Chapter 14

Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep.

I was really foggy because of lack of sleep this morning. I got up and stretched before using the bathroom and shaving. I went to the bed and leaned down to wake Jules. She really wasn't interested in getting up, but I whispered that I wanted her to come with me today in her ear. She smiled and began coming out of her stupor.

The two of us showered and dressed for work. A pot of coffee was already almost done when we went into the kitchen area to make one. Kelly came out, dressed similarly to Jules, and said, "I'm sure glad I slept in the car on the way here. I didn't get enough sleep last night."

Brindle was dressed in her uniform shirt and pants, ready for the day.

Yori came out and looked like he had missed some sleep, as well. We all had some coffee, and I suggested, "I'll bet this place has a twenty-four hour restaurant where we can get a quick breakfast. The office is less than fifteen minutes away, so let's have something to eat before going in. We found the restaurant and asked for whatever was fast. We were served some ham steak, eggs, and toast in less than five minutes. We all shoveled most of it down and got up to leave at the right time to get to the office.

We pulled up to the office at exactly seven thirty. There was one car in the lot, and it had Missouri license on it. I laughed to myself because I knew the guy was going to do this. I walked to the car and knocked on the window. He sat up and opened the door. I said, "Don, I am Brad Johnson. I thought I told you to take it easy getting here."

The man looked like I caught him with a hand in the cookie jar. He said, "This is just too exciting for me not to get here as fast as possible. I got in last night and was so excited that I could hardly sleep. I thought you weren't coming until Monday."

"I figured that you'd be here this morning, so I wanted to be here too. What time did you get here this morning?"

Don said, "I'm an early bird, and often get to the office between seven and seven thirty, so I thought that some of the people here might do that too. You're obviously like me and are here early. Who all did you bring with you?"

"I have our driver, my secretary, and two assistants in early training. They are to be seen and not heard."

The Missouri man sighed, "Oh yeah, I remember those days."

A car came and parked in one of the nearby spaces. A woman got out and said "Good Morning."

I introduced myself, and then Don Mensal as the new local office Manager. An attractive older woman said, "I'm Anita Kenner, the receptionist. This office doesn't open until 8:30, but most people are here by eight. Let me unlock the door and make some coffee. Follow me, and I'll show you around a little, Don." She turned to the others and said, "Why don't you all come in? It's cooler inside."

Brindle said, "I'll go back to the hotel. Give me a call when you're ready, and I'll come get you."

Yori, Jules, and Kelly followed me inside to look around, and I immediately realized that this layout was almost exactly like ours in LA. I walked down the hallway and found the Manager's office. It wasn't as large as mine, but was very well furnished. I guess no one thought the Tampa office would become a Regional office, or how successful it would be when it was built.

The small break room was followed by an office that had 'Decorator' on the door and then a large room for sales. On the other side of the hallway was the title office, with three obvious closing rooms. Upstairs housed finance, accounting, maybe appraisals, and probably an on-staff architect.

A lady came bustling in and went into a small office next to the Manager's office. I'm sure she was the secretary. She came right back out and looked me in the eye. "You have to be either Don Mensal or Brad Johnson. I'm Marjorie Houser, the Manager's secretary."

I stuck my hand out, and said, "I'm Brad. Anita is giving Don a tour of the office. The others with me are my secretary and two assistants in training."

The woman was quick when she said, "Why do you want Rey Ferguson for another one if you have two assistants in training?"

I had to come up with something quick so I said, "These two aren't for my office. They are with me for training purposes. I need to bring Rey up so he can take care of the LA office while I move around the region."

"Good, I want to see Rey get a management position. He's a good man and very conscientious. He's now worked on a construction crew, clerked in finance, and sold real estate and custom homes with us. He knows the business."

Anita and Don came back, and Anita introduced Marjorie to Don. Don's smile was warm enough that Marjorie responded, "Come look at your new office. It's been cleaned up especially for you. You may want to add or remove some things, but I'm right through that door by the bookcase. You might want to leave the door open so that you can just yell at me instead of using the phone or coming to get me sometimes." I got a smile out of that.

Anita told Don, "The salespeople will all be in by eight thirty, and you can address them then. Let me get you some coffee and you can explore your desk." She looked at me, and said, "I don't know what to do with you, Brad. You and your people are more than we can handle at a time. You all can sit at Don's conference table if you want."

We did just that. We all had coffee and discussed how calm the secretary, and how friendly the receptionist, were. Don came over to sit with us, and said, "The receptionist is just like ours. They know everything that's going on. I'm glad I had the opportunity to gain her confidence and friendship. She'll warn me in advance of any developing problem. I gave her my KC receptionist's number so they can trade gossip with each other. That's the way to find out everything you really need to know."

I could see the big picture dawning on Kelly, as this is what I had been asking her to do.

Don said, "I'm going to be in good shape here very fast. I'll talk to the Sales Manager and have some conversations with finance, accounting, appraisals, and the architect. They probably only have one decorator, but I'll see as the day goes on. I'll get with all the department managers and get them on my enthusiasm level for promoting the company. I'm a real optimist, and believe there's always a sale just waiting for me."

People had been streaming past his door, curiously looking in at the new people in the Manager's office. Don made the comment, "You're more like our regional Manager who goes around to the offices at least every two months unless there's a problem, and then he becomes 'Johnny on the spot'. Everyone come with me. I think all the salespeople are in, and it's time for some introductions."

Don stopped in his secretary's office to ask her if she wanted to be with him when he introduced himself. She was undecided, but finally joined us as we went to sales first.

Don looked in the Sales Manager's office and went in to introduce himself. He asked him if all his people were here, and if he could address them all at once. They both came out, and the Sales Manager hollered, "Listen up, Folks. Our new Manager has arrived from Kansas City, Missouri. His name is Don Mensal, and everything I've heard about the man is good. Talk to your salespeople, Don."

Don moved in front of the group and said, "I'm going to try and have a chat with each of you over the next few days. I've learned a few things about how to stimulate sales and how to encourage customers to want to buy. My former office beat home office projections every year because we found more ways to get our name in front of customers. I'm going to work hard at that. Please jot your ideas down, and we'll discuss each one. I know you have all been shaken up by the events of this past week, but let me help smooth the transition."

He turned and waved at me with the others. "My arrival is accompanied by Brad Johnson, the new California Regional Manager. I understand that he wants to steal a good salesman from us, so we'll need to hunt for someone to fill that spot. I'll let Brad address you and remember that I am available to listen any time."

"Good morning. I'm sort of a country Bubba, and coming to Las Vegas is still exciting to me. I probably won't be in many casinos or hot spots while I'm here, but I want to look at your office and get a feel for it so that I can respond to Don as he works to increase business. I have a theory that everything in our business begins with a sale. This office wouldn't exist without sales, of course. Everything after the sale can be made into a profit center, as well. I'll try to guide Don in helping all of you be successful. I want to have a chat with Rey Ferryman later this morning, so if you have any appointments, Rey, let me know so that I can work around them. Good hunting to all of you."

As everyone went back to their desks, I asked the Sales Manager, "I only count nine salespeople and no saleswomen. An office this size should have twelve to fifteen. Are you having trouble recruiting salespeople?"

Kelly followed the secretary back to her office while I was talking to the Sales Manager.

The man acted like he didn't want to answer. He finally let go with, "The former Manager was doing some strange things with personnel. He wasn't hiring when a position became vacant. He seemed to be letting the branch become weaker and weaker. Our advertising has almost completely stopped, and he's cut hours on some of the staff in accounting and finance. They don't have as much work any longer, of course and he didn't allow them to work with other realtors to sell loans to them. I don't know what the guy's plan was, but I do know that he spent far too much time with the former LA Office Manager. I haven't heard the details, but I do know the man was becoming involved in drug trafficking. If I didn't know better, I would almost think our Manager was doing that too."

Warning bells were clanging all over the place. I told the man, "Don will direct and help you build up your sales force. Let's get your place running again."

I told Don when we stepped out of the room, "Visit with the title office and ask the same questions. See if they are selling their services. You know how to evaluate a profit center. I think I see something that we may be in time to fix and avoid a meltdown like LA almost had. I need to go talk to accounting."

Upstairs in the accounting office, I found a single woman with stacks of papers. She looked at me and was sullen when she asked, "Are you the new Manager? How many hours are you going to cut this time?"

"Hi, I'm Brad Johnson, the Regional Manager out of LA, and you are?"

"Rhonda Feinstein, former CPA in good standing, and now a lowly bookkeeper. What can I do for you?"

"I'm used to talking straight with accounting, Rhonda, so I'm going to ask you some very pointed questions. Regardless of your past relationship with your deceased Manager, what kind of shenanigans was he up to lately? I saw your last two P&Ls that showed a steady decline in revenue from all the profit centers. The one thing that really disturbed me was the steady increase in costs. Enlighten me as to how that can happen."

The woman looked me in the eye, and said, "I was told that I was being paid to forward bills to the home office for payment and to keep payroll up to date. This is Monday, and that's what I'm working on now. As far as what the guy was up to, I can tell you that it wasn't for the company's good. He has been trying to do some stuff with construction, but Ronnie Hartly, our supervisor is as straight as an arrow. He and the Manager almost came to blows and I know the Manager was trying to replace him. Ronnie has a good crew and he has had to lay off a lot of men because of lack of sales. What I don't like is that we replaced our cleaning service with a company that doesn't show up except about once a month. He replaced our advertising agency with a company that doesn't even get small ads in the newspaper on weekends. I'm getting invoices for stuff that I know we didn't order, and I know was never delivered. I have a record of all this. Want to see it?"

"Not right now, but do you know of a good accounting group that can perform a forensic audit?"

"Oh yeah, we used to be audited annually, but not for the last three years. Our regular auditing firm is one of Las Vegas' best. Should I call them?"

"Let me get permission from the home office and I want to ask you if you want to work full time? I'd like for you to do that and hire a couple of temps to catch up, and then keep the best of the two for the long haul?"

"Are you kidding? You're really going to do that? Darn right I'll work full time, and I sure as hell want to get this trash heap back in order. You get permission and I'll get an audit. "I'll be on the horn for some temps as soon as I get payroll done."

"One last thing, Rhonda, are there people on our payroll who haven't been in for a while, or that you don't know who they are?"

The woman sorted through her time cards and separated three. She said, "This guy hasn't been in for at least three months, these two were hired as salesmen, and I've never seen either one to date."

"Okay, don't pay any of them, and Don will handle it, or you'll forward the call to me and I'll handle it, when they call to bitch. The other thing is don't forward any questionable invoices. None, and have anyone who calls about payment talk to Don or me. Now finish payroll and let's get this place rolling."

Bennington had corrupted this guy and taught him his tricks. The place hadn't reached bottom yet, but it was heading that way.

I went down to the receptionist and asked her, "Can you contact the former office cleaning people and have them begin cleaning here again? You do some of the Office Manager's responsibilities, right?"

Anita smiled and told me, "Thank you; all of us have been spending an evening a week cleaning the place. The salespeople do the cleaning at the models."

"Have the cleaning service do the models too."

I found Don standing in front of the secretary's desk with hands on his hips. He was saying, "What do you mean that you were receiving two checks each week? Why would I continue to give you two checks a week when I don't know whether you deserve one? What were you doing for that other check?"

I stood next to Don and softly said to her; "I know what you and Gary were doing. Accounting has all the fake invoices and now everyone knows of the blind employee payroll. Who is the other person receiving the blind payment?"

She didn't want to say, but finally admitted it had been the office Manager. She had been responsible for generating many of the fake invoices. I asked Don, "You may not want to have to work through this, but I'm ordering a forensic audit that will disclose the craziness that has infected the place. You'll have the auditors here by next Tuesday or Wednesday, and probably a couple of guys from legal. Your accounting had been cut back to part time and I told her to go back to full time and to bring a couple of temps in to get caught up. She'll need to help with the audit too."

I looked at the secretary and she was looking like she was going to put up a fight. "What do you want to do, Don? I have enough evidence to have her arrested, but I don't see that it will do the company any good. Let's get her out of here. Let me get Yori and he'll make sure she leaves."

Marjorie said, "I can't leave yet," when I was leaving the office. "I'm supposed to be here for a delivery. I have the money for it, and have to do this or they might get mad and hurt me."

"Who is 'they', Marjorie?"

"The delivery persons. There are usually two of them and I don't think they are nice people."

"When are they supposed to be here?"

"They always come right at noon."

"Disconnect her phone, take her cell phone, and remove the power cord from her PC, Don. I need to do a few things."

I went into Don's office and looked at my group. "Okay, Guys, we have run into more of what happened in the LA office, almost exactly the same, but with some new twists. It's still early in their game, so the place isn't badly hurt yet. I'm going to need all of you to help. Are you protected, Yori?"

He opened his sport coat to show me the handle of his weapon. "Good, go into the secretary's office and relieve Don. The woman is not allowed to leave or to have contact with anyone. There is supposed to be some kind of major drug transaction about noon. Kelly, call the cops and ask that they send at least two and probably four undercover guys out here. Explain that it was discovered an employee was making a buy for the dead Manager, and has the money for it. Who knows what she was going to do with the drugs?"

"You have good eyes and are good with numbers, Jules. Go upstairs to accounting and offer her your help for a while today. I want you and Kelly away from down here."

I squeezed my eyes shut and couldn't believe there was more shit like this. I now wondered if the company was infected like this anywhere else. I called our Legal Councel. "Sir, I've discovered the same problem in Las Vegas as there was in LA. I need your two legal guys to look at what's gone on here and I need you to authorize an audit. The new man who I just introduced will need some help in getting things back together, but I think the branch is in a position to quickly rebound."

"Shit, I hope this is as far as Bennington's influence has spread. You have a blank check, Brad. Do everything you think is necessary. I'll get the same two guys and have them out there later today or tomorrow. Get rooms and a car for them as you did before. I told the man who was like a partner, "I'm staying at the Hard Rock, would it be okay to let them stay there?"

"Sure, one place is about the same as another out there. It's better to stay where they have food and services. Keep me posted and good luck."

I didn't want to tell him about the drug thing, as he would go ballistic, but I had to make sure that the rest of the people in the branch were protected. I checked my watch and saw that it was already nine forty-five. Don was wrestling with Marjorie over her cell phone when I walked back into her office. I smacked her on the nose instead of wrestling with her. She reacted by grabbing her nose, letting the cell phone go. I motioned for Yori to step into the hall.

I told him, "I have Jules upstairs helping the accounting lady, and should probably send Kelly up there too, but I want your opinion. There are going to be a couple of dealers coming to swap a package for cash around noon. I think I can get most of the people out of here, but should I send Jules back to the hotel?"

Yori thought for a second and said, "Probably, but she's not going to want to leave if she realizes why you're sending her away. I can have Brindle bring Michi if you think we might need him."

"Kelly called the cops, and they'll hopefully have undercover people here and the rest of us can hide under desks. I hate this stuff, but I know it happens. I think this is the end of the problem, but the bad part is the former Manager's relationship with heavy dealers. The Manager is dead, but the dealer is either forcing the sale, or the secretary wants to continue buying and selling drugs."

Yori said, "If you can keep Jules upstairs, do it that way. I won't call Michi, but I'd feel better if you were armed. I want to get you the same type of credentials I have. We'll get you a PI license for California and Nevada, and security company carry permit. They aren't that hard to get if you know the right people."

"We'll talk about that later. I have a few things to do right now. Watch her and don't let her do anything. Tell her to pee in her chair if she has to go to bathroom."

I went straight to Anita and told her there would be some people from the police department coming, and that she should page me right away. I went to sales from there, and sat down at Rey Ferryman's desk. "I like your attitude and your desire to succeed, Rey. I want you to come to LA and be my assistant. It won't be an easy job, and it will be busy. You'll be paid a very nice salary, and you will also share in the office's commission structure. Do you have a good car?"

"Yes, I have a two year old Chevrolet in perfect condition."

"You're going to want to go to LA and look at apartments. Don't panic when you see the prices because your income level will be increased to more than take care of it. Find our office in Hollywood and start out from there. A lot of places are going to be within walking distance. Make sure you have a place for your car. The company will pick up the tab for moving you, and I can have money advanced for apartment looking and security for you. I want you to start work in LA next week, probably toward the end of the week, or as soon as you've found a place to live and are moved. Are you going to need some cash?"

"I shouldn't. I know the area well and have a lot of friends there. I'll begin calling them first to see if I can share a place with them while I take my time and find a deal for my own place."

I stood and offered my hand that he shook. "Get anything personal you have here and leave. You are officially my assistant as of right now, and are being directed to get moved. Your new office is in the process of being built. Tell Kelly I hired you if you can find her, and that you will be working with her next week."

I ran upstairs and told the two ladies in the accounting office, "I want you two to stay up here. I'm probably going to send Kelly up here too. I'll explain later."

I went across the hall to the title office and found a single soul in there. The lady said she was happy to see me, and would welcome having business again. I asked her if she was alone in the office. "My assistant is down to three days a week. I hope she can come back to full time soon."

"Bring her back full time, and I want you two to be selling the benefits of our title company. I want you to be making your monthly bonus money."

"Yeah, that's what I want to hear. Now go tell that to finance. I'll have my girl in tomorrow morning."

I went into finance and it was a duplicate of what LA was. I introduced myself, and the manager asked, "Are you going to do for us what you did for Jimmy in LA? He's into bonus money so big that he'll want to retire the way you have sales going there."

"Well, I don't know whether or not that's true, but I want to tell you to be prepared for activity. Temps are cheap, so use them to evaluate who you might want to keep. Mooney didn't see the decline here, but we are fixing it right now. Your new Manager is a go-getter and will be helping all the departments succeed. Now go sell some loans to other realtors. You're no longer restricted to only Mooney sales.

I checked in the decorator's office and found a lady making a drawing for a homeowner interview. I asked how she was, and she replied that she was better than others because she can sell Mooney decorator services to anyone, and does. She told me, "I have to have work to make a living, so I make sure I'm out selling as much as decorating."

I told her, "You're my type of decorator. I think we're going to get you some work very soon. Why don't you take a long lunch from about eleven until say two today? I'm going to be very disruptive for a while later."

The lady said, "I have to leave for an appointment in about ten minutes, and will probably be there most of the day. Will that work?"