During the drive to the mansion, my thoughts ran rampant. It wasn’t my fault Julia was playing games, but everyone would wind up thinking I was the one responsible for the unpaid commissions. As for Matt, thank goodness I hadn’t jumped into bed with him. That would have made this very awkward. Any doubts I’d had were gone. He was part of whatever was going on. I didn’t know what his role was yet, but his hands were definitely dirty.
• • • • •
The caterer’s tables, chairs, tent and much of the paraphernalia from the night before were still spread all over the mansion. Julia and Matt both greeted me at the door, ready to hammer me with more instructions.
“Kimberly, good, you’re here a little early. The bus should arrive in about half an hour. Matt said he told you not to make even a small mention of HRF or Alaric this morning, but I’m saying it again. Do not mention either of them!”
If I heard that one more time I was going to scream. Why didn’t she just hang a “Don’t spill the beans” neon sign around her neck? I knew one thing for sure, if it were me, I’d say it once and let it go. To quote Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “The lady doth protest too much.”
That morning Julia wore her hair pulled back in a pony tail, giving her pretty face a rounder, beefier look. Her sapphire blue pant suit stretched around her generous hips, while the top button of her matching silk blouse strained against her huge bosom. Clearly, she had gained even more weight. Oh well, I guess embezzlement is stressful work.
“Matt, why don’t you tell Kimberly about the cups?” She pointed across the room. “I need more coffee and another sweet roll.” Before I could say anything, she strode out of the room. Watching her hefty rump depart, I couldn’t help thinking the last thing she needed was a sweet roll.
“Cups? What’s she talking about? And how come all this stuff is still here?” I waved my hand indicating the remainders of the party.
He took my hand and led me to the table Julia had indicated. On top were three FedEx cartons bearing a ‘Fragile’ stamp. The French doors beyond the table were open, and for once it wasn’t raining or drizzling. The sweet fragrance of jasmine wafted in from the outside making everything in the cavernous room seem innocent and lovely.
He fiddled with the sealed flaps on the closest carton, uttering a few choice words when he couldn’t break the tape. Finally he gave one of the flaps a mighty tug and yanked the carton open, tearing the cardboard in the process. It was filled with royal blue coffee mugs.
“To answer your question, the caterers still have to come back to set up a hot buffet for lunch today. Since we have this place until Monday morning, we’ll use some of the tables and chairs for the meeting. Julia’s flying to D.C. late today and asked me to have the owner’s maid let them in tomorrow. Apparently, King Bruce insisted she come right away. I guess she’ll be there for a few days because good old Bruce scheduled a big meeting with the powers that be. If I know him, he can’t wait to gloat about the success of the party.”
Yeah, right. The owner’s maid? Like Matt didn’t know who the owner was. What crap.
I mused, “I guess that makes sense. After all, the owner’s maid should be able to handle it.” And so will we.
“Right. I have her cell phone number, so I’ll just call her later. She probably won’t like the idea of working on a Sunday, but that’s her problem.”
What a great development. It sounded like the coast would be clear the next day except for the maid. The nucleus of a brilliant plan was forming. I knew what we had to do and couldn’t wait to tell Cami and Kate. We would need to refine the idea, of course, but with only the maid to contend with, I was positive we’d be able get into that office. It was a struggle not to grin.
Matt reached into the first box and pulled out one of the beautiful iridescent blue coffee mugs. The top of the gracefully curved mug was banded with a gold stripe. The FACR logo emblazoned one side and our own Consulting Resource Services logo the other. Metallic gold lettering spelled out one word—Teamwork!
He held it out. “Here, take it. These are peace offerings.”
I trailed my finger across the mug and practically shouted, “They’re what?”
“Peace offerings. Julia wants me to give each person one of these mugs right after you tell them why their checks are small and that it was beyond our control.”
I finally lost my cool. “Beyond our control? Come on, Matt. You’re not dealing with dummies. They’re smart, hard-working women doing everything they can to earn a decent living. These—these cups are an outright insult. Don’t you think so?”
“Hey, calm down, Babe. Don’t shoot the messenger. She figured she’d open with a thank you to everyone for traveling so far, give a pep talk about new products in development and how she’s exploring bonus plans for them to earn more money. Of course she’ll do her famous speech about expecting everyone to be dedicated to The Cause.”
The cause of filling Julia’s pockets. I felt my stomach turn.
“Peachy. And all this time I’m sitting there with everyone eying me because I’m the one with the checks, and that’s what they’re really waiting for, right? Does the condemned scapegoat have any way out?”
“’Fraid not. You know Julia. She’ll probably wrap up her part with some BS about how we’ll be getting lots of new business as a result of the party. You’ve seen her in action. Nothing she does surprises me.”
At this point I had two choices. Pretend I was the little whipping girl and take it without too much complaint, or blow my top and also risk blowing everything else. I guess my choice was pretty obvious. Pride be damned.
“Thanks. Is it an early wrap-up before they crucify me?” I struck a pose that was supposed to look like I couldn’t wait for his next words. I swear, I deserved an Academy Award for my performance. I really wanted to smack him.
“No, there’s more. That was just Julia’s part. After her talk I’m going to take them through some new product orientation and training. Gotta live up to the designation of the meeting, you know. Then we hand out the checks followed by the cups and you give your teamwork blurb. By the way, she’s leaving right after her speech, so she won’t be here when you give them the checks. The bus will be waiting outside, and we’ll hustle everyone out immediately and get them to the airport.”
“But surely they’ll be bitching to high heaven on the way to the airport.”
“No way to prevent that, but by taking them right to the airport they won’t have an opportunity to pound on you or ask more questions. By the time they get back home, hopefully they will have simmered down a bit.”
Or not! It was clear to me Matt didn’t totally understand the force of a woman’s wrath. My fists clenched almost as tight as the set of my mouth. If it’s true that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, I probably had flames shooting out of my ears. Every bit of me felt fiery. What a lousy trick to pull. Julia was beyond reprehensible.
First she bilked enough money out of a government corporation to buy this house and who knew what else she was up to. Then she left me holding the bag and didn’t even plan to stick around to see how the team reacted. I hoped somewhere in that stone cold heart she was grateful that they wouldn’t be able to take their anger out on her. I felt like a heat-seeking missile being drawn to a yet-to-be-revealed massive conspiracy.
I couldn’t resist a parting shot. “So, these new products you’ll be presenting—is that what you were discussing with those supply depot guys out in the yard last night?”
He pulled at his collar, clearly uncomfortable. I knew I’d scored one. Way to go, Kimberly. A seemingly innocent question designed to jangle his nerves.
I’ll hand it to Matt. He kept his composure despite two red splotches highlighting his cheekbones as a bit of color drained from his face. “Oh, those guys. Nah. We were just talking sports. We’re all big hockey fans.”
As soon as Matt went into the kitchen, I sent the same text message to both Cami and Kate.
Interesting morning. Tomorrow we invade. Tell you more later. K