Chapter 20
New Management
Several days after Lucius Jones’s funeral Shelly’s secretary advised her that Jones’s widow, Samantha, had arrived and had immediately gone into Jones’s office. Shelly hadn’t received any instructions about future management of the company, so she went to see Samantha to see if she knew what was going on. The door to Lucius’s office was closed so she knocked.
“Come in,” Samantha said.
“Hi. I’m Shelly Simms.”
“Oh, hi, Shelly. I’m Samantha, Lucius’s wife and the new CEO of RMS. The board met this morning by telephone.”
“Oh, really? I was wondering who was going to replace Lucius.”
“That’s me. I used to work for the company before I married Lucius several years ago.”
“Yes, I heard that.”
“I’m glad you stopped by. I was going to come and see you.”
“Oh. Okay. What can I do for you?”
“Lucius told me you were one of only a few who were trusted enough to know everything that was going on around here.”
Shelly nodded. “Right. Actually, nobody in this office other than Lucius and I knew everything.”
“Good. We need to keep it that way in case the feds start snooping around.”
Shelly raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Are you expecting that?” she asked.
“There have been threats and rumors about an investigation looming, but I don’t think there is any substance to it.”
Shelly wanted to ask her why she felt that way but decided it wouldn’t be appropriate to grill her on the subject the first day on the job.
“So, since I’ve been away from the game awhile,” Samantha continued, “I’m going to need a lot of help from you to get me on top of everything, particularly litigation. I can’t believe all the lawsuits that we’re defending.”
“Well, with the real estate market crashing and so many people losing their homes, it’s only natural that people are bitter and lashing out.”
“Do you know what our policy has been regarding settling these lawsuits?” Samantha asked.
“From what Lucius told me he doesn’t settle them, he fights them tooth and nail. He believes most of them are frivolous and only filed to delay foreclosure or get revenge if the foreclosure has already taken place.”
“Right. That’s true. They’re looking for a quick settlement, so we have to draw the litigation out and make them wish they never filed it.”
“Right,” Shelly acknowledged. “I think Lucius called that ‘Rambo litigation.’ ”
“Exactly. Like this Cindy Sharp case—trying to blame her husband’s suicide on us. Can you believe that?”
Shelly could believe it, actually, and felt it was probably true. She’d spent hundreds of hours while she worked in the customer service department for the old company listening to dozens of stories just like Cindy Sharp’s. When you messed with people’s homes there were bound to be deep emotions ignited. Getting kicked out on the street had to be one of life’s most traumatic setbacks. She kept these thoughts to herself, however.
“It’s definitely a stretch,” Shelly commented.
“I told the police they ought to look into her whereabouts on the day of Lucius’s murder. It wouldn’t surprise me if she wasn’t the killer.”
“Are you serious?” Shelly asked, startled by Samantha’s statement.
“As serious as a heart attack. I figured it was a good opportunity to cause her a little grief. The detectives said they’d talk to her. I just wish I could be there when they do it. I’d like to see the bitch squirm.”
Shelly didn’t reply.
“So, I talked to our attorneys this morning and told them to stick with the Triple D strategy.”
“ ‘Triple D’?” Shelly asked.
“Deny, delay, dissuade. Deny everything—make them come prove their case on their own. Delay—don’t agree to anything and do whatever can be done to drag out the litigation. Dissuade—make the cost of prosecuting their case so high that they are forced to give up or settle cheap at mediation.”
“What about the company’s legal expenses? Isn’t that approach pretty expensive?”
“It would be if we used law firms in the traditional fashion, but instead Lucius set up our own company legal department with its own attorneys who defend everything from one central location no matter what jurisdiction it’s actually filed in.”
“I could see where that could have its advantages, but the logistics of going to all those different courts all over the country would be staggering,” Shelly noted.
“Well, we have to hire local counsel to actually practice before each court, but the local counsel rarely do much of anything other than depositions and the rare case that goes to trial.”
“We spend a lot of time and resources responding to discovery requests,” Shelly complained. “It’s a horrible waste of time and resources.”
“I know. If the government would stay out of our business we wouldn’t have to be fooling around with all these modifications. We could just foreclose on the deadbeats who got behind and move on. Now everybody thinks they have a right to a modification and if we don’t give it to them they have a right to sue us.”
Shelly sighed. “That does make it difficult.”
“It’s just a bad time to be in the mortgage business, and wouldn’t you know Lucius would up and die and leave me with this mess.”
“Well, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” Shelly said, taking a step toward the door. She’d heard enough to be sick to her stomach. “Let me know if you need any help with anything.”
Samantha nodded, and Shelly made her escape. She went back to her office still reeling from the revelation that Cindy Sharp was being interviewed by the police. Wondering about whether there was any substance to Samantha’s statement, she went to see Sally to see if she knew anything about it. Sally was just hanging up the phone when Shelly stepped up to the reception desk.
“Hey, Sally. I’ve got a question for you.”
Sally smiled. “What’s up?”
“On the day of Lucius’s murder, were you here your full shift?”
“Yes. I left at five just like always.”
“Did you happen to see Cindy Sharp at all during the day before you left?”
“No. Can’t say that I did.”
“Hmm. Samantha told the police that they should be looking at Cindy Sharp as a suspect, and I was just wondering if there was any reason she’d believe Sharp had anything to do with it.”
“No. I haven’t heard anything about Sharp, but Walter Savage called three times that day and when Lucius finally took the call, I heard them arguing.”
“What about? Do you know?”
“No. All I heard were raised voices.”
“Did you tell the police?”
“Of course.”
“So, who do you think did it?”
“You just talked to her,” Sally said.
“Samantha?”
“Well, yeah. She wanted a divorce but didn’t file yet ’cause the value of the business was way down. Now she’s rid of her husband, owns the entire business, plus gets a nice fat salary while she’s waiting for things to turn around.”
Shelly nodded. “Not to mention the group life insurance and the company pension plan.”
“Right. Like I said. Samantha’s got my vote.”
Shelly thanked Sally for the info and returned to her office. At lunch she sent a coded message to Rich calling a meeting and then met him at Starbucks. She told him what she had learned from Samantha and Sally, and they discussed how that would impact their civil suit.
“It sounds like Samantha is as ruthless as her husband,” Rich observed.
“If not more so. She has absolutely no sympathy for the home owners. All she’s interested in is her bottom line.”
“That’s good for the lawsuit. We’ll just have to put her on the stand and make sure the jury realizes that. I don’t think
they will have much sympathy for her—grieving widow or not.”
They discussed Sally’s suspect list for a few minutes and who each thought was good for the murder, then Shelly indicated she had one more thing she wanted to talk about.
“You know, I have been thinking, now that Lucius is dead and Samantha has taken over, that it would be a good time for me to quit. I can still testify for you. I certainly know what’s been going on and will be a good witness.”
“You’re worried about the FBI investigation,” Rich suggested.
“Well, a little.”
Rich sighed. “You’re probably right. There’s no need for you to take any more risk.”
“So, you’re okay with me quitting.”
“Absolutely. I’ll feel better, actually. I’ve been worried about you.”
“Good. I’ll give my two weeks’ notice this afternoon.”
They talked a few more minutes and then left separately. A wave of relief came over Shelly knowing she’d soon be turning in her letter of resignation. She couldn’t wait to deliver it to Samantha and see the look on her face. Hopefully she’d tell her to leave immediately and not make her work two more weeks. Then she started to worry about Samantha’s reaction to her resignation. If Samantha was Lucius’s killer, she might decide it was too risky having someone out on the street who knew the company’s dirty secrets. If that were the case Shelly would have to consider getting a bodyguard.
When she got back to her office she typed up a letter of resignation, signed it, and went to Samantha’s office. The door was closed so she knocked. There was no answer, so she went to the reception area and asked Sally where she was.
“Oh, she left and said she wouldn’t be back today.”
“Damn!” Shelly exclaimed. “Wouldn’t you know she’d quit early on her first day.”
“I think she was going to see the company’s attorney to go over pending litigation.”
“Listen, Sally. I’m tendering my resignation,” Shelly said, holding out the envelope containing the letter she’d just typed. “Would you give it to Samantha when she comes in tomorrow?”
“Sure, but aren’t you giving notice?”
“Well, in my letter I told her I would be happy to work another two weeks if she wanted, but that I knew it was company policy to escort employees who quit off the premises immediately. So, I’m not coming back unless requested.”
“Right,” Sally said. “You think I should bail, too? Is this place going down?”
Shelly laughed. “No. I don’t know that it’s going down and I doubt you are in any jeopardy if you stay. This is just a personal decision on my part.”
“Well, okay. I’ll miss you, girl,” Sally said.
“I’ll miss you, too, but you’ll be the only one I’ll miss,” Shelly said and then went back to her office.
Twenty minutes later she exited the building with a file box containing her personal property and drove to her apartment. The phone was ringing when she went inside, so she dropped the box on a chair and answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“What’s this letter of resignation?” Samantha spat.
Surprised, Shelly asked, “How do you know about my letter of resignation?”
“When I called in to see if I had any messages, Sally told me,” Samantha said tersely. “I thought you were going to help me get up to speed and be my right-hand man.”
“Well, that’s what you said, but I never agreed to it. I think with Lucius’s death and new management coming in it’s a good time for me to leave.”
“Listen, you ungrateful bitch! You better keep your mouth shut. Lucius trusted you with all the company’s trade secrets and proprietary information. He paid you handsomely so you’d be loyal and keep everything he told you confidential. I better not find out that you’ve betrayed his trust.”
“Or what?” Shelly asked angrily.
“Or, I’ll tear you a new asshole, you motherfucker!”
“Oh my God!” Shelly gasped. “Don’t talk to me like that.”
“I’ll talk to you any way I damn well please,” Samantha said, “and you can’t do a damn thing about it.”
“There is one thing I can do,” Shelly said and hung up.
Shelly was shaking badly after the exchange and just sat there looking at the phone for a full minute. It rang again, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She didn’t answer it, assuming it was Samantha again. After it rang about twenty times she picked the receiver up, set it back down, and then took it off the hook. She’d have to change her telephone number the next day, she decided—and maybe consider moving somewhere where Samantha couldn’t find her.