by Marisa Logan
“No...no! Not that.”
“Those emails?” He pointed to the pages. “Are those from you?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Then I don't get it. How are you saying you're involved in this? Why would you steal from the company? What was going through your mind?”
She hung her head, feeling ashamed. She'd started out with such noble intentions. She'd thought she would be exposing the corruption of an evil corporation. Saving people from harmful contaminants. But really, she'd just been a fool, seeing a conspiracy where there was none. And it had cost her everything.
“I have no excuse,” she said. “I'm sorry. I...I'll go clean out my desk.”
She got up and headed for the door.
“Tessa,” Mr. Morgan said. “Wait.”
She stopped, but couldn't turn back to face him.
Mr. Morgan got up and walked over to her. He took the papers from her. She hadn't even realized she was still holding them.
“Sit back down,” he said.
Numb from head to toe, Tessa went back to the chair and sat. Mr. Morgan sat on the edge of his desk, holding the papers in his lap. “Now, I want you to start at the beginning,” he said, “and tell me what happened.”
So she confessed the whole thing, from her first suspicions, to the files she'd taken, to the insane plan to take products from the sorting facility to be used for independent testing. When she finished, she sat there, her shoulders hunched over, her hands folded in her lap. She felt drained. Though at the same time, she felt free. The burden of her lies and her secrets had finally been lifted away.
Mr. Morgan sat there, watching her and rubbing his chin. “So,” he said, “you really thought I was trying to cover something up?”
“I'm sorry, Mr. Morgan. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything. I just thought...”
“You just thought that Dunham was a big, faceless corporation where people try to get away with things?” He chuckled and walked over to his filing cabinet, then pulled out a folder. He handed it to her.
“What's this?” She opened the folder and started looking through it.
“One of the recent reports from QA. About one of our old inspectors, who used to work at that Pennsylvania facility. Have you ever wondered why we have such a high turnover rate on our inspectors?”
“I thought they were getting fired for digging too deep,” she said. “And finding out things the company didn't want them to know.”
“They were fired,” Mr. Morgan said, “for not digging deep enough. Some of them do a good job, and we transfer them to a bigger facility, where their hard work can have the most impact. Other times, though, we have people like that,” he gestured to the file in her hands, “who try to cover up failing reports. See, some of the inspectors think that if their facility gets a failing grade, it looks bad on them. They think they'll be held accountable, so they fudge the reports. Make it look as if everything is fine.”
Tessa skimmed the pages. She recognized the inspector's name. He was one of the inspectors who'd written some of the reports she'd read at the start of this whole mess. One of the ones who had reported nothing at all wrong. When she first read his reports, she'd assumed he was hiding some kind of contamination in order to protect the company from exposure. But according to the internal investigation, he'd been doing it to protect his own job. And he'd been fired once the company had found out what he'd done.
“You see, Tessa,” Mr. Morgan said, stepping behind his desk and sitting down, “there are three kinds of people in this business. Dishonest people like that fellow,” he gestured to the file in her hands, “who do whatever they please without considering the moral issue. Then there's the bulk of our workers,” he gestured out his office window at the rows of cubicles in the main room, “people who keep their heads down, do their work, and never question anything. People who ignore problems that don't affect them directly, because they don't want to rock the boat. Those are the type of people who never get anywhere, because they're too afraid to take risks.”
He folded his hands and leaned forward. “Then there are the risk takers. People who have conviction, and are willing to do what it takes to stand by what they believe in. People like you.”
She stared at him, her mouth dry. She couldn't get her thoughts in order. “What are you saying?”
“I'm saying that you took a big risk, because you thought it was the right thing to do. Oh,” he made a dismissive wave with one hand, “I suppose I should be mad at you for going behind my back. And I am, a bit. But then I think about what might have happened if there really had been a problem, if our products had been making someone sick, and if someone on the inside had been covering it up. That wasn't what happened this time, but that has happened before. And we need people with strong convictions to track down that sort of thing, uncover it, and report the truth.”
Tessa licked her lips. She took a deep breath. “Mr. Morgan, are you saying...?”
“I'm saying I want to transfer you to QA.” He leaned back in his chair. “You've been here, what, six, seven years? I've thought for awhile now that you were being wasted in data entry. You're a talented woman. But I never thought you had the moxie for real advancement. You've always stood in line with everyone else, like you were too afraid to stand out. Too afraid to rock the boat. Until now, that is.”
Tessa shook her head. She couldn't process this. “So...instead of firing me, you're promoting me?”
“It's not a promotion,” he said. “Not really. It's a transfer. But there will be a pay increase. QA has a lot more responsibility than Information Resources. And there's some travel involved. Sometimes you'll need to be flown out to some of our facilities around the country, to help with inspections.”
“But I don't know anything about health inspections.”
“You don't need to,” he said. “What you need is spirit. The ability to stand up to people, to see past their bullshit and get at the truth. To analyze the data coming in from reports and find the discrepancies and the cover-ups. There's a sub-department in QA that takes care of the actual science, the testing and all that. But most of the staff is responsible for investigating the goings-on around the company and finding anything that needs to be fixed. And that's something I think you can do.”
Tessa sat back in her chair. Her head was spinning so much that she wasn't sure she'd be able to stand. “I can't believe this.”
“Believe it. Oh, there's just one thing.”
She looked up at him, holding her breath. “Yes?”
“This situation?” He gestured between the two of them. “It stays between us. I still have to take care of that reporter, and I don't want word getting out that one of our employees was conducting an unauthorized investigation. It would give the media the wrong idea.”
“Of course,” she said. “I won't say anything.”
“Good.” He got up and walked her to the door, then shook her hand. “Take the rest of the day off. You look frazzled. Tomorrow morning I'll have the paperwork ready for you for the transfer. You'll need to fill out some new forms, so that payroll gets updated on your new position. That sort of thing.”
“Yes. Of course. Thank you.”
“Thank you, Tessa,” he said. “For showing me that you've got moxie.”
Tessa headed for the elevator, still in a daze. Mindy saw her exiting Mr. Morgan's office and she hurried over. “Hey, girl, what's going on?” She looked to Mr. Morgan as he closed his office door. “Are you in trouble or something? You're not getting sent home, are you?”
“No,” Tessa said. “Not really.” A grin spread on her lips.
“Then what happened?”
Tessa laughed. “Apparently, I'm finally moving up. You're looking at Dunham Enterprises' newest Quality Assurance Agent!”
Chapter 13
Tessa went home, changed out of her nice suit and into jeans and a t-shirt, and poured herself a glass of wine. She was suddenly pent up with energy, and she needed an out
let for it. It was a beautiful, sunny day outside, so she grabbed her gardening supplies and headed out to tend her plot.
The seeds she had planted a few weeks ago were just beginning to sprout. She filled her watering can and gave them all a healthy drink, then tended to a few of the seedlings that needed her care. Most of the community was out today, including some people Tessa didn't usually see, since she was normally at work right now.
Mrs. Mackenzie had made some homemade lemonade, and Tessa graciously accepted a glass. And while she stood in the sunshine sipping it, she looked across the way and saw Mr. Jones, out during the day for once, tending to his own little plot. It was no longer a Mystery Plot, though Tessa was still determined to one day solve the mystery of just how he got his crops to grow so beautifully.
The ringing of a bell called Tessa's attention to the other side of the garden, and she saw Samson riding his bike around the corner. He was dressed in his usual jeans, with an indie rock band t-shirt, and a bandana holding back his hair. He pedaled over to her, pulled out his iPod's earbuds, and gave her a concerned look.
“So, you got fired then?” he asked, no doubt expecting that to be the only reason she'd be home during the day.
“Actually,” she said, handing him a glass of Mrs. Mackenzie's lemonade. “That's a pretty interesting story.”
She told him all about her encounter with Mr. Morgan and how it had gone. He laughed and shook his head, clearly as flabbergasted by the story as she had been. When she finished the story he said, “Wow. I guess it just goes to show you how much having the guts to stand up for yourself can pay off.”
She looped her arm through his, and together they walked through the garden, admiring all of the new life growing all around them. And when Tessa passed by Topher's patch where he grew his award-winning zucchini, she didn't even think twice about the type of fertilizer he was using. She was determined from now on to keep her nose out of other people's business.
Except at her new job, of course. Where poking around to find out the truth was going to be what she did every day of the week.
THE END
Excerpt: Tessa's Summer
A Contemporary Mystery/Suspense Romance
J.L. STARR
Book Description
Ever since Tessa was promoted at work, she's tried to keep her head down.
A phone call from an elderly neighbor who ends up in the hospital under mysterious circumstances makes her wonder who, or what is responsible.
Tessa's overactive imagination starts getting her into trouble while she undertakes her own investigation, and before she knows it, things are spiraling out of control.
To make matters worse, her dubious schemes start to threaten the harmony of her new relationship.
She'll have to find a way to stop making a fool out of herself before she ruins the one relationship that truly means something to her.
This is an excerpt of a 15,000 word standalone contemporary suspense novella with no cliffhanger available on Amazon.com.
Chapter 1
Tessa was working in her office on a hot, sweltering summer day when her neighbor Terry Jones unexpectedly called her.
“Tessa,” he said, speaking with the same slow deliberation that he always did. “I'm sorry to bother you at work, but I think I need your help.”
“Is something wrong?” Tessa asked. She held the phone between her head and her shoulder so she could keep typing the inspection report she was working on. Her workload at her new job had been overwhelming ever since the day she started, and it made it hard for her to focus on the phone call.
“Well, that's what I need your help with.”
“I'm sorry?” Tessa asked, frowning.
“Well,” Terry said, sighing into the phone. “I don't know if something is wrong. But if there is, I think you're the only person I can turn to.”
Tessa bit her lip, looking at the clock on her computer. She only had about an hour left of work, and while she wasn't explicitly forbidden from taking personal calls in the office, it was frowned upon. Her boss would give her another lecture about how multitasking lowered productivity, and personal calls could wait until her personal time at home. “Is it something urgent?” she asked. “If not, I can stop by your place after I get done work and we can talk about it then. Would that work?”
“I suppose so,” Terry said. “If it is what I think, it's been going on long enough that another couple of hours won't make much difference.”
Tessa frowned at the ominousness of those words, but she didn't have time to question Terry further, because her manager walked in right at that moment. “Terry, I have to go, but I promise I'll come talk to you as soon as I can.”
She quickly hung up and flashed a smile at Yvette Olivier, her immediate supervisor and head of the Quality Assurance Department at Dunham Enterprises. She wore a permanent scowl that Tessa and her coworkers had dubbed her “resting bitch face,” not that they would ever say that to her face.
“I need you to drop everything else you're doing,” Yvette said, handing her a thick manila folder. “There's an emergency recall that has to go out.”
Tessa groaned as she took the folder and opened it. “Seriously? God, why do these things always have to come at the end of the day?”
“I'm sorry that our commitment to safety is incompatible with your busy social schedule,” Yvette said, her cold expression never wavering. “Maybe you'd like it better back down in Information Resources?”
“No,” Tessa said quickly, setting the folder on her desk. “No, it's fine. I'll take care of it.” She'd been transferred from Information Resources to QA back in the spring, and it was far more satisfying work, and for better pay. She might not like it when she got stuck late in the office on days like this, but she really had come to love her job. Even if it was overwhelming at times.
“Those notices need to go out today, ASAP.” Yvette pointed to the folder, giving Tessa a stern look. “And I'll need a followup on compliance first thing in the morning.”
“Got it,” Tessa said, trying not to grumble. Emergency product recalls were one of the most crucial parts of her job. They only happened when one of Dunham's products was found to be contaminated or dangerous in some way. Usually, they happened after a customer had called in a complaint, saying that they'd gotten sick from eating one of Dunham's products. Recalling all possible affected products was the only way to keep their customers safe, not to mention protecting Dunham from possible lawsuits.
She was stuck at the office for the next couple of hours, sending out notifications to their distributors and to any grocery stores that stocked their products. Most of it was precautionary.
The recall was due to a batch of apples that had allegedly made a few people sick, which required an investigation to find out if the issue had been caused in the orchards, or during shipping, or due to improper handling and refrigeration by the stores themselves. If it turned out the supermarket was to blame, then the recall would turn out to be unnecessary, since none of the other locations would be at risk. But until they found out for sure, they had to recall all potentially affected products from everywhere in the region.
Fortunately, Dunham's online systems made it easy to send out recall notices en masse. But Tessa still had to backtrack the shipping numbers to find out exactly which batches were potentially at risk, making sure she sent the recalls only to the correct locations.
By the time she finished, it was getting late, and most of the rest of the office had already gone home. In the morning, Tessa would have to check for responses from the management at each distribution center and supermarket to get confirmation of the recall, then send out second notices to anyone who hadn't complied. Meanwhile, all she wanted to do was go home, open a bottle of wine, and spend the rest of the night relaxing.
On the drive home, she felt for sure that she was forgetting something. She wracked her mind, trying to remember what it was, but after hours of work, it had completely slipped her mind.
When she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex at home, there was an ambulance parked outside. Red and blue lights bathed the building in their harsh glow, and a crowd of Tessa's neighbors was gathered outside.
She got out of her car and headed for the building, her heart racing as she feared for the friends she had in the building, and for her boyfriend, Samson, who lived right down the hall from her. She pushed her way to the front of the crowd and got there just as the EMTs were wheeling out a stretcher.
She got as close as she could before one of the EMTs pushed her back. “I'm sorry ma'am, give us some room.”
She stepped back, her face going white as she looked at the man on the stretcher. The deep-set lines on his weathered brown face showed the signs of a life that had been long and wearisome, though Tessa was used to seeing a quiet, content smile on his face. She had never before seen him wracked with pain and struggling for breath.
“Terry,” she whispered, watching in horror as they loaded him into the ambulance. She stepped forward, reaching for him. “Wait, I know him. He just—”
“Ma'am, we need to get him to the hospital, now. You can come down there to check on him if you like, but we need to go.”
She licked her lips, unsure what to say or do. She almost told them to wait, that she might know something, but she realized she didn't have any idea what she did know. Just that he had said he needed her help, but she didn't know what kind of help she could have offered.
She stood there with the rest of the crowd and watched as Terry was taken away. Her gut churned with fear for him, and with guilt for having completely forgotten about his call.
She got back into her car and drove after the ambulance. She didn't know what help she could possibly be, but Terry had called her, and told her she was the only one he could turn to. She couldn't ignore that.
She just hoped that whatever was going on, she wasn't too late to do something about it.
END OF EXCERPT
