Chapter 38: Not An April Fools’ Joke

April 1, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“Morning,” I said to Suzanne when we met in the foyer so we could take our usual weekday run.

“Morning!” Suzanne replied. “Happy April Fools’ Day!”

“Why do I have the feeling we should wait until tomorrow to have our conversation?”

Suzanne laughed, “I don’t recall any April Fools’ jokes since I first met you.”

“We really don’t do those,” I said. “We’re goofy every day!”

“True!”

We left the house and set out for Washington Park, where we would run.

“I’m curious what you think about how the kids will respond?” Suzanne said as we walked quickly south on Woodlawn towards Hyde Park Avenue.

“You mean if they’d call you ‘Mom’?” I asked.

“That’s actually probably the core question, if you think about it.”

“I think you need to ask the kids,” I replied. “I can’t say for sure what they’ll do. Would it bother you if they didn’t call you ‘Mom’?”

Suzanne laughed, “The opposite! I have NO plans to be a mom, and you know it! I’d much rather be Birgit’s friend. I mean, I’m really only about seven years older than she is, and only four years older than Jesse.”

“When you put it that way...” I chuckled.

“It is a bit strange, but as you said, things tend towards the ridiculous at the Compound!”

“I do find it interesting that you were more concerned about Birgit calling you ‘Mom’ than you were about sex with Kara and Jessica!”

“I’ve had sex with girls before! I’ve never been called ‘Mom’!”

“Only in my universe would a basically straight girl being called ‘Mom’ be stranger than her having sex with other girls!”

“They don’t call it Cirque du Steve for nothing!”

“No kidding,” I chuckled.

“If I were to do this, would we all take vows to each other?”

“I would think so,” I said. “We’d have to sit down with Jessica and Kara and discuss everything.”

“Wouldn’t it just match the same rules you three have?”

“Probably, but this would be a serious change to the dynamic, and that might necessitate some tweaks. Maybe not, but the only way to find out would be to discuss it in depth.”

“A much more important question — did you clear this with Birgit?”

I laughed, “No, but I would talk to her about it before we changed things. She knows you and I took vows.”

“Yes,” Suzanne agreed, “but what we’re discussing is a very different thing.”

“True.”

“I did discuss it with Natalie last night,” Suzanne said.

“I’m not surprised. What did she have to say?”

“That if she were in my shoes — that is, if she didn’t want kids — she’d be more than happy to fuck Kara and Jessica to be married to you!”

I chuckled, “Thank you for that image. But, ‘more than happy’ is VERY different from ‘I want to have sex with them for the rest of my life and that will help me be fulfilled’.”

“Your approach to consent,” Suzanne said as we turned west on Hyde Park Avenue.

“The same kind of thinking, yes. This isn’t about doing what you think I want you to do or accepting sex with them as some kind of price of admission. This is wholeheartedly embracing a future as a quartet. You have to invest in it heart, mind, soul, and body. And it has to be right for you.”

“I’ll point out that you allow your Japanese girls the freedom to put themselves second, to the point of submissiveness.”

I laughed, “And I’ll point out that’s an underhanded ruse, and they KNOW they’re actually in charge! You haven’t met Sakurako or her grandmother, but they’re the most controlling ‘submissives’ I’ve ever met in my life! If you want a true submissive, it’s Anala. And I couldn’t handle that part of our relationship.”

“But you’re mentoring her daughter, right?”

“Avanti is not submissive the way Anala is. Yes, she’s put herself in my hands for mentoring and as a karate student, but she’s very different from her mom.”

“You’re still taking your propranolol, right?”

“Yes. I’d tell you if I wasn’t. This isn’t a product of mania or depression, it was something Kara and Jessica raised, which, in the scheme of things, makes a lot of sense.”

“Because I sleep in the master bedroom about half the time, and you and I have sex with them present, and vice versa.”

“Yes, but the sex is really the least important part of that — sleeping in the same bed, even if you sleep next to me with them on the other side, is about closeness. Think about the showers, and so on.”

Suzanne nodded, “True.”

We reached the park, and that ended the conversation for the time being. We stretched, ran our five kilometers, then headed back towards the house, using our walk as a ‘cooldown’ as we usually did.

“Let’s discuss it with Kara and Jessica tonight,” Suzanne said. “I do have a request.”

“What’s that?”

“Before any vows are made, assuming that’s what’s going to happen, you fulfill my fantasy of a no-holds-barred night of sex with Tessa, Nickie, Kim, Elsa, and me!”

🎤 Birgit

“Morning, Dad!” I said happily when he came into the sunroom.

“Morning, Pumpkin!” he said.

We got into our usual chaise and I cuddled close, breathing deeply of his soap, which made him smell SO good. I had imagined what it would be like to shower with him, and that made me tingle almost as much as thinking about making love with him!

“I have a question for you,” Dad said.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“Your moms and I discussed having Suzanne move into the master bedroom.”

“She already sleeps in there like half the time, so what’s the big deal?”

“Seriously?” Dad laughed.

I thought about it for a second and realized I’d TOTALLY missed something. Well, maybe.

“I, uhm, thought that was already happening.”

“Normally I don’t discuss things like that with you because they’re private, but this time I need to. We’re talking about a quartet instead of a trio.”

“I’m not sure I want Suzanne to be a mom,” I said apprehensively.

“That’s good because she doesn’t want to be a mom!” Dad declared. “In fact, for some reason I can’t fathom, she prefers to be your friend.”

“Because I’m so awesome!” I giggled.

“Modest, too,” Dad replied flatly.

“Oh, please!” I exclaimed. “You think I’m awesome!”

“The chance I’m going to admit that at this point is zero!”

“Uh-huh,” I smirked. “So nothing would change for me, really?”

“Not that I can see. Suzanne’s room would be available as a guest room, so I suppose we could have Estrella move in there.”

“I like sharing with her,” I said. “She’s totally cool and I like to talk with her. Yuriko could use Suzanne’s old room instead of the basement guest room. I’m sure Natalie wouldn’t mind when she’s here on the weekends.”

“Good idea, Pumpkin.”

“I have LOTS of good ideas! It’s just people won’t do what I say!”

“Get used to it,” Dad chuckled.

“Uh-huh,” I said flatly.

“Breakfast!” my mom called out from the door to the sunroom. “See you in three minutes!”

I snuggled close and Dad held me tight. If only...

🎤 Steve

“Your sister needs to see you,” Kimmy said when I returned to the office after lunch.

“Did she say why?”

“No, just that it was fairly urgent.”

“OK.”

I put my bag down next to Kimmy’s desk so I didn’t have to bother changing shoes to walk across the «tatami» floor, and went back to the hallway and used it, rather than go through my office.

“Hey, Squirt,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Come in and shut the door,” she said.

“Why do I suddenly have a bad feeling?” I asked, shutting the door.

“Because you should. There’s an arrest warrant out for Clay Gowdy for beating his girlfriend to a pulp.

“Shit. Now tell me the worst part.”

“How did you know?”

“Because that’s bad for him, but for it to affect NIKA, there has to be more.”

“He was having an affair with Kelly Breen, the accounting clerk.”

“And?” I asked, positive there was more.

“It’s uncanny how you know!”

“I’ve known you for nearly all my life, Squirt! Spill!”

“They appear to have been leaking financial and design data to someone.”

“Holy fuck! This isn’t a lame attempt at an April Fools’ joke, is it?”

“No. I wish it was!”

“To whom? And why are we just hearing about this now?” I asked testily.

“Relax, Big Brother! I just found out myself. And I don’t know to whom.”

“Go on,” I said, trying not to be testy, but not sure I was successful.

“Barbara received a call last night from a woman named Diane Newell, who said she was Clay’s live-in girlfriend. Diane said she’d had suspicions about Clay and caught him at a restaurant with Kelly yesterday evening when he was supposedly working late at a customer. She confronted them, then went back to the condo she shares with Clay. She planned to pack her things and leave, but somehow discovered NIKA confidential documents that she described as design and financial documents, along with bank statements which showed two very large deposits.

“Diane put two and two together and called Barbara, promising to hand over the documents today. Clay called in sick, and when Diane didn’t show for the meeting, Barbara became concerned. She didn’t do anything, but then had a visit from a pair of detectives looking for Clay, with a warrant for his arrest for beating up Diane. Once that happened, Barbara called me.”

“Why didn’t Barbara call last night?” I asked.

“Because she had nothing other than the claims of an apparently jilted girlfriend. If Diane produced actual documents, Barbara was going to call.”

“OK,” I said. “That makes sense. Are you sure Kelly was involved?”

“According to Diane, the printouts were from Kelly’s account, but I haven’t seen them, and I suspect Clay took them. We have to hope he doesn’t destroy them before the LEOs find him.”

“Sam, Brenda, or Brock can pull the security logs for Kelly’s and Clay’s workstations. That’ll give us an idea of what they might have. Did Kelly come to work today?”

“Yes.”

“OK. We need to talk to Bob and Liz about what to do,” I replied. “Right now it’s all hearsay, though with enough of a ring of truth to it to make me very suspicious.”

“What if he was using her?”

“The access card system will tell us,” I replied. “Nobody can sign in to a secure workstation without putting their access card in the reader. If she failed to follow the rules for protecting her card, she’s complicit, even if not intentionally. And if she gave him her card, or printed out the material for him, or emailed it, or whatever, well, then she’s in deep shit.”

“How secure are those things?”

“Sam vetted the system before it was installed, and I trust her analysis, but what do you mean?”

“Could a card be duplicated?”

“Well, given we can create them with the card writer in Bob’s office, which is secure, I suppose so, if Clay got his hands on the right equipment and software.”

“Or had help,” Stephanie suggested.

“I think we need to speak to Liz and Bob, then find out what files were printed, emailed, or copied to removable storage from either of their workstations or with either of their login IDs. Do we know if anyone else knows about the arrest warrant?”

“Barbara didn’t say.”

“Somebody will be back with a search warrant for his office,” I said. “We need an attorney at the office. Call Barbara, please.”

Stephanie put the phone on speaker and dialed Barbara’s extension. Barbara answered right away.

“Barbara, you’re on speaker; Steve is here.”

“Barbara, you can count on those cops who were there earlier, or some of their compatriots, coming back with a search warrant for Clay’s office. I want an attorney there.”

“I’ll call Rob Goodman at Goodman, Goodman, and Schaefer. They’re less than ten miles from here, and I’m sure one of the name partners will drop anything except a court appearance to help. They’re a full-service firm, so they can send me a criminal defense attorney, at least.”

“Make that happen,” I said. “The LEOs will probably want to take his workstation and possibly anything else in his cubicle. You won’t be able to stop them from doing that. If the warrant is over-broad, have the attorney explain it to them, but do NOT resist or fight them. We can replace everything in the office in less than forty-eight hours if necessary.”

“Invoke the disaster plan?”

“Yes, if they have a broad warrant that your attorney can’t limit.”

“OK. Let me make the call.”

“Call us back, please,” I said. “We’ll have Liz and Bob with us.”

“Barbara,” Stephanie said, “before you go — who else knows?”

“Olivia, because she greeted the Sheriff’s deputies who came with the arrest warrant. She called me, but I don’t know who else might have seen or heard. I checked, and there’s a ‘breaking news’ article on the Denver Post website with Clay’s picture and ‘WANTED’ across the image.”

“Has Kelly said anything?”

“No.”

“OK. Make your call.”

Barbara disconnected the call and Stephanie hit the button to drop the line. She picked up the handset and called Bob and then Liz and asked them to come to her office. They arrived a few minutes later and Stephanie explained the situation.

“We have a potentially serious problem with Kelly being in the office,” Bob said.

“Does law enforcement know about the affair?” Liz asked.

“Given they didn’t speak to Kelly, I’d say not,” Stephanie said.

“They will, once Diane regains consciousness,” Liz said. “We might want Barbara to call the detectives and tell them, given she knows about it. I’ll want to speak to a criminal defense attorney about that.”

“Call Julius,” I said. “We need advice. If you can’t get him, then I’ll call Melanie, but I like to reserve her for my personal use.”

“I thought that ended decades ago!” Stephanie teased.

“Squirt...” I warned.

“I don’t EVEN want to know,” Bob said, shaking his head.

“Sorry, Steve,” Stephanie said. “Bob, what do we do about Kelly?”

“You have to send her home,” Bob said. “There is no other option. Pay her for the time if it turns out she didn’t do anything other than have an affair with someone who does not report to the same manager.”

“That can’t be used against her,” Liz said.

“No, it can’t,” Bob agreed. “I know Steve’s attitude towards those kinds of things, but I will point out that they often end very badly.”

“The ones you know about,” I countered. “We aren’t the moral police. That said, we ARE the ethical police, and I want her nailed to the wall if she violated any NIKA ethics guideline.”

“Does she get a last cigarette?” Bob asked, cracking a rare joke.

“What do you think?” I asked flatly.

“That’s what I thought,” he replied grimly.

Liz called Julius, and he agreed to drive in from Naperville. Barbara called back and reported that James Schaefer was on his way to the Colorado Springs office.

“Barbara, you need to send Kelly home for the day,” Bob said. “We can’t risk having her in the office given the allegations.”

“What do I say to her?” Barbara asked.

“Just that you are aware that she and Clay were having an affair, and given the circumstances, you’d prefer any interaction she might have with law enforcement to occur outside the office. She’s going to be questioned at a minimum.”

“On that,” Liz said. “Ask Mr. Schaefer if you should volunteer the information about the affair. The cops will find out Diane called you at some point, and they’ll come knocking to find out what you spoke about.”

“Well, shit,” Barbara sighed. “Should I get out of the office?”

“No,” I said quickly. “The cops are going to come there no matter what, and likely with search warrants, and I want you there for that. The last thing we want is an arrest made on the property, if we can avoid that, which is why we want Kelly out of there. Arrests can go wrong in SO many ways, and I don’t need to send a message to the staff with an arrest in the office at this point, because all we have so far are allegations.”

“Let’s have a conference call when Julius arrives,” Liz said. “That will be about forty minutes from now, which gives Barbara time to discuss the situation with Mr. Schaefer. Obviously, if the LEOs show up again, Barbara should call us right away, or have Mr. Schaefer do it, because they really can’t prevent an attorney from making a call to a colleague.”

“I should have stayed in bed this morning,” Barbara groaned.

“Me, too!” I declared.

Liz smirked, Stephanie laughed, and Barbara seemed to have a coughing fit. Bob shook his head, knowing he was missing some kind of inside joke.

“Talk to you soon,” Barbara said.

Stephanie disconnected the call.

“Do you think we have any press exposure?” Bob asked. “If so, we should probably bring Cindi in.”

“We don’t know yet,” I replied. “I’d prefer to have SOME kind of resolution on the question of what might be corporate espionage. That means bringing in Sam, Brenda, or Brock.”

“Let’s try to keep this at the director level or higher for now,” Bob suggested. “Brock is line staff, and this is a very sensitive situation.”

“I’ll call Sam and have her come up,” Stephanie said.

She placed the call, and two minutes later, Sam knocked and came into the office when Stephanie called out.

“We have a potential leak of confidential data,” Liz said. “Bob and I are authorizing you to do a complete search of the logs for any computer activity for the past ... how long, Steve?”

“Three months, I’d say.”

“Three months,” Liz continued, “for Clay Gowdy and Kelly Breen. Any emails between them, any confidential files sent by email, printed, or saved to removable storage, any emails sent out containing documents.”

“What data, specifically, if you know?”

“Confidential financial information and confidential design documents.”

“Not good,” Sam observed.

“No, it’s not,” I agreed. “Also, compare the use of the access cards for the doors and the computer, and make sure they match.”

“I have a sinking feeling about this,” Sam said.

“Join the club,” Stephanie replied. “Keep this completely to yourself at this point.”

“I could really use help on something this broad. It’s not all in one system.”

“It’s OK to involve Brenda,” Bob said. “But no staff.”

“Got it. Anything else I’m looking for?”

Bob looked at me, I frowned, but nodded.

“Any evidence of a relationship between Clay and Kelly,” Bob said. “Under normal circumstances, there should be no business interaction between them unless there was a problem with a timesheet, customer billing, or an expense report.”

“Steve, are you sure?” Sam asked.

“There’s a warrant out for Clay’s arrest because he beat his girlfriend unconscious after she confronted him about an affair with Kelly and about documents she found indicating they were working together to leak information.”

“That SOB!” she growled. “If I get my hands on him...”

“Understood,” I said.

Her sister had been battered by a boyfriend a few years previously, and Sam had been within a hairsbreadth of putting out a hit on the guy, who’d been arrested and jailed, though not for long enough to suit Sam.

“I’ll get right on it. It’s going to take some time.”

“Keep us posted on the progress, please,” Stephanie said.

Sam left and a minute later Barbara called back to say that the attorney had arrived, and that she’d sent Kelly home.

“How did she respond?” Liz asked.

“Nervous, but that could be because she’s afraid of Clay, afraid of being fired, or because of a guilty conscience. I was careful about what I said.”

“OK,” Liz replied. “Julius will be here in fifteen minutes or so. We’ll call you back. Any updates on Clay?”

“No. the Post website says he’s still at large.”

“If he’s smart, he’ll go to ground,” I said. “And try to wait it out.”

“Talk to you in fifteen minutes or so,” she said.