"Good God!" Angela said. "Has she called the police?"
"No, she hasn't. He's done this before, although not for a number of years. He'd had a drinking problem, which had led to some odd behavior. His wife told me he'd been out of sorts of late and had gone back to having a cocktail or two on his way home."
"I never knew he had a drinking problem," Angela said. She did not like to be blindsided about any Angels Healthcare employees, particularly key employees.
"I kept it out of his record," Bob said. "I should have told you when I recruited him, but he and I had worked together for something like six years, and he'd been clean."
"Good God!" Angela repeated, raising her eyes to the ceiling for a moment. "Now we have to worry about a drunken binge by our accountant, who's been threatening us all with filing an eight-K. What else can go wrong?" She took a deep breath before looking back at Bob.
"I know he was struggling with his conscience," Bob said. "That's why I called you about him yesterday, to keep you in the loop. Up until then, he hadn't mentioned the problem for over a week. I'd thought it was a non-issue. Apparently, he'd read an article about the sentencing of the Enron and WorldCom people. I told him what I'd told him before, namely that our not filing the eight-K is justifiable. We're not trying to perpetrate a fraud by bilking people out of their savings or retirement funds, which is what the SEC rule is about. In fact, just the opposite! We're creating capital for people."
"After you called me yesterday about him, I called Michael because when you had originally brought the issue to my attention, I had discussed it with him. I thought with his IPO experience he would have a suggestion of how to handle the problem, and he did. He said he knew someone who could talk to him and put his mind at ease by convincing him that filing the eight-K wasn't necessary in our situation."
"Was it a corporate attorney?"
"I have no idea. I didn't ask, but I find myself wondering if talking with Michael's acquaintance could have had anything to do with Paul's not coming to work today."
"It's possible, but I bet the reason for his being incommunicado is more prosaic, like he got himself blotto and is currently sleeping it off in a fleabag hotel."
"Is there any way we could find out if he filed the eight-K?" Angela asked hesitantly.
"Not that I know of," Bob responded. "We'll just have to wait and see if the shit hits the fan." He laughed humorlessly.
"If you think of a way, let me know," Angela said. "It would be best if we know sooner rather than later, so we can prep our general counsel. We'll be forced to come up with a rational explanation of why we didn't file earlier. Maybe you should start giving it some thought, Bob."
Bob nodded.
"What about Paul's secretary?" Carl asked. "Has she heard from him?"
"Not that I know of," Bob said.
"Maybe we should ask her," Angela said, reaching for the phone. "What's her name?"
"Amy Lucas," Carl said.
Angela asked Loren to call Amy Lucas and have her come by ASAP. Angela glanced at her watch. It was twenty after twelve, meaning there was a chance Amy Lucas would be at lunch.
"What's the occasion for the flowers?" Carl asked. "When I saw them, I hoped it had something to do with your morning attempt at raising capital."
"I wish," Angela said. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea who sent them or why."
"Wasn't there a card?" Bob asked.
"There was a card," Angela said, "but it wasn't helpful." She reached for the envelope, slipped out the card, and handed it across the desk. Carl took it, and both men glanced at it.
"What does 'the used one' refer to?" Carl asked.
"Not a clue," Angela admitted. "You don't think it could have anything to do with Paul Yang, do you?"
Both men shook their heads. Carl handed the card back. Angela puzzled over it for a second, and then her phone rang. It was Loren saying Miss Lucas had arrived.
"Send her in," Angela said, tossing the mysterious card to the side.
Loren opened the door, allowed the secretary to enter, then pulled the door shut.
Amy Lucas was a waif-like woman in her mid-twenties. Her features were delicate and her complexion was pale, marred by a sprinkling of acne across her cheeks. Her frizzy blond hair with its lime-green highlights was pulled back from her face and held with a large tortoiseshell clip. Adding to her youthful, almost preteen mien was a simple shirtdress buttoned all the way to her neck. Her hands were clasped in front of her, evincing her nervousness.
Angela introduced herself, since she'd never before met the young woman, and thanked her for coming so quickly.
"No problem," Amy said. "I know who you are."
"Good. And of course you know these gentlemen."
Amy nodded but didn't respond verbally.
"To put you at ease, we called you in here to ask you a couple of questions about your boss, Paul Yang."
In her own hyper state, Angela wasn't certain, but it seemed to her that her attempt at putting Amy at ease had failed. The woman's hands, previously clasped, were now working at each other. The question of whether Paul and Amy might have had or were having an affair popped unbidden into her mind from Bob's statement about Paul's past.
"What kind of questions?" Amy asked. Her eyes quickly jumped back and forth to all three individuals in the room.
"Have you seen him today?"
"No!" Amy said, inordinately quickly in Angela's estimation.
"Has he called or contacted you in any way?" Amy shook her head.
"Did he say anything last evening about not coming in this morning?"
"No."
Angela looked at Bob and Carl and paused in case they had a question. When they didn't respond, Angela redirected her attention to Amy.
"Do you know what a Securities and Exchange Commission form eight-K is?"
"I think so."
"Has Paul Yang had you fill one out recently?"
"Yes, about ten days ago."
"Was it filed?"
"I don't know. I didn't file it. He told me specifically not to file it."
"Did you type it on your workstation monitor?"
"No, he wanted it on his laptop only."
"I see," Angela said. "Is the laptop in his office?"
"No, he always takes it with him."
"So he took it last night in particular."
"Yes, like every night."
Angela glanced at the men again, but they didn't ask any questions.
"Thank you for coming by, Amy," Angela said.
"You're welcome," Amy responded. After a moment's hesitation, she turned and headed for the door.
"Amy!" Angela called out. "When you hear from Paul Yang, please let one of us know."