Chapter Fourteen
Back in his high end loft in the center of downtown, Sterling Keller took extra time getting ready that morning. Every hair was styled and sprayed in place. His European-cut suit with a skinny tie was appropriately fashion forward. Finally, he slipped on classic wingtips. In the living room, a large paper bag held his old clothes. He should have burned them a decade ago like he’d planned. Before leaving for work, he went to the kitchen with the bundle under his arm, shoved it in the trash compactor and turned the knob. The hum of the motor brought a satisfied smirk to his freshly shaven face. It wasn’t quite burning, but there were fire laws after all.
Speeding to work, he had one thing on his mind, getting the final numbers for his next project. All that stood in his way was presenting his most recent findings. Once that was done, he’d never think of this weekend again. It was over. Another nail in the coffin of his past that he would never reopen.
The elevator doors slid wide with a ping, and a large modern clock on the wall had both hands pointing at the six. No one would be in for another hour. He had spent most of Sunday afternoon and night typing a detailed report about the little goat girl. Although anyone else in the world would have let him simply email it to them, his boss wanted only one hard copy to be made and delivered directly to her. Every scrap of documentation his boss touched was held to the same standard and meticulously tracked so that her interests were protected, per the advice of her lawyers, Bob Evans and Bob Little. The office dubbed them the Bobsie Twins, but they were anything but comical. Although their methods were a little extreme, his boss swore that she had avoided more than one frivolous lawsuit because of it.
As Sterling walked past his secretary’s desk, he was a little surprised the older redhead was already there and wearing a Cheshire cat grin. “You’ve got an important visitor. Been waiting for almost half an hour.”
He could guess who it was. She sure didn’t waste any time, did she? After having her feet washed, Julie was obviously escalating her efforts. Phone calls weren’t enough anymore. Throwing open the door, he was ready to tell her exactly what he thought of her. Given his current mood, he looked forward to it.
“Hey, Mr. Keller.” Austin sat on the red kidney-bean-shaped sofa, the only bit of color in the room. “I’m ready to start working for you.”
Sterling paused, trying to remember why the intern would be there.
Austin took a tentative step toward him. “You promised me a position after introducing you to Paige.”
Sterling continued to his desk and sat. Opening his briefcase, he took out his report and scanned the pages one last time. “Give me a week, and I’ll have your assignment ready.” He’d check with their sanitation division.
The intern hung his head, and Sterling let the kid show himself out. He had almost shut the door when Sterling called him back as an afterthought. “I’m expecting another document today. A private survey of three recycling facilities?” Once again the hard copy policy annoyed him, and he wished they could use digital copies like every other business in the twenty-first century.
Austin grinned. “Check your inbox.”
Sterling gestured to the mahogany box on his desk, which contained a handful of single page office memos he’d never bothered to read. “No folder in sight.”
“Not that one.” The intern was at his side, bending over his computer, typing on his keyboard. “There.” He pointed at the screen.
It was a computer application Sterling hadn’t seen before. To the right of what looked like an inbox icon, a set of parentheses had a two in it. He clicked, and sure enough, the digital copy was there. A chuckle ruptured from deep in his chest. “What app is this?”
Austin stood a little taller. “It’s my thesis. I’ve created a hyper-secure interoffice server that records every document within Erickson Holdings. Not only can you retrieve your documents, you can track where they are physically and electronically—here.” He clicked a few more keys, and the screen lit up with little squares moving constantly back and forth around a spreadsheet.
Once the cursor lit over a square, a text box appeared with the details of the document and its location. Sterling played with the application for a few minutes, becoming more amazed by the second. “You did this?”
Austin hung his head. “It’s the reason your document was delayed on Friday. That’s when we went live. But it’s still no excuse.”
“I think it is.” Sterling rose to his feet and shook the intern’s hand as an equal. “By end of business today, I’ll have a better idea of where I stand with my next assignment, and I promise you’ll be my right hand man.”
Austin smiled with the look of a sports fan whose team won the playoffs. “Thanks, Mr. Keller.”
Walking back around his desk, Sterling opened the survey doc and sat down. “No, thank you, Austin. I should have believed every word Paige said about you.”
The mention of Paige stopped the boy in his tracks. “She says nice things about everyone. I’m glad you got to meet her.” Austin opened the door and walked past a stunned Dotty. Apparently, she wasn’t expecting him to be so chipper.
The intern’s last words played across his mind. He thought of Paige’s dark curls, olive complexion and bright mind with a little regret. “So am I.”
Half an hour later, he was ready to face his boss. The survey he’d reviewed was more than he’d ever expected. Technology recycling was the untapped wave of the future, and with enough capital upfront to ensure they came in top of share, they could easily maintain the prime spot and make more money than his dad ever dreamed of. He pressed the button on his phone again. “Dotty, are you sure she still hasn’t come in?”
His secretary’s voice was strained. “I told you three times that you should get up and wait at her office. Stop acting like that annoying girl you’ve been trying to avoid, will ya?”
He got to his feet and began pacing between his desk and the sofa Austin had been sitting on. His boss hated to be pressured into anything, preferring to be the initiator of any conversation. He was the same way. But if the intern could do it, why couldn’t he?
Sweeping the Lindon report into his hand, he strode down the hall. Once his boss gave him back the prospectus, he’d be ready to make a move on Earth Tech.
“It’s about time,” Dotty said as he passed. He’d inherited her from a retired partner, and she’d never steered him wrong. Although no longer the true beauty she'd evidently been twenty years ago, Dotty was still sharp as a tack and knew more secrets about his associates than Sterling would ever dream of. It had gotten him out of more than one tight spot, and he knew she wouldn’t let him forget it.
The executive offices were around a blind corner, opening to a wide bay of cubicles. At the end of the hall, double doors led to a plush waiting room which led to the president’s office. The secretary wasn’t there, but he could see through the thin window to the left of her door that his boss was.
Sterling moved forward to knock, but she saw him first. “Open it.”
Elaine Erickson didn’t stand. She wore a fuchsia pantsuit and a dour expression. Across from her sat a man whose watch was the only interesting thing about him. It was a Hublot knockoff. Anyone that knew anything about quality wouldn’t trust him as far as they could throw him, and anyone that didn’t shouldn’t be playing in this league.
The vapid fellow was about to introduce himself, but Elaine took charge. “This is Ryan Scott of Emu Bliss. He claims that Bill Lindon used his formula for soap without permission.”
Sterling couldn’t imagine the man he was looking at having anything to do with something as lowly as soap. “You’re talking about Paige Lindon’s uncle?”
“Deceased uncle,” Elaine clarified.
Taking the arm of the closest chair, Sterling sat. “I didn’t realize he had passed. Was it recent?”
Elaine steepled her fingers. “Yes, that’s what brought this issue to our attention. Bill’s obituary outlined his accomplishments and mentioned the s
oap.”
The other man didn’t respond, content to let Elaine do his talking for him. Sterling wanted to punch him in the mouth for some reason but decided the best tactic would be to ignore him all together.
Sterling knew lawsuits like this seldom went to court. They were usually the result of some slick Willy looking for a quick buck. Evidence was fabricated all the time to syphon profits off a skyrocketing product, but with Paige’s limited resources, Lindon Beauty Cakes had years before it would get to that level. “I don’t see what he hopes to get out of the operation. It’s barely solvent. Her production is so low she can’t even keep a booth at the flea market stocked.”
“That’s because it’s in such demand she can barely meet her orders.” Elaine got to her feet and walked around her ample desk with a printout in hand. “I thought you investigated her this weekend.”
Sterling clutched his report but suddenly didn’t want to relinquish it. “I did.”
Sitting on the edge of the desk in front of him, Elaine handed him the page. “Frankly, I expected more from you. This is extrapolated from the information we’ve been able to obtain. Do you know her wholesale price is $30 per bar?”
Sterling followed the numbers on the page with his finger. “I assumed that was retail, but yes.”
Elaine glanced at Ryan before going on. “And she currently has fourteen producing does that yield forty bars per day each.”
Licorice, Concrete, Cinnamon and the others came to mind. Sterling nodded. “Yes, that’s about right.”
Elaine continued. “Do the math. That works out to 566 bars per day. Over 500k of product per month at thirty a bar.”
“Six million per annum?” Sterling read the figures over again. It didn’t make sense. “Have you seen her house? Her car?”
Moving back to her leather chair with a look of triumph, Elaine explained, “Of course, that’s only her potential gross. Given her uncle’s funeral and other setbacks, her production is down. It also looks as though most of her retailers are new relationships. Once she’s hired a few employees, that girl’s prepped to break open an entirely new niche market.”
Again, Sterling found himself admiring Paige’s business acumen, but a few things did not compute. “So what does this have to do with you?” He turned his chair to look at the man beside him. The snake averted his gaze.
His boss answered for the man again. “Her success is a direct result of Ryan’s scientists. He has the documentation to prove it. If he takes this to court, she’ll lose everything.”
Sterling couldn’t stay sitting down. Jumping to his feet, he clutched the arms of Ryan’s wingback and jammed his face within inches of the creep. “So what do you want?”
Again, Ryan didn’t react. Sterling could tell the guy was pretty confident he’d already won.
At last Ryan opened his mouth, but his words were directed to Sterling’s boss. “You can call off your dog now.”
She didn’t have to. Sterling knew he’d crossed a line, but this whole thing still didn’t make sense. He withdrew to a corner to cool down, and Ryan got to his feet.
“My lawyers will be in touch,” he said to the room in general before exiting.
Now he’d get some answers. Sterling sat in front of Elaine who was reading through three single page documents on her desk. He waited. When she met his eyes, he said, “So what is your part in all this? Why are you even involved?”
“It’s somewhat confidential.” She dropped the pages into her top drawer. “I was a close friend of her uncle, and am watching out for Paige’s interests.”
He wasn’t buying it. “Where’s the Bobsie twins? I can’t believe you’d even talked to that character without them present.”
“Evans and Little are in Vancouver, as we speak, explaining the situation to Miss Lindon. She should be arriving within the hour.” Elaine’s gaze returned to her desk, meaning he was excused, which was fine with Sterling because he was speechless.
As he wandered down the empty hall to his own office, Sterling was reeling. He remembered Paige telling him about the worst offense that could ever be committed in her view. Lying. And she was about to find out that he was perhaps the worst criminal she had ever known.
As he rounded the corner to his office, it took everything he had not to lunge himself at the man leaning over Dotty’s desk. Sterling’s jaw clenched so tight he could hear his teeth grind against each other.
Ryan hung over the counter surrounding Dotty’s desk. “I’m divorced now. Come on, Dotty-kins. It’ll be like old times.”
Dotty stood and leaned toward him suggestively. “Not old enough, sweetie.” With both hands she shoved at his chest, causing him to tip backwards and have to catch his balance.
Sterling took that moment to advance, trying not to laugh too hard. “Dotty, I think we’ve got some work to do. If you don’t mind?”
She grabbed a pad and pencil. Sterling hadn’t seen her respond that quickly since the day he took her on. “I think we’re done here,” Dotty said to Ryan.
He gave her a wink as he walked away. “Not by a long shot, babe.”
***