Chapter 44: Travels with Elyse

February 21, 1993, Los Angeles, California

“I hate these cross-country flights,” Elyse groused as we walked into our room at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles.

“Wednesday is going to be worse. LA to Pittsburgh.”

“Ugh. Can we just go to bed?”

“You need sleep?” I grinned.

“Yes, but I think I can muster just enough energy.”

“For?”

“What do you think!” she said she a big smile.

February 22, 1993, Los Angeles, California

Charlie had flown separately, and met us for breakfast before we went across the street to the office.

“Good morning!” I called out when we walked in.

“Good morning!” Barbara said. “I’m the only one in the office this morning, but everyone will meet us for dinner, except Juana, who’s in San Francisco.”

“Did Ben Jackson confirm for tomorrow evening?”

“He did. Your first candidate will be here at 9:00am. All of them confirmed on Friday.”

“Sounds good. I’m going to check my email. Which office should I use?”

“All of the computers are connected to the InfoNet connection, so any of them can get you to your e-mail in Chicago directly. The one at the end is the ‘visitor’ computer.”

“I’ll use that one, then.”

There was nothing important in my email, so I picked up the phone and dialed the Chicago office and asked Lucas if there were any messages. There weren’t any, so I went back to talk to Barbara, Elyse, and Charlie until our first candidate for the San Francisco position arrived. We did the interview, had lunch, then saw two more candidates, also for the San Francisco position. As was our pattern, Charlie, Barbara, and I all did separate interviews.

“Do you know which one you want?” I asked Charlie after she and Barbara met to talk about the candidates.

“I think Ross Brown was the best overall candidate, taking everything into consideration. In addition to his technical and interpersonal skills, his apartment is literally one-block away from the one-year assignment we’d have for him.”

“That’s the one that Juana has been covering by flying up every week?”

“Yes, so it’ll reduce our costs and the customer’s costs. And let Juana work on a new contract here in Los Angeles.”

“No veto. Make it so!”

“I will. I have a complication.”

“What’s that?”

“Heather called me this afternoon.”

“Heather Masterson?”

“You remember she moved to Denver, right?”

“Yes. Because her then fiancé took a job in Denver. She took a job with a consulting company there. She wants to come back?”

“She heard we were hiring and decided to call to see if we might be interested.”

“Check with Dave, but I don’t recall any problems with her at all. What about the candidate we’re supposed to see tomorrow?”

“It’s a bit late to cancel, but they’re all flying in and flying out with no hotel stays. We’ll lose the flight costs at this point no matter what. And I might have another gig in the area. I know the hiring is limited by the business plan, but I could juggle Chicago consultants enough to cover the upcoming contract in Pittsburgh until we had new hiring authority.”

“Let’s do the interviews tomorrow. The contract we have in Denver doesn’t start until April 12, so we have a bit of time to figure it out. We’ll do the interviews in Pittsburgh as well. Worst case, and it’s not really bad, we hire Heather and someone in Pittsburgh. The candidates we see tomorrow could be on the shelf, so to speak. If you get enough work to keep one busy for at least eight months, then the Board would likely approve an additional hire. But it would have to be contingent.”

“Have you thought about a ‘body shop’ business model?” Charlie asked.

“Off and on. I really don’t like the idea all that much. I mean, it does make business sense because it limits our exposure.”

“It would let us take on more business without the risk of long-term employees.”

“Yes, it does. But it’s not all about profits. It’s about something sustainable for NIKA, our employees, and our clients. There are lots of ‘body shops’ out there, and we offer something distinctive in that all of our consultants are long-term employees. Now, I could see it if someone wanted a contract-to-hire consultant. That would make sense. Let me think about it, and discuss it with Elyse.”

“OK. I’ll get Kimmy started on the paperwork for Ross Brown. OK to make a verbal offer to him?”

“Yes.”

Dinner that evening with the team was at the Pacific Dining Car, our usual Los Angeles hangout. We had a very good time, and when we finished, Elyse and I headed back to the InterContinental to spend a quiet evening together. We stopped at a liquor store and bought a nice bottle of wine for about a quarter of what it would have cost at the hotel. I picked up a corkscrew as well, but decided that the plastic cups in the room would suffice. Twenty minutes after we arrived, we were lounging in a warm bubble bath, sipping good wine from cheap plastic hotel glasses.

“A week where I basically get you to myself,” Elyse sighed. “This is perfect!”

“Even without the boys around?”

“Despite being a high-powered CFO, I’m still a normal mom. I miss them when I’m away, but it’s also nice to get a break from the craziness at home. Can you imagine what it would be like without Abbie?”

“We’d have to have someone,” I said. “At one point Kara talked about staying home and being a full-time mom, but I think once she saw how things were working with Jesse and Matthew, and then Birgit and the others, she decided she didn’t have to wait for the kids to grow up before she started her career.”

“I was surprised when she took the full-time job and then started the PhD program! I figured that wouldn’t happen until her girls were in school, at least!”

“Yes, and we thought you and I would be done with this part of our relationship as soon as you got pregnant with Michael! And that you would have a steady boyfriend!”

“True. Plans change.”

“Have you decided what to do about Eduardo?”

“I think so. He’ll get his own place, probably a condo in the city. His company has been working on that, by the way. I’ll spend time with him there, but not at home.”

“What about the boys?”

“Once Eduardo is settled, he’ll take the three of us out and they can meet him. I’ll take it from there.”

“Have him call me to set up lunch. Obviously, I don’t want to invite him to the house until you broach the subject with our sons.”

“I did my best to explain to Matthew that I would be dating. He was really funny. He laughed and said if you could kiss other girls, then it should be OK for me to kiss other boys!”

I chuckled, “The kids have their heads screwed on straight. I guess for Michael at three it’s a bit tougher to explain.”

“Only a bit. We’re all so open about it. He said ‘Daddy has a new girlfriend. Mommy can have a boyfriend!’. He was talking about Samantha.”

“It sounds to me that they’re going to accept it. What about moving?”

“That’s something I don’t want to get into right now. It’s probably six years off, and I don’t think six years of worrying about it is good for the boys.”

“Probably not. So Eduardo won’t stay over at the house?”

“I don’t think so. Our bed is ours. If and when Eduardo and I move in together, that bed will be his and mine.”

“That almost sounds like Mary Harrison when we were teenagers. Bed was for making love only. Fucking had to be done elsewhere.”

“Interesting. Did you ever get into her bed?”

“After Birgit died. Mary felt I needed it. Kind of like Joyce and the shower. I didn’t write that in my journal?”

“I think you may have, but some details weren’t all that important. I was surprised you wrote as much in them about Michelle as you did. I figured it would be totally circumspect like with Tanya.”

“I debated with myself on that topic and just wrote what I felt was right.”

“And still nothing about that big thing.”

“And there never will be. And you agreed not to mention it. Or even think about it!”

“Don’t you think at some point Albert and Ashley need to know?”

“At some point, I do. But it’s not up to me. And did I just confirm your suspicion?”

Elyse laughed, “You did indeed. But you knew I had figured it out. But I only figured it out because of two or three clues I found in your journals. And a process of elimination. Nothing you’ve EVER said out loud has hinted at it.”

“Let’s keep it that way, please.”

“I’ll file it away with all your other secrets. Have you heard anything more from your friend looking into Dustin Brady?”

“No. I expect him to call this week. He was trying to formulate a plan to get access to any of Dustin’s photos or negatives that might exist.”

“Any more on the John Lentz case?”

“No. I figured at some point somebody will be arrested. I think you can guess who that might be.”

“Lisa. What will that do to your relationship with Alec?”

“Nothing from a business perspective or a friendship perspective, for that matter. Even if he knows our people helped with the search warrant, he can’t really blame us. Hart-Lincoln is a customer, not just for the legal software, but for network and computer maintenance as well. It would make sense for the FBI to call us in. They are only just developing an internal skill set in this area. People like Greg, Sam, or me aren’t all that interested in working for the FBI.”

“Do you think she was involved in his death? Or just the typical crooked Chicago real estate deals?”

“That’s a good question. I got the drift that the CPD didn’t like her for murder or hiring a hitman, but you never know. If they tie the two of them together, who knows what else they might find. What I find interesting is that John’s building is like Jeri’s - a security building. That is, you can’t get in without going past the doorman, and the elevator requires a key or pass card.”

“Lisa would have had one.”

“Yes, but I would have thought John would have taken it back from her.”

“Unless she had a copy made,” Elyse said.

“Possible. It would be easy with a key, even one marked ‘Do Not Duplicate’. A couple of extra bucks to a kid in a hardware store to cut the key for you, or sillier, just a sticker over the engraving. A pass card would be more difficult, but given the kind of money and resources Lisa has, it could be done. Criminals have learned to recode the magnetic strips on credit cards, so an elevator key card would be much easier, I would think.”

“Do you know if the police have anything like that? Entry records, or whatever?”

“No. The only interactions I’ve had with CPD were the interview at our office. I talked with the FBI, but murder is a state charge except in rare instances. I’m not sure how ‘conspiracy to commit murder’ goes at the federal level, but it’s most likely a state charge as well, unless she hired someone using the telephone or US mail or from out of state.”

“Do you think that’s what happened?”

“I actually have no clue and no theories. I would have guessed suicide before the police and FBI showed up, but I had no proof of that.”

“Not an accident?”

“Jeri’s point about the balconies is correct. An accident would be nearly impossible, though if he had been drunk and dancing on a table or something, I suppose it could happen. Or maybe he was taking drugs and decided he could fly. The police have been cagey with what they’ve released to the Press. And they sure didn’t share much with us.”

“Isn’t that normal? At least until they finish the investigation?”

“I think so, yes. In a way, I wish I was in Chicago tomorrow for the Foundation Board meeting. I’d love to hear what was said.”

“How does that work when you aren’t there?”

“In the past, the person didn’t get to vote. I objected to that, at Jeri’s behest. That forced her mom to provide access to the proposals in advance. I reviewed them and typed up a letter with my votes which I gave to Jeri for the meeting. Three proposals. I voted against all three. More idiotic left-wing stuff. Next month, we’re talking about something Jeri put forward about job training and rent assistance for homeless people, especially women with children in shelters. She’s calling it ‘Project Lydia’.”

“Now THAT is something I could support.”

“Me too, obviously. She’s also looking at a way to provide medical assistance to them, but has to be careful not to run afoul of a slew of federal government rules. She’s looking at volunteer doctors and nurses who visit the homeless shelters once a week. She’s already talked to Jessica, Sofia, and Alejandra, plus a few nurses from UofC who Jess recommended. No surprise, I’m voting in favor of that one.”

“I bet they could use money-management advice, too,” Elyse said thoughtfully. “And despite my distaste for working with Jeri, I’ll mention it to her.”

“Elyse Clarke, you old softy!” I chuckled.

“What is it that you say? Capitalists need to do these kinds of things willingly, lest they be forced by the government to do it, or worse, face hordes of socialists at their door?”

“Our house could easily house a dozen families,” I chuckled.

“Doctor Zhivago,” Elyse said with a laugh. “When he comes home from the war.”

“Yes, exactly. You know I don’t believe anyone can be truly altruistic, so I don’t see it as cynical. I see it as a way to preserve my economic freedom. That’s how I convinced Dante to start giving money for very specific charitable causes, including the one Jeri is proposing next month.”

“That check for the Center blew me away!”

“I simply appealed to Dante’s basest instinct - preservation of his decadent, capitalist lifestyle, as Tanya would have put it back in the day. She’s pretty much a capitalist now, along with most of my friends in Russia!”

“Things have certainly changed!”

“Including the water temperature. Shall we rinse off and get into a warm bed?”

“And make it even warmer? Yes!”

February 24, 1993, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“That flight SUCKED,” Elyse sighed as we climbed into bed at the Marriott just before midnight.

“It’s losing three hours that’s the killer. A four-and-half-hour flight, plus three hours on the clock and suddenly the day disappears. I think it’s worse than flying to Europe, actually. For that, you get on the plane late in the day and arrive early the next morning. To me, that works better.”