“How, if it was a smaller territory? And I also understand that it contained fewer businesses.” Bennie was referring to the complaint.
“True, but they tended to be high-end. We produce three lines of product—expensive, medium, and cheap. The businesses in the region that I gave him are very high-end. Businesses incorporate in Delaware because the state laws are favorable. They headquarter or keep an office in Wilmington and the subs. They have the money and they go for top-of-the-line construction.” Todd leaned over again, warming to the topic. “Stainless-steel frame. Floor-to-ceiling. The best drywall. Real glass windows. Electrified under the counter, with LED lights. Some even have doors. Some are custom. I could go on but I won’t bore you.”
“I’m not bored.”
“Anyway, you get the gist. Even if he had fewer accounts, he could make more money per account. I thought he could handle fewer accounts better than so many. I thought I was doing him a favor. No good deed.” Todd sighed. “Anyway, I had good reason to fire him and I didn’t like doing it, but I did it. I’m not a jerk. I’m a father, too. I know that his kid is sick. I know that he needs a job. But I need a rep. Because if I don’t produce, then I get fired. So it’s my family or his family.”
Ray nodded, a newly determined set to his lips.
Bennie asked him, “Ray, did you discuss this decision with Todd?”
“The decision to fire Simon? Yes, I did.”
“What did he tell you about why he wanted to let Simon go?”
“He said it was sales. Performance. Like he just told you.”
Bennie kicked herself for having them both in the same meeting, because they were supporting each other’s version of the facts. “When did you have this discussion with Todd?”
“The day before he fired Simon. Monday.”
“Was that the first time you heard Todd was unhappy with Simon’s performance?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t discuss it before that?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Why would I? He runs his people, I run mine. We’re busy. We talk twice a week, if that.” Ray shrugged, arms still folded.
“How long have you worked here, Ray?”
“Twenty years, same as Todd.”
“Do you socialize, play golf, have dinner?”
“Hell no.” Ray chuckled, for the first time. “I’m not the social type.”
Todd laughed with him. “He doesn’t even drink. And if you don’t drink, I got no time for you.”
Everyone laughed, and Bennie took advantage of the moment to check her notes. “Todd, I just have a few more questions, but they’re specific. Simon would submit medical expenses to you for his daughter, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And what would you do with them?”
“Pass them on to accounting.”
“Why would he submit them to you and not directly to accounting?”
“I’m his boss. That’s how it works.” Todd frowned again. “Why?”
“Did you ever make a remark to Simon about the amount of the expenses?”
“No.”
Bennie kept a poker face. She had been hoping that Todd wouldn’t deny it and that it was an honest mistake, ignorance of the law. “Did you ever say anything like offhand, well, ‘that’s a lot of money,’ or anything like that?”
“No.”
“Did you ever say anything like ‘I hope this chemo works because it’s pretty expensive’?”
“No,” Todd answered firmly. “Did he say I did?”
“Yes, he does.”
“That’s a lie!” Todd slammed the table again, and Jason looked over with a frown, but didn’t say anything. Ray unfolded his arms.
Bennie bore down. “Did you ever explain to him the fact that the company is self-insured up to $250,000?”
“No.”
Bennie couldn’t tell if Todd was lying or not, but this was shaping up to be a credibility contest. “You never discussed that with him?”
“No.”
“Was anybody else ever around when he handed in expenses?”
“No, he brought them into my office.”
“Was Ray ever present?”
“No, nobody was.”
“How about your secretary?”
“Who has a secretary?” Todd snorted.
“Did he ever submit them by email?”
“He may have, I forget.” Todd permitted himself a half-smile. “I would say yes.”
“So would I,” Ray interjected, with a wry smile.
“Why do you guys say that?” Bennie looked from one to the other.
Todd chuckled. “We call Simon the Mad Emailer. He emails about everything and he writes paragraphs and paragraphs. He writes books. I barely get through the first paragraph.”
Bennie turned to Jason. “I’d like copies of Mr. Pensiera’s emails for the past year, his personnel file, call logs, purchase orders, and his sales info. It has to show department-wide sales, so I can compare his performance to the other reps. Can you send that to my office before the weekend?”
“Sure, that’s standard operating procedure.” Jason turned to Ray. “Can you make that happen by the end of the day?”
“Yes,” Ray answered. “Most of it’s in the computer. I’ll text Mona in HR so she can get started. She’ll have to talk to our IT guy.” He picked up his phone, texted a message, then set it down. “Thy will be done.”
Bennie smiled. “Thanks. Todd, let me ask you a few final questions. Have either of you ever had any training in employment discrimination laws?”
Todd blinked. “They send us to a bullet-point slideshow for sexual harassment. We go to some law firm in town. You wouldn’t believe the food. They put out a spread like a wedding.”
“Ray, how about you?” Bennie asked, turning to him.
“Not always.”
Todd interjected, “He cuts class. He’s a bad boy.”
“I have to work,” Ray countered.
Bennie forced a smile, her mood circling the drain. “Do you remember getting any training in the law under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act?”
Todd thought a minute, then shook his head. “No, not really.”
Ray shook his head. “I don’t either. I’m sure HR knows about that. But that’s not my bailiwick.”
Bennie had to get the truth, but she couldn’t do it with an audience. She stood up, crossed to the door, and opened it with a smile. “Gentlemen, I’d like everyone except for Todd to leave the room.”
Todd recoiled, bewildered. “For real?”
“Yes. I won’t keep you long.”
“Okay.” Jason and Ray rose from the chairs and headed toward the door.
Only Nate didn’t move, looking up at her with a mock-frown. “You can’t mean me, too.”
“Yes, I do,” Bennie answered, opening the door wider.
CHAPTER NINE
Mary and Anthony threaded their way through the Children’s Hospital lobby, which was bustling with early-morning activity. Doctors in scrubs and surgical caps, nurses with decorated stethoscopes and laminated IDs, and staff with colorful plastic carry-alls hurried this way and that, mixing in with the patients’ families, the mothers and fathers bearing up under the strain, tugging toddlers and siblings by the hand.
Mary and Anthony fell silent as they climbed into the crowded elevator, and she knew that he felt the same way that she did inside. The elevator pinged on their floor, the door slid open, and they made their way out of the cab, down the hall, and into the BMT unit, where they Purelled their hands. They stopped at the lounge, taken aback at the crowd filling it to its glass walls.
“What’s going on?” Mary wondered aloud, then did a double-take at the same moment that Anthony did, when they began to recognize faces from the neighborhood in the crowd.
“It’s everybody. It’s all of South Philly.”
“You’re right, and both our families. They didn�
��t tell me they were coming.” Mary’s father, her mother, and The Tonys were there, and so was her mother-in-law, Anthony’s mother, Elvira, whom Mary secretly called El Virus. They were talking with a group of Simon’s cousins from the West Coast and Italy, whom Mary had met at Simon and Ellen’s wedding, and sadly, at her funeral.
“Oh no,” Anthony said under his breath. “You don’t think anything bad happened, do you?”
“No, they’d be crying. There’s a reason the best operas are Italian.”
“We go hard on the waterworks.”
“And why not, really?” Mary spotted her mother smiling and talking, the shortest one in the crowd, with thick glasses and white hair teased into a cumulus cloud to hide her bald spot. She had on her flowered housedress with her orthopedic shoes, which looked oddly great together. “How cute is my mother?”
“Cute. She gets it from you.” Anthony chuckled, Mary joined him, and for a moment they stood outside the glass, watching their blood relatives as if they were strangely exotic fish in a fishbowl, which in a way, they were.
“Oh, look. There’s Simon, so nothing terrible happened.” Mary noticed Simon at the center of the crowd, being hugged and kissed by his cousins.
“You mean nothing worse.”
“Right.” Mary felt her stomach clench. “I think it’s nice that his family came from Italy, don’t you?”
“Yes, but it’s also concerning. How long can she wait for a donor? This is awful. Such a sweet little girl.”
“I know.” Mary squeezed his hand. Anthony adored Rachel and had a special way with kids. Someday he’d be a wonderful father, and they’d both talked about having kids when the time was right. Until then, they loved spending time with Patrick O’Brien, a child whom Mary had met on her last big special-education case.
“Let’s go.” Anthony opened the door for Mary, and heads started turning as soon as she entered the lounge, with everybody reaching for her, trying to hug her, and calling to her.
“It’s Mary!” “Hey, Mary!” “Look who it is!” “Come here, Mary!”
“Hi, everybody!” Mary called back, hugging everybody in sight, getting kissed on the cheek, and breathing in the smells of Aqua Velva, Aquanet hairspray, and aqua–everything else. They were treating her like an absolute rock star, and she realized that the word must’ve spread that she was representing Simon in his lawsuit.
“Maria!” her mother said, grabbing her cheeks and giving her a big smooch.
“HEY, MARE! I DIDN’T KNOW YOU WERE COMIN’.”
“I just thought I’d check in before work.” Mary hugged her father, who seemed back to his usual chipper self, flashing her a big grin as he let her go. She hugged and kissed Pigeon Tony and Tony-From-Down-The-Block, with Feet bringing up the rear, like a caboose with glasses.
“Mary, I’m so glad you’re fighting for Simon. It’s like we got Perry Mason on our side! Thank God!” Feet squeezed her tight, and Mary let him go as Simon reached her side.
“Mary, thanks for coming.” Simon gave her a big hug, then gestured behind him. “You remember my cousins, Amelia, Adriana, and Elisa from Rome? They’re the good-looking branch of the family, my Uncle Tullio’s daughters.”
“Of course, hello.” Mary shook the manicured hands of a bevy of beautiful dark-haired women, all about her age, with similarly lovely cheekbones that had to be in the Pensiera DNA.
“Mary, it’s wonderful to see you again,” Amelia said in perfect English. “Thank you so much for helping Simon and Rachel.”
“Mary, yes, thank you,” said Adriana and Elisa, almost in unison, looking so chic in lovely sundresses and color-coordinated sandals. Their makeup was perfect, and it struck Mary that, in a way, everybody in the lounge was putting on a brave face, but underneath their lipsticked smiles, they were all worried sick about Rachel.
“I’m happy to be able to help,” Mary told them, meaning it. She turned to Simon. “How’s Rachel today?”
“Luckily, a little better. She just fell asleep, so I figured I’d come out and say hello. Plus this gang needed discipline.” Simon winked. “I told them to keep it down to a low roar.”
Mary smiled. “Are you even allowed to have this many visitors?”
“The nurses are cutting me some slack, but everybody has to stay in here. Anything new with the case?”
“I would’ve emailed you but I wanted to tell you in person. I didn’t expect a crowd.” Mary looked around worriedly, but Simon leaned closer.
“Go ahead, what’s new?”
“So far, so good.” Mary lowered her voice. “I don’t want you to get too excited, but my partner Bennie agreed to go to OpenSpace and try to settle the case. She’s there right now.”
“That’s awesome.” Simon burst into a smile. “Do you think it will work?”
“It’s a long shot, especially this early. We haven’t even filed the suit papers. I drafted a complaint, and Bennie has it with her, so they know the facts. I’m hoping it will be persuasive enough that they counter-offer.”
“So you can settle before we even file the lawsuit? I didn’t know that. That’s wonderful.”
“Yes, but don’t get your hopes up.”
“But it’s a good start. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
“No worries, fingers crossed.”
“But I wanted to say thank you.” Simon stepped back, raising his hands in the air. “Everybody, can I have your attention for a minute? Please, can everybody settle down?”
Mary didn’t get it. She hoped Simon wasn’t about to tell them about the settlement. “Simon, what I just told you is confidential—”
“I know that.” Simon waved her off with a smile, and everybody settled down, all the faces turning to him. “Folks, I’m not going to say this loud, so I hope you changed the batteries on your hearing aids.”
“WHAT?” Mary’s father said, and everybody laughed.
Simon smiled. “I just wanted to say I’m very grateful to all of you for coming today. I didn’t expect you, but here you are.” The crowd chuckled, nodding. “But then again, I never called my mother before I went to visit her, and she told me I didn’t have to. Family is family, and home is where they have to let you in.” Everybody chuckled again, and Mary swallowed hard, remembering Simon’s mother, who was a sweetheart.
Simon continued, “Anyway, I know you’re here because we love Rachel and we support her. I showed her that picture that I took of you this morning, and she loved it. I’m going to print it and put it above her bed, since you can’t go in there to see her yourself.”
The crowd reacted instantly, murmuring their approval with, “Aw thank you!” “That’s a great idea!” “That’s so sweet!”
Simon turned to Mary. “I especially want to thank you, Mary. You, Anthony, and your family have been so great to me for so long, and now you’re helping me get justice against my company.”
Mary felt her face flush, as heads turned. Everyone called out to her, thanked her, or grinned at her, which suffused her with happiness and gratitude, just to be here among them. Everybody was standing together behind Simon and Rachel—family, friends, and neighbors alike—which was the essence of South Philly. She knew there were similar communities carved out of cities and towns all across the country, maybe even the world, and she knew how lucky she was to be a member of one.
“So Mary, I wanted you to have this token of appreciation from me and my family.” Simon slipped a hand in his sport jacket and produced a small turquoise box, unmistakably from Tiffany’s, then presented it to Mary. “Please, take this, with thanks from the Pensieras and the Dragottis.”
“Simon, really?” Mary’s hands flew reflexively to her face. “You didn’t have to do that!”
“We’re happy to. You’ve been such a good friend all my life, to my father, Ellen, and Rachel too.” Simon’s eyes glistened, his upper lip trembling, but he kept it together.
“Oh my, you are too sweet.” Mary accepted the gift, tugged at the wh
ite satin ribbon, and took the lid off. Inside was a velveteen box nestled in white paper.
“I KNOW WHAT IT IS!” her father said, but her mother backhanded him in the arm. Everyone in the crowd came closer, craning their necks to see.
“HOLD IT UP, MARE!”
“I will!” Mary opened the box to find a small gold locket shaped like a heart, then held it up so the crowd could see it, to oohs and ahhs. “Thank you so much! This is so pretty!”
“It opens.”
“Really?” Mary opened the locket to find a small picture of Rachel on one side and a little lock of her hair on the other. “Oh Simon, this is too much.” Mary almost burst into tears, but she kept it under control.
Anthony didn’t do as well, his eyes welling up. “Thanks, Simon,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” Simon cleared his throat. “I know how much she means to you.”
“Aw, thank you.” Mary hugged him.
“We just want you to know how much we appreciate you doing what you’re doing. You’re helping save her life.” Simon managed a smile. “Here’s how I look at it. I’m doing everything I can do, and you’re doing everything you can do, too. The rest is in God’s hands.”
“I agree, thank you so much for this.” Mary closed up the jewelry case, put it back in the box, and put everything in her purse, including the pretty ribbon. She swore to herself that she’d give the case everything that she had.
She couldn’t lose.
CHAPTER TEN
Bennie faced Todd across the table. “I’m going to give this to you straight. It’s really important that I understand exactly what happened in any conversations you had with Simon Pensiera about his daughter’s medical expenses.”
“I told you, we didn’t have any.” Todd gestured at the closed door behind Bennie. “Why did you throw the others out?”
“Because you and I need to speak more frankly, not in front of your boss or anybody else.”
Todd pursed his lips. “You think I’m lying.”
“I need to know if you’re lying.”
“I’m not. I told you the truth. There’s two sides to every story. You made up your mind before you even came in here.”
Bennie had to admit to herself that it struck a chord, but only because the contemporaneous notes were such strong evidence. “You never once mentioned the daughter’s expenses?”
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