Dawn Stewardson - Unexpected Outcome

“In this instance,” she continued, telling herself she was doing fine thus far, “with Robert’s memo referring to the fact that there’ve been specific problems, people will be expecting me to ask about them. So I will.

“Actually, since two of the major ones happened at the warehouse, I’d like to begin by talking with the staff there.”

“You’re going to make them nervous,” he said quietly.

“I’ll do my best not to.”

THE FOUR CORNERS WAREHOUSE was only a few blocks from its head office, on one of the multitude of piers reaching out into the Hudson River.

Noah opened the door and ushered Dana inside, thinking—not for the first time—that the work crew the insurance company had sent in had done wonders.

“Seeing this place now,” he said, “you wouldn’t believe what a charred disaster it was after the fire. Just about everything being stored had suffered either smoke or water damage. And the air was so acrid you could feel it searing your lungs.”

She nodded. “I’ve been in burned-out buildings.”

“Oh?”

Wondering why she would have been, he waited for her to elaborate.

She didn’t, merely glanced around, then said, “How soon after they had the fire out were you in here?”

“Well, it was out by about two in the morning. The fire marshal didn’t let me have a look until after dawn, though. And even then it barely qualified as a look because they had it taped off as a crime scene.”

“But you’re saying you were here most of the night?”

He nodded. “I came as soon as I heard we had trouble. One of the administrators is always on call, either Robert, Larry or me. And it was me that night.”

“Is that unusual? Having an admin person on call in this type of business?”

He shrugged. “Every so often a problem comes up after hours. Five o’clock here is only two in L.A.

“Fortunately, though, our problems usually have to do with a missed delivery or that sort of thing. Not a fire.”

When she smiled, his heart gave a little thud against his ribs.

He warned himself to watch out.

Nothing had changed over the weekend. This still wasn’t a good time for him to get interested in a woman. Particularly not this woman.

“Who discovered the fire?” she was saying. “Not that it has anything to do with my job here, but you’ve got me curious.”

“Well, a security company patrols this pier and the ones closest to it.”

Her nod showed she’d already known that, making him think Robert and Larry must have done a thorough job of filling her in.

“Their guard called 911,” he continued. “Then, once the fire trucks were on their way, he contacted our answering service. And they phoned me.

“I got here not long after the firefighters. I just live over in Murray Hill.”

She started to ask another question, stopping as Stu Refkin appeared from behind a crate in the back.

He eyed them for a moment, then raked his fingers through his graying hair and started across the floor.

“This is our warehouse manager,” Noah said as he reached them. “Stu Refkin, Dana Mayfield.”

The man extended his hand, looking far from happy.

“We got the boss’s memo about you,” he said. “But I didn’t expect to see you so soon.

“No offense,” he quickly added.

She smiled. “None taken.”

“Good. Then let me go get my men. I know they’ll want to meet you.”

Noah didn’t buy that for a second. As he’d warned Dana earlier, she was going to make all three of these fellows nervous.

A couple of minutes passed before Stu arrived back with Tony Zicco and Paul Coulter in tow.

Tony had dark hair, Paul’s was a sandy color, but there were more similarities than differences in their appearances. Both were early forties, a shade under six feet tall, with muscular builds that indicated they did physically demanding work.

After going through introductions a second time, Noah made a bit of small talk. Then his cellular rang, giving him an excuse to leave the four of them on their own.

It was Helen calling, with a question that only took a minute to answer. But when he clicked off, rather than rejoining the others, he wandered over to the window beside the door and stood, ostensibly staring out at the murky water of the Hudson.

In reality, he was watching the little group’s reflection in the glass, absently adding up how many years—in total—the three men had worked at Four Corners.

Stu had been with the company since start-up, for the first ten years as one of the warehouse grunt men, for the past twenty as manager.

Tony and Paul hadn’t been around forever but both were long-term employees.

He’d had a careful look through their files after the container incident, so he knew Paul had been around for close to eighteen years. And Tony had come on board about three years later—almost straight out of prison.

But he’d always been a good employee. Surely he wouldn’t go bad again after so much time had passed.

Or would he?

Maybe he’d needed big money for some reason and…

Telling himself speculation about that sort of thing was a waste of time, Noah focused on the reflection once more.

All three men looked worried, but they’d be a lot more so if they’d overheard some of the discussions he’d had with Robert and Larry. If they knew Larry kept harping on the point that lie detector tests weren’t foolproof, and insisting at least one of the warehouse people had to be part of what he’d taken to calling “the conspiracy”…

However, surely anyone who gave his conclusion much thought would question it. Because none of these three seemed like the sort who’d get involved in a master plan to cause the company grief.

So wouldn’t most people figure Larry was probably wrong? That someone else had tried to burn the place down?

And even though Tony had made a major-league slipup when he’d signed for those containers, that was a far cry from conspiring with the ship’s captain to steal a couple of them.

Noah let his gaze drift to Dana’s reflection, wondering what impression she was forming of these guys. Did she think one of them could be…

Of course, Robert had said he’d underplayed the sabotage angle with her. That he’d merely mentioned they thought it was possible someone was intentionally causing their problems.

Still, it would have occurred to her that the arsonist might be an employee.

He watched her for a few more seconds. And even though looking at her told him nothing about what was going on in her head, it was plain to see that those smiles she kept flashing weren’t getting her anywhere. She was still making the men uneasy.

Not only that…

Studying her image in the glass, he silently admitted she was making him uneasy, as well. Because something about her didn’t ring true.

He wasn’t entirely sure why he had that feeling, although the fact they were here in the warehouse accounted for part of it.

Based on what he knew about the way consultants worked, she should have had him introduce her to the office staff first. Made her way over here sometime after that.

So even though she’d given him a plausible reason for where she wanted to begin, the fact remained that she wasn’t behaving like a typical consultant.

And then there was her response when he’d asked her how she’d be proceeding.

She’d start by talking to people and see where it led. That was the extent of what she’d said—and it had set off a minor alarm in his brain.

People who specialized in organizational design, the ones he’d known in university, at least, were always more than eager to talk about the guiding principles they followed.

As Dana herself had said, OD wasn’t an exact science. Which seemed to make its practitioners feel they should work at convincing everyone they met that it deserved respect.