Andrew: Lanning’s Leap: Erotica Shapeshifter Romance (Lanning's Leap Book 5) (2 page)

Chapter 1

“You bought a cable company.” Andrew nodded, thinking that Phillip was going to make fun of him too. “And this cable company, it has a problem and you want me to help you figure it out.”

“It has a lot of problems, but this one I want to fix on my own. It’s failing. And I haven’t any idea why anyone this day and age would open a cable company this small and expect it to work. I mean, I have a bit of a clue but not the whole story yet. That’s where you come in.” He handed him several sheets of paper. “Okay, see those numbers? Those are the sales records for all the people in the customer service department. The ones in the first column are from first shift, the other two for second and third. There is a weekend crew, but they only answer the phones and set up sales when asked. They don’t actually go out looking for them.”

“Okay. Looks pretty even I guess. I mean, I don’t know shit about cable or customer service, but these look to be pretty good.” Yeah, Andrew thought so as well. “What is it I’m supposed to be seeing that I’m not?”

He handed him another sheet. “These are the sales reports per computer. I hadn’t any idea that it could be narrowed down that way. But apparently it can. Now look at the second shift ones.”

Andrew had bought the company for the sole purpose of tearing it apart and using the building for something else. There was another company around that served most of the needs of the community for all their television watching needs. They even had phone as well as Internet. He used them himself. But once he started looking things over, he decided he was too bored to let this pass him by.

“They look like everyone is sharing the same computer. So?” Andrew shook his head. “They’re not? Then why are they coming from the...? Ah, I see. You want me to go and find out for you. How did you want me to handle this for you, Andrew, spy on them?”

“Yes.” Phillip told him he’d been joking. “I’m not. I’ve sent in a couple of other people, ones that work there, and they have no idea. I think it’s more than that. Like one person is responsible for this and they’re not fixing it.”

“Why? Why would they do that? I mean, if they’re getting paid commissions on each sale, why would this person not be keeping it all for themselves? To me, it looks like this person is sharing his commissions with his entire shift.” Andrew said he didn’t know. “Why do you even care?”

“I don’t know that either.” Andrew leaned back on his chair. “To be honest with you, since we closed up the search and rescue business I’m bored to death. I find myself listening to the scanner to see if Murph might need me to come and help her out. By the way, she might be a little touchy about me. I think I might have pissed her off.”

“Yeah, I heard.” Of course he had. And Andrew was pretty sure that the rest of them had as well if he had. “What the hell were you thinking going into her interview room like that? And then proceeding to let the man she was talking to think you were with the police?”

“I told you. I’m bored.” He’d been screamed at for over an hour by her, threatened with arrest, and she’d told him she was going to tell his mom. That was the most powerful threat to him. He, like the rest of his brothers, were scared shitless of their mom. As he was pretty sure the women were as well.

“Okay. And I’m only asking, not saying I’ll do this, but what is it you want me to do?” He grinned at his brother. “You already have an idea what is going on, don’t you?”

“No. I mean, yes, but not really. I know that for some reason this person’s sales are being shared with the shift. Sometimes even on other shifts. I can’t find out anything other than the person’s last name…is Summer. First initial is a B.” He handed him what he had on the employee. “You’d be surprised at how little information I’m able to get from anyone. This guy, Blair Warren, the man who is helping me get my feet wet, as he called it? He said that the systems are forever down so he can’t get me what I asked for. And every time I ask for a key to the filing cabinet, he tells me that I don’t need it. I’m going to have to have a long talk with this guy before I fire him.”

“He does realize that you own his ass, doesn’t he? And if he’s not playing ball, how did you get this?” He told him that Max had helped him. “And can he figure out why this is going on? Or is it another thing you want to do because you’re sick of pissing off your sister-in-law, the town sheriff?”

Andrew thought about what he was doing. And why. He’d been bored, just as he’d told Phillip he was, but it was more than that. Andrew felt useless. Not only that, but he hadn’t found a damned thing to keep himself from not getting into trouble. Not until this came up.

“I told her I was sorry and she said she understood. Then she told me if I darkened her steps again, unless I was being shot at, she might shoot me herself.” Phillip laughed. “I have my house the way I want it. I’m educated, have money to burn, but I find that is just fluff. I need something to do.”

“You want to go back to work for Rescue?” He told him no, not ever again. “Me either. I mean, I’m bored too. Not like you are because I have a mate, but I am sort of lost until we get that shop up and running. Charlie has her business going now. Mom and Hannah are enjoying working for her, but I feel like I’ve been set out to pasture. I’ve even taken up golf. Christ, I hate that shit too.”

“So? You’ll do it?” Phillip said he would. But only for a few days. “Thank you. So much. I just need to know. I will tell you that I might end up closing it anyway, but I just wanted to do something.”

After his brother left, Andrew looked over the paperwork again. Max had told him that the systems were never down, nor did he see any reason for them not to give him access to the files. He knew that his nephew was holding something back, but until it became clear that it was necessary for him to know it, he wasn’t going to let Max tell him. Andrew really needed to do this.

Two weeks ago they’d closed up their search and rescue business. It had been a relief really, to know that he’d not have to go out on those sort of jobs again. The search part of their job meant murders most of the time, and the rescue was never really any more than body retrieval. He had been burnt out long before Misha had asked them if they wanted to continue doing it. Andrew had his desk cleared out that same day and had gone looking for someplace to unwind.

It had taken him all of twenty-four hours to realize that he wasn’t cut out to be a man of leisure. That vacations were not what he’d needed. And that the women that he’d dated in the past were no longer something he wanted. He had four of the best women in his family now in the way of sisters, and everyone else had failed to make the cut.

Leaving his house to meet up with Misha and two more of his brothers, he drove by the cable company again. He didn’t go in but sat in the parking lot just looking at it. He had no idea why, but he had a feeling that something was going on there and he wanted to crack it. Smiling when he thought he sounded like Murph, he started his car up and moved to the restaurant. It was time for some fun.

~~~

Laci sat at her desk and watched the others get ready for their shift out of the corner of her eye. Really, getting ready didn’t mean the same to them as it did her. She was working, they were bullshitting and having a good time. As she dug out her head set and the pens and paper she’d brought from home, she wondered what they were going to do when in thirteen days she was gone.

Giving her two weeks’ notice had been hard. The job was paying the bills, yes, but it was getting harder and harder for her to come to this stupid job and not get the kind of money she was supposed to be making. They were ripping her off and everyone knew it. They thought—and she supposed rightly so—that she was a sap. But she was done with that too.

Her first check had been wonderful. The sales commission money that she’d worked her ass off for was going to make such a difference in their lives. It had amounted to well over what her hourly check had been, and she’d cashed the check and put a large portion of it in her stash. If they had to run again, and that was a forgone conclusion, she wanted money to do it on.

Then her next check had come in. It was considerably less than it should have been, by hundreds of dollars. Most of her commissions were gone…no reason for it, just not on her check. Not only were they not on her check so she could get paid for them, but someone had gone into the computer and changed her name to those of the people she worked with on the work orders. She knew there had to be some sort of computer issue and had decided to talk to someone about it.

After getting in to her appointment to see her boss, Blair Warren—he’d canceled on her four times—she was seated in his office. Her entire shift of customer service personnel had been there as well. Laci had her sales reports in hand, having printed them up each night when she was done for the day, as well as a list of the names that had been changed to someone other than her. She thought she had been ready.

“You’re a very good customer service rep. The best this company has had since I’ve been here.” She thanked him, not sure what he was up to. “The rest of them, the others on your shift, can’t even hold a candle to the amount of sales you have in one week. Not even if they worked for an entire month.”

“Yes, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Their names are on some of my sales. I don’t understand.... Maybe we should do this in private.” He just shook his head. “All right then. I have my nightly sales report for the week that this check should have covered. As you can see, there is over nine hundred dollars in sales that have been changed to show someone else made the sales. I was—”

“I know. I did it. So?” She could only stare at him, with not even a clue as to why he’d do it. “I don’t see what the problem is. You make more than the rest of them and that’s why I did it. And I will continue to do so. Had we had someone like you here years ago, even months, our business wouldn’t be on the chopping block and we’d be able to compete with the other cable providers.”

“But I earned that money.” She looked around at the people in the room, all of them smirking and laughing. “Some of these people, they’re the ones that you’re giving it to. Giving them my money.”

“Actually, all of them are getting a cut of it. Even me.” Blair looked at them before looking at her again. “None of them have had even near the sales you’ve had. And a few of them, most really, have been on the edge of being fired for some time. When you came along, well...it seemed the only way to keep them was to make sure they had the sales they needed. Now corporate is happy, I’m happy, and it’s not like you’re not getting some of your money. Just not all of it.”

“I’m not happy. Not the least bit.” He’d laughed at her then. “I’m not going to do this. I’ll quit first. Or report you. This is theft and you know it.”

“Will you? I don’t think so.” He had nodded and the people filed out, most of them laughing at her still. When the door was closed behind them, Blair leaned back in his chair. “I know who you are. And that you’re in trouble. I can pick up that phone right now and have you not just arrested, but that aunt of yours killed as well. How far do you think you’ll get before you, too, have a bullet in your head?”

Her mind had nearly shut down. How the hell had he figured it out? She’d only been doing her job, not causing any trouble. He was stealing from her and thought that it was okay because someone wanted her dead?

“You’re kidding me? You’d have me killed over money?” Blair had just stared at her, his face telling her that he would, in a heartbeat. “I’ll go to your boss. Then his if I can’t get any satisfaction.”

“You’ll never make it that far.” It wasn’t a threat but a hard cold fact. He would make a call. And then she’d be dead. And Laci hadn’t a clue as to why they were chasing her. “Go back to work, Laci. May I call you that? Anyway, I’m glad that you’re here, I have some rules to go over with you. You can’t tell anyone about this, not the new owner, not the police, or anyone else that might come here and look into this. You slow your sales down, I’ll call. You tell anyone, I call. If you so much as hint to anyone that you’re being blackmailed, I’ll call.”

“This isn’t right. You have to see that.” He told her that it was his right to do as he pleased. “No, that’s not fair. I worked hard for that money. I need it.”

She’d left his office then, him not saying another word to her. That had been over five weeks ago and now she was finished with this stupid job. She still wasn’t sure what she could have done then, any more than she was now.

“Hello.” Laci looked up at the man standing over her desk and felt her body tense. All her mind could grasp was that he’d finally done it. Blair had figured out she was quitting and he’d called someone in. “I’m Eric Phillip. Most people call me Phillip.”

“La...Beth Summer.” He nodded. And when he continued to stand there, she looked around. “Can I help you?”

“You didn’t get the email.” Shaking her head, she explained that she didn’t have email. “I mean here. You were supposed to get.... Never mind. I’m here so you can train me. I’m the new guy in this department.”

This had to be a joke. Laci stood up and looked at the others. She wondered which one of them were playing a joke on her. Sitting down, Phillip handed her a copy of what appeared to be an email. She read it over twice and still felt like it was a terrible joke.

“I don’t understand. I’m to train you? For this department?” He nodded, looking as confused as she felt. “I’ve never trained anyone before. I don’t even think I was trained.”