Wild Fyre (17 page)

“Excellent,” Dale said.

“Well that’s good. It’s nice to hear some good news around here. Were the kids traumatized by day care? You know Kelly Stafford took her kids out of that day care. There was an incident.”

“Oh?” Dale asked.

“Yeah, you don’t want to hear about it. It’s gross,” Helen said. “What did you do on your excellent day?”

“It was great—I set up part of the manufacturing line and then I picked out my office. Spencer is doing everything right. He has the best equipment and really good people to run it.”

“I thought you were head of IT. What are you doing setting up equipment?”

“Everyone pitches in. Besides, that kind of machine is right in my wheelhouse. It’s the kind of thing I would have worked on in the boot factory.”

“That’s great. It must have been nice to have something you could point to at the end of the day. You know, something you’d accomplished.”

“It’s definitely not the same as taking care of the kids, but I was proud of that too,” Dale said.

“I know you were. I didn’t mean to diminish it. You know how strongly I feel about giving our kids a good sense of home,” Helen said. “And I know you wouldn’t have taken this job if you felt like it was going to monopolize your time like before.”

“No,” he said, “it’s not that kind of company. Everyone there has kids. They’re big on maintaining a good balance between work and life.”

“Sounds perfect. I hope you work there a long time,” Helen said. She pressed her finger to her plate, picking up crumbs of toast and placing them on her tongue.

Dale didn’t reply.

The next morning Helen took the kids to daycare and Dale went to work early. He finished configuring the servers, drafted the new policies for employee accounts, and sketched the basics of the web site. Caroline knocked on the frame of his open door.

“You got a minute? Or an afternoon?” she asked.

“Yeah, definitely. I was just about to take a break from this,” he said. The requirements for the company’s web site were modest and they had a couple of months before launch. He didn’t mind taking the process slow in the beginning.

Dale followed Caroline out to the manufacturing floor. Several more machines were being moved in.

“I’ve got my staff running production tests and working on documentation. I’m hoping to get these two machines functional so they can train on them tomorrow,” she said. “They were delivered late.”

“And so now you only have four hours to stand up two machines,” Dale said.

“Exactly,” she said. “I’ll do either one, but I’d rather work on the press.”

“I’ve got probably a thousand hours of experience on a press just like that. I’ll flip you for it,” he said. Dale lost. Caroline worked on the press and Dale worked on the coating machine. He had never seen anything like it. By the end of the day, it was operating smoothly. Dale went home with another big smile.

“I don’t know what they put in the water at that place, but I wish you’d bring some home with you,” Helen said when she saw Dale’s joy.

For his first few weeks, every day working for Spencer was better than the last. Dale liked the people, loved the work, and grew to admire his new boss. His stated responsibilities—the servers, the website, and the network—took up the least of his time, and were the least interesting things he found to do. He spent most of his time with Caroline, designing and implementing the processes to produce the toys. Spencer spent most of his time with the design department, so he appreciated the collaboration between Caroline and Dale. Together, there was no manufacturing problem they couldn’t solve.

Dale was approaching his three-month anniversary when Spencer called a meeting with him and Caroline.

“Please, have a seat,” Spencer said.
 

His office was at the top of a winding staircase. The windows looked out the back of the building, towards a little creek that cut through the scrub under the power lines. Dale sat with his back to the window and looked at Spencer. The man’s ever-present smile was gone. For the first time, Dale noticed the big puffy bags under Spencer’s eyes. He wondered if they had always been there—maybe the cold light of the production floor made them hard to see?

“You guys have been great,” Spencer said.

Dale and Caroline looked at each other. Caroline smiled. She didn’t seem to sense the approaching doom that was making Dale’s skin tighten up.

“You’ve got everything perfect down there. Efficiency is way up. Costs are down. That material recovery plan was genius.”

Caroline nodded. Dale gripped the armrests of his chair.

“I’m going to have to stop down production,” Spencer said.

Dale exhaled and looked up to the ceiling.

“Why, Spence?” Caroline asked.

“We don’t have enough cash to finish the retail space, distribution fell through, we’re not getting any support from down the chain. We’ve got a great product, we just don’t have a way to get it in front of the consumers.”

“You had a plan this time, Spencer,” Caroline said. “What happened to your backers? Where’s the money?”

“I found a buyer who wants the shop and a lot of the equipment. I’m sure some of your workers will get a chance to apply with the new owners. I don’t remember what they manufacture.”

“What happened to the funding?” Caroline asked.

Dale pushed his chair back. He wanted to get up and leave. He didn’t know if his legs would support him.

“I broke up with Steph,” Spencer said. “I’ve been having some personal financial problems. Some of my problems bled into the business, but really it’s just bad luck. We didn’t capture enough attention to get the interest we needed. On the scale we got them, our pre-orders can’t justify a full run, and you know how much volume we need to turn a profit.”

“You’ve got twenty-five people down there who believe in this product,” Caroline said. “Give them a chance to invest and we can fund this thing. Give the employees a chance to invest.”

“It can’t work,” Spencer said. “We’d be buried under the interest we already owe. I’ve got to liquidate fast.”

“Jesus, Spencer,” Caroline stood up. Dale looked up at her and envied her fire and commitment. “Twice you’ve done this to me. How the hell did I let you talk me into it again? What, did you piss it away on another mistress? Did you start gambling again? Just tell me so I know what to put in my fucking suicide note.”

She walked out and slammed the door behind her.

Dale didn’t envy her anymore. In ten seconds, his whole notion of Caroline had shifted.

Spence sat down on the edge of his desk.

“You’re a good guy, Dale,” Spencer said. “I’m glad I got the chance to work with you. Maybe under different circumstances…”

Dale stood up.

“Final paychecks are going to take some time,” Spencer said. “Do you have any direct reports?”

“Just one,” Dale said. He had been authorized to hire a department of four, but he had only needed one so far. He was glad he had kept it small.
 

“Tell them they’ll get four weeks pay, but it’s going to take some time. We’ll mail out the final checks. We want to clear out of the building by the end of the day,” Spencer said.

“Good luck,” Dale said. He held out his hand. Spencer looked up and shook Dale’s hand briefly.

Dale returned to his own desk for just long enough to pack his family photos and write a recommendation for his one employee. After he delivered the bad news, he drove straight home. The kids didn’t need to be picked up until later. Dale wanted to wallow. He wanted to drink. He picked up the phone to call Helen. It rang in his hand.

“Hello?” he asked.

“Dale?”

“Yes? Who is this?”

“Hi, Dale, this is Ed Statler at Statler Staffing. I just heard. I’m so sorry about the company,” Ed said.

“Oh,” Dale said. “It’s okay.”

“I feel terrible about recommending that place to you. I really thought Spencer had his house in order. I don’t take this kind of thing lightly. You have to let me make it up to you.”

“I’m sorry?” Dale asked.

“I’m working to find you another job—no commission. We’ll get a nice soft landing for you if you’re up to it. Do you want some time, or do you want to jump back in?”

“Look, Ed, this isn’t your fault. I really liked working in that place, and it lasted a few months. You’re off the hook,” Dale said.

“You can tell me to back off if I’m being too pushy, but I really do feel bad. Let me give you some time to adjust, and when you make sense of everything just give me a call. I’ll do whatever I can.”

“Thanks, Ed,” Dale said. “Take care.” He hung up the phone and called his wife. Helen didn’t say much. She asked Dale not to tell the kids—she didn’t want them to feel the instability of his career. Dale felt worse having talked to Helen.
 

By that night, as he was sitting on the edge of the bed and trying to resolve himself to lying down, depression reached it’s hungry tentacles around the back of his brain.

“Maybe I’ll spend the day with the kids tomorrow,” he said. Dale tried to imagine their smiling faces, swinging side by side at the park.

“Don’t do that,” Helen said. She was propped up against a pillow, reading a book with her glasses on the end of her nose.

“Why not?” Dale asked. He twisted around to look at her.

“Because I don’t want to interrupt their routine. They’ve just gotten into a rhythm of going to daycare and coming home. What if you get another job in two weeks? Are you going to pull them in and out of daycare?”

“Kids are adaptable,” he said. “We’ll have fun.”

“Kids are adaptable when they have to be,” she said. “That doesn’t mean they like it, or that it’s good for them. Look, we have to pay either way. Why don’t you use the time to work on your résumé?”

“I just did it three months ago. Besides, that headhunter already called. He said he would get me another job if I wanted it.”

“Great—do that. Just take time off until you get another job, but don’t disrupt the kids. I can make you a list of things I’d like done around here if you’re looking for something to do.”

“Like what?” Dale asked. He straightened and turned to face Helen.
 

“Calm down, it’s nothing big.”

“I’ll call Ed,” Dale said.

“Who?”

“The headhunter,” he said.

“Oh. Good.”

Dale slipped between the sheets and turned his back to his wife’s reading light.
 

He woke up at three and got out of bed. He had already started the coffee brewing before he realized that he had nothing to do for another five hours. He unplugged the coffee maker and went back to sleep on the couch. He got up again at seven and cooked breakfast for the kids. After dropping them off at daycare, he called Ed.

“Hi, Dale,” Ed answered the phone.

“Oh. Hi,” Dale said. He had expected to introduce himself.

“What do you think—are you ready for the next challenge, or do you want some time?”

“I’m ready,” Dale said. “Maybe something a little less risky this time?”

“Just what I was thinking,” Ed said. “I’ve been poking around all night. I’ve got a big company in Maryland—short commute—and they need an employee portal for a bunch of big services.”

“I’ve never done anything like that,” Dale said.

“I know, but you’d be brilliant at it, trust me,” Ed said. “If you want something more familiar, I’ve got a company that does custom sites for small businesses. They’re like a web concierge. You need to sell earrings and they stand up an earring site by the end of the week. They’ve got existing tech, but they want to upgrade and automate everything—make it drag and drop, you know?”

“Yeah,” Dale said. He took a deep breath and tried to exhale away from the phone. He didn’t want Ed to hear the butterflies in his stomach.

“Look, Dale, I know you just got burned. That’s why neither of these are long-term commitments. The portal job is transitional. Maximum time would be six months. The other thing is a slightly longer project, but it’s up to you if you want to stay when it’s done. You can treat either one of them like a contract if you want,” Ed said.

“That sounds easier, actually,” Dale said.

“Good. Which would you like to pursue?”

“How about both?” Dale asked.

“Both what?”

“How about I do both jobs?”

“I’m not sure how that would work logistically. Don’t you have a family?”

“I’ll worry about that,” Dale said. “Just make sure that these companies are results-oriented. I’m not going to go sit in an office for eight hours a day just because they want to see a warm body filling the chair. I’ll get the work done, but I’ll do it how and when I choose.”

“Let me check on that,” Ed said. “I think we should be able to swing something with your track record.”

“One more thing, Ed,” Dale said.

“Yeah?”

“Eventually, I’m going to want to work on something important. I’m going to do something I care about.”

Dale disconnected. Years later, when Dale found that job, he never told Ed about it.

CH.11.Investigation ()
 

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Stronghold();

/*****

A
UGUST
, 2013 (3
WEEKS
A.J.)

Ploss was leaning against the trunk of his car. He pulled his foot up and propped it on the bumper.
 

“Where is this guy?” Aster asked.

Ploss looked at his watch. It was almost one fifteen. “I don’t know. They said noon.”

Aster crossed his arms. Ploss had only seen Aster in the formal dress of a detective. He looked ridiculous in his t-shirt and jeans.
 

“Maybe we should just go over there without him,” Aster said.

“You want a sweatshirt or jacket or something? I probably have something in the trunk,” Ploss said.

Aster nodded. Ploss fished the keys out of his pocket.

“I thought it was supposed to be hot down here,” Aster said. “What’s your guy’s name?”

“They said it was Leslie,” Ploss said. He turned the key and popped the trunk. From his getaway bag, he pulled a hooded sweatshirt and handed it to his partner. It was a little too small for Aster, fitting his torso snugly and revealing a little too much wrist. It made Aster look even more ridiculous.