Chapter 3

Dani was nervous as she sat in the parlor with three of the board members from her father's company. But she was slowly getting upset.

The men had spent the last 30-40 minutes explaining a plan of action to try to get the company back, but it all hinged around her helping them.

"Ok, let me see if I have this straight. You want me to help get the company back so that we can get it back to what we had before, is that it?"

"Not exactly. We do need you to help us get the company back. You should have been the one the company went to, not some unknown corporation. We, that is myself, Mr. Caddry, Mr. Parks, Mr. Rivers, and Mrs. McNarry, who couldn't be here, want to make the company what it was about fifteen years ago. Something changed but it was so gradual that we didn't see it. With the death of your father and so far five others from the upper management, I don't know how much of the company is going to be left. But we had more than three thousand employees that have now been laid off. It's going to take months yet to go through the courts about this but if we're lucky and you're with us, we might be able to take back most of them. Please won't you help?" Mr. Johnson finished.

Dani looked around at all the men and saw the same look of pleading. Then she looked at Mike. Her heart swelled with love as he smiled back at her. For the last three days he had been with her almost constantly.

Mike had called in and asked for an emergency leave of absence. It was granted but it was only going to be for two weeks. Mike had refused to leave Dani at first but as he wanted to stay in the guest room he did need to go to his apartment to get clothing if nothing else. When he returned he had even a cooler of stuff from his fridge that wouldn't last and some things out of his freezer that he thought he could cook up for the two of them.

Dani in the meantime had chosen to stay in her father's room. Her room was taped off just in case any legal questions arose concerning her attempted kidnapping, but she had been allowed in to get clothing and personal items from her bathroom.

The next day was spent packing up her father's clothing for charity until it was found that a lot of it fit Mike. Mike, not being the material type let himself be talked into two nice suits and some of the pants, shirts and other outerwear stuff. There was still plenty left to go to charity. Everything was set in the garage for pick up.

Dani was surprised to find her father had several pictures of her and her mother on the dresser and nightstand. It was then that she started to understand just how much her father really did love her even though he tried to make it seem like he didn't.

Mrs. Lynnette had the vapors when she heard that a strange man was going to be staying with Dani unsupervised. It was funny to watch but in the end she could do little to stop it and she really had no right to do anything about it. That was also when Dani told of the plan to divide the property so that the old couple got to stay in their home. Mrs. Lynnette was so overjoyed that she cried for some time.

Dani looked back to the men sitting in front of her, their faces unchanged from the worried, pleading looks they had before.

"There are some things I have to know before I throw my hat into this ring," Dani said and looked straight at Mr. Fred Parks, "It was through you and your department that I was able to get the donations for my charities. What happened? Why did you cheat the company and what did you do with the money?"

Fred looked at Dani for a moment then to the others and then to the floor, "I ... I thought ... I hoped that when you found out that you might be Ok with it."

"And what is it that I would be Ok with?"

"I changed the numbers so that I could make a fund to help some of the people of the company with medical expenses. I've tried for years to get the company to help some of the employees. Over the last ten years there's been a few that needed help with surgeries or something medical because of birth defects or something. But your father and some of the others didn't seem to give a rat about the people. How you managed to convince them I'll never know but after things were set, I saw an opportunity to help more than just the three you were working for. I altered the records showing your rate of pay, which caused a significantly higher amount of money to be allocated by the company to the charity fund. I took the money and set up a special account and when I would get asked for financial help for medical needs I would have the people fill out a form I came up with and then checked with the hospital in question about it and then would pay off at least five thousand in bills to them or get together with the family to see where the money was needed. I know I should have come to you and you might have helped me do it but I didn't want to get you in trouble," Fred finished and sat wringing his hands in worry.

Dani looked at Mike again and knew by the surprised look on his face that, that was not what he expected.

"Mr. Parks you said you had forms and records of all this and the disbursements of it. Where are they?"

"In my car. I didn't want to leave that stuff at the office."

Dani looked quickly at the other men then at Mike as she thought how to handle things. She got up from her seat and paced the room for a moment before making her decision.

"Ok, here's what we're going to do. First I want to see those records and they better be good. Next, I need as much information on what is being investigated as possible and why. How many deficiencies are there and from where? Once I have an understanding of what the hell is going on then we shall see what can be done to save the company."

"Umm Dani," Mike said getting Dani's attention, "As a member of the investigation team. I feel I should advise you not to do this even if it is to help those of your father's companies. The records that Mr. Parks has should be turned over to me and taken in. There are a few that don't believe you didn't have anything to do with it."

Dani smiled, "That is the biggest reason to have you right here at my side while I look over the numbers. Then you are going to call Jeff, urm ... Mr. Morrison and have him come and get them. I do want to make copies of them but the originals will be going to them. Mr. Parks is also going to make available any and all financial records to prove that none of that money went to him."

"Now wait! I never agreed to that," complained Fred.

"You'll do as she asks Fred or you might as well follow her father," ordered Phil Johnson, "I know you better than that. You would not have used that money for yourself. All of our accounts have been checked over by now anyway."

"I know that but the courts will put a hold on it and there are four families that still need that money," Fred complained.

"Call them and tell them what is going on and that it might be a bit of a wait for them to get any further assistance," Dani stated, "Now if you, Mr. Parks, will go with Mr. Heyens to get the boxes you say you have and take them to the dining room then we can get this started."

Grumbling Mr. Parks got up and walked out of the room with Mike following behind.

"Ms. Orchard, I have to say you're taking on a heck of a risk. But I am grateful that you are willing to work with us on this," said Mr. Caddry

"I think you might be under the wrong impression. Yes, partially, I'm willing to work with you but for the most part I'm going to take over."

"That's not necessary Ms..."

"You came to me with your tails between your legs begging for my help, but if this problem has been here for ten years or more then it's clear that you don't have a clue as to what to do. If you don't like it; there's the door. I've not looked at any of the documents and Mr. Heyens can attest to that. He can just as easily take those boxes to his car. Now are there any further complaints about it?" Dani finished looking sternly at the men before her.

The men exchanged looks between each other then nodded their heads in agreement. Dani walked to the closet and pulled out a digital camera and a camcorder then walked into the dining room just as the others came back in. She set the digital down and set up the cam. The men that had remained in the office had followed.

"Ms. Orchard what are you doing?" asked Mr. Johnson

"Covering my caboose. The only contact I'm having with the original files is to get copies. I'll be doing those with the camera. The cam will show that I will not do more than take pictures and nothing will be altered. Then it's going to be boxed back up and shipped off to the investigators." Dani said as she finished setting up the cam and walking over to the table.

Mike had placed the boxes on the table and listened to what Dani had said and couldn't have been happier. The fact that the boxes were taped was even better. Once the cam light came on, he took out his cell and called Jeff and asked him to come over as soon as he could, that he had come into possession of new information about the Orchard investigation. Jeff said it would be about two hours before he could get there to get it. Mike told him that was good as he was going to open the boxes and take photos of all the papers in side.

That surprised Jeff but then again it might be a good thing. So he gave his go ahead to do it. With that Mike said bye and started to open the boxes. Dani took up the camera to take a few shots of the boxes before digging into them.

Five memory cards and two hours later all but half a box was done. The board members had never seen someone work so fast but Dani was chewing through the paper work at a good rate. Jeff Morrison and Jim Corsair showed up and were surprised at what they saw and questioned Mike.

"Why is she going through the boxes?"

"To help people. It would seem that some of the board members have been working to help employees at Dani's father's company. It appears that when Dani came to them with the request for the charities that one of them thought it a good way to get and set up something to help those inside the company. He set up a system that is, from what I can see, well thought out. As Dani has been connected to this she asked to be able to review the documentation. I did at first think it would be a bad thing but once she's done she's going to burn a copy of all the photos to a disk for us as well as giving us the tape from the recorder."

"What, she's recording all of this?" Jim looked around and only then did he and Jeff see the camcorder and it's little red light.

"Did you tell her to do that?" Jeff asked angrily.

"Mr. Morrison, I was advised by Mr. Heyens that I should just turn everything over to you. As this was set up to take advantage of something I set up. I felt I needed to see what the hell these men were doing." Dani said as she continued to take pictures. "I have about three folders left and then you can have it all."

Jim, Jeff and Mike chatted for about a half hour until Dani was finished and then all was boxed back up and the boxes sealed. Then the camcorder tape was pulled and handed over and Dani went to her computer to set up the pictures and burned two copies. Both were placed in envelopes where she had Jeff and Jim sign the outside and then gave the two men their copy and the other she put in her lockable filing cabinet.

The two agents left after a few more pleasantries and declined the offer of dinner. It was after that that Mr. Rivers started acting a bit upset. Dani had noticed that he had been talking on the phone earlier and had also talked to Mr. Johnson just before moving back into her father's office.

"Gentlemen, I think you should know by now that I am very observant. What's the problem?"

"As you know Ms. Orchard..." started Mr. Johnson

"Please call me Dani," Dani interrupted.

"Dani it is," continued Mr. Johnson, "As you know your father was not the only upper management personnel that committed suicide. There are a few whose families are going to be very hard hit and not just by the loss."

"Ms. Orchard ... Dani, one of the junior VP's was Mr. Thorton. He had been ... well he had a gambling problem. I just didn't know how bad. I confronted him about three months before your father's death, to tried to have him seek help. His department is one that is ... I should have watched more closely. He had been using a lot of company money to cover his ever-increasing debt. With his death being a suicide the company insurance won't pay and his wife and kids are in trouble. Thorton had three mortgages out on the house and with Mrs. Thorton's pay; she just can't meet the bills. The house is in foreclosure as well as being in need of repairs from what I heard. Mrs. Thorton has no family to fall back on and his parents live in a nursing home. I was going to see about getting with Mr. Parks to see if we could get them money for moving expenses and deposits. But now I just don't know what to do," Mr. Rivers finished.