Undeniably His(73)

“Getting our biggest clients back.” Her smile disappears into a concerned expression. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. You know, it’s just all this stuff with Kalin, and trying to sort it all out.”

“You can’t think about that stuff all day, Annabelle. It will drive you nuts.”

“You’re probably right.”

“C’mon, let’s go over the results for Kalin, and then we can talk over lunch.”

“Sure. I have to meet Kalin at the hospital with his lawyer. Legal stuff.” I grimace. “Then I can meet you for lunch.”

“No wonder you’re preoccupied. Anything you want to talk about?”

“Not right now. Maybe later. Let’s get this project done.” I put on my bravest smile.

“Yeah. Okay. It’s not pretty. We’ve turned into our own worst enemy. We lost that personal touch with our best clients.”

Why should they care? The board planned on plundering or selling the company anyway, and making off with the profits.

“It’s hard to restore trust once it’s been lost.” I frown.

“That’s why we can unveil our secret weapon. Come on, I want to show you what I’ve planned.”

I slip Dale’s folder in my top drawer and walk with Madison to her office. I pull up a chair next to her at her computer, and we review the survey results that Kalin instructed us to gather from our largest former clients to find out why they left TALVIS Advertising.

“By a long shot, the biggest reason clients left was loss of trust. Worse, loss of trust is the biggest problem to have with clients…unless,” she points her index finger up while staring at the screen, “unless you plan on undergoing major changes in management.” She turns to me and smiles with excitement. “We can just blame the new management, and tell them Kalin’s coming back to clean the mess up,” she grins. “The new TALVIS will become the one they’ve always known.”

“Do you think that’s all it will take?”

“Kalin’s reputation is known all over the industry. That’s all it’s going to take. That, and a little cleanup from this news story they’ve been running.” She clicks on a web site to bring up the article about Kalin’s accident. Reckless Driving May Have Been Factor in Davis Accident.

A weight drops from my chest to my stomach every time I see the article. “You know, it’s very convenient that this article, based on nothing, is getting so much air time even as they try to get rid of Kalin on the board.”

Madison turns toward me with a wrinkled brow. “You think they are doing this on purpose?”

“I think it’s Plan B. He wasn’t even charged with anything, but it doesn’t matter. Just put it in the paper and it sticks.” I flail my hand at the monitor in annoyance.

“I wouldn’t worry about them. I’m surprised they did that to someone like Kalin. He can destroy them,” she says with wide eyes fixed on me. “Kalin knows how to use the media.”

“You mean for profits.”

She smiles at me. “Kalin’s right. You’re a fast learner. And we’re going to have this company in tip-top shape by the time he returns. What did you mean by Plan B?”

“I don’t think whoever did this thought he would live to do something about it,” I glower.

Madison presses her hand to her chest. She looks like she’s staring at a ghost. “You mean you think they were trying to hurt him?”

“Worse. The truck that rammed into Kalin wasn’t caused by an accident. They were obviously trying to kill him. You would never pick up on that by reading this ridiculous article. That’s what’s so frustrating.”

“Oh, my God! Annabelle, are you sure?” Her healthy glow drains to white as if an invisible vampire is sucking all the blood from her face.

“Yes. I was lucky to get out unscathed, and Kalin was lucky to get out of this alive.” I grab my purse and head for the door. “I should be back in an hour.”

“Do they know who it is?” Her expression tenses.

“That’s what we’re going to find out.”

~~~

Norman Wyatt has no intention of revealing his sources to Kalin. He simply ran with a report, and then quietly issued retractions in the back of the newspaper when anyone threatened to sue him. When Kalin had told him he wanted to see him this afternoon, Norman knew what it meant. But he isn’t about to fumble his employer into the hands of Kalin Davis, or have his name ruined in a front-page retraction.

Norman comes into the hospital wearing a gray blazer and white shirt. His beige-and-white beard matches his untidy hair. His circular eyeglasses are split into bifocals under a thick, two-toned frame of brown and beige, making the brown and beige color combination complete overkill.