Accidents Waiting to Happen (33 page)

Josh’s good mood didn’t last as the cemetery came into view.
 
He swung the car into the garden of bad memories with the other arriving vehicles.
 

***

Josh felt strange pulling into the parking lot of Red Circle Engineering.
 
It felt like the first day of school all over again.
 
He’d only been away from the company less than three weeks, but in that time, his world had been turned on its head.
 
The place felt unfamiliar as if he’d been away for a hundred years.

Once he was in the building, he didn’t want to be there.
 
Work was pointless.
 
The decisions he made here paled in significance to the life and death decisions he needed to make outside.
 
He stayed for now.
 
He had a façade to portray.
  
He had to let these people know he was doing okay and all was well with the world.

He flashed a car salesman’s smile to Tanya on reception duty, an attractive blonde in her late twenties.
 
Her smile looked stapled in place.
 
She looked at him as if he carried a collection of severed heads by the hair in one hand instead of his briefcase.

“Hi, Tanya.
 
I’m back,” Josh said, like he was on happy pills.

“Hello, Josh.
 
It’s nice to see you.”
 
Tanya spoke like she was trying out the words for the first time.

Josh left Tanya and her constipated smile to their own devices.
 
Between the reception and his office, he encountered a number of colleagues who seemed to lack the time to chat beyond the merest of pleasantries.
 
Others at desks ensured they didn’t make eye contact with him.
 
He found it increasingly difficult to smile.
 
By the time he reached his office, he’d worn the happy façade to the bone.

“Hi, Jenny,” he said despondently.

Deep in concentration, Jennifer Costas, the Procurement department’s administrative assistant, looked up from her computer.
 
A plain looking woman in her forties, tall with narrow shoulders and big hips, she was Josh’s invaluable sidekick.
 
Surprise replaced her look of concentration.
 

“Josh, it’s good to see you,” she said.

“Hopefully, you can fill me in on recent events,” he said and went into his office.

Jenny followed Josh into his office.

He put his briefcase on the floor by his desk and dropped into his chair.
 
Surprisingly, his desk was relatively bare for his time away.
 
Usually, after a week on vacation, paperwork would be spilling off the sides.

“What’s going on?
 
Fill me in,” Josh said.

“Josh, Mike Behan wants to see you right away.”
 
Jenny wrung her hands in front of her, guilt-ridden anxiety etched into her face.

“What, now?”

“As soon as you arrived, he said.”

Mike Behan, the commercial Vice President of the firm had his office on the opposite side of the building.
 
Josh had to make an uneasy return journey in front of his equally uneasy coworkers.
 
Again heads buried themselves into paperwork that didn’t deserve the attention.
 

Why doesn’t this feel like a pep talk from the boss?
he thought, as he approached Mike Behan’s secretary.
 
Lisa saw him immediately.

“Hello, Josh.
 
Mike will see you right away,” she said.

Josh went in and found Behan speaking on the phone.
 
He leaned back in the leather executive chair with one hand on the desk.
 
Seeing Josh, he beckoned him in with a wave of his arm and a smile.
 
Behan finished up his conversation and put the phone down.
 
He straightened in his chair and sat with his forearms on the desk and his fingers interlaced.

Josh sat down at one of the seats at the board table abutting Behan’s desk.
 
Lisa closed Behan’s office door.
 
A closed-door meeting meant something was wrong.
 
It put him on his guard.

“Good to see you, Josh,” he said.

“Thank you.”

“Are you recovered from your accident?”

“Sure, no problem.
 
Dry as a bone.”

Behan laughed.
 
“Tell me what happened.”

Josh recounted the events on the bridge but distorted the facts slightly.
 
He didn’t mention the “thumbs down” incident, instead he replaced it with the assailant giving him the finger once the car was in the river.
 
Behan nodded and looked shocked at the appropriate times.

“And the cops can’t do a thing?” Behan asked, incredulous.

“No.
 
They’ve got nothing to go on.
 
They suggest I should put it behind me.
 
Reading between the lines—shit happens, live with it,” Josh said.

“Kate and Abby, how are they holding up?
 
Good?”

Josh agreed.
 
“They’re good.”

“And sorry about your flying buddy.
 
Tragic, tragic.
 
You must be waiting for the next bad thing to happen.”
 
Behan reddened as soon as he completed his sentence.

Seeing Behan flush,
Josh guessed what was coming.
 
“But, I’m back.
 
Ready to pick up where I left off,” he said.

“That’s what I wanted to speak to you about, Josh.”
 
Behan shifted awkwardly in his seat.
 
The chair swiveled when he moved.
 
“I saw something on the news while you were on leave.
 
I think you know what I mean.”

A block of concrete sank in Josh’s gut and rested uncomfortably on his bladder.
 
He didn’t acknowledge Behan.

“The television report is very damaging, regardless of its validity.
 
And I hope the situation is quickly resolved for everyone’s sake, especially yours.
 
We, as a company, cannot afford to be at risk—we have investors, customers, and employees to consider.
 
I think you understand that it would be unfair to them to put their livelihoods in considerable peril over one man.”

Son of a bitch.
 
No wonder everyone is so jumpy
.
 
Josh couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
 
Were they going to can him over an allegation?
 
He knew the allegations were true, but he had yet to be charged.
 
He cut Behan’s soft soap short.
 

He slammed his fist on the table and ignored the flame of pain up his arm.
 
“Get to the point,” he barked.

Behan jumped in his chair.
 
He spoke again, this time with the corporate voice torn away.
 
“Shit, Josh.
 
You’ve been accused of taking a payoff on a previous job.
 
People’s safety could be at risk and you overlooked that in favor of a chunk of money.”

“You have no fucking idea of the situation,” Josh spat.

“Okay.
 
You’re right.
 
I don’t.
 
I have no idea of the circumstances of your guilt or innocence.
 
But I do know I have a responsibility and it’s hard to carry it off when I have my procurement manager’s name splashed over the news.
 
The press has been calling here.”

Josh stared hard into the table’s polished wood surface and gazed at his face in the reflection.
 
The surface twisted his features and his baleful gaze threatened to burn holes in the table.
 
Behan spoke again and Josh met his eyes.

“Josh, you’ll have to deal with vendors who’ll be wondering whether they’ve lost contracts to a payoff or will gain new ones if they offer you a bribe.”

“You don’t know that.
 
You don’t know that our suppliers will think any differently.”

“I do,” Behan said softly but with the impact of a sledgehammer.
 
“I thought it and human nature tells me others will too.
 
I can’t have that…neither can the CEO of this company.
 
This comes all the way from the top with no disagreements.
 
I’m sorry, Josh.
 
I truly am.”

Josh struggled for something to say but the words failed to come.
 
The next bad thing had been duly received.
 
He understood the company position but their distance mortally wounded him.
 
He was against the ropes and another of his seconds had disappeared into the crowd leaving him to his disgrace.
 
Finally, the words came.

He said, “So I’m fired.”

“No, I’m not doing that.
 
I’m suspending you.”

“But what image does that portray?
 
It assures people of my guilt.”

“I’m sorry, Josh, it’s the best I can do.
 
I’ve agreed to a suspension with pay, but if you are formally charged, I will have to terminate your employment here.”

He wanted to say it felt like a sentence had already been passed.
 
“That could be a long time, Mike.
 
I have a family.”

“I know that, but there’s little I can do.”

“Or want to,” Josh interrupted.

“Hey, that’s unfair,” Behan said.
 
“You brought this on yourself.”

“Okay, okay, but it depends on what side of the table your sitting at, doesn’t it?”

“I suggest you go home and work on getting these allegations cleared up and come back to me when they are.”

Silently, Josh fumed.
 

“I’ll get Jenny to escort you off the premises.”
 
Behan reached for the phone.

“Christ, Mike.
 
Escort me off the premises?
 
I’m not going to do anything.
 
Give me some credit.
 
I’ll go, but don’t make me look a criminal doing it.”
 
Anguish filled his throat and Josh spoke in a hoarse whisper.

Phone in hand, Behan hesitated, but returned the phone to its receiver.
 
“Okay, Josh.
 
Call me when this is cleared up.
 
I’m here for you.”

Josh got up and tottered to the door on legs that dissolved with every step.
 
The sentiment seemed hollow to him.
 
The son of a bitch was just doing his job and nothing more.
 
He twisted the door handle to leave.

“Josh.
 
Is there anything you can tell me?”

Josh looked over his shoulder.
 
Behan seemed small in his big leather chair and looked like a disobedient child waiting for punishment outside the principal’s office.
 
He imagined Behan swinging his legs to and fro anxiously waiting for his name to be called.
 
He almost laughed.

“No, Mike.
 
I can’t say anything.
 
Anything I may say may be used against me in a court of law.”

Chapter Twenty-three

His ex-coworkers were ready for him the moment he left Behan’s office.
 
The corporate grapevine must have glowed red with news of his demise.
 
They watched him trudge back across the building, never once engaging him.
 
Being gawked at by all the knowing faces was more than he could bear.
 
It was a relief to be back in his office where he could hide.

Josh pulled open his desk drawers and removed his personal possessions.
 

Jenny entered his office and immediately burst into tears.
 
“I’m so sorry, Josh.”

Josh went over to her and put a comforting arm around the tall woman.
 
“It’s okay.”