Shadow of Secrets

by Kacie Clement

  Grayson drove back to Jack's. Finding Jack sitting back on his covered deck working on his laptop, Grayson grabbed a beer from the ice cooler then took a chair from across Jack, he said, "I think we have a problem here. She is not working on the GTR Server. Jack looking up from his laptop, "I think we have a bigger problem; I didn't order that equipment and I cannot find one purchase order for the materials. I think we need to be on-site tomorrow morning; I want to see the equipment. I've already called Hannah our babysitter; she will be here by eight am and ready to spend the day." Grayson thoughtfully responded, "Your right, I will camp out on your couch, and we can leave as soon as she gets here." The two spent the rest of their evening drinking beers and discussing the upcoming Cardinals season.

  Emma had spent Sunday morning reading the paper and drinking coffee. Her ankle feeling better, she set her laptop up on the table on her Garden Patio; it was almost time to Skype with Amelia.

  Seeing Amelia pop up on her screen, they shared time catching up on all the latest gossip, new shoe fashions, and that new Broadway show in New York. Amelia then asked Emma, "How is work going? Any interesting men in that group?" Emma laughed, "There may be, but first I want to talk to you about work, something is bothering me, and I want your take on it." Amelia with a somber look said: "Shoot." Emma proceeded to tell her about her job duties, "So they delivered over a hundred boxes to my office. None of which are in any sense of order thinking I would spend my time organizing them and scanning them. The thing is, after Grayson and I visited the site yesterday and then went to Jacks for a barbeque…" Amelia raising her voice, said, "Wait, who are Grayson and Jack, someone interesting?" Emma laughing again said; "We will get to that, listen now, they were asking, which felt more like an interrogation, about the server I was using. While they were getting more food, I went on Jacks laptop, which was sitting open on a chair. Amelia, I am not on the same server, and all those boxes of files I'm supposed to be organizing and filing are on the main server perfectly filed. I can't sign into that particular server with my username and password. That's not all. I also pulled the Power Purchase Agreements for the Navajo Project, and twelve of the twenty-five contracts have four percent of the profits going to a consulting company."

  Amelie quiet for a minute thinking, responded, "Emma, are you sure about the server?" Emma slyly looked at Amelia on the screen, "I am sure, I am on a completely different server. I had time to find Jacks username and password to the GTR Server, and I rechecked everything right before our call, here write this down, and you can check it out for yourself." Amelia going into her international attorney mode said, "You know that's hacking and illegal right? Give me the info. I'm on my computer but have my laptop here." Emma gave Amelia the information, and she quickly signed into Jack's account and found everything to be just as Emma had told her, she then signed into Emma's server account and saw that she had begun scanning all of the same documents that were in the GTR Server. "Emma," Amelia asked, "You also said there was a consulting company that would receive a percentage of the profits on only twelve of the twenty-five projects, who owns that? What about those two, Grayson and Jack? Did they give you any information about this company?"

  "I didn't bring that up with them, I was going to, but after their interrogation session, I just didn't feel comfortable telling them about the contracts." Amelia with a frown on her face, "Emma, there is something fishy here. What's the name of the consulting company let me see if I can track down the ownership of the company, do you know where their head offices are?" Emma responded, "No, I don't know where they are. I only know their name, Clean Energy Solutions, Inc. Do you think you can find some information on them for me? I don't want to make waves if I don't have to." Amelia replied, "Emma, I will find them, it may take me a day or two, but that's part of my job, so no problem.

  Meanwhile, keep quiet on the server problem, but ask your legal person why the contracts have this company on twelve of those contracts but not all of them. But Emma, don't push the issue, ask the question. Trust no one right now." Emma quietly replied, "I will ask our Legal Advisor, Westley Bentley about it in the morning." Amelia said, "I have to go, Emma, I have a tea date with a gentleman named Winston Hall; my dad has set up for me.” Emma laughed, saying, “When are you going to break down and tell him you prefer girls?” Amelia giggled, “Let's chat at seven p.m. on Wednesday. Bye, love!"

  Grayson and Jack were finishing their inspection of the equipment at the project sites. Clipboard in hand, Jack looked at Grayson "I don't understand this, twelve of these sites have twice the size generators. There is no reason for this. I did not approve any of this." Sitting down on the shaft of one of the turbines, he looked up at Grayson and said, "Buddy, with Emma being on another server, then this, we have a real problem here, and we need to figure this out quick."

  Grayson turned facing the sun stood very still and quietly said, "Again, the white man takes what is our right to.". His thoughts quickly turn to Emma, wondering if she is a part of this or could she be in danger?

  6

  Emma, after a restless night with little sleep, rolled over in her bed to look at her alarm clock. It was 4:30 am, and she was not going to get any sleep. Dragging herself from her bed, Emma made a pot of coffee. Waiting for the coffee to percolate she gazed at the stack of files on the counter wondering how she was going to start the conversation with Steve Hopkins, on who Clean Energy Solutions exactly was and why they were due to receive profits from just twelve of the twenty-five project sites.

  With a steaming cup of coffee, Emma sat at the counter again, going over the Power Purchase Agreement's and putting them in order by site number. Pulling her notebook out with her notes from the site, she made a comparison of the sites by project number with the contracts. Going over them a third time, Emma realized that it was every other site whose contracts held higher returns for Clean Energy Solutions.

  Taking a sip of her now-cold coffee, she thought, "Every other site? There has got to be a reasonable explanation, to this." Thinking back to her site visit with Grayson, there was a lingering thought that she should remember something about the materials on site. With a feeling of dread deep in the pit of her stomach, she looked at the alarm clock again, realizing it was almost six am, she headed for the shower wanting to be in the office by seven to give her enough time to prepare for her meeting with Steve.

  Pulling into the parking ramp promptly at seven am, Emma noticed Steve and Wesley's cars parked in their appropriate spots, they had already arrived, and it wasn't even 8:00 am. Walking into her office, she sat down at her desk, arranging the Power Purchase Agreements in order by the site. Finishing another cup of coffee, Emma stood, smoothing out her sleeveless dark blue linen dress. Looking in the mirror, she smoothed back her long blond hair which was held back by an intricately beaded barrette while refreshing her lip gloss. Satisfied with her attire and look, Emma was ready to find Steve Hopkins. Picking up her stack of files, she walked out of the office to walk down to the end of the hallway to Steve's office.

  Approaching Steve's office, she saw that Steve and Westley were both in attendance. Knocking on the door, she entered saying, "Good morning, do you two have a minute? I have a few questions on the files I am putting together." Steve replied, "Sure come on in." She noticed Westley looking at her once again as if he was sizing her up like a piece of meat and feeling a rush of disgust; she saw the only chair available was the one next to him. She shook off the uncomfortableness and seated herself. Wesley turned towards her, "You're looking delicious this morning, Emma, that dress fits you like a glove." Emma ignoring the comment, looked directly at Steve. "I have a question; I was going over the Power Purchase Agreements to prepare them for scanning and noticed that twelve of the twenty-five contracts have a percentage of the profits going to a company named Clean Energy Solutions. In my research, I have not found the contracts between this company and Green Touch Solutions. Could you explain who this company is, and I am wondering why I cannot find the contrac
t agreements? I should scan their contracts together with the Power Purchase Agreements along with the invoices for the equipment, which I have also have not found, so each project site is in proper order before scanning." Steve and Wesley looked at each other with a guarded look, a look Emma did not miss. Steve setting his coffee cup down, pulled his chair closer to his desk, "Are those the files you have there? Can I see them?" Emma handed him the files, stating, "You will notice that every other site has an increased return of profit for Clean Energy Solutions. I am not sure who they are or why it is only every other site. I am thinking maybe if I visited the site, I would have a better understanding of the project."

  While Steve was paging through the files, Wesley continued the conversation, "How was your weekend? Did you do anything interesting? Some night I will have to take you to the Monto Vista Cocktail Lounge. They have great live music and tasty drinks, maybe tonight after work we could stop there for a drink?" Emma, looking at Wesley, smiled and said, "I'm sorry I have other plans for tonight but thanks for the offer." Turning back to Steve, she said, "Well?" Steve putting the files back together in no specific order looked up, glancing at Wesley, he replied, "Clean Energy Solutions, is a construction consulting firm we use. I must apologize Emma, those boxes delivered to your office are certainly in disarray; I am sure you if you take some more time and look a bit closer you will find everything you need somewhere in those boxes. Actually, in all honesty, I am surprised you found all twenty-five of the project Power Purchase Agreements. You certainly are efficient. I would keep going through the boxes; those contracts must be in them somewhere, as far as the equipment invoices, you will not find them. The equipment isn't expected to be here until next week. Can I make a useful suggestion, Emma?" Before Emma could respond, he continued, "I would scan the files as you come across them and worry about organizing the files after scanning each file. Our deadline is to have the project up and running in four weeks, as I understand it, the files are all to be completed by then to be ready for the next project in Oklahoma that is due to start in six weeks. But if it is too much for you, we can bring in a few temp agency girls to help you go through the boxes and scan the files. There is no need for you to visit the project site. I think the boxes are a big enough project for you." Emma looked at Steve raising an eyebrow while turning on the ice in her blue eyes, replied, "Thank you for the offer, but I am getting through the boxes in record time, I was just hoping you could explain the need for a consulting construction company for only half the projects." Steve glanced at his watch and looked at Wesley, "We need to get moving if we are going to make it across town for our meeting." Standing Steve said, "Emma, just continue your work, and you should come across everything you need, if you could excuse us, we need to get moving, or we will be late." Standing, he walked over to the door opening it for Emma, "Have a great day, Emma, keep up the good work, Wesley, are you ready?" Walking back to Steve's desk, Emma leaned over the desk retrieving her files, turning back towards the door she looked at both Steve and Wesley, saying "Yes, I will certainly get busy going through more boxes today, maybe I will get lucky and find the files I am looking for." Wesley smiled, "I am sure you will, Emma, hey, if you change your mind about that drink, give me a call." Turning and walking out the door, she thought, Not on your life, Wesley, you're a slimeball.

  Emma returned to her office and sat down hard in her chair. Shivering, she thought, Wesley makes me feel like I need a shower every time he looks at me. I hate to imagine what it would be like having a drink with that little creep. Pulling out her notebook, she made notes on her meeting, noting that the project would be up and running in four weeks, including the point that there was no need for her to visit the site, smiling, thinking, If they knew I had already been there and saw the equipment had already arrived, I wonder what their reaction would be. She also added the offer of temp help; she did not need any help in organizing those boxes; she already had everything ready to be scanned. There was not a contract with Clean Energy Solutions or any invoices for the equipment she knew were already on the site. Why did they tell her to keep looking? Why is she scanning files that were already on the Green Touch Renewables Server onto another server? She hoped Amelia would have an answer of who Clean Energy Solution was when they talked on Wednesday. Putting her notebook back in her bag, Emma began to continue scanning the files from the boxes, thinking, why am I here doing this? Going back to her desk, she pulled out her phone to send a text to her dad Howard Graystone; maybe he could help her work through this problem. "Hi Dad, wondering if we could spend some time catching up tonight, miss and love you."

  Sitting just outside their private cabana in the Florida Keys, Howard and Vittoria were enjoying a breakfast of fresh fruit and mimosas while watching the waves roll gently in on the beach. Howard heard his phones notice of a text. Quickly looking at his phone, he read the text message from Emma. "It's Emma, and she wants to call and catch up tonight." Vittoria smiled, "How is she?" Howard responded, "Sounds like she may be homesick, don't we have the Theatre tonight?" Quickly texting Emma back, he texted, "Out of town for a few days, in meetings back to back, can we catch up on Friday evening?" Setting his phone down, he stood saying, "Ready for a quick dip in the ocean?" Dropping his robe, he stood in all his glory, smiling at Vitoria. She stood while dropping her plush robe on the chair, took his hand, and together they walked towards the gently rolling waves of the sea in the bright, warm sunlight.

  Emma looked at her phone and the reply from her father, "Friday," she thought, that's four days away. Maybe he is making an effort to let her live her own life. Who knows, maybe after her call with Amelia, she will have everything figured out and won't need his advice. With that, she walked over to the copy machine and went back to scanning files.

  Wesley and Steve entered Westley's office. Wesley started pacing, saying, "This is not good, we have a problem here. I thought you made sure those boxes were so mixed up that it would take her months to scan all those files. It hasn't even been, but a few weeks and she not only has found the Purchase Power Agreements, which were not supposed to be in those boxes in the first place, but she also found Clean Energy Solutions. I think we underestimated that girl." "God," he exclaimed, "Smart and hot." Steve watched Wesley pacing and said, "Relax, she isn't capable enough to figure out what the connection with Clean Energy Solutions is. Either way, we better find Martin and let him know we may have a problem. " Wesley stopped mid-stride, and said, "’You’re right, but he is not going to be overjoyed by this." With a look of fear, Steve opened the door, and they both started walking down the hall to Martin's office.

  Steve and Wesley seated themselves in Martin's office. Martin was feeling quite cross this morning after taking the red-eye flight back from Las Vegas. He had dropped another two hundred thousand last night at the high stake’s poker game. To top the night off, he was forced to take another loan from his bookie Vito Marino for a hundred thousand dollars. He already owed half a million dollars, and he didn't have long before he had to make a substantial payment on the debt.

  Looking at the two men sitting across from his desk, he angrily said, "What is it? I have a lot to get done today and don't have time to shoot the bullshit with you two today". Steve slouching in his seat, said, "We may have a problem Martin with Emma Graystone." Steve continued to inform Martin about the details of their surprise early morning visit from Emma.

  Martin raising himself from his chair, stood. Forming his hands into fist's, he placed them firmly on the desk before him. "Explain to me how those Power Purchase Agreements were in that mess of boxes you had delivered to her office?" Steve looking sheepishly, replied, "I didn't think it made a difference, I still can't believe she found them in that mess, to begin with." Angrily walking to the window in his office looking down to the park below filled with employees enjoying the breeze during their mid-morning breaks, continued, "She made the connection that Clean Energy Solutions were only on twelve of those contracts?" Wesley stood and started walking to
wards Martin when Martin suddenly retorted, "Sit down, Wesley." After two minutes of complete silence in the office, Martin turned from the window to face both Steve and Wesley. "I will take care of the problem with Ms. Graystone, I want you to deliver two hundred more boxes of files to her office by noon, I don't care where you find the files, what those files are, but I want you to fill that office with boxes. You better be damn sure those contracts and project invoices are not in them. Let's keep her busy in the meantime; I will schedule a meeting with her later today. Make sure those boxes are there by lunchtime, now get out of my office and get to work." Wesley and Steve stood, leaving Martins office as quickly as possible. Martin sat down at his desk, writing an email asking Emma to be in his office at 5:00 pm, he slammed his finger down on the send button.

  Emma, seeing it was lunchtime, stood thinking she would quickly run across the street to the deli, order a sandwich and take it to the Park area, next to the Green Touch Renewable building. She had heard so much about how beautiful the park was; she decided it was time to check it out for herself and enjoy a full hour of taking in the sun and fresh air. Pulling her lip gloss and mirror from her bag, Emma applied the gloss and double-checked her hair, ensuring there were no loose strands from the ponytail she placed her hair in this morning. Grayson entered her office with a bag in one hand and a coffee holder filled with two cups of coffee. "Ready? I ordered you take out and thought we could do lunch in the park and enjoy the breeze." Giving Emma a wink, "I believe I owe you a picnic." Emma laughed in response. Grabbing her bag, she smiled broadly at Grayson, "I believe you do Mr. Blackfeather lead the way." When they arrived at the elevator, two men were unloading the last of the boxes that were stacked haphazardly down the length of the hallway. Emma and Grayson entered the elevator, pushing the floor button for the lobby. Emma laughing said," I guess I am not the only one who gets buried in boxes." Grayson chuckled in response while bending over to drop a kiss on Emma's freshly glossed lips. "Hmmm Strawberry, my favorite." While kissing her again, the doors began to open on the lobby level. They walked out to the park finding a bench tucked under a tall Amur Maple tree that provided shade from the hot sun.