Chapter 19

Week 11 - Monday

Even if you are waking up next to the love of your life, Monday mornings suck. Saturday and Sunday mornings, we had slept late and enjoyed each other. This morning, we knew we had to get to work, so we were forced to leave our cozy nest early.

Things didn't improve much when we got to work. Brenda was in a grumpy mood and hardly spoke to us during breakfast. It was almost a relief to go to my office, where I could be alone.

My solitude didn't last long. I hadn't much more than sat down when my phone rang. It was Mike Severt.

"Good morning, Mike. What's up?"

"First off, let me say that I didn't tell you about this before, because I wanted you to act naturally. After your car was vandalized, the company hired a private detective to look after you and Missy."

I thought about that for a moment, then said, "I guess I can understand that. It is an invasion of privacy though, Mike."

"I guess it was, but we never looked at any of the findings of the guys who were looking after you, until last night. Last night, our man caught someone starting to vandalize your car again."

"Wow!"

"The problem is, it wasn't who we thought it was."

"Are you going to string this out, or are you going to tell me who it was?"

Mike laughed. "I want to get as much out of this as I can. The culprit is Jim Shear."

"Oh, shit. What's being done about him?"

"The PI held him last night and called the police. They arrested him, but I don't know how long they'll hold him. I'm sure the police are going to be contacting you and Missy this morning. The problem is, that right now, the only thing they have to hold him on is attempted vandalism."

"Yeah, I guess. Even if I told them about the threat, I can't prove it was him."

"True. Talk to the police, and fire the bastard. I'll talk to our lawyers and see if we or you can file a civil suit against him. In the mean time, at least we know who to watch."

"Okay, Mike. Thanks for the heads-up."

When we hung up, I immediately called Missy and let her know what was going on. To her, as to me, it was kind of a relief. However, it also made both of us angry.

I didn't have much to do with Brenda that morning, nor did the police call me. I called Mike back and asked him to call his PI and see if he could find out a case number for Shear.

At lunch, Brenda was in a lot better mood. I filled her in on Shear, and she thought it was funny. I thought for a minute the she and Missy were going to get into it, but Missy finally saw the funny side of it, and joined Brenda.

"You're doing real well, Mr. Vice President," Missy said. "You had one disgruntled employee piss on your desk by suing you. Another pissed on your desk by leaving the company and stealing thousands of dollars from the company. Now you have one who pissed on your desk by damaging your car and threatening your life. What's next?"

"I don't know, but I think I'd rather have them piss on my desk," I said.

Missy and Brenda both got a laugh out of that.

That afternoon, I got a call from Jim Shear. He said he wanted to discuss what had happened with me. I thought about it for a minute, then told him the only way I wanted to talk to him is if the company attorney was present. He reluctantly agreed to that, so I told him to call me back in the morning and I'd give him a time and place we could meet.

I called Mike Severt and told him what Shear wanted, and he agreed we should have the attorney present. He said he wanted to be there himself as well. That suited me just fine. Mike said he'd talk to the attorney, and then call me back.

I think Missy and I relaxed more that evening than we had in weeks. I had no idea what Shear wanted to talk to me about, but we didn't let that bother us.

Week 11 - Tuesday

I had breakfast with Missy and Brenda, and we talked over what I would say to Shear if Mike insisted I meet with him. To me, it seemed a bit ridiculous to even think about talking to him outside a courtroom. Finally, we decided that the main thing would be for me to be very noncommital.

Unfortunately, Mike said the attorney was all for the meeting, as long as Shear and his attorney agreed it could be taped. They had set up a meeting for us at 9:00 AM tomorrow, before the meeting with Shear.

It was shortly before noon when Brenda escorted a young man into my office. I recognized the guy, but I couldn't remember his name.

"Ed, this is Jake Peleus. He is a Senior Mechanical Engineer in Mel's group," Brenda told me.

"Hi, Jake," I said. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, Sir. I was kind of deputized by the guys in Mechanical to talk with you. It's about Frank Jones."

Frank Jones was one of our Project Managers. "What about Frank?" I asked.

"Well, Frank has a problem with bad breath. I mean, his breath is so bad that some of the guys swear that he has shit sandwiches for breakfast." He looked around at Brenda and said, "Pardon me, ma'am."

"It's okay, Jake," Brenda assured him.

"Mr. Delany, one of the guys in the department talked to him about it. He just ignored him. Another guy left a bottle of mouthwash on his desk. A couple of guys got together and wrote him a memo. Neither the talk nor the memo were aimed at hurting his feelings, or embarrassing him. Nothing has done any good, so when we talked to Mel about it, he suggested we talk to you."

"Okay, Jake. I'll have a talk with him. You were right in bringing this to my attention. Not only would chronic bad breath be offensive to those who work with him, it would also be offensive to our customers. Bad breath can also be an indicator of disease."

Jake excused himself and beat a hasty retreat.

"Just what I needed," I mumbled. Brenda responded with a giggle.

"I vaguely know Frank's wife. Maybe I should give her a call," Brenda said.

"How do you know her?"

"I got involved with a fund-raising campaign at the hospital a couple of years ago. We were trying to get a new annex built for children's diseases. Barb was on the same committee that I was."

"Well, I think you should hold off talking to her until I've talked to Frank. After all, it's his problem."

"True."

Marty, Missy, and I spent over two hours this afternoon going over Missy's proposal for switching to fiber optics. I was a little surprised to see that the cost differences were even less than when I had made my proposal to my old company.

They didn't have to convince me that this was the way to go, but I was interested in how they planned to implement the change. I should have known that my future wife would have that all figured out.

Missy and Marty were proposing that the change over should be done in three stages. Marty had talked to one of our photo-eye suppliers, and had gotten some training films for our installers. As each installer became available, we would bring him back to the plant. We would show him the films, and then we would give him an opportunity to work with some of the devices in the R&D lab.

The next stage would include phasing in the new devices on some of our smaller jobs. We'd do this until each of our installers had the opportunity to install some of the devices. The final stage would be when we switched over to the new devices on all systems. Our estimators would be trained along with the installers.

Week 11 - Wednesday

The meeting with Shear was scheduled for 10:00 AM in Belding's main conference room. Mike and I were present from Belding, along with our attorney. Shear had two attorney's with him, and the district attorney's office was represented by the ADA who would be handling the prosecution.

Our attorney started things off by reminding Shear that his rights had been read to him and that he, Shear, had indicated that he understood his rights.

Shear's attorney spoke next. "Mr. Shear has a prepared statement he'd like to read into the record. When he is finished, you will be allowed to ask questions."

Shear gathered up his papers and looked at each of us in turn. "It has been alleged that I vandalized Mr. Delany's car and that I threatened his life. I just want it in the record that I categorically deny those allegations."

Shear again looked at each of us. "I know that appears to be an untrue statement. However, there is a perfectly logical explanation for me being where I was, when I was."

Shear paused again and took a sip of the water that was in front of him. My thoughts were that he was trying to be very theatrical.

Finally, he continued. "I have been offered a job with one of Belding's competitors. I felt that there was bad blood between Mr. Delany and myself, so I was intending to leave a note on his car, telling him that I was quitting. I have given a lot of years to Belding, so I feel I deserve some credibility."

Shear again looked around as if he were looking for someone who believed him. "If you, Mr. Delany, or Belding press charges against me, I'll lose my chance at the new job. I know things look bad, but I'll swear to God that I was only going to leave a message."

"That's all Mr. Shear has to say. Does anyone have any questions?" his attorney asked.

I looked at our attorney and he nodded, so I said, "Yes. I have a few questions. You said you were there to leave a note. How did you plan to do that?"

"I was going to leave it under your windshield wiper." Shear replied.

"When the detective apprehended you, you had a can of spray paint, a bottle opener, and a knife. How were you going to leave a note with those items?" Mike asked.

"I had already written the note. It must have blown away, or the detective lost it or threw it away."

"Why did you have the bottle opener, the paint, and the knife?" I asked.

Shear gave me a look that would have peeled paint, but didn't answer.

After a couple of minutes, Mike asked, "Aren't you going to answer the question, Mr. Shear?"

"I won't answer any question when it is asked in the tone of voice he was using," Shear said.

"I fully believe that the paint and the bottle opener were going to be used to mess up my new paint job. I also believe that the knife was going to be used to slash my tires. It is my intention to press charges," I said, the venom dripping from my voice.

"That is Belding's intention as well," Mike added.

If looks could kill, Mike and I would have been dead on the floor.

"What do you think his purpose was in wanting this meeting?" I asked Mike.

"The only thing that I can figure is that he thought he could talk us out of prosecuting. If he could do that, he could move right into his new job, without a problem. The problem is, his excuse about leaving a note was so lame than no one would have believed it."

"Well, it might not be charitable on my part, but with everything he's done, and the pain in the ass he's been for the guys he's worked with, I just don't feel charitable."

"Amen to that," Mike agreed.

Frank Jones was in town, so I had Brenda bring him to my office right after lunch. The thing with Shear had ruined my entire morning, and it looked like this was going to ruin my afternoon.

Brenda took off immediately. "Hi, Frank. How are you doing?" I asked as he was taking a seat.

"I've been better, but I've been worse, too. What's up?"