Chapter 19

“WHY SO MOROSE?” Gene asked his friend as he launched a long shot that bounced around the rim and out. “Things are going well. You’re spending most of your time down at Cloudhaven, which is where you want to be anyway.”

“It’s ... Ms. Scott,” Preston moaned. “I can’t make anything work.”

“What needs to work that isn’t?”

“We agreed to keep our relationship professional, but I’m always messing up.”

“Like?”

“Friday, I tossed her a Rubik’s cube and challenged her to a contest.”

“Don’t tell me she beat you!”

“No. But we started laughing and teasing each other and then both became aware of what we were doing and put the cubes down and went back to work. It was embarrassing.”

“To whom? I don’t understand what the big deal is. Office romances are a common occurrence. You’re both single and unattached. If you want to see each other, do it,” Gene said.

“I can’t. Not while she reports to me. Maybe if she was in a different area of the company, I could justify it. But dating my personal assistant is such a cliché of the boss taking advantage of his employee. I was suspicious of her possibly wanting a relationship because of my money, but she has to be just as suspicious of me wanting to be with her. It’s just too complicated.”

“Move her to a different part of the company and then start dating.”

“I want her as my assistant! She manages the business better than I do. Why do you think I’ve been able to be down at Cloudhaven the past three weeks, since the board approved the project? She’s a wizard with the project planning software. She knows exactly how to respond to Duval. She handles all the daily work in the office. She even approved hiring a new assistant for Duval! She has her finger on the pulse of every department in the company. I just nod and tell her to make it happen.”

“Hmm. You are in danger of a 9 to 5 situation.”

“What’s that?”

“The old-school satirical movie, 9 to 5. The secretaries kidnap and restrain the boss and take over running the company without him. It turns out more profitable. Great Dolly Parton song.”

“I don’t think she’d...”

“Of course not. She loves you.”

“What? She couldn’t...”

“I don’t mean she’s in love with you, but she loves who you are and how creative you are. She’s just helping to clear you for action where you’re needed. I could use an assistant like that,” Gene said. “I’m not trying to keep a complex company alive as you are, though. My biggest task is keeping the scientists from murdering each other.”

“I don’t envy you that one. But it doesn’t help me with my real problem. I would like Ms. Scott to like me the way Maizie likes Jerry. We just can’t be both,” Preston said.

“You could be the one to resign,” Gene mused.

“I could what? I don’t see how that would help anything.” He eyed the hoop and launched the ball. It swished. “G-Pop would kill me,” he muttered.

“JeriCorp Board of Directors monthly meeting,” the heading of the email read. Erin read the memo carefully. Usually, she would be the one to put out the meeting notice. Next week it would be a month since the meeting approving Cloudhaven. She read on: “Order of business: Leadership review. All senior leadership to be reviewed and voted for confidence. This includes Preston Carver, Chairman and CEO; Royce Duval, President and COO; Leroy Masters, CFO; Naomi Dirksen, Vice Chair and General Counsel.”

The meeting announcement was signed by Naomi Dirksen, the Vice Chair of the Board. Dirksen, Masters, Duval, and Carver were members of the board by virtue of their positions as corporate officers. Mrs. Carver and Mr. Jerico held ownership positions, but were inactive most of the time. Three men from area businesses rounded out the number: Reinholdt, Vaughn, and Hathaway.

It was just a normal board meeting, but for some reason, it bothered Erin that the announcement came from Dirksen and not from her. Erin forwarded the announcement to Carver, Carver, and Jerico, then decided to pay a visit to Ms. Dirksen. Erin did go through the main offices several times a week, so she wasn’t a stranger to Ms. Dirksen’s secretary, who waved her in.

“Good morning, Miss Scott,” Dirksen said politely.

“And to you, Ms. Dirksen. I wanted to check in with you to see why the board meeting announcement came from your office today instead of Mr. Carver’s. It’s a little unusual.”

“You know, it should be your boss who is knocking on my door.”

“He’s working remotely at Cloudhaven, getting the infrastructure started.”

“Yes, we might want to make some changes to that. The feeling on the board is that the tone of the development should be more upscale. It’s such a beautiful piece of property but the design appears to be rather middle class, if you don’t mind my saying.”

“I do. The board approved the project and it’s underway. It seems a little sneaky to call for a review of officers and an unspoken agenda for changing a plan that is well underway.”

“All senior executives are being reviewed, including me,” Dirksen responded. “It happens every year. The board members feel there is a crisis of leadership. The presentation of the proposal is a case in point. Mr. Duval has indicated that what you presented was not what he would have presented, nor what Carver should have presented, rather than sending an assistant to handle a board meeting. I am vice chair of the board and have conducted ten times the number of meetings Preston has. Now, we’ve agreed to a $500,000,000 project and no one is convinced we have the leadership to pull it off.”

“So, you want to become Chairman of the Board?”

“No. Not at all. Royce Duval will be the leading contender for the position. He is the face of JeriCorp. Everyone follows where he leads.”

“He leads where Mr. Carver tells him to. What has Mr. Duval led the company to?” Erin asked.

“The most recent is his foresight in planning a golf course for Cloudhaven. It’s hard to believe there wasn’t one in the initial prospectus. Then there is the way he closed the Mackenzie Project and cut the company losses. Over the past several years, Duval has led us to good partnerships and profitable projects. He’s a natural to lead the board.”

“It’s ridiculous,” Erin spat. “It’s hard to believe Duval can so effectively pull the wool over the eyes of the board. All the things you mention were spearheaded by Preston Carver and executed by Royce Duval except the golf course. Even that was Shannon Duval’s idea, not Mr. Duval. Duval is an empty suit. A smile with perfect white teeth. He has never made a decision on behalf of the company.”

“I understand your loyalty to your boss. Don’t become too attached to him. Rumor has it that he wants to become the chef at the lodge at Cloudhaven. He doesn’t even want the responsibility of the company. He just sees the development as an opportunity to feed his real passion.”

“I would put his leadership up against any ten people in the company. He merely depends on a loyal staff. It appears that trust is misplaced.”

“Your words may be put to the test, Miss Scott. Wednesday at two. Let him defend his claim. We can’t risk the company on a hermit.”

Erin was furious. She heard much the same story from Mr. Masters. She didn’t need to stop to talk to Duval. The senior executives of JeriCorp were launching a coup against their owner and CEO. She calmly dialed Carver’s number and was pleased to find him in range of a cell tower.

“Mr. Carver, the board wants to replace you as chairman and CEO. You need to come into the office and prepare your campaign to retain your position,” she said.

“Oh. That again. Perhaps it would be better. I’m not much of a CEO and am really in my element out here on the site.”

“They want to change that, too. You know it’s Duval. He wants it ‘upgraded’ to something fancier. We can’t have Duval with that authority! The man mounted his horse and rode off in all directions.”

“Very funny, Ms. Scott. Take care of it. You’re much better at it than I am. I give you my authority to set a strategy for the board meeting. I’m almost finished with the street grading and paving plan. I’ll try to get back to town next week.”

“Yes, sir.”

Their conversation did nothing to ease her upset. Erin sat facing the windows with a 5x5x5 cube and tried to determine what to do about the challenge to Mr. Carver’s position. She was absolutely certain that if Duval held the reins, the Cloudhaven development would crash and burn.

The other three senior executives were firmly committed to having Royce Duval promoted to chairman and CEO. There were nine members of the board. Three were the senior executives and three were family members. That meant Duval must have at least one of the three outside board members committed to him. He wouldn’t dare launch such an attack without at least four of the nine members and the hope of convincing another.

She called up the bios of the three outside board members and compiled a quick dossier on each. She made her decision and set an appointment for the next morning.

“Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Vaughn,” Erin said when she was greeted by the CEO of Vaughn Home Furnishings. She had interviewed with him when she was looking for a job. Mr. Vaughn was an older member—perhaps the oldest—of the board of directors. He was of Mr. Jerico’s generation and had been almost silent during the presentation. His only comment had been, “Jerico has his hand in the project? I’m in.”

“How can I help you today, Miss Scott?” Vaughn asked.

“I’m sure you have received notice of the board meeting to be held next week,” Erin began. Vaughn nodded. “I have uncovered a kind of conspiracy among the senior executives to make a wholesale change in the leadership of the company and the direction of the Cloudhaven project.”

“I think that is obvious.”

“I’ve spoken to Ms. Dirksen and Mr. Masters. They seem to be driving an effort to install Royce Duval as Chairman and CEO.”

“Royce is a good man. Flashy, but generally solid. He’d drive the company wherever the board pointed him,” Vaughn nodded.

“In my opinion, that could be the problem. Mr. Duval is a salesman. He sells whatever people want to buy, not necessarily what he has to sell. I’ve worked with Mr. Carver for three months and have found that he is the true creative force behind the company. He has issues that prevent him from expressing himself freely in front of a group—even the board—but having Duval as his salesman has always been enough to drive his decisions. It’s a good fit for Duval as well.”