by Robin Mahle
He turned his head to see his mother standing next to him and pulled the headphones down around his neck. “Sorry, Mom.”
“That’s okay. Did you finish your homework?” Claire glanced at the laptop on his desk. It was off.
“Yes. It’s done.”
“Okay, well, it’s almost time for bed, so I just wanted to check in on you.”
“I know. I’m almost finished and then I’ll go to bed. I promise.”
Claire knew he would keep his word. Robbie was a good kid, a great one, in fact. Both she and Colin felt extremely fortunate that their kids did well in school and stayed out of trouble, at least, most of time, where Robbie was concerned, although he’d been handed detention once or twice for arguing with his teacher. He’d insisted she wasn’t being objective and he was merely offering a differing opinion. Well, he was still a teenager. “Okay. I’ve got some work to finish up, so if you need me, I’ll be in the den. Goodnight, baby.”
He rolled his eyes at the term, but still unveiled a brief smile. “Goodnight, Mom.”
Back downstairs, Claire found Colin still asleep. “Honey?”
He roused a little.
“Why don’t you go on up to bed now?” Claire continued.
“Oh, geez. How long have I been out?”
“I don’t know; I’ve been in the office, but I just put Anna down and Robbie will be going to bed soon. You’re exhausted; you should call it a night.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t realize.”
“It’s okay. I’ve been working anyway. Won’t be long before heading up myself, I’m sure.”
“Did you figure out the problem with the report?” Colin was sitting up now, stretching as he spoke.
“Not yet, but I will. Then I’ll be up.” She placed her hands on either side of his cheeks and kissed his lips. They tasted of stale beer. “I may have to go in early tomorrow, but I’ll get the kids up before I do.”
Colin nodded his head. “Text me when you get in, if so.” His job as an aerospace quality engineer didn’t require a great deal of overtime, which they were both grateful for, considering Claire often put in extra hours.
“I will. Go get some sleep now.” Claire patted his thigh and headed back into the den.
Shifting back into work mode, Claire was onto something. The reports she had approved had been altered by the time they reached Beth. But was this just a mistake? If so, it was a mistake that could mean Claire would get high praise for its discovery. There was no wonder Beth was concerned, but she didn’t have access to the same files as Claire and, on further inspection, she realized that there could be a glitch in the system. Something that was nearly doubling the hours reported. “Why the hell hasn’t anyone else noticed this?” she whispered, her voice subdued by the storm.
Those reports went through several layers of management before reaching Beth and it seemed she had been the only one who took pause to question it. Until now.
CHAPTER 2
THE ONLY GOOD thing about going in to work early was that Claire could avoid the worst of the traffic. It was 6:00 in the morning and she was heading out the door, having just managed to rouse the kids from their deep sleep, something she’d wished had befallen her last night, but no such luck. The storm was relentless with its echoing thunder and torrential rains; at least, that was how it sounded to her when she had finally made her way to bed last night around midnight.
This morning, she would head in early, finish her write-up on the problems with the reports, and speak to the head of Accounting about the glitch. Certainly it had affected more than just her accounts. This was a big deal and, on the drive in, with the darkness still surrounding her, she felt a beacon of light shining directly from above. She was the one to discover the glitch, with the help of Beth. Not Lucas, not any of the other account managers. Surely she would get some praise from upper management on this one. Ten years at the firm, two other promotions under her belt, and she was ready to move up again; needed to move up.
***
An odor of car exhaust remained suspended in the parking garage and, when it mixed with the damp air, the smell was obnoxious. Claire reluctantly passed through the invisible cloud towards the elevators leading up to the lobby. Standing in the breezeway of the office entrance, she found that the doors were still locked. But when she looked through the tinted glass, she spotted Jim, the security guard on the night shift. No need for him to open it up for her. She held her magnetic keycard against the white box fixed to the wall. The green light at the top flashed and the doors clicked open.
“Good morning, Mrs. McKenna. You’re in awful early,” Jim said, taking a sip of his coffee.
Her high-heeled steps echoed on the marble floor, the lofty ceilings further amplifying the sound. “Well, good morning, Jim. It’s not often I get to see you. How’s the family? Denise doing all right?”
“She is and thank you for asking. What have I done to deserve such a fine sight on this dreary Tuesday morning?” Jim was a charmer to all the women in the building, but he’d known Claire the longest and seemed to hold a special place in his heart just for her.
She leaned over the high granite counter where Jim sat below the sign that hung on the wall. “Information Desk.” A knowing grin lit up her entire face. “I just found a major problem with one of our reporting systems.”
“And this is a good thing?” A perplexed look began to mask Jim’s previous warm-hearted smile.
“It’s a good thing that I was the one who found it.” Claire slapped the cold black stone. “A girl’s gotta find a way to get ahead in this world, Jim, and I think I just found my golden ticket. It’s going to be a good day.” She started towards the elevators.
“Well, good luck, Mrs. McKenna! I hope you’re right.”
“How many times do I have to tell you, Jim? Call me Claire.” She smiled back at him and walked into the waiting elevator car that would carry her to her fourth-floor office.
The doors soon parted to reveal a darkened reception area with only the glow from the emergency exit lighting casting up its soft white light. The fourth floor housed the account managers, the reps beneath them, and some accounting staff, like Beth, that submitted reports to the sixth-floor accounting department.
Winters Financial Consultants was a global firm that occupied the entire fifteen-floor tower situated in the financial district of downtown Seattle. This was corporate headquarters. Claire had worked on this floor for the past four years, coming from the third floor as a sales assistant, to an account rep on this floor and finally, two years ago, being promoted to account manager. It was a fact that some of her colleagues had skipped a step or two on the corporate ladder, Lucas being one of them, moving almost straight into a junior account manager roll. But Claire worked hard to get where she was and, standing now, facing the dark hallways, she believed her time had come to move up another rung.
Once she brought this problem to the attention of her boss, the regional account manager, she believed some recognition would be in order. Claire continued down the corridor towards her office. It was a small space with a glass wall facing the hallway and a window that, if one looked hard enough, would offer a glimpse of the rippling waters of the harbor shimmering between the towering buildings that consumed the area. Claire was lucky to have an office. Lucas was in a cubicle.
The LED lights, recessed into the ceiling, flickered on as she walked into her office. They were heat sensitive and stayed on as long as someone was in the room. But, as it turned out, Claire wasn’t the only one to have arrived early. No sooner had she begun to boot up her computer did another gleam of light reach her eyes. The cube farm behind reception suddenly lit up.
But rather than investigate, Claire moved on to the task at hand. She needed to pull up the files on Sea-Tech and print out her findings, ensuring that she would be ready to take them to Beth and finally to Charlie Monroe, the regional manager.
As she was logging into the system, she caught
sight of some movement outside her office door.
“Morning. You’re here early.”
Claire knew the voice immediately and looked up. “So are you, Lucas. Good morning.”
Lucas Abbott, clean-shaven, boyish face, and messily-spiked hair, leaned in the doorway of her office, Starbuck’s coffee in hand. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“I just needed to finish up some reports for Beth. I promised her I’d have them on her desk by eight.” Claire clicked on the file she needed, but when it opened up, her notes were gone. “Okay, that’s odd.”
“What is it?” Lucas asked, stepping inside.
She shook her head and opened the file that contained the actual report on which she’d been working. On closer inspection, the file had no errors. Everything balanced and the hours matched the timesheets. “That’s not possible. I just…” But she stopped and glanced again at Lucas. His face always sported a smug expression, but seemed even more so at this very moment.
What the hell is going on? “If it’s all right with you, I’ll catch up with you later, okay? I’ve got to finish this up for Beth.” She was beyond confused, but had no intention of letting Lucas in on the situation, not until she figured it out herself.
“Okay, yeah. I’ve got some critical stuff too. That’s why I came in early. I’ll see ya later.” He stood there for a moment longer, seemingly waiting for her reply.
“Uh huh. Bye,” Claire said, still staring at the files on the screen.
When he finally left, she double and triple checked the information. It all balanced, just as it should. No longer simply confused, Claire was downright pissed. She’d been up half the night sorting through all of this, discovering that the system was double posting and now what? Nothing? The accounts were just—correct? She slammed her fist against her desk, rattling the keyboard below. “I don’t understand.”
This was her find. Could she have been wrong all along? Had the hour been so late that she simply thought there had been an error? “No. No. I refuse to believe that!” Her whispers were growing louder, until she caught herself and glanced out into the hall, making sure no one was heading her way.
She had nothing now. Nothing to take to Beth, nothing to show her boss. Whatever recognition she’d hoped for had all but disappeared. Claire printed out the reports and signed off on them, accurate and final.
The office began to illuminate further as people arrived. It was approaching eight a.m. Claire breathed deeply, grabbed her reports, and headed towards Beth’s office.
She was nose-deep in paperwork when Claire approached her. “Good morning, Beth. I’ve got the approved reports for you.” A forced smile pasted on her face.
“That’s great, Claire! Thank you so much. You were able to fix the discrepancies?”
It occurred to Claire for a moment that Beth had known about the inaccuracies. “The files you sent me; could you forward that email to me again?”
Beth seemed a little confused. “Sure, but aren’t you holding the reports right now?”
“Yes, but I just want to keep the emails handy, if I could. Re-trace my corrections.” Claire was hesitant to say anything more because this all could just be a case of her being overly tired last night. She would have to be sure before pursuing this any further.
“Okay, yeah. I’ll send it over again. Listen, I really appreciate you taking the time to take care of this for me last night. You’re a life-saver, Claire! I’d better get these over to Accounting.”
“Oh sure.” Claire handed over the papers. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
Maybe once she had the attachments that Beth sent over last night, the original reports, Claire would be able to make some sense out of this whole thing. The worst part about it was that she felt deflated now, questioning her own reliability. It wasn’t that she wanted to point out the fault of another department; she just wanted a feather in her cap to help solidify her loyalty to the company. Now, all that seemed to disappear somewhere into cyberspace.
A ringing in the distance floated down the hall and caused Claire to pick up her pace, realizing it was her office line. She made it in time and lifted the receiver. “Claire McKenna.”
“Good morning, Claire. Charlie would like to see you in his office as soon as possible, please.”
“Sure, okay. I’ll be right over.”
It wasn’t unusual that Charlie wanted to see her, but the timing did seem a little suspect. Claire waited a moment or two longer to see if Beth had re-sent the original files. However, the minutes ticked away, and it wouldn’t be long before Charlie’s assistant called again. And that would not be a good thing. Charlie was a good man and a great boss, but he wasn’t a man who waited on others. “Damn.”
Claire worked to push the events of this morning to the back of her mind when she approached Charlie’s office. “Knock, knock.” Claire leaned inside, but waited for approval to enter. Charlie almost never closed his door. If he did, it usually meant someone was being let go.
“Claire. Come on in. How are you this morning?”
“Doing well, Charlie, how are you?”
“Just fine. Hey, would you mind closing the door behind you?”
Oh shit.
“Have a seat.” Charlie motioned towards one of the contemporary black leather chairs that were placed opposite his desk. “I received an interesting email first thing this morning. Seems you’ve caught the attention of senior management.”
Claire began rubbing her right thumb inside her left palm, a nervous tick, and noticed it felt just the slightest bit clammy. She wondered if beads of sweat would form on her brow at any moment. Did I screw something up? Although a pleasant expression remained on her face, she wondered if her eyes were telling another story. “Oh?”
“Claire, how long have you been working here now? Six, seven years?”
“Ten, actually.”
“Really? Well, that deserves praise in and of itself, doesn’t it?” Charlie’s face appeared genuine.
Please, just get to the point.
“I’ll get to the point. Winters Financial is expanding its regional territories and there has been discussion of adding another area manager. The email I received this morning came directly from Mr. Winters himself. He is recommending you for the position, Claire.”
She couldn’t believe it. Charlie wasn’t about to fire her, he was handing her a promotion, at the direction of Evan Winters, no less. She’d only ever seen him at the company’s quarterly meetings. In fact, she couldn’t recall if she’d ever spoken a single word to the man.
“I’m honestly completely shocked, Charlie. This is very unexpected.” That was putting it mildly. “I really don’t know what to say.”
“Well, you’ll be sitting up here on the seventh floor, with the other regional managers and we’ll work on finalizing the territory splits. And Claire, this means a substantial bump in pay for you, which you’ll discuss with HR once you receive the official offer letter. You’ll no longer work under my direction, but will be answering to Frank. He’s a tough, but fair man. I don’t think you’ll have any problems there.”
Frank Winslow was the VP of Sales and Evan Winters’ right hand man. Claire still had no idea what to make of this. She’d come in this morning, full of ambition, only to be dashed by events she hadn’t quiet gotten her head around yet. And now this?
“Well, what do you say, Claire? You interested?”
The smile that spread across her face now was anything but fake. She was more than pleasantly taken aback. “Of course I am. Thank you, Charlie.”
“Well, don’t thank me. Not that I don’t believe you’re ready and capable of doing this job, but you have Mr. Winters to thank for his recommendation. That’s not something that happens often, Claire. Quite frankly, I didn’t realize the decision to add another manager had been decided yet, but there you go. Congratulations. I’ll reply with your acceptance and I’m sure HR will be in touch later today or tomorrow to iron out the details. Go o
n now; you’d better get back to work. You’ll need to start shifting things over to Lucas.”
Claire stood up and started towards the door, but then turned around. “Charlie, will Lucas be taking over responsibility for all my accounts?”
“I honestly don’t know yet. I would assume so. Do you have any reservations about that?”
“No. I think he’ll do a fine job.” Claire made her exit, leaving Charlie’s door open behind her. She did believe Lucas had it in him to be a good manager, with some guidance, and wouldn’t stand in his way.
It seemed everyone she encountered on the way back to her office wondered if she’d just lost her job. But her expression soon changed that assumption. She could almost decipher the whispers as she walked by.
Her head still reeled when she finally sat back down at her desk. She’d expected Lucas to drop in at any moment, asking about her closed-door visit with Charlie. He would probably be salivating at the prospect that she lost her job and he would take the lead. Although it seemed likely he actually might do just that, justification in the knowledge that she made it to regional first would suffice.
So many things still had to play out in all this, but Claire needed to focus on the reporting issue and browsed through the many emails she’d received during the twenty-minute pow-wow with Charlie. Finally, the one she’d been waiting for from Beth.
“Claire, I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to find that email I sent you last night in my sent box. I don’t know what happened, except maybe my box was full. And when I logged onto the server, I couldn’t find the original files either. I must have saved over them with the new reports you sent me. I’m really sorry, but it seems to have fixed itself anyway. I’m sure it was just a case of the wrong figures being entered. Thanks again for all your help!”
Claire scrolled down the email further, but that was it; nothing else. Was this just a case of incorrect data entry? What about the other accounts? She would need to log on to take a look, needing to know for sure if this was all imagined.
