“Bring on the thieves,” Ben said gleefully, rubbing his hands together, jazzed by the work more than he imagined he would be.
Casey typed a key code into the security program, wrote it on piece of paper, and handed it to Ben. “Here’s a code to both set and stop the alarm. I’ve already installed the program on Tom’s computer. He can hook up to the junction box with a USB cable and reset the code when needed. As soon as you feel your employees are able to handle the change, make one code to set the alarm and a different one to turn it off.”
Casey closed his laptop and pulled the USB cable from the bottom of the junction box. All anyone would see at first glance would be a box that appeared to connect electrical wiring throughout the warehouse. The motion sensors looked like brackets, and the tiny laser in them was nearly undetectable. It was simple and just right for this type of facility.
Casey felt a sense of pride in how well it had all worked out.
“The alarm sounds for twenty minutes, and then shuts off automatically. A 911 break-in message is sent to the local police at first activation. Tom’s cell number is the default call-back when the police need to talk to someone. He can change it later to let somebody else have the honor when he gets tired of being the go-to person. Can you think of anything I’ve left out?”
Ben shook his head no, pulling his wet shirt away from his chest. “Sounds done to me. Let’s eat. I had Janet order lunch for us. Jim and I need to dry out anyway. It’s hot up there by the ceiling. I had no idea.”
“You really liked climbing that tall-ass ladder and hanging the alarm, didn’t you?” Jim couldn’t believe how happy Ben was about it all. “I don’t know why, but it surprises me.”
“It’s the clothes,” Casey said matter-of-factly. “He dresses like the cover model of some men’s magazine. Kaiser doesn’t look like the physical type who knows what a drill is, much less how to use one.”
“Who do you think helped build this warehouse?” Ben said, shaking his head in disbelief. “Thirty years ago, we didn’t have the money to pay to have it done. Catherine’s father and I built it with his crew at the time.”
“
You built this building?
” Jim looked at the warehouse with new appreciation. No wonder Ben didn’t mind being on the extension ladder. He shook his head in wonderment. For years now, his idea of Ben Kaiser was a man who never got his fingernails dirty. Now it turns out he built a building.
“I don’t know why it’s a big deal that I like nice clothes. Why does everyone think it’s a crime? Besides, Regina likes the way I look.” Ben walked ahead of them to punch the elevator.
“The way you look isn’t all Regina likes.” Casey said with a smile as they stepped inside, waiting until the elevator door closed behind them to continue. “I’ve heard a dozen times from Alexa how you asked Regina to dance before you knew who she was, and then ended up making out with her five minutes later.”
Ben flushed and swore. “Close, but not exactly how it happened. Anyway, Regina got in her car and drove away from me that night.”
Casey and Jim just looked at him, waiting for the rest. Ben swore again, but laughed at the eager looks on their faces.
“So a couple weeks later, I went to Norfolk to hear her speak. I pretended to be a doctor to get in to see her,” Ben confessed.
Both men laughed, and nodded approval at his cleverness. “With you in your dress clothes, I can see that working perfectly,” Jim said in admiration.
Casey crossed him arms and took a longer look at Ben. Kaiser was an easy man to underestimate. In a way, Ben was a lot like Alexa, composed and confident on the outside, and full of surprises on the inside. Maybe at age fifty people just got really interesting.
“Yeah, I thought it was pretty slick too. No one questioned me being a doctor, but some of the doctors there warned me not to try to date her. They told me Dr. Logan didn’t date other doctors because one stole her work. Later I asked Regina about it and she said it was true.”
Jim grinned, envying Ben his memories as it was obvious he enjoyed his thoughts of that day. “So what did you do to get Regina to go out with you? You have to finish the story,” Jim demanded.
Ben laughed. “We never really went out. I told Regina I was glad I wasn’t a doctor because I’d followed her to Norfolk hoping to get laid.”
Casey and Jim both laughed like it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard.
Casey shook his head in disbelief. “A week ago I wouldn’t have believed you, Ben. Seeing you on that ladder today, I absolutely believe it.”
Jim smacked his forehead. “If only I’d known! I thought women were offended by that kind of honesty. What about subtlety and flirting?”
Ben snorted as they exited the elevator and headed into his office for lunch.
“Regina Logan isn’t even in the same category as other women. She will say anything to anyone at anytime, and you can never anticipate what will come out of her mouth. In Norfolk, she was giving a talk on self-gratification to several hundred of her peers. Most were male and many had a long-time thing for her. Being anything less than direct would not have worked. My only edge with her was I knew for sure she liked kissing me.”
They sat at one end of a large polished conference table. Casey’s contract and invoice were off to one side. Giant meatball subs and soft drinks were waiting for them. They dug in as companionably as if they ate together every day.
“To get the conversation off my sex life and onto someone else’s, I noticed you went walking in the garden with Lauren McCarthy the other night,” Ben said to Jim between bites.
Jim winced. “A short lapse in judgment.”
“Hers or yours?” Ben asked easily, never ceasing to eat as he talked.
“Both.” Jim kept his eyes on his sandwich, having trouble eating now with thoughts of kissing Lauren on his mind. He put the sandwich back on the wrapper. “It can’t go anywhere. I’m not free to date her. My personal life is not a great situation, but I’m not willing to change it. I have my reasons.”
Ben shrugged at the news as if it was nothing much to worry about it. “Doesn’t stop me from thinking you’re a good man, Jim. I’ve not known you well, but I’ve known you a long time. You’re as ethical in business as a person can get. I wouldn’t do business with you if I didn’t believe it. Regardless of what’s going on in your life, never doubt you deserve to be happy. We all do.”
“Don’t look now, but you sound like
Dr. Logan
,” Jim told him, and then realized he just more or less revealed to Ben and Casey he’d been a client of Regina’s.
“I am going to take the comparison as a compliment because I believe Regina sincerely helps people and only wants the best for them. Now before Casey gets concerned we’re going ask him about his sex life with Alexa, let’s look at his contract.” Ben picked up the papers.
“Wait. If I’m going to be the money guy for Casey, I need to be honest with him about something. I dated Alexa a few times,” Jim confessed, picking up the sandwich and taking a big bite as he saw the jealousy come into Casey’s eyes. “Nothing happened. So you don’t have to worry.”
“Jim, I was a Marine. I know how to kill a man. I’m not worried about you or any other guy,” Casey replied. He finished his sandwich and smiled wickedly at Jim across the table.
Jim laughed and looked relieved, exaggerating it for effect. “Well, I’m glad I barely kissed her then. If you don’t believe me, you can ask her yourself. Alexa’s very honest.”
Casey laughed, knowing personally how true it was, but he wasn’t worried about Alexa’s past anymore. If he could handle learning her gay ex-husband was the great love of her life before him, he could deal with knowing Jim was some guy she barely dated.
Casey looked at Ben.
“Don’t look at me with evil in your eyes, Carter. You know I never dated Alexa. You were with her when I met her,” Ben teased, laughing at Casey’s eye roll and frustrated sigh. “All right, before Casey decides to use his Marine training on us, let’s talk about his contract.”
He passed copies to both Jim and Casey. “I deducted the labor Jim and I did, and the material costs for the system itself, which leaves the bottom figure. This is the balance of what my company owes Casey for the consulting and technical setup. It also includes six months of follow-up in case modifications are needed. Look it over and let me know if there’s anything we need to change.”
While the current CEO of Winslow-Kaiser Builders, Inc. was having lunch with his new security firm in his office, his COO and CFO were in a large plush office on the floor above his, having lunch together and plotting a coup.
“You should have seen Ben tearing out of his place half dressed to chase Dr. Logan down the hall.” Daniel shook his head remembering. “When Ben finally catches her, he drags her back into the apartment with us. She’s wearing this short leather skirt and knee boots, looking as hot as ever, but she’s looking at Stacey thinking she’s there with Ben. Then she finally sees me and figures out who we are. She sat on the couch for a long time with her face in her hands. I thought at first she was going to cry.”
Alfred was hanging on every word, the food in front him forgotten as his brain tried to take in that Ben was a lot more involved with Regina Logan than they had known. Ben certainly hadn’t told them he loved her.
Daniel was on a story telling roll and didn’t notice how quiet Alfred had become.
“One minute Ben’s standing there with his hands on his hips glaring at Dr. Logan for doubting him, and then the next he makes Stacey and me turn around so he can kiss her. I’m not talking a peck on the cheek kiss, either. I’m talking about a
me-man-you-woman, drag you to the floor with my tongue down your throat
type of kiss.”
“Stop,” Alfred begged, the image too clear in his brain. “I get what you’re saying. Ben’s not just dating her. He’s in love with her.”
Daniel shrugged and went back to eating his sandwich. “That’s what Stacey and I concluded. When you see them together, you can really tell. The pictures in the paper aren’t telling half the story. When I asked him about it, he said he’d felt that way pretty much since the first time he saw her.”
Alfred leaned back in his chair and looked at the ceiling of Daniel’s office.
“Ben probably hasn’t told us the whole truth because he doesn’t want to have to choose the company and us over her, which is what Daddy Ben would feel like he had to do. He gave his life to build Frank’s business, and then to Catherine through her illness, but he hasn’t let up since she died. Doesn’t Ben know he’s fifty? His first obligation now should be to himself, not to the damn company, which is doing fine. How do we get Ben to ease up?”
“We could vote to remove him from the position of CEO,” Daniel said jokingly, not really meaning it. “Then Ben wouldn’t have the company to worry about anymore.”
A possibility suddenly bloomed in Alfred’s mind like a flower opening to the sun. “You know, that might just work,” Alfred said. “Can we afford to keep paying Ben the same salary if he changes his position within the company?”
“Alfred, you can’t be serious,” Daniel said, his voice hardening as he began to see Alfred was serious. “Ben owns the largest voting share of the company stock. It wouldn’t be financially prudent not to keep him on the payroll.”
“Screw prudent,” Alfred said affectionately. “I’m talking about helping Ben come up with a way to beat the press at their own game. We’re going to create the illusion Ben is no longer CEO, but we’ll hire him back at the same salary as a
Management Consultant
.”
“
Management Consultant?
Interesting idea.” Daniel smiled as Alfred laid out a plan. He was starting to see the possibility also. Companies restructured all the time for the sake of convincing the public they were cleaning house.
Alfred brushed breadcrumbs from his suit jacket. The more he thought about it, the more he realized how well it could work out for everyone.
“Ben’s been the perfect man for a long time. His reputation could stand a little tarnish. We’ll make clients believe to protect the company’s overall image we demoted him from CEO because of his questionable association with Regina Logan. We’ll say straight out Ben retains a considerable interest in the company and how it runs, not to mention the fact he’s the primary stockholder now with both his and Catherine’s shares.”
Alfred got up to pace as he continued.
“Old school clients like those that called about Ben dating her will think we took the proper action. More lenient ones will forgive us because we kept Ben on in some capacity. The press will have to believe it’s true because it will look true on paper. Nothing changes for us except titles. Then it simply won’t matter what gets published. People will shake their heads, but no one is likely to close their wallets to the company over a role change.”
“Don’t you think the action of losing Ben as CEO might be a little extreme?” Daniel asked. “It’s one to thing to joke and laugh about such a solution, but another thing to put such a plan into action.”
“If Ben’s not comfortable with it as a solution, then we won’t do it,” Alfred said easily.
Daniel nodded. “I’ll need to do some math first before we draw up the paperwork. Everything I told you is off the top of my head. Once we start down this path, word is going to spread quickly among the gossipers here. We’ll need to get it in front of the board and Ben within a couple of days.”
“Agreed.” Alfred put his hands in his pockets. “We all owe Ben for the strength of this company. Personally, I’d rather Ben be happy than be our CEO. Catherine would have wanted him to be happy too I think.”
“Yes. She would have. I’m going to have to tell Stacey right away. As the second largest stockholder, she has a legal right to know about this plan,” Daniel said, already mentally scheduling to leave work early enough to see her before her yoga class this evening.
“Do whatever you think is best. I’m heading out to job sites this afternoon to check on a few of the bigger ones. Call me if you need anything,” Alfred said, heading out the door.
Daniel leaned back in his chair, contemplating what needed to be done and how Ben might react.