Chapter 3 - THE MAN ON THE SHOULDER
I nearly told Nora Hale there was no problem.
That was the answer I had learned to give people who couldn't do anything about it.
Instead, I said, "My manager gave me a warning and removed me from consideration for a promotion."
"For helping the Whitcombs?"
"For arriving seventy-two minutes late."
She was quiet long enough that I checked the call had not dropped.
"Would you be willing to tell Daniel that yourself?"
"I don't want him feeling responsible."
"He won't."
Something in her voice made me uncomfortable.
"Who are you exactly?"
"I work for him."
"Doing what?"
"Risk and operations."
"That sounds expensive."
For the first time she laughed.
"Sometimes it is."
We agreed to meet at a diner outside Cranberry the next morning.
When I arrived, Daniel was sitting in a booth with two mugs of coffee and a folded newspaper.
He looked almost ordinary without the freezing rain and desperate expression.
"You made it," he said, standing to shake my hand.
"How are the kids?"
"Liam is telling everyone your truck becomes a snowplow on Tuesdays. Sophie thinks you're a superhero."
"Tell them the superpower is checking electrical breakers."
Daniel laughed, then slid an envelope across the table.
Inside was a check for $286 and a handwritten thank-you from both children.
I read the crooked letters twice.
"They didn't need to do that."
"They wanted to."
He watched me carefully.
"Nora tells me your supervisor wrote you up."
"It's a complicated work issue."
"Is it?"
I told him what happened in Curtis's office.
I did not mention the altered record.
I wanted to protect Tasha.
Daniel listened without interrupting.
When I finished, he asked about the grocery distribution center.
"Did the product spoil?"
"Not a single pallet. The backup system held."
"Did the customer complain?"
"The supervisor thanked me."
"Then why did Curtis Baines call your conduct a failure?"
Hearing my manager's full name from Daniel startled me.
"How do you know his name?"
Daniel set down his coffee.
"I looked into the company after you told me where you worked."
"Why?"
"Because people show you who they are when they think no one important is looking."
He paused.
"And because North Ridge may soon become part of a very large decision."
His phone vibrated.
He glanced at the screen and his expression changed.
"I need to take this."
He stepped outside, leaving the newspaper on the table.
A business headline caught my attention.
WHITCOMB CAPITAL TO COMPLETE REVIEW OF NORTH RIDGE PARENT COMPANY.
Beneath it was a photograph of Daniel.
He wasn't simply a businessman who'd gotten stranded on a highway.
He was the chairman of the investment group considering control of the company that employed me.
When he returned, I turned the newspaper toward him.
"You could've mentioned this."
He looked at the photograph, then at me.
"Would you have stopped for my family if you'd known?"
"Yes."
"That's why I needed to know what happened before you knew who I was."
Then he said something that made the diner suddenly feel very small.
May you like
"Caleb, Curtis isn't just hiding your seventy-two minutes. He's hiding something that could put thousands of people out of work."
