1

I SAT AT MY DESK REFLECTING on my crazy journey from success to defeat and back to success again when the shrill buzz of my phone zapped me back into the present. Without thinking I automatically pressed the speaker button. “Cameron Harsen speaking,” I said in a crisp, businesslike voice.

“Geez, that sounds so formal, and you have me on speaker, no less?” A familiar voice on the other end replied. “I called to congratulate you on receiving this year’s ADDY award—just read about it in the Wall Street Journal. According to the article, Harsen Advertising Associates is one of the fastest growing advertising agencies on the West Coast. So, in view of your new dignified status, should I call you Ms. Harsen, or at least Cameron instead of Cami?”

A warm feeling spread through me as I pictured the first day I met Kimberly Martin and Kate Steele around a conference table in Seattle. We were part of the new marketing arm of the Federal Association of Correctional Reform. By the way, if correctional reform makes you think about prisons, that’s because the furniture our team marketed to the military and the Federal government actually was manufactured in Federal prisons.

“Kim, how the Hell are you? Kate and I were just talking about you yesterday.”

“I’m great, and I’m so impressed by everything both of you have accomplished. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen each other. In fact, I called because I’m planning a trip to LA and I’m really hoping Kate can come down from San Francisco so the three of us can get together for a day or two like old times. That is if you’re not too busy, Miss Powerhouse. There’s something I want to talk to both of you about.”

I could hear the smile in her voice.

My friends Kate and Kim are two of the sharpest women I’ve ever met. Our marketing team at FACR was made up of smart, attractive women—a tactic designed by the lecherous head of the division since most of the purchasing agents were men. Back then most so many of the team members were over qualified but down on their luck, just like me.

And, before you think prisons just make license plates and stuff like that, I have to tell you we were astounded to learn prison manufacturing is close to a billion dollar a year business, with furniture being the biggest part. Picture this. The first time I saw the elegant FACR executive office in Seattle complete with a view of Elliott Bay, I immediately remembered the old story about lavish government spending and $8,000 toilet seats.

Talk about first impressions and fake news, I learned the furniture in that office was all manufactured in prisons, and like many other sensationalized stories, toilet seats were not where big government bucks were going—the toilet seat story wasn’t true at all.

Kim’s voice broke through my memories. “Cami, are you still there?”

I stopped arranging papers and put the memories aside. “You bet I’m still here. Whatever your plans are, I’m in. Do you want me to call Kate? She has become one of my big clients, and we talk every other day. Have you seen that her FraudBusters website has exposed scams all over the country? It’s going gangbusters.”

“Yeah, I’ve been following it and I’m not surprised. She really has a knack for that. I sure hope she can come. I miss the pajama parties we used to have. You know, I’ve often thought that if I hadn’t squeezed into the elevator between you and Kate that first day on the job and suggested having lunch together, there might not have been a FraudBusters and no million dollar reward for each of us under the Whistleblower Act.”

“Don’t forget, I wouldn’t have had the money to start my agency either, and you probably wouldn’t have met Nathan. Amazing how all of the pieces fell into place, wasn’t it?”

Kim laughed. “Even calling it amazing is mild. Although I was terrified most of the time we poked around as wannabe sleuths, you two made me feel alive again during my darkest hours.”

“Yeah, me too. You know, in a way I miss the intrigue and excitement.”

Back then we’d each taken the first job offered just to stay alive, and that’s how the three of us wound in that meeting in Seattle. I guess some things are meant to be. We jokingly called ourselves the FraudBusters when we bumbled into uncovering a massive embezzlement ripoff. Kate loved the name so much, she used it for her website and company.

I let out a sigh. “We certainly have come a long way since collecting our rewards and leaving FACR, haven’t we?”

Kim answered, “Yeah, we sure have.”

Kate and I had no reason to keep selling furniture after getting our money, but when Kim was offered the position of Director of Marketing for FACR, she accepted. The division moved to DC, so did Kim.

When I quit FACR and returned to LA, a big part of my plan to get even with my former bosses was to establish Harsen Advertising Associates and specialize in campaigns aimed at the Baby Boomer market like laser beams. That fat old goat Cunningham said I was over-the-hill at forty-four when he fired me by voice mail and hired a twenty-five year old to replace me. Well, he was going to feel my wrath big time. I’d show him!

Kim interrupted my mental trip down Memory Lane. “So Cami, how is the sleazeball who fired you dealing with your vendetta? Tyler Cunningham, wasn’t it? You have to bring me up to date.”

My grin probably rivaled the legendary Cheshire Cat. “Oh him?” I said, “Tyler Cunningham is experiencing the revenge of a woman scorned right in his pocketbook! I won’t be able to force them out of business, which is what I really wanted to do, but they are feeling how much pain this over-the-hill advertising executive can dish out. I’ve stolen so many of their big clients and, best of all, they never know which one I’ll court next.”

Kim said, “I knew they would be sorry they tangled with you.”

“You bet. I understand from inside sources they haven’t been able to replace the accounts they lost to me. So, I continue to take on more clients and more space, while they have been forced to downsize.

“Good for you,” Kim said. “Downsize, huh?”

“Yep. I guess my slick twenty-five year old replacement couldn’t hold a candle to me. It is such fun to know I’m sticking it to them. We’re not only in their building here in Century City, but we have bigger offices than theirs on the floor above them. So, when are you planning to come?”

“Next week. I’ll be there on the fifth, and I’m staying right near your office at the Century Plaza Hotel.

“Forget that,” I said. I have not one, but two guest rooms. You and Kate will stay with me. It will be like old times.”

When I said like old times, little did I know what the future really had in store for us.