Chapter 18: Corporate Consulting

Summer to Fall 2023

I called Jenkins on Friday to let him know that Kelly and I would be interested in attending their quarterly meeting.

“Excellent! I’ll arrange to have a plane meet you Thursday afternoon. Is Atlanta good or is there an airstrip more convenient?” he asked.

“That depends on the size of the plane. Matucket has an airport, but it’s limited to small planes and business jets.”

“That would be fine. I’ll make the arrangements. It’s about a two-hour trip, but you’ll pick up an hour crossing to Central Standard Time. We’ll have you stay at the Ritz-Carlton. It’s where our dinner is Friday night, so we have a block of rooms reserved,” he told me.

“Sounds good, Bob.”

“I’ll have my assistant get back to you with the details later today. If it’s alright with you, my wife and I can meet you Thursday night after you’ve had a chance to settle in and we can have dinner.”

“Again, that sounds good, Bob.”

We hung up and I began work on a proposal for a police department in South Carolina. I wondered whether I would be making the proposal for RSC or for M&M. Shortly after lunch I got a call from Forrester’s assistant, and she gave me the details for the trip; a copy was emailed to me as she was talking to me.

I told Kelly that evening about the plans for our trip to Chicago. “Need some help shopping in Carrollton?” I asked quietly.

I wasn’t quiet enough. Riley popped her head around the corner with a smile on her face. “What’s in Carrollton? We’re going shopping?”

Kelly’s eyes popped open, and I began coughing. “Oh, to listen to this conversation,” I whispered.

Kelly slugged me and turned to Riley to weasel out of a shopping trip to the adult shop in Carrollton. I just tried to keep from laughing too loudly. My wife was not too amused when Riley finally wandered off and saw me hiding a grin. “That wasn’t funny!”

“Then why are you trying not to laugh?”

“Grim!” I just looked at her until she broke down and started laughing herself. “Stop it!”

“I’m available Saturday morning if you need me. Or we can take a morning during the week if you have a late class,” I volunteered.

“You’re a helpful sonuvabitch, Grim, real helpful.”

“Protect and serve, that’s my motto. I think this is part of the serve portion.” Kelly rolled her eyes at that. “Let me know when you’re taking Riley.’

Kelly groaned at that. “That will be never! And you don’t want to be joking about this too much. It’s official now, Riley is no longer a little girl. Happened a week ago.”

I swallowed at that. “You mean...”

“Uh huh.”

Well, that was a stumper for me, no question about it. “How long until I have to buy a shotgun to chase boys away?” Now that I thought about it, I could see how my little girl was growing up. She was starting to get taller and wasn’t quite as skinny as she had been. I remembered how much Kelly had changed in the years between when she moved away from Matucket and when she moved back at fourteen. I had missed out on the changes - Thank God! - but Riley looked like the spitting image of her mother.

“A year? Maybe more, maybe less. Probably less. When did you start looking at girls?”

“Christ, I don’t know. Back in the depths of time ... seventh grade, eighth, something like that. What’s that, thirteen or fourteen?”

“Girls mature earlier than boys, Grim. By the time she’s thirteen the boys will be sniffing around.”

“Shit!” I looked over at Boxie snoring on the couch. “Think we can trade him in on a German shepherd? Something already attack trained?”

“Aren’t you sorry now you left the force? You could have trailed her around on date nights,” responded Kelly.

“Date nights? Who says she’ll ever be allowed to date? Put that right out of your mind! She’s heading to a convent school Monday! One with armed guards. Female guards! And barbed wire!”

Kelly simply nodded and pulled a bottle of whiskey out of the cabinet as I blustered on. “I don’t think they allow automatic weapons on school grounds. Here, Grim, make drinks. You can think about the day in the future when some boy tries to teach her to drink.”

“You aren’t helping, Kelly!”

“Get over it, Daddy. Let’s just hope she doesn’t meet some slick football player who likes redheads. Of course, that was in high school. I never told you what I was up to in junior high.”

I flipped her the bird and made drinks as she laughed. Good God! A teenaged daughter in less than a year? This was further proof that God has a sense of humor! Aaaagghh!

We never did get to the dildo shop in Carrollton, though I teased her a few more times about it. Eventually it was Thursday, and we were over at the Matucket airport by half past three. We were dressed in comfortable travel clothes but with two suitcases and a hanging bag. That seemed a bit much for not quite forty-eight hours, but the schedule had us going to two dinners plus some other activities. Except for the time we were in our hotel room, our time was scripted for us. Kelly commented to me at one point, “These guys are serious, Grim. I did some checking. Flying us on a private jet? Two nights at the Ritz-Carlton? Dinners and your initial dinner? These guys are investing at least ten thousand dollars in wining and dining you!”

“I wasn’t sure of the total, but I knew it was a big number,” I said.

“I just want to know what they find so interesting about you? God knows I wouldn’t pay ten thousand dollars...” She was cut off at that point when I grabbed her and started paddling her butt, which made the kids start laughing.

We had been informed that the plane would be landing around four. At ten of four a small jet came flying in and swooped down to land. It taxied to the terminal and stopped, the engines winding down. “Think this is for us?” asked Kelly.

“I think the odds of two private jets landing here at the same time are pretty low,” I replied.

“Yeah.” She extended the handle on her suitcase and began pulling it towards the door. I grabbed the hanging bag and settled it on my shoulder, and then began tugging my suitcase after her.

Suddenly I wasn’t so sure. The door on the jet opened and two men and a woman came off the plane, followed by a man in a pilot’s uniform. The pilot started farting around with a hatch on the back, and the other three entered the terminal. One of the men came towards me. “Doctor Reaper?”

“Yes?” said both Kelly and me.

He looked startled and said, “You’re both doctors?” We both nodded. “I didn’t know that! I’m Will Sampson. I’m your escort.” He turned to the other couple and said, “Ten minutes if you want to stretch your legs a bit.” They thanked him and headed towards the rest rooms. He turned back to us and said, “Here, let me give you a hand. We’ll load your luggage and get you settled. As soon as the Herndons get back, we’ll be off to Chicago.”

He led us over to the airplane, where the pilot stowed our luggage. Then he led us onto the airplane. It looked like the first-class section of a regular airplane, only smaller. There was only a single seat on each side of the aisle, for instance. Kelly and I settled into a pair of very comfortable leather seats. We were assured that drinks would be available once we got to altitude. A couple of minutes later the other couple came back on board and the door was closed. They hustled into their own seats and suddenly the engines whined, and the little jet began moving. Sampson rushed into his own seat, and we were heading towards the runway.

A voice came over the intercom. “Welcome aboard. We’ll be taking off momentarily. Please take your seats and buckle in, and do not unbuckle until the sign lights up. Flying time to O’Hare is two hours, fifteen minutes, but the weather is good, and the winds are favorable, so we’re probably going to get in a few minutes early.”

Moments later the jet began speeding up, and it sure seemed to move faster than any other plane I’d flown on, even the small jet we had flown to Washington in to get the Medal. Within seconds the rumbling of the tires ended, and we were climbing at a crazy angle. Ten minutes later we levelled out and there was a ‘DING’ as an overhead light showed we could unbuckle. The captain came back on the intercom saying we could walk around but when we were seated to please buckle up.

Sampson popped up again and moved to the front of the small plane, standing in the aisle in front of us. “Let me make a few introductions. As before, I’m Will Sampson and I’ll be your guide for our trip to Chicago. John, Mary, these are the Reapers, Doctor Graham Reaper and his wife, Doctor Kelly Reaper. I’m embarrassed to say I wasn’t aware Kelly was a doctor before today. Kelly, Graham, this is John and Mary Herndon. They’re flying in for the meeting, also. We just flew in from Miami, where the Herndons live. Now, before I open the bar, just a brief reminder of the schedule for the day. We’ll be landing in Chicago in about two hours, but because we’re crossing time zones, it’ll be five or so, not six. You might want to reset your watches. We’ll have a car waiting for us. Then it will be off to the Ritz. Finally, the bathroom is in the rear.”

Next, he asked us for drink orders and moved towards the back of the plane. I stood and went forward to where the other couple was sitting. “Hello, I’m Graham Reaper. I just wanted to say hello.” I held out my hand.

John Herndon smiled and shook my hand. “It’s good to meet you. We were told we would make a brief stop for a pickup.” They were sitting in front-facing seats, but there were a pair of rear-facing seats in front of them. “Can I make a suggestion? Why don’t you guys move up here so we can talk?”

“Good idea!” I motioned for Kelly to come up and we all shook hands. I settled in the seat in front of John and Kelly sat down in front of his wife.

“What are you doctors of? Will didn’t know you were both doctors?” asked John. He was in his early forties, white, stocky, and with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair, and wearing a gray suit. Mary was slim and elegant, with her frosted blonde hair in a perm; she was wearing a blue skirt suit. They were dressed nicer than we were, since I was in khakis and a sport shirt and Kelly was in tight jeans and a tunic top. Sampson brought our drinks but let us keep talking.

“I’m betting they just forgot to tell Will. Kelly’s degrees are in mathematics and mine are in history.”

“Not to be impolite, but I’m curious. How did a historian end up in the police and security business?” he asked.

Kelly and I both laughed at that. “It’s more the reverse. I used to be a cop but when I decided to get a degree, the only one that really interested me was history. To get promoted, I needed first an associate’s and then a bachelor’s. After that, I just decided to keep going,” I answered.

He gave me an odd look. “You needed a degree to get promoted?”

Suddenly I understood what was going on. This guy was some kind of high-end white-collar professional. What was he doing with a low-class guy like me? Screw him! “I did a hitch in the Army right out of high school, then got on the cops as a patrolman when I got home. I needed some college in order to be promoted, so I went to school nights. After I made sergeant, I just kept going. I got my doctorate just last year.”

“Are you still on the force?”

I shook my head. “I was wounded and had to take a medical. Since then, I’ve been consulting. What’s your background, John?”

“I went to Georgetown for pre-law - that’s where I met Mary - and then Yale for my law degree. After that I applied to the Bureau. I’ve been with them on the white-collar crime side since then.”

Bingo! This was the kind of Feeb we hated seeing when I was on the MPD. The superiority was pouring off him! I nodded. “And now you’re leaving?”

He smiled at that. “Do you know what private college costs? We have three kids!”

Considering how I had paid for my own college I thought that was more than a bit gauche, but I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I looked over at Kelly and said, “Be glad we only have two.”

“You’ll just have to write a few more books,” she said.

“You’ve written books?” asked Mary.

“Two so far...,” said Kelly, “ ... and a third is at the publisher’s now.”

“Really? Anything I might have read?”

Kelly blinked at that, since how would she know what Mary Herndon would read. “There was the book a couple of years ago with Tolley Hunter, Hold the Line, and last year Grim wrote Protect and Serve, about policing in America. His next book on police history should be out this fall. They’re getting Al Sharpton to do the foreword,” she said.

They looked at each other in consternation. I could just see them asking themselves, who the hell was this guy? Tolley Hunter and Al Sharpton?

We kept talking about Miles & Madigan, and what we thought they were considering us for. For me it was obvious; they were looking at me to consult with local police forces, and the more, the merrier. John Herndon, on the other hand, probably didn’t want to go anywhere near real cops. I could easily see him pushing cybersecurity and white-collar crime, and maybe working on corporate security. I was smart enough to know that was a very lucrative field. I also mentioned my baby brother, Bobbie Joe, had gone to school at Yale for his law degree.

After some more talking the pilot announced we would be landing in about fifteen minutes, and we needed to take our seats and buckle up. Kelly and I moved back to our seats and buckled up. For the remainder of our trip, from landing to the limo to check-in at the Ritz-Carlton I kept the conversation light. It was only when we got up to our suite that Kelly asked, “So what’s up with you and Herndon?”

“Hmmm?”

“I was watching you two. You were way too polite with him. What’s going on?”

I tossed the bags on the bed. “I just want to learn as much about Miles & Madigan as I can.” I unzipped the suitcase and started putting stuff in the dresser.

“Oh?” Kelly followed my lead and began unpacking her suitcase.

“Let’s just say this is reconnaissance of a sort. This is a big change in what I’ve been doing. I want to learn as much as I can about what’s going on as possible.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

“Do me a favor. When you’re doing your tour and lunch or whatever tomorrow, listen to what they are saying and what your tour guides are saying. I think there are more recruits than just me and Herndon. Who are they and what have they been promised and why are they being targeted? What’s going on behind the scenes? I just want to know as much as possible.”

“Is there a problem? What has you so suspicious?”

It was my turn to shrug, and I grabbed the hanging bag. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s just a matter of learning as much as possible. Herndon? He’s an FBI special agent. Technically, if they make an offer to him and he accepts it before he retires or quits, that could be considered bribing an active-duty federal law enforcement officer. Or not. He’s a lawyer, after all.” I glanced at my watch and started getting undressed. “We need to be downstairs at seven. I need to take a shower.”

Kelly nodded and finished unpacking our stuff. Then she joined me in the shower. When I gave her a curious look, she said, “If you want me to leave, I can always take a nap.”

“Did I complain? I don’t recall complaining. You want to wash me, or should I wash you?”

“Let’s try both at the same time.” She began unwrapping one of the little soap bars.

“I’m game.”

We wasted a lot of hot water cleaning up, but we managed to dress nicely and be down in the lobby by seven. The itinerary specified the dress code at each event; tonight was ‘business’ for the gentlemen (suits) and ‘dressy’ for the wives (dresses.) Friday the men were also expected to dress for business, but during the tour the ladies could wear ‘dressy casual’, which seemed to mean they could wear dressy jeans or slacks. The Friday dinner was supposed to be ‘formal’ though tuxedos weren’t required; Kelly brought a very nice evening gown.

From what we learned from the schedule and from talking to Will Sampson, our Thursday night dinner was with our ‘sponsor’, in my case Bob Jenkins. After dinner it would be back to the Ritz. In the morning we were doing breakfast by ourselves and then meeting down in the lobby at nine. From there the ‘candidates’ would go in a car to Miles & Madigan while an assistant would meet with the wives to begin their tour. I wasn’t sure if this was by design or not, but all of the candidates were male. That might seem sexist, but even in 2023 the police and security business was still a predominately male business. I wondered what the ladies tour would involve.

We got to the lobby just as Bob Jenkins came through the entrance and spotted us. He waved and we walked toward him. “Grim, good to see you again! This must be your wife?”

“Kelly, Bob Jenkins. Bob’s a senior VP with M&M. He’s the reason I’m here.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mister Jenkins.”

“Call me Bob.”

“And I’m Kelly.”

Bob shook hands with Kelly and said, “If you’re ready, Patty’s out in the car and we can head out. We have reservations at a really nice place down on Grand, Joe’s Seafood. They also do a great steak, and since Grim here really liked Chops in Atlanta last week I thought you might, too, Kelly.”

Kelly grinned and said, “That sounds fine with me. Grim had to spend the weekend making it up to me after bragging about your dinner last week. Is Patty your wife?”

“Yes. She’s waiting in the car. Let’s go.” He led us outside to a limousine. The driver opened the back door and ushered us inside. “Grim, Kelly, this is my wife, Patty. Patty, these are the Reapers, Grim and Kelly.” Patty Jenkins was a pretty brunette with a round face and a slim figure.

We all shook hands and Patty asked me about my name on the short drive. It was a very pleasant evening, and the restaurant was tremendous. It was obvious that Kelly had them pegged as giving me the full court press. I wasn’t at all sure what made me so interesting to them, but it was very flattering.

I asked as many questions about Miles & Madigan as I could that night, and the Jenkins both responded eagerly, describing both the company and their life in Chicago. He had started out in their Denver office and been promoted to Chicago a few years ago. The meetings on Friday morning were for the potential hires for the local offices. Those people, almost always men, were hired as vice-presidents. From there, if you moved up, you not only got a promotion and more money, you got a fancier title. That was where all the senior vice-presidents and senior executive vice-presidents came from. They were mostly in Chicago, although they had a large office in New York, and an almost-as-large office in Washington.

Kelly and I enjoyed the dinner and then spent a very pleasant evening in our suite, made all the more pleasant by the fact our children were a thousand miles away. Kelly decided to test drive a new nightie and the drive was very successful as far as I was concerned. Friday morning, we dressed according to the itinerary and split apart after breakfast. I put on another of my ‘consultant suits’ and Kelly wore some designer jeans and a crisp blouse. She also wore a jacket, since Chicago was called the ‘Windy City’ for a reason, and by Matucket standards it was still a bit chilly. I met up with several other candidates in the lobby and we were loaded into a limo and taken over to M&M, which was headquartered in a large chunk of a downtown skyscraper.