“I don’t know what you’re going to find, but I’m hoping that I did miss something. I don’t think that I did and I’m usually pretty damn thorough when I go through contracts with a fine-toothed comb. I always worry that those that I entrusted to do my business are not looking out for my best interest. I can’t be everywhere and I have to depend on those that I pay significant sums to look after things.” It was his words that made me take a look at the innocuous files of those that she depended on.
It didn’t take long to find out that the enemies that she had to worry about were in house. There were three in particular that were skimming funds. She was oblivious and it was very subtle in increments of dollars instead of thousands. That wasn’t going to attract the kind of attention that would warrant an in-house audit.
I used the back door that Jeffrey had made to go searching each of their files in a more in-depth way. I was good at finding discrepancies and these three individuals had been working together to undermine her. They were looked past every time that there was a promotion to be had. How they came together was a mystery, but it wasn’t very important in the grand scheme of things.
“I don’t see what you are seeing, but I get the feeling that I should be.” I walked him through it. At first, he was blind to what was right in front of his face, but then he started to recognize that these three had been taking a little bit at a time. It wasn’t substantial amounts, but it was enough over a span of 10-years to give them all a sizable parachute for retirement.
“We may not have the smoking gun to go after her, but we have the next best thing. All three of those guys have been subjected to the ridicule in the bar leaving them without their clothes and dignity. I think they are stealing from her to get their pound of flesh.” I could tell that tonight that they got a little greedy. That was reckless, but they weren’t thinking straight. The one that was mysteriously absent was Derek. He was most likely still enjoying being with the boss in the Biblical sense.
“I don’t see how these guys taking money is going to help us.” I wasn’t sure either, but then it dawned on me that this was exactly the ammunition that he needed to go into that meeting in the next two days. I would need to make hard copies so that he would have something tangible in his hands to throw in her face.
“Her reputation is the only thing that matters to her. You make it perfectly clear that this will get out publicly and I think that you’ll see that she’ll do anything to make sure that her dirty business does not make it that far. She won’t want people to know that she was blind to what was going on underneath her nose. This should be enough to get her to make a deal that will benefit the both of you. You go in there with this and she will have no choice but to play by your rules.” His hands were massaging my shoulders and I was in a desperate state to have my feet rubbed.
“No… I’m not going to do this.” I was a little confused and worried that he had decided to chicken out at the last minute. “We are going to do this together. I want to see the look on her face when you walk in there. I’m sure that she’ll feel a need to sick Susan on you, but we can stop her in her tracks by dumping this in her lap.” That would’ve made for a priceless moment and I was going to be damned if I wasn’t going to be a part of this.
“If this gets out, then she will be the laughingstock of the business world. Nobody will take her seriously thinking that she couldn’t even handle her own business. Money is the only thing that she understands.” In two days, I was going to walk in with Marshall on my arm. I doubted that anybody would recognize me, but it was possible that Tina might be able to see through with her woman’s intuition and instinct.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how she tries to backpedal out of this mess. Her natural instinct will be to deny everything. When she gets the proof in front of her face, then there will be no chance for her to deny. I’ll have my hand on the send button for an e-mail bomb to every journalist worth their salt. Not only that, but several executives that I know personally will find this interesting.” This would be a huge black eye and one that she might recover from, but it would take some time to rebuild what was obviously her legacy and empire.
“Let’s say for argument’s sake that she does have Susan and her overwhelming security force drag us from the room. She may feel that it’s worth it, in the end, to make sure that we don’t interfere in her business again. I think that I might have an idea about shocking her into speechlessness. This won’t do that, but what I have in mind might just be the ticket.” I told him what it was that I was going to do and he was quite shocked by my ingenuity. He said that he could make it happen, but it would take a day to get everything in order.