Tabitha wandered out to see what was going on. “Mrrow?”
“No, we’re up here right now. You go play,” Ronnie said. Apparently the orange and white cat thought she said ‘come on up’ because she did exactly that, crossing over the executive’s lap and settling down between the two women.
“Do you want her down?” Rose put her hand under the feline’s stomach, ready to shoo her.
Ronnie looked at the purring cat. Two weeks ago she never would have let an animal take control of her house. “I guess she’s not hurting anything.” The truth was that it made the executive smile inside to see Rose happy and obviously being around Tabitha did that. She reached out and let her long fingers join the smaller ones in petting the happily purring feline.
Tuesday brought with it the realization that the matters at Cartwright Corporation could not be ignored any longer. Ronnie bid goodbye to the still sleeping Rose and headed for the Jeep.
The morning disc jockeys were busy making fun of recent political activities, leaving the executive with no choice but to pop in a CD. She guided the bright blue Jeep through the neverending series of traffic lights and one-way streets until she reached the Hudson Avenue parking garage. She drove up ramp after ramp until she reached the row of spaces reserved for Cartwright executives. Ronnie pulled into the spot reserved for her and shut the engine off. She took a few minutes to put her head in the work mode after being in the caretaker mode for so many days. Feeling ready to face whatever awaited her, Veronica Cartwright stepped out of her vehicle and headed for the elevator that would take her down to the ground floor. From there it was a short walk to State Street and the Cartwright Building.
The worst part about having the corporate offices on the top floors of a large high-rise in downtown Albany was she had to share the elevator with everyone who worked on the lower floors. Ronnie found herself squashed into the corner as more and more people convinced themselves they could fit into the small transport. She clutched her attache tightly against her body and waited an interminable amount of time for the elevator doors to finally close and begin the slow ride upward. The multitudes of colognes and perfumes assaulted her senses, lingering behind after their owners departed on their assigned floors. When the elevator finally reached the twenty-eighth floor, a grateful Ronnie stepped out to face the double glass doors that led to the Cartwright corporate offices.
“Morning, Laura. Anything important I need to know about?” Veronica asked, pulling the pile of pink phone messages out of their slot. More than half found themselves crumpled up and tossed into the blue recycle can next to the young secretary’s desk.
“The reports are on your desk.” The brown haired petite woman glanced over the schedule book.
“You have a meeting at ten with the investors from Houston and your sister has left word for you to call her as soon as you arrive.” She took her boss’ coat and crossed the room to hang it up in the closet. “She says it’s important.”
“It’s always important to Susan,” Veronica responded, unimpressed. Reaching for the handle to her office she instructed, “Call my house and get Maria on the phone for me.”
Once inside the privacy of her corner office, Ronnie set her pumps under the desk and padded around in her stockinged feet, fetching a fresh cup of coffee from the private pot kept in her office. A few minutes later she was sitting at her desk, the computer humming to life. A polite buzz and the flashing light on her phone told her that Laura’s task was accomplished. She picked up the black receiver and pressed the button for line two. “Maria.”
“Is something wrong?” the housekeeper asked. It was rare for Ronnie to call home.
“I just wanted to see how things were going with our guest.”
“Rose is still sleeping. Do you want me to wake her up?”
“No.” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. “Listen, when she wakes up, give her my office number and have her give me a call, okay?” The sound of the door to her office opening brought Ronnie’s head up. Susan stood there, her body language indicating that something was life-or-death. “I’ve got to go. Have her call me.” She set the receiver down.
“What?”
“You know that ‘new hire’ of yours? Rose Grayson?”
“Yeah? What about her?”
“She’s never shown up for work. The termination papers just hit my desk.”
“Termination papers? Who authorized that?”
“Grace did. Accounting is her department. She said she had never heard of this woman and that she never showed up for work.”
Ronnie picked up the phone and pressed the digits for Laura’s phone. “Get Grace on the phone.” She turned her attention back to her sister. “Anything involving Rose comes to my desk immediately. You are to do nothing involving her without my consent.”
“Ronnie, what’s going on? You hire someone for an entry level, give them full benefits immediately and they never even show up to work?”
“Don’t worry about it, Susan. I’ll handle it.”
“Grace on line three,” Laura’s voice cracked through the intercom. Ronnie picked up the receiver.
“Grace, there’s a problem with a new hire, Rose Grayson?”
“Yeah, like she never showed up for work.” the cousin replied.
“Don’t worry about it. She’s on extended medical leave. Just process her paperwork every week. Under no circumstances are you to terminate her.”
“What? Ronnie, she never showed up. I’ve never even met this Grayson woman. All I have is a few forms faxed over from Susan last week.”
“I know all about it.” There was a pause and she thought her cousin was going to argue with her some more about it. “Grace, there is no discussion on this.”
“Fine. You’re the boss.” There was a click followed by the dial tone. Ronnie hung the phone up and glanced at the computer screen. “Is there anything else, Sis?”
“Of course there is.” Susan replied, moving around the desk until she was standing next to her older sister. “Ronnie, come on, what’s going on?”
“Nothing you need to worry about. I’m sure you have more important things to do than to worry about one little employee.”
“One little employee that you mysteriously hired.” The redhead leaned casually against the mahogany desk. “Ronnie, you have never directly hired anyone for a position except Laura.” A thought occurred to her. “This isn’t like when you were at Stanford, is it?”
The mention of her great personal failure brought the executive’s attention away from the computer. “Susan, can’t you let anything die? That was ten years ago!” There was no mistaking her angry tone.
“Hey, you should have known better than to trust some poor white trash.”
“Christine was not poor white trash. She was there on an academic scholarship.”
“And what subject were you two studying at night in your room?” Susan jibed. “You weren’t there when Dad answered the phone the night she called. You didn’t hear the things she told him. The way she threatened to make it public knowledge.”