“At the company. It could set off a firestorm. As soon as I ran the commission figures I knew I had to alert both of you. They aren’t going to be what I’m sure you expected. Julia claims that several big orders didn’t go out before the cutoff date. She said a computer glitch entered the date they came out of production, not the date they were shipped. She’s not saying the commissions won’t be paid, but this pushes them to the next quarter. I can’t figure out what she’s up to, but I don’t like the picture that’s developing. If it continues from quarter to quarter, it will keep quite a bit of money in play that never really gets paid to the reps.”
Kate’s voice had an edge. “Sounds fishy to me. Somehow I can easily picture her doing that. How bad is it for Kate and me? Will it be a lot less? I was really counting on that money.”
“To answer your question, yes, everyone is affected including me. Your bonus is around $10,000 Kate, and Cami’s is a little under $6,000. Several thousand dollars were switched over to next quarter for each of you.”
They both exploded as I expected they would, but I pleaded for them to quiet down.
“I know, I know. It affects me too and I’m so angry I can’t see straight. But, here’s the strange thing. When I laid it all out and analyzed it with an accountant’s eye, a pattern became obvious. It’s almost as though she picked a similar percentage to be held back for everyone. She must have chosen the orders that were supposedly entered wrong for each person that would add up to the total she wanted. Otherwise why would it be spread so evenly? Multiply it by 20 reps, and it becomes a pretty penny.”
There was silence. Then Kate said, “That bitch. I take all of her authoritarian bull, and then she screws me. And how about you, Cameron? You had to go to Anchorage, Alaska in the dead of winter to do that stupid trade show. What about Cami’s Alaskan orders? They should have shipped in plenty of time. Considering everything she had to go through to get them, it would be a shame if she had to wait to get paid.”
“Wait a minute. Why did you say go through? I never heard about any problems. What didn’t you tell me, Cami?”
“Well, Tucker got permission to help me. Travel is so exciting. There we were, freezing our asses off in Anchorage on one of the coldest days of the month. At least it was warm inside Egan Convention Center, but getting there from the hotel was another thing. We had to walk. Anyway, I was waiting for a shipment of catalogs and brochures to be delivered to my booth, when two husky guys pushed over dolly after dolly of cartons. I was only expecting about 100 each of 15 brochures and a few promo gifts.”
“Sounds like you got more than you bargained for. What was in all the cartons? Someone else’s stuff? I’ve heard they don’t always get the requests right. Marie said once—“
“Forget Marie and picture this. Some goofball at the prison printing plant must have added a zero to the quantities. I couldn’t even fit all of the boxes in my stall.
There were at least a thousand, not a hundred, of each. Picture it. Not 1,500 but 15,000 brochures, all sent by Federal Express. We shoved packets at everyone who came anywhere near our booth just to try to get rid of them. I saw lots of people dumping them, but I didn’t care. Anyway, by the end of the day I gave up and was making out the Fed Ex return labels to send all of it back when Tucker stopped me. It was probably a good thing she’d come up to help. She’s the smart one. I’m the 100% honest one.”
I tried not to laugh, but I could picture the two of them surrounded by all of those boxes trying to pawn off the unwanted literature on every person who passed. “15,000 brochures? What were they thinking?”
“Lord knows. All I know is we were stuck with thousands after the show. Boxes upon boxes. Tucker said they’d never admit it was a shipping error, the freight would be a staggering amount and worst of all we’d get blamed for ordering too many and CRS would have to pay a fortune to ship them back.”
“So what did you do?”
“Well Tucker was right. You would have heard plenty about it if Julia had to absorb a huge shipping bill to return them. She wouldn’t have cared whose fault it was.”
Cami continued. “Anyway, Tucker used her sugary drawl, batted her eyes and played the poor helpless woman with a couple of strong young guys. They found two big platform hand-trucks and loaded all of the cartons on them. There we were, in the freezing cold, fighting to wheel those heavy things down Fifth Avenue because we figured there had to be a bank of dumpsters somewhere.”
Kate broke in. “I had something similar happen, but they only sent a double order and I didn’t have to dump anything.”
“Yeah, you lucked out. Imagine lifting every one of those cartons into the commercial dumpsters that we finally spotted at the side of Egan Convention Center. The guy upstairs must have been watching over us, though, because a homeless fellow was huddled against the building. He was ecstatic when we gave him $20 to do the majority of the lifting but we were helping, too. Let me tell you, the two of us were exhausted and my arms ached for days. We must have wasted thousands of dollars worth of literature that day, but what else could we do?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Don’t feel bad. Tucker and I were the only ones who ever knew about it, and I swore her to secrecy until I finally told Kate. Besides, how could I say anything to you? You’re finance and like I said, we dumped thousands of dollars worth of literature. What you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you.”
“Okay, I understand. Anyway, I’m pretty sure you’re getting paid on all the Alaska stuff, but the total check will still be way less than you expected. I’m dreading this. Everyone is going to be furious once they see their checks and I’ll be the one feeling their wrath. Just so you know, like I said, it does affect my override, too. I was looking forward to paying off the bills for my furniture and now I won’t be able to. This is all Julia’s little game—maybe Matt, too—but there’s not a thing I can do to fix it.”
“I don’t envy you. Can Kate and I do anything to help? You know we’re here for you.”
“You can’t tell anyone. If it gets out, I’m in deep trouble. We have to let her play her game. Absolutely no one, not even Tucker, can know about this until the commission checks are handed out after the workshop and party. At least now I know why she scheduled the team meeting the day after the party. Who knows, she might even have skimmed our money with Bruce’s blessing to cover the cost of this gala event. She knows exactly how mad everyone will be, but she also knows that not one of us can afford to quit. As long as she keeps rolling over the commissions to the following quarter, we’ll stay on board to get our money. Otherwise, we give up a few thousand dollars we worked hard to earn.”
Kate hissed, “Like I said, she’s a real bitch. And you’re right. We’ll all stay. You said that isn’t all of it. What else?”
“Ah, this is the really interesting part. As far as I can tell, the withheld commissions aren’t the big problem. What I’m going to tell you now is more suspicion on my part than anything else, but I’d swear something very devious is going on right under the noses of the government watchdogs. I just can’t figure out exactly what it is yet.”
There were a few more questions, and then it was time to tell them about MULCT, about my fear that Julia, Bruce and Matt were in cahoots, and every other off-the-wall thought roller coastering through my mind.
~19~
I knew what I was about to tell my friends sounded slightly insane, but I needed their opinion. Since the three of us generally saw things from slightly different angles, I was anxious to hear what they had to say once I’d filled them in.
I cleared my throat and tried to ignore the little voice in my head that taunted, “Stalling for time?” Yeah, maybe I was.
“You’re going to think I’ve lost my marbles, but bear with me. You know the email Julia sent out about the big party and meeting afterward? Well some very strange stuff is going on around here and I want to give you a quick rundown about what I’ve seen and found out. I’d like to
get together and talk about it in person, because I think we might need to do some serious sleuthing this weekend.”
Cameron was the first to comment. “My goodness, Kimberly. You sound like you’re reading too many crime caper books. Strange stuff? Sleuthing? That doesn’t sound like you.”
Kate chimed in. “Cami’s right. You’re usually so level-headed, and this almost sounds like you’ve gone ’round the bend. After all, CRS is only a company that markets furniture. Okay, the furniture is made in federal prisons, but what could possibly warrant sleuthing? Counterfeit cabinetry? It simply can’t be that bad. Calm down.”
“I am calm. I wasn’t a couple of hours ago, but yes, I’m 100% calm now. Just listen to what I have to say. After that I think you’ll agree something pretty serious is afoot.”
Except for a little gasp here and an “oh no” there, both of them were totally silent while I told them about the delivery of the escrow papers, my discovery that the address was the same as the great place Matt found for the party and my encounter with the security guard.
“First, we know some of our money is being held back. Second, where the hell would Julia get the money to buy a place like that unless she’s the general partner or something in an LLC named MULCT Enterprises? And what kind of an acronym is that, anyway? Who knows? The “M” could even stand for Matt. He said he inherited a lot of money from his grandmother. I hate to doubt him, but I keep getting the feeling he’s deeply involved in whatever this turns out to be. After all, he was her right hand in D.C., and she’s the one who brought him to Seattle. Damn it. I’ve shared so much with him.”
“Don’t beat yourself up for confiding in Matt. You needed a friend in the company, and there he was. I’d have done the same thing. Wouldn’t you Kate?”
“Sure. Until now, you really didn’t have reason to be that careful about what you said to him. You haven’t told him about any of this, have you?”
“Are you nuts? Of course not.” I listened to some of their theories while I dipped into a bowl of chocolate truffles on my cocktail table. I popped one into my mouth and savored the velvety texture while listening to my two friends offer their takes on what I’d just told them.
Finally Kate said, “I hear munching. Have you taken refuge in one of those decadent Ecstasy Chocolates creations you keep handy?”
“Whoops. Caught me. Yeah. I’ve had two. That one was chocolate raspberry. One more and I’ll be okay. So, do you agree that it all sounds very suspicious?”
They chorused, “Yes.” Then Kate said, “So now what?”
”Well, I was thinking since everyone is due to come in on Friday for the party and meeting, maybe both of you could work it out to get here on Thursday afternoon. You can stay at my place Thursday night, then take a day off after the shindig and book your return flights for Monday evening.”
Kate said, “That shouldn’t be a problem for me. One advantage of working remote instead of in an office is that they have a bit of a hard time checking up on you. Most of the military bases have some blocking of cell phone signals, so the excuse of being in a dead zone for cells is totally believable. What about you, Cami?”
“I’m good too. Maybe we can coordinate our flights.”
It was after ten by the time we finished the call. I said goodbye promising to be careful and added that I’d try to find out more. Matt would be tied up all day Thursday organizing the caterers. Thursday evening he had to help pick up some of the manufacturing partners and contracting officers at the airport and get them settled in their hotel. On top of that he had to attend to a myriad of other details.
Tuesday morning Julia called and said she was still in Paradise and wouldn’t be coming into the office before Friday. For all I knew, she was relaxing in a tub full of scented bubbles in Medina. I pictured a massive Jacuzzi surrounded by lots of marble or granite. A vision of Julia getting ready to drop her towel and step into the tub popped into my mind—not what I needed to imagine right then. Concentrate.
I poked around whenever I was able to for the next few days, sneaking minutes at a time in Julia’s office, but didn’t find anything. Matt was in and out, so I couldn’t risk going through anything in his office, although I really wanted to. In the back of my mind I hoped I’d be able to find something that proved he wasn’t involved. And to think that before all this, I’d even entertained the idea of taking our flirting to the next step. Who was I kidding? He had his fingers in the pie somehow.
Late Tuesday night I was tempted to go back to the office to snoop, but what if he walked in on me? Besides, like Julia, he had locked file cabinets and even locked his desk drawers. Thursday couldn’t come soon enough.
Kate and Cameron both flew in on the same airline and arrived within fifteen minutes of each other. We got back into town from SeaTac Airport right around dinner time. We’d been stuck in what Cameron called a mini traffic jam. Well, it was a big one to me, but being from Los Angeles, Cameron said it was just a little slowdown. I took them to a restaurant I’d been to before on Capitol Hill.
After dinner I drove past Julia’s old house in that neighborhood before continuing to the mansion in Medina. As we headed for my townhouse, I said, “It’s important for you to see the difference in the homes and neighborhoods first-hand so you have an understanding of what set my antennae vibrating.
~20~
Officer Obnoxious pulled his patrol car behind mine just as I maneuvered to the curb in front of the mansion. Trying not to look suspicious, I angled away from the curb and accelerated just enough to escape the spotlight he aimed in my direction.
My quick left turn at the end of the block had Cameron hanging onto the strap for dear life. “Good Lord, Kimberly. This isn’t the Indy 500. Who were you running from—your boyfriend the security guy from the other night?”
“Right and he’s a complete idiot.”
“Well, from the little I could see in the glow of his spotlight, he’s sort of cute— that is, if you like Neanderthals.”
“Know what I think? If he’d caught up to us he would have called the real cops. Come to think of it, I hope he didn’t report my license number. I’m absolutely certain he decided I was up to no good the other night and probably recognized my car tonight. Maybe that’s why he hit the spot so fast.”
I was beginning to discover when one plays sleuth in real life it’s tricky business—not cut and dried like it is in the movies. My pounding heart and shaking hands made me wish I was out of this whole situation.
Cameron gave one of her little giggles. “Look on the bright side. With security like that, at least if this really is Julia’s house, she can feel safe when she’s here. I’ll bet that isn’t the case when she stays at her rental in Paradise. What a dichotomy—Tobacco Road one day, lap of luxury the next.”
After cruising through the neighborhood where Julia had owned a perfectly nice house, then seeing the splendor of Medina and the new one made my blood boil. An angry heat spread from my toes to my forehead. It wasn’t fair to put up with so much nonsense on a day-to-day basis just to keep our jobs, then get cheated out of money while she enjoyed such luxury.
Finally Kate said, “Even if she has to spend so much time at the prison and live in a dump while she’s there, it isn’t such a bad deal if she can come back to something like this. I can see why you wanted us to see the comparison. How much is the contract to rent that place for three days?”
I answered immediately. “$6,500 a day. That’s a little under $20,000, and the more I learn, the more certain I am it’s going straight into her own pocket. If the escrow company hadn’t made that mistake, no one would have been the wiser.”
Cami groaned and made a face. “So, CRS throws a party we don’t need, and shells out $6,500 a day, just to rent a mansion Julia owns. What a joke.”
“Well, according to Matt, Bruce wants to butter these people up and justifies it as a way to get more business. I’ll bet they hated the fact the contract had to come across my desk for the deposi
t, and I hated making the check out to the catering company knowing they would take a small cut and pay Julia the rest.”
Cami said, “She’s a clever bitch. No one except maybe Matt knows it’s her house, and she collects $20,000, less a commission! I don’t know about you, but I’m sizzling.”
We alternated between ranting and scheming until we reached my townhouse. “The last few days were like reading an espionage novel. Poking around to see what I could uncover. Orders appearing that I didn’t even know existed—and in all honesty, I still think they may not. And those commissions payable to a coded account. What next? This is a real mess. It should be a very interesting weekend.”
When Ryan pulled his disappearing act and stuffed every piece of furniture he could into a rental van, he took all of the exercise equipment as well. He didn’t even leave the upright scale for me—as if I dared step on a scale after drowning my sorrows in sweets. During my shopping excursion for new furniture, a convertible den/second guest room had seemed like a better idea than another home gym.
Cameron and Kate deposited their bags in the newly-furnished guest rooms, then joined me downstairs in the living room. Kate had kicked off her spike heels and now wore a pair of fuzzy light blue bedroom slippers. Cami had gone one step further and shed her business suit for a beautiful turquoise blue caftan decorated with gold swirls that offset her blonde hair. Her feet were bare, toenails painted fire engine red.
Cami and I plopped down on my new sofas, and Kate took the chair. She put her feet up on the ottoman and took off one of the slippers so she could massage her foot. “Boy, whose bright idea was it to force women’s feet into shoes with spike heels and pointy toes? They look sexy, but man, my feet hurt.”
Cami giggled. “Definitely designed by a guy. I’d like to see them wear these torture devices all day.”
Continuing to rub, Kate said, “By the way, have you seen Stuart Weitzman’s new line?”
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