and my
larger staff.”

She heard an edge to his voice. “So what’s not pleasing
you?”

“The new butler at the penthouse is already threatening to
quit. I have told him if he leaves after such a short stay, he’ll receive a
very bad assessment from me. I’m hoping my threat will make him dig in and
become combat ready.”

“It could be Trent’s fault. I’m worried about him.”

“Don’t waste a moment of your time on the matter. However, it
seems your new boss has learned enough about the Europa turtles to give him
serious concerns.”

“Dan?”

“Yes, he called me a half-hour ago wanting more details. I
got the feeling he thinks you sell narcotic turtles as a side business.”

“Oh, God.”

“I refused to explain, but told him to talk to you.
However, I would recommend you talk to him as soon as possible. If he needs the
truth collaborated, you can refer him back to me and I will be more than happy
to confirm what he knows.”

“Couldn’t you have told him what happened? He has a
daughter who wants to be like me. He may have his security guards sweep me away
without ever hearing my side.”

“I’m sorry, Carrie. A butler never discusses what goes on
in his house. Not even when he wishes to. No exceptions. Not even for you, whom
I think the most spectacular young lady of my acquaintance.”

Carrie had never heard such emotional tension in Mars’ voice
before. His distress at not being able to explain her drug past had upset him.
“It’s okay. I understand your position. I’ll go right now and explain the
situation to Dan. Everything will be fine.”

She hung up and rushed to Dan’s office. He had someone
inside, but Helen expected the meeting to end soon.

Dan noticed her presence as he walked out with the former
mayor. He didn’t introduce her, but maybe the gentleman hated meaningless
introductions. If
everyone
introduced him to all the people he passed by, he’d have
to shake hands constantly. All those germy hands could be a health hazard.

She wondered if politicians carried hand-sanitizer with
them. They
really
should.

She remained seated, hoping Dan had not left with the man.
When he returned, he waved her in.

Once they entered and he closed the door, she spoke. “Mars
said my story about the Europa turtles had you concerned, and I can understand
why. I failed to explain how they came to be. I would never knowing
ly
use narcotics
when making turtles and I deeply regret almost killing Mars and Jack.” She then
explained how Trent’s cook had chocolate imported from Russia containing a high
concentration of narcotics. “I needed to get my systems guy to come in on a
Sunday after his horrible prior day, so I offered to bake him his favorite treat,
chocolate caramel turtles.”

She studied Dan but couldn’t tell if she’d calmed his
concerns or not. He had an impressive poker face.

“Mars caught me in the kitchen making the turtles and got
upset with me. I didn’t know, as a guest, I couldn’t be in the kitchen.”

Dan smiled and nodded.

“I’d already finished making the turtles when he arrived. So
he put them in the refrigerator to chill and sent me from the kitchen.

“Later, he gave me a bag of chilled turtles to give to
Jack. I wanted to put a few aside for Sam and Trent, but he forbade it. He’d
eaten one and claimed it so delicious those two would never eat real food again
if they tasted the turtles.”

She grimaced. “At the time, I thought it a great
compliment. If
only
I’d tasted one.… I didn’t suspect a problem until Jack went
crazy over his first turtle. Curious why he thought them a whole level better
than my prior batches, I took one nibble on the foot of one and it almost
knocked me to the ground. First, I called Sam”

“Sam?”

“Trent’s driver.”

“Ah! Sam.”

The way he said it made her suspect he knew Sam was Trent’s
half-brother.

“Anyway, I asked him for help, but he said Mars came first.
So I called in Tiny and Tall to get the turtles away from Jack. Poor Jack
almost died. And Mars remained in the hospital for two days.”

“What about you?”

“Dr. Lenard tested me, but I didn’t test positive. I guess
because I nibble rather than eat. And the turtle’s foot consisted most
ly
of a pecan.”

Dan rubbed his face.

“Mars says if you call him and state my version, he’ll
confirm it. His profession doesn’t allow him to reveal anything. He’s kind of
like a priest, a war general, and mother all mixed into one.”

“I’d like to confirm one thing with Dr. Lenard, but you
will have to give him permission to answer my questions. However, this time, I
will ask you to leave the room.”

His somber eyes warned her she remained in the trouble pile.
She suspected he wanted to ask questions she would find insulting.

Certain she didn’t want to hear them, she nodded her
agreement.

Once Dan had Dr. Lenard on the phone, she asked him to
answer all of Dan’s questions concerning this matter. Then she handed the phone
back to Dan and returned to her gloomy office. She knew he wouldn’t want her
around his daughter until he verified she didn’t have a drug problem.

The minutes passed like hours. Final
ly
, he showed up
and sat on the edge of the desk, until the wood joints screamed. He stood and
leaned against the wall. “Dr. Lenard and Mars both back up your version. I’m
sorry I had to investigate, but…”

“You have to protect your daughter.”

He nodded.

“I understand.”

“Thank you.” He straightened up.

Carrie grimaced. “Am I still employed?”

“Absolutely.”

“And can I still speak to Destiny?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because I think I’ve found one of your problems.”

“Who?”

“Sandra.”

He frowned. “This is speculation?”

“It is, right now. But once I check these three candidates,
I expect to have proof.”

“Bring the evidence to me and don’t speak of this to anyone
else.
Especially
not Jeff.”

“Why?”

“He dislikes Sandra more than you do.”

***

Dan returned to his office relieved. Carrie’s problem centered
on her association with Trent. Every disaster she’d incurred related back to
her former boss.

Now, with his world righted, he asked Helen to verify the
iPads would arrive on Monday.

“Turns out there are several versions. Which one did you
want?”

“Not sure. I’ll go ask Destiny.”

He should ask Carrie, but Jeff would resent all the
unnecessary disturbances he’d endured today. The guy came in at eight and left
at four, but he outperformed anyone else both in quality and quantity. Clients
loved him because he understood what they wanted and didn’t waste their time
with inappropriate candidates. He grasped the science and art of his job.
Without Greg and Jeff, Dan’s business would not be the premier resource
firm
in New York
City. Without them, his company wouldn’t exist at all.

He smiled when he found his third and fourth most promising
employees huddled before a computer.

Carrie waved him in. “Close the door.”

He entered, shutting the door behind him, and looked over
their shoulders at the monitor displaying a long list of people with various
names, all of whom had the same social security number. Also, in every case,
upon getting the job, they left one day after the consultant received the commission.

How the hell could different people have the same social
security number? He differentiated his firm by assuring clients he performed a
thorough background check and
résumé
check of
every candidate sent. Placing various people with the same social security
number should not have happened.

Rage swelled inside him, but he forced himself to remain
calm. “How long has this been going on?”

Destiny pointed to her laptop.

“Started a month after you hired Sandra Parker.”

Carrie paged down to the end of the very long list. “We
haven’t finished the analysis yet, but it appears for the first three years,
Sandra placed these people herself, claiming the entire commission.

“Then at this point, she starts giving them to other people
to place.”

“I put the new system in around then. Before, Greg inputted
the data once a month. I’m surprised the prior stuff even shows up.”

Destiny smiled. “Carrie showed me how to convert and input
a copy of our old data into the new system. I’d tried before, but a lot of the
required input in the new system didn’t exist in the old program so it wouldn’t
accept the feed. Carrie knew a clever way to make it accept partial info. So
now we’ve certain data back to the beginning of computers.”

His daughter made it sound like the age of dinosaurs. And
if not for the serious problem, he would have laughed. “So Sandra’s been
placing this person for how many years?”

“This person—eleven years. However, we’ve found fifteen
other people.”

Dan groaned at the extent of the damage. Why hadn’t he
discovered this before now? Why hadn’t he listened to Jeff who had been against
Sandra from the day she showed up to the interview wearing a mini-skirt and low-cut
blouse?