Taking Stock (14 page)

“What do you mean
?
”

“Who’s going to have the first problem
?
”

“You if you keep it up.”

Gregg whispered even softer. “Relax, it’ll be fine. Now humor me. Someone’s got to have at least one problem. Who’re you going to pick
?
”

Eric
a turned toward the smell of his cologne. Breathing it deeply she settled her gaze into his deep brown eyes. Only inches separated them. It may have been fatigue or maybe he’d hung around long enough to wear her down. Whatever the reason, her lips yearned to rise up and meet his. It was totally inappropriate here in the office, but she could barely resist. She would have kissed him if not for the screams from her conscience. The two forces deadlocked. Her lips pushed forward, her conscience pushed back. There she stayed measuring him from several inches. His longing eyes held steady where they’d always been. She’d pushed him away a dozen times and yet he was the one constant in her life. Compassionate, romantic, those eyes saw the struggle that held them apart, though they couldn’t understand it. His eyes didn’t see that a bold move would have been handsomely rewarded. Seconds passed. The eyes never faltered, but the power of the moment lost its grip.

Eric
a turned toward the CSRs chatting on their headsets. She couldn’t remember what he’d asked and maybe neither could he. Her heart beat strongly beneath her silk top. He didn’t need to see it pumping. He knew what she felt. Melanie knew, too.
Eric
a had only hidden this from herself.

Breathing again, she watched Andy and Ganesh fritter from cube to cube. Too nervous to be hopeful, she watched a score of cordial conversations that lasted less than a minute and didn’t require the men to take a single note. So far the news was good. No stress. No fingers through the hair, all smiles.

Gregg visited each of his CSRs when they arrived and came back to report that all was well. The server handled the load fine and
Eric
a began to relax. Twenty minutes later she began to hear what she hadn’t had the courage to hope for. The chatter over the cubes turned to raves.

Two hours in, a dozen old friends had stopped by to compliment her on her genius. Everyone knew how to use a browser and the old system was now described as clunky and cryptic. The young CSRs took to the system as naturally as they googled for a new website.
Eric
a was completely at ease when Steve Harris stepped off the elevator. Steve ran all of client services from the twenty-third floor. What he didn’t know he learned on visits like this one. His eyes met
Eric
a’s and he predictably veered off toward Bob Hicks’ cube. A minute later his cautious stride and neutral expression were replaced by an energetic gait and an engaging smile. He walked directly to
Eric
a and thrust out his hand.

“Excellent work,
Eric
a. Sounds like things couldn’t have gone better.”

“Thank you. So far, so good.”

Gregg reemerged from his cube.

“You’re too modest. This was a huge project and it’s come off swimmingly,” Steve said. “You should go out and celebrate.”

“We should,” Gregg chimed in rather loudly.

Steve didn’t miss a beat. “You were on the team too, weren’t you, Turner
?
I’m appointing you CS ambassador. Take this young woman out somewhere nice for dinner. It’s on my nickel. Sky’s the limit.”

Gregg accepted before
Eric
a could say anything. The two men shook hands and Steve walked away.

“What just happened
?
”
Eric
a asked.

“We got a free dinner.”

“What about the rest of the team
?
”

“Buy ‘em a pizza. I’m thinking you and me at Le Meridian.”

The whole exchange seemed a bit too tidy. He couldn’t have known things would go so well or that she’d agree to go with him. Whatever he’d done, it worked. Gregg finally had the date he’d been waiting years for.

Sarah’s first day off plan began as she’d dreamed every day on her new job would. She had evidence that promised results and a partner that was helpful, knowledgeable, and ruggedly handsome. It wasn’t clear which excited her more, but she was brimming with anticipation for the moments to come. She hadn’t felt this positive about the change since Herman came to retrieve her from the conference room on her first day.

Sarah watched Gregg through the conference room window. He stood a dozen feet from his office waiting for a young guy in one of the cubicles to finish his conversation. When he pulled his mic down below his chin, they bantered back and forth a bit. Then he pulled off his headset and they headed for the conference room together. The younger guy was nearly Gregg’s height, but his body looked like it had grown a foot taller in the last few years. He was desperately in need of Oreos and milk to fill it out.

Gregg introduced
Brenda
n Purcell who took his seat across the table, looking glad for the time away from the phones rather than fearful of the questions Sarah was going to ask. Gregg chose a seat on
Brenda
n’s side of the table. It seemed loyalty to his staff outweighed the facts she’d laid out for him earlier. She wasn’t going to go easy on
Brenda
n regardless of what Gregg thought. One way or another she was going to catch her thief.

Gregg opened the meeting belaboring
Brenda
n’s credentials. He’d received stellar ratings on the phones for three years and he’d soon be promoted to supervisor. His introduction for Sarah was decidedly less superlative and far less ominous than she would have preferred. In thirty seconds he turned Sarah’s pressure packed interrogation bunker into a men’s steam room where she was the one feeling exposed.

“Thanks, Gregg,” Sarah said in spite of the lackluster introduction. “
Brenda
n, we asked you here to discuss a transaction you processed on December twenty-eighth last year.”

Brenda
n straightened in his seat and flashed a queer look at Gregg. Not squirming, not an iota of guilt on his face. Asking him about a three month old transaction seemed absurd.

Sarah handed a copy of the complaint letter across the table. “This letter is from Hank Johnson. Does the name sound familiar
?
”

Brenda
n didn’t flinch. He shook his head and skimmed.

“Mr. Johnson is pretty upset and it seems he has good reason.”

Brenda
n looked up curiously.  “What about
?
”

“He thinks we cheated him. He thinks we pushed his transaction to the next day because we knew the price was going up.”

“We’re good, but we’re not psychic,” he laughed at his own joke until he noticed Sarah’s glare. “Everything’s automated anyway.” His voice trailed off. His chin retreated into his neck, mortified at the insinuation.

Gregg gave Sarah a scornful look.

“Mr. Johnson is certain he called before the cut-off. Any idea how a transaction that was phoned in on time could get pushed off to the next trading day
?
”

The tone of the questions finally hit
Brenda
n. He glanced at Gregg for support, but couldn’t read his expression. He looked ready to bolt. “You don’t think I did this on purpose
?
The system times these automatically. I can’t change it and what good would it do me if I did
?
”

Brenda
n was on edge. His hands fidgeted on the tabletop, drifting with his thoughts. His eyes darted from Sarah to Gregg, no doubt seeing the ire in her and wondering what his boss was thinking in the seat next to him.

Gregg put his hand on
Brenda
n’s. “Whoa,” he said patting the hand as if calming a spooked horse. “No one is saying you did anything wrong. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The customer complained and we paid him what he asked. Sarah needs to know how it happened. Let’s stick to that.”

Sarah had her tension now.
Brenda
n was panicky enough to tell her anything if she asked the right question. The scene had played out exactly as she pictured it, but Gregg’s pragmatism left her feeling embarrassed of her own eagerness. She felt petty and confused. This kid was no criminal mastermind. Stan was right about the job. It wasn’t about catching criminals, but she was positive this was more than an honest mistake. Lightning struck on her first day and she’d made a career discovery. She might never stumble on something this big again and she wasn’t going to let it go, not for Gregg,
Brenda
n, or Herman.

She took a deep breath and gave
Brenda
n half a smile. “Can we listen to the phone call again
?
” she asked and pushed the speakerphone to Gregg.

He dialed a long series of numbers and Hank Johnson’s voice boomed over the speaker. He railed against the answers he was getting, but
Brenda
n’s expression never changed. He’d dealt with dozens of irate investors. If he’d knowingly duped Mr. Johnson, he hid his guilt well. This voice was no different to him than the hundreds of others he’d heard.

Brenda
n talked over Gregg’s recorded voice. “That can’t be right,” he said, referring to Mr. Johnson’s argument about the timing. “You know we put the transactions into the system while we’re on the phone. The system enters the time right then. There’s no other way to do it. As soon as we get off, the phones give us another customer. He’s got to be wrong.”

“I don’t think so,” Sarah said. She pushed over a copy of the phone bill and a page showing the transaction in Mr. Johnson’s account.

Brenda
n compared the two pages in disbelief. He’d heard Mr. Johnson say what had happened and now he saw the evidence, but he couldn’t fathom how the discrepancy could get into the system.

“That’s impossible,”
Brenda
n said.

“That’s why we’re here. This isn’t supposed to happen.”

“If you’re looking for an explanation, you’re asking the wrong guy.”

Brenda
n wasn’t coy enough to feign confusion. He didn’t know any more about the problem than she did. She’d look elsewhere for the culprit.

Sarah stood up. “Let’s keep this between us for now.”

Brenda
n agreed, gave his boss a weak handshake and left without looking back. Her questions had shaken him. Both men were probably cursing her for turning an innocent problem into some devious plot to steal from customers, but neither of them could explain what had happened.
Brenda
n was no thief and she owed him a visit later in the week to smooth things over. Gregg’s bitter look told her that might not be enough. He closed the door and sat back down. She’d definitely tone down her next interview.