No Hiding Behind the Potted Palms! A Dance with Danger Mystery #7 (10 page)

“Oh, kid. Don’t worry about
that stuff. You have enough on your mind. I’ll handle it.” Ralph
brushed off my concerns. It suddenly occurred to me that this was
something he often did, and I rarely bucked his final word. But
today, I actually accepted the fact that what was left of my money
was invested in Dynamic Productions and I wanted to know what those
charges were.

“I told you I’ll take care
of it,” he said as his smile tightened on his face.

“I don’t want you to take
care of it, Ralph. The clients are mine and I want to know why they
were overcharged. What is production quality assurance? What is
video play-by-play synchronization? What is audio
resonance?”

“Look, Dori, I don’t want to
get you upset. I understand you’re really stressed out right now by
all that’s happening in your life. You’re not really a business
person, so you don’t understand all the things that go into running
a production company....” His voice trailed off as he opened his
arms wide, as if to drive home the point that running Dynamic
Productions was too complex a concept for me to
comprehend.

“It’s not a hard question,
Ralph. Start with production quality assurance. What do my clients
get for that fee?”

“Don’t you mean our clients,
Dori?” he corrected me. “After all, last time I looked, my name was
on the masthead.”

“I billed those clients,
Ralph, after I gave them an estimate. I did not exceed the
estimated production time, nor did I have any production problems.
Increasing the fees was wrong.”

“Well, if you don’t like it,
you can always quit.”

“Excuse me?” I stood up, my
heart pounding and my hands shaking. “I asked you why you added
fees to client bills, Ralph. You still need to give me a
satisfactory answer.”

“And I’m telling you I’m
still your boss. I can still fire you.” The smile never left his
face. As I stood there, stunned, the instinct to survive kicked on
inside my brain. I remembered Bosco’s directive to not let on how
much we knew. I bit my tongue, holding back what I wanted to tell
Ralph about his business ethics. With a deep breath, I focused on
the clients.

“Well, you should call Thad
Macklehenny and Mary Lemanski ASAP, because we’re about to lose
those accounts,” I said seriously. “They’re pretty
upset.”

“You let me handle that side
of the business. You stick to what you do best. Finish the Dandy
Fresh storyboard and the Red Dragon Garden commercial.”

“Fine,” I replied, turning
to go.

“Dori,” he called after me.
I turned at the door. “Have you given any more thought to my
offer?”

“Sorry, Ralph. I’ve been too
busy dealing with upset clients all day, and Bosco hasn’t been
available.”

“Well, sooner,” he strongly
intimated, “rather than later, okay?”

I decided I’d better get out
of the office for a while, so I could cool down and regroup.
Kendall was headed out to take some shots of the Chinese
restaurant, so I decided to accompany her. I figured it was a
chance to pump her for information. I waited until we were on the
road before I started.

“Any chance you know what
the new fees are for?”

“What new fees?” She glanced
over at me as she drove.

“Production quality
assurance, video play-by-play synchronization, audio
resonance....”

“What the hell are those
things?” Kendall seemed confused.

“I haven’t a clue,” I
admitted. “I heard it’s some new system Ralph’s using.”

“Sounds like crap to
me.”

I helped Kendall with the
light balance and moved the metal stands to redirect the lights
around until we found the right positions, then I watched the
monitor for glitches as she filmed. We worked for a couple of
hours, shooting and re-shooting, until we had some good footage.
After we packed up the equipment and loaded it back in the van,
Kendall suggested we stop for a cold drink and a quick bite. We
settled ourselves at a small bistro table under the striped
green-and-white awning of the Coffee Bean.

“I was thinking about what
you said, about those fees.” Kendall took a long sip of her mocha
caramel iced coffee. “Have you noticed anything unusual at the
office lately?”

“What do you
mean?”

“Well, we’re missing some
equipment. Two of the JVC shoulder cameras aren’t around anymore,
and I’ve noticed that there’s a sound mixer gone from the audio
booth, not to mention a couple of microphones. I went to grab one
last week when I was shooting that Hungry Snail commercial, but the
only thing we had left was an old hand-held piece of junk. Ralph
said they were being repaired. I didn’t even know they were
broken.”

“Really?” I thought about
that, swirling my iced tea around in my cup. “That’s
odd.”

“I know. So, when you said
that there were new fees, well...” Kendall stopped talking
suddenly. I glanced up, curious. Her gaze was on a couple, sitting
in a car, in the parking lot.

“Something wrong?” I
wondered.

“Check it out. Ralphy and
Gloria are slugging it out.” I let my eyes follow her gaze and sure
enough, there were Ralph and his girl Friday, screaming at each
other, the windows rolled up and the car still running.

“Can you get this on tape,
Kendall?”

“Hell, yes!” She strode to
the van, her eyes on the prize, climbed into the side away from
Ralph’s car, and within thirty seconds, had the camera discreetly
positioned out the driver’s window, red light on. I grabbed her
iced coffee and my tea before following her. I parked myself in the
passenger seat, listening to her blow-by-blow of the
action.

“Man, is Gloria pissed! She
is reaming him out like you wouldn’t believe. Ralph looks like he’s
going to cry. Or throw up.”

“Wow. What I would give to
be a fly on the wall,” I decided. “You know, if we scooted back to
the shop, we could check on that missing equipment, do a quick
little inventory.”

“Let’s do it.”

Half an hour later, between
the two of us, we came up with an inventory list, and it was a
significant one. Kendall also filmed the equipment still on the
premises, in case any more of it disappeared. Gloria arrived at her
desk a short time later, looking like she was in a foul mood. Ralph
was nowhere to be seen.

I was in the middle of
reading my emails when Gloria appeared in my doorway. She had a
file folder in her hand.

“Ralph said to tell you that
there was a billing error for Platinum Health and Good Fruit. He
called their representatives and smoothed things over. He also
wanted me to tell you that the next time there is a complaint,
you’re to direct your clients to speak with me, since I am the
bookkeeper.”

“Promotion?” I said that one
word as evenly as I could, but Gloria took offense anyway. A dark
storm cloud hovered over her auburn-haired head, threatening her
cheery disposition.

“I’ll have you know, Dori,
that I am very skilled at what I do, so you should expect to see me
handle more and more of the day-to-day responsibilities around
here. Dynamic Productions is about to take off, so you might want
to lose that snotty attitude of yours and treat me with the respect
I deserve as Ralph’s partner!”

“I’m sorry,” I stuttered,
standing up suddenly. “Did you say you are Ralph’s
partner?”

“I did. And you’ll do well
to remember that or you won’t be working here, not if I have
anything to say about it!”

“What the....” I stared at
the empty doorway as Hurricane Gloria disappeared from the horizon.
This was all becoming too much. There was something very wrong at
Dynamic Productions. I thought about calling Bosco for advice, but
I decided to finish what I was doing first. My head was humming
with all the thoughts whirling around inside it. I wrote a couple
of replies for client inquiries before I opened an email from Thad
Macklehenny’s.

“No way!” I sputtered,
reading his words. “No bloody, stinking way!”

There was another email from
Mary, as well as one from Bob Jacobs at Tremont Tech. According to
Ralph, I was caught padding the bills for clients and he profusely
apologized for the inconvenience. He promised them I would be
dismissed as soon as I came back to the office on Monday. Given
that this was Friday, it looked like Ralph was buying himself some
time.

“Knock, knock.” It was Tony,
Kendall’s competition. A former cameraman for Channel 9 news, he
was adept at quick cutaways and fast-paced promos, but he was also
good at sound editing. “Have you seen the storyboard for
Unger?”

“Why?” I was working on that
with Dom and Kendall.

“I have to do the
rewrite.”

“What rewrite? It’s already
been approved by Paul Unger. We’ve shot most of the
footage.”

“Don’t know. I was told to
rework it.” The normally affable Tony seemed flustered.

“By whom?” I
demanded.

“Gloria just told me Ralph
wants it done.”

I got up from my chair, put
a finger to my lips, and crossed the room. Pulling Tony inside, I
shut the door.

“Can I ask you something
honestly?” I helped Tony get the job when he was laid off during
cutbacks at the station. “Have you noticed strange things going on
around here lately? Equipment missing? New fees tacked onto bills?
Anything unusual?”

He took a long, hard look at
me. I could tell he had something to say. When he opened his mouth,
I never would have guessed that what he had to share was that
disturbing.

“Look, Dori, I know you’re
under a strain. I’m happy to help you any way I can. You’ve been a
good friend to me. Take Ralph up on his offer. Take a leave of
absence and get some counseling.”

“What?” The expression on my
face only seemed to confuse Tony even more. “What in God’s name are
you talking about?”

“I heard about the
money.”

“What money?

“You tried to shake down
Ralph to give you money because you’re broke.”

“I what?”

“He said you wanted fifty
grand because you’re penniless.” My eyes flew open wide and my jaw
dropped. I forced myself to breathe deeply. How was I going to
convince Tony that I was being set up? And then I went to my
computer.

“Come here,” I demanded. I
opened up the email from Thad, with all of the documentation about
our earlier conversation and what Ralph told him. I did the same
with Mary’s. He read over my shoulder and I could tell he didn’t
know who to believe. He sat down in the chair on the other side of
my desk, speechless. “Are you aware of the fact that Bosco and I
own forty two percent of Dynamic?”

“Can Bosco confirm this?”
Tony wanted to know.

“Should he have to?” I shot
back. I saw my colleague study me, trying to decide what to say
next.

“Yeah, he should, because if
it’s true, there’s something you two should know.”

“What’s that?”

“Ralph is selling the
company to a group of investors.”

I leaned back in my chair
and looked up at Tony. From the expression on his face, I could
tell he was worried.

“How do you know this?” I
wanted answers. He opened his mouth to tell me at the same time
Gloria barged in like a runaway tractor trailer truck heading down
the mountain without pumping the brakes.

“Why is your door closed?”
she demanded.

“Excuse me?” Tony was back
in the chair across from me and he looked apprehensive, uncertain
of what to make of the transformed Gloria.

“I didn’t know I wasn’t
allowed to shut my office door for a private conversation,” I
snapped, standing up. “Next time Tony has to tell me that his
mother was diagnosed with an illness like cancer, I’ll be sure to
notify you, so you can join us.”

“Don’t you take that tone
with me, Dori! I won’t have it!”

“I’m out of here,” Tony
announced, edging his way past the agitated assistant.

“Tony,” I called after him,
“I’m so sorry about your mother. Please give her my
best.”

“Thanks, Dori.” He still had
a stricken look on his face. For a moment, Gloria almost seemed
like she wanted to start over, but by then, I was in no mood. After
all, Ralph was selling the company out from under my feet, with no
notice. No wonder he was so excited about buying our
shares.

“What were you two talking
about?” Gloria’s face was so close to mine, I could see her crooked
incisors. I took a step back, retreating from the stormy girl
Friday, and then thought better of it. I turned and went back to my
desk. She started to follow me. “I asked you a
question!”

Chapter Eleven
--

“You have a problem with
Tony sharing information about his mother with me? I’m not allowed
to discuss her illness with him without your permission?” The truth
was Tony had told me about his mother last week, but there was no
reason to tell Gloria that. I decided to turn the tables on her and
hit her where it hurt. “What kind of monster are you?”