My meeting with my boss on the Friday after Thanksgiving resulted in him telling me that I'm moving to a parallel position as an assistant manager at the resort H [a national hotel chain I work for] has on Miami Beach. I decided it might be a good idea to call the one person I know there, Hugh Clark, a fellow assistant manager, to get the lay of the land. I was told he was working days, 8am to 4pm, Monday through Fridays. It was after 4pm on Friday. I left him a message to call me.
Monday morning he called my cell. He was friendly but wary. I guess he was worried that I was going to ask for another favor that might get us both fired. After hellos, Hugh asked, "How are things with your.....How are things?"
"OK, we're divorcing. I'm evidently moving to Miami Beach."
"Yeah, my manager just told me. We can use another assistant manager here. We're short at least one but they told us we weren't getting anyone. Now we are. He said you'd be here on January 1st. Why are you moving?"
"Long story. I'll tell you when I see you. I owe you a dinner so you can hear all the sordid details then. I wasn't really given a choice. I can stay where I am but my manager made it clear corporate wanted me out of here. It would be the end of my career. He basically told me that they wanted me at your Miami Beach resort. He framed it as a new start for me. But the bottom line is I accept the job on Miami Beach or I'm done."
"They find out about the live feed and the recorded video I gave you?"
"Not that I know of. I'm calling to ask about your manager. What sort of a guy is he?" Hugh hesitated, so I said, "What you tell me goes no further. I just want a head start on what I'm dealing with."
Hugh replied, "Mr. Beck. And he wants everyone to call him 'Mr. Beck' or 'Sir'. He supposed to work 8am to 4, Monday through Friday, but he doesn't usually get in until after nine. Sometimes he makes it until 4pm."
"He wants to see me at 9:30am on the Friday before the Monday I start. New Year's Day. He won't be in on the 1st."
"I work the same hours as him. I'm not sure what he does, he almost never comes out of his office. When he does, it's to leave for a couple of hours. I really don't want you to repeat what I'm going to tell you. The guy's petty and vengeful. I don't need to be on his bad side. I'm not sure anyone's on his good side but I don't want this getting back to him. OK?"
"OK."
"Beck considers himself more of a Christian than Jesus. He's always criticizing others for their moral lapses. The world, helped along by his immoral and lazy employees whom he's always complaining about, is going straight to hell.
"He has some moral lapses himself but doesn't seem to want to shine his moral spotlight on himself. When he and I meet, I listen but don't engage with him. I don't challenge him about anything he says. I just let him rage until I can turn our meeting back to hotel business. I suggest you do the same. Just listen and when you can, ask about whatever hotel stuff you're supposed to be talking about."
"What moral lapses?"
"It's just gossip really. If I could prove anything, I'd take it to corporate. And I'd need a lot of proof to convince corporate to act. H hotel managers have their own little fiefdom. Corporate makes suggestions about how to run their hotels but the manager is on the ground and is mostly given free rein to do as he or she wants. Beck uses his free rein to do exactly what corporate tells him to do. Always. They love him."
"What's the gossip?"
"He's in his fifties, married with two kids who have their own families. He has an eye for the ladies. He finds vulnerable women employees and uses his position to sleep with them. Some of these women don't have the proper documentation to be working. He tells them he'll protect them. Some he promises promotions to. Some he gets hired, despite their having been rejected by HR, and makes sure they know they owe him. He only does this for good looking women who he believes will be grateful he gave them a job. He tells them he'll help with their career or keep them safe. His help is having them share a hotel room with him for the night. Or maybe more than one night. If they don't play along, they get a visit from immigration or don't get the promotion or get fired.
"I haven't been able to catch him. He never takes them here. Always at another hotel. This stuff is very hard to prove. One woman complained that he told her he'd promote her if she slept with him. He was evidently very direct about it. She wouldn't sleep with him and didn't get the promotion.
"Corporate investigated and concluded she was making it all up. Beck told them she expected a promotion and when he didn't give it to her, she made up the story to get back at him. He said her work didn't support promotion. They believed him over her. They're always going to believe him unless there's a flood of women or I can document his behavior. The guy's a creep but I haven't been able to get the goods on him. I'd love to get him out of here.
"The good news is that after your meeting with him, you'll never see him again. I work his hours so he has me do stuff that he really should be doing himself. I don't think he ever talks directly with any of the other assistant managers. He gives me his marching orders for them. Whatever corporate told him to have us do. Or not do.
"Do you know what shift you'll be working?"
"No. I assume he'll tell me all that when I meet with him."
"He told me this morning. You'll be working nights. Midnight to 8am, Saturday's through Wednesday's. Thursdays and Fridays off. He has no business giving you that shift with your seniority. But it's his call. I don't know who or why they're punishing you but either corporate is or he is.
"Do me a favor and don't tell him I told you your hours. Pretend it's a surprise when you meet with him. In fact, please don't tell him anything I told you about him. Don't even tell him we talked. He'll think I went behind his back. Like I said, he's a vindictive prick."
"I won't tell him anything. Thanks for the info though."
"No problem. Find me after you meet with him. I'll be working. New Year's also. You're scheduled to start Monday the 1st at midnight. You'll have all the New Year's Eve drunks to deal with." He laughed. I thanked him again and we got off.
My last day at the hotel in L [the city in central Florida where I've been working] was Christmas eve. I planned to spend Christmas through New Year's with my parents who live in West Palm Beach, about an hour north of Miami. I packed up my clothes but decided to leave the furniture at my old home. Once I have a new place to live, I'll move the furniture and either rent or sell my old place.
I owed Lt. Markey a dinner too. He had told my manager that I had been truthful with the police when they investigated the death of Cheryl's husband, Roger. We met for dinner at the hotel restaurant on December 23rd. I started by thanking him for telling my manager that I had no blame in Roger's death. That I was in the clear.
He said, "I'm not sure I got the full story there. Actually, I'm sure there's more you didn't tell me. But his brother confessed as part of his plea deal. We got the right man and he's in prison. Another shithead off the streets. So we're good."
"Thanks for doing that. I think he and the hotel big shots are beginning to believe I had nothing to do with any of that. Also, thanks for telling him that Cheryl and I got together only after both our spouses knew our marriages were over. You didn't have to do that. H doesn't like married men who cheat with married women. You're telling him our marriages were already over helped improve my tarnished image."
Markey replied, "From what I could tell, that was true. I know that Cheryl moved out. She left your house in the middle of November. I assume she went back to Miami. She was no longer our problem so I didn't ask Miami PD about her. So you're going to Miami to be with her?"
"No, I'm going to Miami Beach because they gave me no choice. I haven't talked to her since she left but her plan was to move back to Miami. With my ex-wife."
Markey said, "I understand Cheryl's attraction but you should stay away from her. She's scary. She killed the two guys who did the home invasion at your house. But you didn't get the whole story. Let me tell you what you're dealing with in Cheryl. The two guys were coming up the stairs. Your stairs have fifteen steps. One guy was on the seventh step up, the other guy was slightly to his right one step down from him. They both had guns in their hands. Cheryl aimed between them so she got them both with the first shot. Heads and necks. They were probably dead before they hit the ground.
"They fell back down the stairs. Cheryl walked down five steps and shot them again. Then she went back to your bedroom, put the shotgun on your bed, called 911 and got dressed. She left out of your balcony so as not to disturb the crime scene. She waited out front for the cops to arrive. They found her sitting calmly on your porch.
"Understand what she did. She came out of your bedroom and, in probably less than two seconds, got in position at the top of the stairs, aimed perfectly, and got two experienced armed thugs without them firing a shot. Your shotgun has a long barrel and it's not light. She's aiming down the stairs, almost a forty-five degree angle down. The guy one step down was lower than his buddy but she got both. Centered on their heads and necks. A perfect shot.
"If she had left one of them standing she would have had to pump in another round while the guy was shooting at her. She didn't leave either of them standing. One shot, a perfect shot that got them both. Before either of them could get off a round. I wish I had been there to see it. Only in the movies do you see shit like that.
"Maybe one or both were still breathing after her first shot but she must have known they were goners. They fell back down the stairs and were near the bottom of your staircase. She walked down five stairs and made another perfect shot almost straight down. Got both of them again. An insurance shot.
"She was as cool as a cucumber when I talked to her right after I arrived at your home. Like she was talking about the weather. The same with her 911 call. She was so calm about shooting two men, the 911 operator thought it might be a prank call. Also when I interviewed her at the station. As I told you at the time, like it was just another Tuesday to her.
