Ulterior Motives (4 page)

“Their thoughts exactly.”

Shelley looked at him speculatively. “Are they thinking about replacing Chuck?”

“It’s a little more interesting than that. They’re sending a fix-it man.”

“A what?”

“They’ve evidently got some guy whose whole job is to go around reorganizing schools that are losing money. He’s directly responsible to Henri Montpazier, the president of the whole company, and to no one else.”

“Is he some kind of marketing expert?” Shelley asked.

“I don’t know what his actual background is. I’ll have to ask around and find out more about him.”

“How does he ‘reorganize’?”

“Top to bottom. He comes in, figures out everything that’s wrong with the center, finds a whole new staff if necessary, examines their finances, their methods, their location. He contacts new clients, old clients—and
other schools’
clients, Shelley.”

She leaned back in her chair as she considered Wayne’s words. “So they’re not just bringing in someone to clean up their own act. They want a piece of our action, too.”

Wayne nodded. “And we’ve always agreed that, even with all this new business coming into the city, there still aren’t enough clients here to keep
two
language centers in healthy operation.”

“How good is this guy’s reputation?” Shelley asked.

“Very good. From what I understand, he totally turned around their school in Washington last year. That didn’t particularly hurt business at the Babel school there, but that’s a much busier city than this one. I gather he reorganized an Elite school in some French city a few years back—Toulouse, I think Charles said it was—and the competing language center closed down.”

“All right,” Shelley said. “It looks like we may have a problem on our hands. I’ll call Chicago to let them know what’s happening and to see if we can find out more about this guy and his methods.”

“I have a friend who used to work for Elite in New York. I’ll call her and see what she can find out—”

Shelley hesitated for a moment, not liking the cloak-and-dagger quality of that. “All right,” she said. “Go ahead. The more we know about what to expect, the better. And in the meantime let’s keep in mind that this could all be hot air. I’ve never known Chuck to tell the truth before.”

“I think he
was
telling the truth, Shelley. He seemed worried. If they decide they’re not pleased with the way he’s been running things, he’ll be lucky to find himself running a one-room Elite outpost in northern Alaska by the time this is over.”

“I’m still skeptical. I wish I’d been there to talk to Chuck myself,” Shelley muttered.

“So do I. Did you have a nice chat with tall-dark-and-handsome, by the way?”
 

“Never mind that,” Shelley chided. “You get on the phone and see if you can find a French teacher for tonight while I call Chicago.” She picked up the phone and started dialing the long-distance number. “When is this guy expected to arrive?”

“He’s already here. He arrived yesterday.”

“He’s here?” Shelley repeated. “Have you seen him?”

“No. I asked Charles to point him out at the reception, but he had disappeared.” Wayne got up to leave.

“I’d have loved to have talked to him, too. Tell Francesca to hold my calls for the next... Wait!”

Drifting thoughts started to come together in Shelley’s mind. Something about Toulouse and a man who had disappeared from Keene International’s reception today...
I may do some business with them... Michelle Baird... Director of the Babel Language Center...

With an oppressive sense of irony she asked Wayne, “Did you find out what his name is?”

“Ross Tanner.”

Shelley slammed the phone down just as it started ringing in Chicago. “Somehow I thought you’d say that.” She rubbed her fingers against her temples, feeling a sudden headache coming on.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sit down. I have something to tell you.”

Chapter Two

Let me get this straight,” Wayne said. “You not only invited Ross Tanner up here, you actually showed him around?”

Shelley nodded. “Francesca!” she called. “Have you got anything for a headache?”

“Well, gee, Shelley,” Wayne continued, “as long as he was here, why didn’t you show him our books, tell him about our latest contracts, and let him sit in on a few language lessons?”

“Stop it,” she chided. “I had no idea who he was. The only thing he said about his line of work was that he might do some business with Keene International. I didn’t know he was connected to Elite. How could I have known?”

“All right, all right, I’m sorry. The damage is done—”

“No ‘damage’ was done,” said Shelley. “All he did was look around a bit. For goodness sake, even Chuck has been here before.”

“Why did you bring Tanner here in the first place? Was it his idea?”

“No...”

“You suggested it?”

“Yes...”

“Why, for God’s sake?”

“Because he took me home and then drove me back to work. I invited him up here for a cup of coffee. I was just trying to be polite.” That wasn’t the whole truth, but Shelley intended to keep certain mistakes private.

“All right, even assuming that he really didn’t know who you were, why didn’t he say something once he realized his mistake?”
 

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Shelley muttered.

“He was thinking about other things, maybe,” suggested Francesca knowingly as she entered the room with a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water.

“What things?” asked Wayne.

“That’s enough, Francesca,” said Shelley. “Give me that. My head hurts.”

“What things?” Wayne repeated. “Francesca, did he seem unusually interested in something up here?”

“Yes, he was very interested—”

“Francesca,” Shelley warned.

“In Shelley.”

Both Wayne and Francesca turned to stare at Shelley. Francesca looked at her with fond concern, while Wayne seemed convinced his boss had lost her marbles.

“And you fell for that?” he demanded.

“I didn’t fall for anything,” Shelley insisted.

“My God, Shelley, of all the men to pick—”

“That’s enough, Wayne. I made a mistake, that’s all. He caught me off my guard, but it won’t happen again. He didn’t see or hear anything up here that’s going to lead to our dramatic downfall. Now I think we all have too much work to do to waste any more time dwelling on why he didn’t tell me the truth. He’s obviously a slippery character, that’s all.”

There was a moment of silence as they digested this.
 

“All right,” Wayne said, “you’re right. We shouldn’t overreact to this. I’ll get on the phone and find someone for tonight’s French class. You’d better call Chicago.”

Shelley called her superior in Chicago to explain what they’d just learned. She decided not to tell him about the afternoon’s events, since it was irrelevant and made her feel foolish.

“Have you ever heard of this guy, Jerome?” Shelley said into the receiver.

“No, but then he’s obviously never come to the Midwest before. I’m supposed to call the New York office tonight and the Paris office on Monday morning. I’ll ask about him then. If he’s well known, they’ll be able to provide information on him. In the meantime, Shelley, just don’t let him come between you and that contract with Keene International. We’re counting on you.”

“Yes, Jerome.”

“Call me around ten o’clock Monday morning with this week’s figures, and I’ll let you know what I’ve heard.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t worry about it, Shelley. You’re doing a great job. You’ve always made me glad that I recommended you for that post.”

Shelley smiled. “Thanks, Jerome. I’ll talk to you Monday.”

 
Shelley worked late that night. This had nothing to do with Ross Tanner or her worries about what kind of trouble he could cause. She had increased business by more than thirty percent in the time she’d been director of the Babel school here, but she still hadn’t been supplied with the staff necessary to cope with that extra workload. She had requested an associate director and another secretary; headquarters in New York had denied these requests but promised to review the situation again the following year. So Shelley worked longer hours as business continued to grow.

Upon reflection, she could believe Ross hadn’t known who she was. He had seemed genuinely surprised when she told him she was the director of the Babel Language Center. At the time she had attributed his surprise to the unusual name of her business. It evoked images of the biblical Tower of Babel, the lust for power that had inspired its construction, and the confusion that had followed its destruction by the Almighty. Shelley wished once again that the board of directors would choose a new name.

She went home feeling weary and a little hurt. Ross had seemed like a wonderful man. Why hadn’t he told her the truth before he left? Had he really had hopes of learning something significant from her before she found out who he was? Had he been playing with her? Was he embarrassed? She had sensed some indecision in him, and she wasn’t sure what to attribute it to.

Now that she knew who he was, she certainly couldn’t see him again. Babel company policy prohibited teachers and staff from dating clients and students. Although Shelley disapproved of a business policy that tried to regulate employees’ personal lives, she had abided by it during her sojourn in Cincinnati and had turned down several personal invitations from male clients. Given that, she could hardly go out with her company’s chief competitor, particularly not when he represented such a potential threat to the growth of her business.

At home she stuck some leftover Chinese food in the microwave and wondered whether Ross Tanner could convince Keene International to go with Elite instead of Babel. She had another meeting scheduled with Keene on Tuesday. She would try to get a commitment from them then, before Ross had time to put together a new proposal.

There was not, as Wayne had pointed out, enough business to keep two language schools very busy. Competition for each new client was fierce. Shelley prided herself on her talent for running a business and drawing new clients. However, she knew that she owed part of her success here to the mediocrity of her competitor at Elite. Chuck was as incompetent as Shelley’s predecessor, and probably a lot more dishonest—he was just better at hiding it. Shelley was still new enough to lack confidence in her ability to stay on top now that Elite had brought in an expert.

Ross would be coming to pick her up in the morning, she realized. She must decide how to deal with him. She wanted to handle the situation with dignity, both for her self-respect and because, curiously enough, she wanted his respect, too. She decided she would be cool, businesslike, and firm, no matter what.

When Shelley opened her front door the next morning, Ross took one look at the total absence of warmth or welcome in her eyes and realized she already knew the truth.

“News travels fast around here, I see,” he commented after a heavy silence.

“Especially bad news.”