Minerva's Ghost (9 page)

Amanda was thinking about Minnie as she drove, remembering what she had considered important, hearing her voice.

“I’m going to tell everyone you are here to help me with the transition. I really don’t want to get into the fact that Minnie was suspicious of wrongdoing. I really don’t want to tip our hand before we must.”

“It works for me.” Gabe agreed.

Amanda pulled into the parking lot and parked in the back corner as far from the building as she could get. The parking space had Minnie’s name on it. “Minnie had a thing about dents and dings in her Cadillac” she told Gabe. “You notice the space is very wide. It was one of the things that would set her off. She was very protective of this car.”

“I would be, too.” Gabe said. “I never thought of treating a car, just any car like a hobby. This is an exquisite machine.”

“Anyone could do it if they were creative enough and cheap enough to drive the same car for 30 years.” Amanda said with a smile. “Cars don’t rust out in this climate. It is possible to keep them longer.”

Gabe walked around the car and escorted her to the building. When they walked into the reception area, they received a cheery greeting from Doris Meems, who acted as the official hostess for the company. Her job was Minnie’s invention. It was Doris’ job to literally make people feel welcome at Au Naturel and to feel important in the old southern tradition of ‘politin’ people to death. Doris was a master. She always remembered people’s names, the names of their children or significant other’s, found out their birthdays, sent cards at appropriate times, communicated with customers and venders, planned company events and other simply miraculous tasks that were too complex and numerous to mention. She had a computer and a staff of three secretaries who turned out hand written notes by the hundreds. It was a brilliant scheme on Minnie’s part to hire her. It gave Doris something to do besides gossip and gave her a wider view of the world and life in general. Amanda adored her and respected her more than many people who were more educated and sophisticated. It was hard, even perilous to ignore Doris’ ‘feelings’, which were both mysterious and accurate. Minnie usually took Doris’ advice about people.

“Oh, Amanda, honey, how are you holding up?” Doris had her enfolded in a perfumed hug the minute she saw them.

Amanda got a big, painful lump in her throat and tears in her eyes before she knew what was happening. “I’m O.K., but I miss her” Amanda squeaked.

“Minnie has some tasks for you, Amanda. People have been up to stuff and this studly young fella is going to help you find your way.” She reached for Gabe and did a good job of squeezing the stuffing out of him while keeping Amanda in a group hug. Gabe found it impossible not to participate in the emotional moment. As a big man he just wasn’t accustomed to a woman being big enough to nearly look him in the eye.

Doris let go before anyone else got panicky. In high heels she was over six feet of curly blond hair and huge boobs, pretty intimidating, actually. She found a fresh tissue in the pocket of her lavender silk jacket and handed it to Amanda.

“They’re all in there. They’ve got plans, and you know what to do. How’s your sister, Gabe?”

“Erin’s fine, Doris. Thanks for asking.” Gabe had only met her once. The woman truly was miraculous.

“I met your parents years ago at church. Warren and Ann are fine people. Are they doing well?”

“Yes, Ma’am. He’s retired and they are living at Lake Martin, fishing most days and making wood working projects. Mama paints them. They both seem happy.”

“Good, good. I’m glad to hear it. Y’all go on in and I’ll have coffee and tea served.” She sent them off, having issued her instructions and extracted information with painless efficiency. Gabe reflected she was a better interrogator than anyone trained by the military.

“Are you ready?” Gabe asked Amanda.

She nodded yes and led the way into the conference room.

John Wilder greeted them first, partly because he was standing next to the door, while Justin and Martha huddled in the back corner of the room, making Amanda even more suspicious of them than she had been. The sales managers were having an animated conversation that Amanda knew was probably personal. The women had been college classmates and friends for years.

Amanda spoke to everyone and introduced each person to Gabe. He managed to interrogate them almost as masterfully as Doris could. After a social interlude Amanda asked them all to be seated.

“As you know Minnie has given me the task of carrying on with the company and hired Gabe to help me in the transition. Minnie wants us to stick with her plans and goals and that is my intention also.” 

Martha spoke up. “Justin has some plans and ideas to take the business public and control costs and enhance profitability.”

“Minnie wished that the business remain a private company.” Amanda said. “I have no plans to take it public or to dilute the stock.”

“This is something I don’t believe you are equipped to understand.” Martha said. She was starting to piss Amanda off.

“Justin has the education and experience to handle this for you,” the woman continued.

“I think you should let him take a leadership role running the company since Minnie is gone. He’s already met with investment bankers and begun the process. It’s already rolling and I think he’s done a great job. It’s time we had some new ideas.” Martha gave an oblique, oddly flirtatious look toward Justin. He preened like a peacock. Amanda had never before seen Martha flirt with a man. She had always been a rabid feminist. The incongruity distracted her momentarily and she glanced at Gabe to see if he was noticing. He took the hint.

“I think you’ve done some things that the owners of the company did not authorize you to do.” Gabe said his piece and then went completely silent while he looked at Justin and Martha.

“I’m much better qualified to run this company than Amanda is.” Justin said. “I can guide her through the problems of taking the company public and make her millions in the process. She’d never have to work again. She could travel, buy anything she wanted.”

It was a clumsy, pushy and unsubtle confrontation that seemed staged to Amanda. Did he expect her to just let him have his way and start a trip around the world? He obviously knew nothing about her even after working with her for over a year. She had a ready reply.

“But I like working. I’ve been trained for this job since I was a child. But more importantly, I have no intention of taking the company public ever. Minnie was adamant about keeping control of the quality of our products and we could not do that if we were answerable to a board of directors who were only interested in the stock price.” Amanda stood up and looked at her staff. If he wanted a confrontation then he could have one.

“I’m sure you worked hard on this project, Justin, but we will not pursue it any further. I’m also very concerned that your new accounting software is not yet working. It’s been over two months since we’ve had management reporting. How are we coming on that? I believe it’s your responsibility to complete that project.”

“I put that on hold because I felt going public was critical for the company. I still think that,” he said, stubborn to the end. “I would like more time to discuss some issues with you privately.”

“I plan to have Gabe working with you on the accounting problems” Amanda said. She was capable of being stubborn herself. “You can discuss things with him. If he thinks your ideas have merit, I’ll consider them further.”

She turned to John and caught him smiling. He understood Justin had been reprimanded even if Justin had not caught on yet. She settled back in her chair and asked, “How are things with you in the plant, John?”

“Fine” he replied. “We miss Minnie, but that’s a given. I like the idea that you want to stick with the status quo and so will most of the people in the plant.”

Martha spoke up. “I still think we need to think about changing course now that Minnie is gone. The concept of taking the company public could make a lot of money for everyone. I think we should bring the issue to a vote. All in favor?”

Amanda stood up again. It was necessary to stop this runaway train. “This is a staff meeting of a group of employees and the owners. In this context only two votes count. I vote 'no’. Michael, how about you?”

Michael cleared his throat, obviously nervous. Allison touched his back in an intimate gesture of comfort and encouragement. His ‘no’ was clear and more decisive than Amanda had expected. She felt incredibly relieved.

“I have no plans to consider this further or spend any more time on it today.” Amanda said. “We will also not be approving any expenses for anyone who wants to pursue this matter without our approval.”

“I think you are being short sighted in this.” Martha said. She was still pushing.

Lydia Beaumont spoke up. “I agree with Michael and Amanda. My customer base in Europe, South America, Australia and Asia all like our purity and careful attention to detail and service. It’s a basic and integral part of our selling proposition. You know what they say. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ We are a successful company. Why change what’s working?”

Dana said, “I agree. We’re packaged as a high quality and service oriented company. If we don’t keep those values we’ll lose our core customers. I would not want to be associated with the company if we changed those values, either.”

John said, “Where did this come from anyway. Minnie’s only been gone a week. She built a successful company based on the values you two are so anxious to abandon. I think you have a hell of a nerve even to suggest these changes.  I know she knew what she was doing. She proved it long ago.”

“I agree.” David Benton said.  “Not that it matters what I think. Amanda’s right. We work here. We don’t own this company, but Minnie gave me a job when no one would hire me because I was a recovering drunk. She knew what she was doing. I did not always understand her, but that’s why she was the boss. Grief counselors would tell us not to change anything until we’ve had time to adjust. Let’s take time. We are rolling smoothly. Don’t screw it up.” It was a long speech for David and Amanda became even more convinced her instincts were on target.

“Thank you for your understanding and support.” she told them. She felt steadier and more confident with her instincts clarified. “I want to thank all of you. We have a direction and some goals for the next couple of weeks. We can meet again in a week or so and see how things are going.”

Gabe stood up next to Amanda and offered a hand to John Wilder. “Sounds good to me, too.” He then turned to Justin. “Justin I’ll get with you later to set up some meetings.’ Justin suddenly looked nervous.

“There’s no need.” He said it heartily. “You can’t be interested in a bunch of boring financial reports.”

Amanda spoke up then. “Make no mistake, Justin. Gabe is a black belt analyst, like Minnie. He can get you on track in a little while. It’s part of the reason he’s here.” She enjoyed the look on his face. He did not look happy.

Gabe was herding everyone to the door and Amanda was relieved. She had survived her first meeting as president and chief operating officer of Au Natural. The two of them stood together to tell everyone goodbye as they trooped out the door of the conference room.

Michael and Allison left the building and rode back to the greenhouses together. They were quiet until Allison said, “Amanda did well. She and Gabe never said anything about the data he e-mailed us, but they are going after Justin. ”

“She didn’t,” Michael agreed. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, but she seems like Minnie. She talks softly but she gets the point across…and she’s been helpful to us.  When she talks it’s almost like I can see and hear Minnie, including the comments she would have kept from the whole staff. I feel compelled to listen. “

“I’m meeting with Amanda tomorrow, “ Allison said. “I don’t really know if Justin’s the problem, but the answers are somewhere in the main offices.”

“Good, “ Michael replied. “What happened to Minnie made me realize that she was right about needing to know, and recognize…who you can trust and who you can’t. She was more a mother to me than my own ever was. Lord knows my siblings can’t be trusted. I’m willing to see if Amanda and Gabe can be trusted. The way things are going I could end up doing time as an accessory to murder and/or an embezzler if Martha gets her way. We know we’ve done nothing wrong, but we can’t prove it.  “