Two years after striking my deal with Hank Marsha, Hank's secretary, called me in a panic. She had gone into Hank's office and found him face down on his desk and she couldn't get him to respond. I told her to call 911 and I rushed over to his office. I felt for a pulse, but couldn't find one and I got him on the floor and started doing CPR on him and I kept it up until the paramedics arrived, but it was no use. He was gone.
Knowing that Michelle and Ronnie didn't get along all that well and figuring that I would break the news a little more gently than Michelle would I called Ronnie first and let her know what happened and where the paramedics were taking Hank. And then I called Michelle who was in a meeting at the Hilton. I was a little shocked at her response to the news.
"He's dead? You are sure about that?"
"I am."
"Well if he's dead there is nothing I can do so I might just as well stay here and finish the meeting."
I didn't even say goodbye; I just hung up the phone on her.
I got together with Marsha and reviewed Hank's calendar and then got on the phone and cancelled several appointments that he had. Then I went down on the plant floor and informed the rank and file that Hank was gone. While I was performing that sad chore Marsha paged me and said that I was needed back in the office as soon as possible. I hurried back to the office and she said:
"Halsey on line two."
I picked up the phone and said, "Good morning Bart. What can I do for you?"
"I just called Hank to verify our lunch date and found out what happened to Hank. Who is in charge now that Hank is gone?"
"I'm not certain, but my guess is that his daughter will pick up the reins. Why?"
"We were supposed to meet for lunch at two and sign our renewal contract. I need that contract in place before the bank will release the funds I have to have for the expansion and retooling I need and I'm under some deadlines as far as locking in the contractors. I've got till end of business tomorrow to lock them in or they will be taking other jobs and I will have to get back in line until they can get the time to get back to me."
"Let me make some calls and I'll get back to you."
I called Avery Collins who was Hank's attorney and filled him in on what had happened. Then I told him of Halsey's call and asked him who could act for the company in the absence of Hank. He surprised the hell out of me when he said:
"You can."
"I can?"
"You are an owner of the company and right at this moment you are the only official owner by virtue of your ten percent holdings. The other owners are not really official until the will is read and even then who is going to be in charge is not cast in stone."
"You are sure about this?"
"Absolutely."
"I'm not sure how his daughter is going to take it."
"Don't sweat it. You have legal standing."
I called Halsey back and told him I would meet him for lunch and we would get the contract signed. Then I asked Marsha if she knew where the contract was so I could look it over before meeting Halsey. She went into Hank's office and came back with his briefcase.
"Everything you need is in there" she said as she handed it to me. I went back to my office, opened the brief case, found the Halsey contract and went through it. It was a straight forward renewal with nothing changed except it was extended for three years.
Once I knew where I was on Halsey I called Ronnie and asked her if there was anything I could do for her and she told me not at the moment, but in a couple of days she might need my help. I told her not to hesitate to call if she needed anything at all.
Once I got off the phone I went back into Hank's briefcase to see if there was anything else that needed urgent attention. I found a couple of contracts with sticky notes on them outlining changes that Hank had intended to make and I decided to review them when I got back from lunch.
I met Halsey at Mario's and we signed the contract and then I went back to the office. I got on the phone and made some calls to people whom I thought should know about Hank's passing and then spent the rest of the afternoon reviewing the contents of Hank's brief case. There was nothing out of the ordinary with them and I gave Marsha the rough drafts of the contracts with the changes that Hank wanted and asked her to type them up.
I stopped for a beer or two on the way home and as I worked on them I wondered what the morning was going to bring and if I was up to it. One thing I knew for sure is that I would be facing Michelle and I was not looking forward to it.
++++++++++++++++++++
I arrived at the office at eight and at eight ten Marsha called me and told me that Mrs. Haight (Michelle) wanted to see me in her office.
"Tell her I'm too busy right now to run down to the Sales department."
"She isn't in her office in Sales. She has moved into Hank's office."
"Well I'm still too busy right now. Tell her I'll give her a call when things clear up here."
Three minutes later my door opened and Michelle stormed into my office.
"What the hell do you mean that you are too busy to see me? If you value your job you had better get your head out of your ass if you expect me to keep you on here. I want to know where the hell you get off signing contracts on behalf of this company. I did not authorize you to sign anything and that goes for the contracts that Marsha says she is typing up for you now. You do not commit my company to anything without my approval. Do you understand that? And when I call you to my office you had better get off your ass and get there. Are we clear on that?"
"Actually I'm quite clear on a couple of things. One of them is that your father's attorney has assured me that I can sign contracts on behalf of the company. I called him and cleared it before my meeting with Halsey. Another thing I'm quite clear on is that until your father's will is read and we see how he distributed his assets and who gets control of the company I am a vice president and you are only the manager of a department. My advice to you is to get back to Sales and do what you are supposed to be doing there.
"And there is one more thing I am absolutely clear on. Your father gave me a ten year employment contract when I told him I was going to look for another job rather than end up working for you. You can buy me out of the contract, but you can't fire me or lay me off. Now get out of here and let me get back to work."
"You haven't heard the last of this" she snarled.
"Get out Mrs. Haight before I call security and have you removed.
"You wouldn't dare!"
I reached for the phone and she turned and stormed out of the office. I called Marsha and asked her to come to my office. When she got there I described my meeting with Michelle and told her until such time as Hank's will was read and we determined who would be running the company that she should take her direction from me.
"Don't sweat pissing off Mrs. Haight. If it gets down to it I will have personnel assign you to me and Mrs. Haight will not be able to let you go."
"But why wouldn't Mrs. Haight take over the company?"
"Maybe Hank left the business to his wife. Maybe he left half to his wife and half to his daughter or maybe he had a favorite cousin that he left part of the business to. Maybe he didn't even have a will and his wife and Mrs. Haight will have to fight it out in court. The only thing I am sure of is that I am untouchable unless whoever takes over wants to buy me out of my contract which still has eight years to go and as long as I am untouchable so are you.
"I'm not saying to openly antagonize her; I'm just saying that you should quietly check with me if she asks you to do anything that will have an impact on the company or the people who work here. Don't misunderstand me here. I'm not asking you to take sides. You have worked here for over ten years and you were with Hank for over three and I am also assuming that you have become attached to the company and would like to see it prosper. All I'm asking is that you keep the best interests of the company in mind. Can you do that?"
She nodded a yes and I asked her to get back to the contracts I'd asked her to type up.
Marsha was no sooner out of my office than I got a call from Ronnie asking me to meet her for lunch. I told her I could and we set it up for twelve-thirty at Tricocci's.
She was already there sitting in a booth in the back and she stood up and gave me a hug when I got there. Jared took our order and then Ronnie said:
"You are no doubt curious about why I wanted to meet you for lunch."
"It did cross my mind."
"I'm getting a jump on the competition."
"Competition? You will need to explain that one to me."
"Please don't think bad of me for bringing it up when poor Hank isn't even in the ground yet, but to me this is extremely important. It was his heart by the way. What they told me is that his heart just quit. Anyway. With Hank gone my sole source of income is going to be what I get from the company. His insurance will pay off the house, the cars and all the credit card balances and I will have some left over, but not much. There is little in savings. Hank put all the money back into the company.
"I'm going to have to go back to work and my only work experience is as a secretary and it won't pay enough for me to pay my taxes, utilities and the like unless I live very frugally. I'm going to need the money I can get from the company and that is where my problem lies. To be quite blunt about it Michelle and I don't get along. She was never very happy that her father married someone only six years older than her. She also blames me for the breakup between her dad and her mother even though it was her mother getting caught with her lover that caused the divorce."
"I still don't understand the bit about getting a jump on the competition you mentioned."
"I know what Hank's will says. The company will be split equally between me and Michelle. I'm afraid that with Michelle working there she will find a way to screw me over and that is what I am trying to prevent."
"How does having lunch with me help you?"
"If I can get you in my corner she won't be able to screw me over."
"I still don't understand where this is going."
