Chapter 7

Chase arrived early the next day, before most of the staff members on the executive floor were due to come in.

He informed the security desk that Miss Maddox had been reinstated and to give her access to the building as if she’d never left.

Unlike the day before, Chase took his time in the nearly empty offices and greeted the early employees in an effort to get to know them. He found a break room that housed a small kitchen with two coffeepots that were already percolating. In the cupboards, there were real plates, silverware, cups, and glasses. A dishwasher surprised him, but it made sense. A note attached to a clip on the refrigerator said: Your mother doesn’t work here, take care of your own dishes. A second note said the refrigerator was emptied on Fridays by the cleaning staff. Everything except condiments would be thrown away. No exceptions.

He poured himself a cup of black coffee and made his way to his office.

A man smiled as he walked by and greeted him. “Good morning, Mr. Stone.”

Chase hesitated. “Good morning. You are . . . ?”

“Miles. One of the junior accountants.”

Chase skipped the handshake and offered a smile as he walked away.

Another “Good morning, Mr. Stone.” This time from an older woman, maybe in her fifties. Instead of stopping to collect another name, he replied the same and kept walking. Three more people called him out, the last one jumping up from her cubical closest to his office.

“Mr. Stone. Hello. I’m Dee.”

“Good morning.”

“Sorry, yes. Good morning. Can I get you some coffee?”

Chase held up his cup.

It took a full three seconds for her to register that he held a cup of coffee in his hand.

“Oh, okay. Sorry.”

“Not a problem.” He turned toward the open door to the office.

Dee scrambled to his side. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here yesterday when you came in. My son was sick, and the school won’t let him come in with any cold symptoms. Not that I blame them. And my babysitter couldn’t come early. It doesn’t happen often.”

Chase held up his free hand. “Dee, is it? I wouldn’t know that you weren’t here yesterday since this is my second day. What is it you do here?”

She pointed to the still-empty assistant desk. “I’m Piper’s assistant. I mean, I was Piper’s assistant. She was fired.”

Now the conversation came into focus. “She’s been reinstated and will be in today.”

Dee’s shoulders slumped with relief. “Oh, thank God. It’s been crazy without her. First, she was fired. Then Mr. Stone dies. I didn’t know if I . . .” Her words trailed off and her cheeks turned red. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.” She covered her face with her hands. “He was your dad. I am so sorry.”

It was almost comical how nervous and flustered the woman was. “Dee?”

She kept shaking her head, her palms covering her face. “I’m such an idiot.”

“Dee?”

She finally looked at him.

“When children get sick, they need their mothers. I’m sure my father’s death and the absence of the person you report to can’t have been easy. That all changes today. Your apology is unnecessary.”

“But I—”

“Completely unnecessary. Now, do you know who is in charge down in Human Resources?”

She nodded. “Ah-huh.”

“Can you give them a call and explain that I’d like to meet with them early this morning? I won’t take up much of their time.”

Dee’s head bobbed like a child’s toy. “I can do that.”

“Thank you.” Chase escaped the nervous assistant and closed his office door halfway to block out anyone who passed by.

He’d had enough meet and greets before his first cup of coffee.

Ten minutes before the official start time of the workday, Chase heard his assistant arrive. Not because Piper made herself known but because of the surprise resonating from the staff outside his office welcoming her back.

Once the welcoming committee dissipated, he heard Piper start to bitch. “Who did you guys let take over for me? Is there a monthly report? Did anyone take notes from the board meeting? Where is the schedule?”

The sounds of drawers opening and closing followed her outburst.

Chase was on his way to the door when he heard Dee’s reply. “We haven’t had a schedule since . . .” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Mr. Stone died.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Piper replied.

Chase pulled his office door open and peered at his assistant’s desk.

Piper stood there, no longer dirt smudged, with messy hair and a dog protecting her like a mother bear watching over her young. No, she was wearing a knee-length skirt and matching blazer, a white button-up shirt, and high heels. Her sun-kissed skin looked as if she’d been on vacation and not in her own garden. But he knew the truth about that. Her hair was pulled back in a loose bun on top of her head, and the dusting of makeup she wore amplified the sparkle in her hazel eyes. Gone was the girl-next-door vibe, and out came the teacher every heterosexual schoolboy wanted to be in detention with.

Chase blinked away his thoughts.

This was his assistant.

The one that didn’t want to take her job back for fear he was just like his father.

Thinking about the color of her eyes or glow on her skin was not a step in the right direction.

“Good morning, Piper.”

She looked up, offered a smile. “Hi.”

“Is there a problem?”

She pulled back her chair, sat, and started typing on the computer.

He could tell by her face, and how she punched the keyboard, she wasn’t happy.

“I can’t get in.”

“Dee . . . any response from HR?”

She shook her head. “They aren’t here yet.”

“Put a fire under them when they arrive.” He signaled to Piper. “Let’s check if my computer will find what you’re looking for.”

She shoved her purse into one of the drawers in her desk and followed him into his office.

Before she shut the door, he asked, “Did you want some coffee first?”

She turned and hesitated. “No. I’m okay.”

“You sure? I can give you a few minutes to get settled.”

She walked to his desk and twisted the keyboard her way without sitting. “I had some at home.”

Chase moved around her and looked at the monitor while she clicked away.

“What are you looking for exactly?”

“Mr. Stone’s schedule. It’s probably the best way to walk you through his role here. Not that he spent a lot of time in the office.”

Chase pushed his chair toward her, encouraging her to sit while he stood at her side, watching the monitor.

She sat without argument and pulled the chair closer. “Here it is.” She clicked a few keys. “And none of it has been updated since I left.”

“Was that your job?”

“Yeah, but they had to bring in someone to work with your dad.” She scrolled back the calendar and pointed to the screen. “Like this. Your dad had a meeting with the head of Titus bank.” She clicked on a link, which brought up another window. “Huh.”

“What?”

“Looks like your father’s objective for the meeting, along with follow-up calls and any action items I needed to make sure were accomplished.” She moved down to the week before Aaron Stone died, clicked on a different meeting, and while there was an objective in the pop-up, there weren’t any notes for the assistant. “Nothing. Either he didn’t tell the temp what he needed, or they didn’t know how to update this calendar. Your father would have insisted that this was done.”

“Maybe there’s a paper trail.”

“I’ll dig in my desk and look for one. Maybe Dee has something.”

Chase narrowed his gaze. “She seems rather frazzled.”

“If by frazzled you mean afraid of her own shadow, you’d be right. But she’s good. She simply needs direction. And without an assistant or a boss, I’m surprised she’s still here.”

For the next ten minutes, Piper navigated the schedule that had been mapped out before his father’s death and pointed to meetings—in person, Zoom, and ones he was scheduled to travel to.

“What I really need is my schedule. I hope they didn’t delete anything, along with my passwords.”

A knock on the door had them both looking up.

Dee poked her head in. “Human Resources is here.”

“Perfect.”

Dee walked away, and a man, somewhere in his forties, walked in. He first glanced at Piper, then took in Chase.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice.”

“Absolutely. I’m Tate Lyell. Head of HR.”

“Chase Stone.”

“I knew that.”

“And you know Piper.”

Piper smiled. “Hi, Tate.”

“Piper.” Tate attempted to mask his confusion and failed.

“Mr. Lyell, I need you to reinstate Miss Maddox and inform payroll to retroactively pay her for the time she has been gone.”

“Oh, okay.”

“In addition, Miss Maddox will be receiving a six percent raise.” Chase glanced at Piper, her expression hadn’t changed. “And if she is still with us in two months, an additional three percent will be added on to that.”

“I’ll see it done.”

“Great. Now, how long will it take to reinstate all of her computer and corporate access?”

Tate kept looking between the two of them. “An hour at the most.”

Chase smiled and started walking toward the door. “Great. Call Dee when everything is ready.”

Chase walked him out before turning to Piper. “I hope that meets your expectations,” he said.

Her lack of emotion made him question if he should have given her more. Considering he had no idea what her pay was, he figured six percent should cover it. The extra three was there as an incentive for her to stick around.

“It will do,” she told him, her poker face intact.

He stood with one hand on the doorknob. “While we’re waiting for you to get your computer back, I need you to give me a tour of the building. Floor by floor.”

“I don’t know everyone on every floor,” she said.

“I only need a rundown of the departments and who is in charge of them. I don’t need introductions to everyone. Not at this time.”

She stood. “That, I can do.”

“We’ll make it brief.”

Chase held the door open and let her pass.

Piper set the pace on the executive floor, which he’d somewhat gotten a leg up on the day before. The conference room en route to his office didn’t hold a candle to the one that took up a good portion of the south side. The one the board used when they gathered.

As requested, Piper took him down one floor at a time. There were more departments than Chase expected and so many employees his head spun. New Development, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Mergers and Acquisitions, Public Relations, Social Media Management, Accounting on what felt like every floor and in every department. Risk Management, Human Resources, Billing and Payroll. The list went on. There was a section of one floor dedicated entirely to computer specialists, not only on the corporate end but also those who responded to a mainframe for the hotels owned by Stone. Some empty offices . . . why was that?

The elevator doors opened on the third floor to a deserted space.

“What’s going on here?” He stepped out while Piper stayed in the elevator.

“It’s used for storage.”

He kept walking. “Why?”

“I don’t understand your question.” Piper relinquished her place in the elevator and followed him.

“Why is it empty? What was here?”

“Marketing for a while. We had an international team, but that was restructured a few years ago. Many of our departments were tightened up when the economy slowed down, not to mention a fair number of employees that telecommute.”

“Work from home,” Chase clarified.

“Correct.”

Chase ran his hand across an unused desk, one of many cluttering the space. “And this sits empty.”

“Yup.”

“Why not rent the space out?”

Piper crossed in front of him and ran a finger on the dust covering a file cabinet. “Your father didn’t want anyone in the building who wasn’t his. And he believed that he was going to need this again when he expanded.”

He turned his attention from the dust on her finger to her eyes. “Is there a plan for expansion?”

“Nothing big enough to fill this space with employees.”

Chase walked from one end of the space to the other. Several offices were closed off from the modular cubbies that filled every floor. Efficient but sterile.

“What are you looking for?” Piper asked.

“Nothing particular.”

Piper stopped walking and quickly sneezed three times in a row. Tiny squeaks of sound that could have come from a child instead of a full-grown adult. “Excuse me.”

“Let’s keep moving,” he suggested. “And have housekeeping spend some time in here.”

“I’ll call them.”

After heading back to the elevator, they soon walked around the second floor, which was only half-filled and mainly used as the mail room and also housed giant printers. Boxes upon boxes of printed brochures and bound notebooks sat in corners.

Only a handful of employees occupied this space. Chase shook a couple of hands and followed Piper down to the first floor. Housekeeping, security, and a giant meeting hall.

The tour took a good hour and a half before they walked back onto the executive floor.

Julia intercepted them. She squealed and hugged Piper. “I’m so glad you’re back.”

“I am, too.” Piper’s gaze moved to Chase.

“I have welcome-back donuts in the break room,” Julia said.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

Chase watched the two of them and saw the genuine friendship pour out.

He slipped away from their chatter and escaped to his office.

His father’s schedule was still pulled up and staring at him. An unfamiliar vibration ran through his gut. Meetings and events that his father had planned, suddenly meaningless in the face of death. And what wasn’t on this calendar? What about his personal life? The women? Chase knew there were more of them.

Stuart was currently working on getting Chase and Alex access to their father’s bank accounts. Something he hoped would direct them to the third recipient of the estate. But these things took time.

His cell phone rang, dragging his attention away from his father.

Chase looked at the name on the screen and smiled at the familiar. “Hey, Busa . . . What’s up?”

“Two questions.”

“Shoot.”

“Shania asked what pay came with her promotion.”

Apparently, today was the day to give everyone a raise. “Three percent. Room for negotiations in three months.”

“Cool. When do you want to schedule the team meeting? Doesn’t have to be long. The people here need to know all is good.”

Busa was right. Chase clicked around on his father’s schedule, saw two open dates back to back, and gave them to Busa. “See which one is best.”

“I can have Shania take care of this.”

“Sounds good. How is the media there? Have they backed off?”

“Only one van this morning, but they’re already gone,” Busa said.

“Good.”

Piper stepped into the office, papers in her hands.

“I gotta go. You know how to get ahold of me.”

They said their goodbyes.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Piper said from the door.

He shook his head. “If the door’s open, you can interrupt. If it’s closed, don’t.”

She walked in, handed him what she held in her hand. “Last board meeting and the P&L for the last three quarters.”

Perfect, now he had a direction to move in.

He took the papers. “Are you logged in?”

“I am.”

“Dissect my father’s schedule from the day of his death to two weeks from now. I need to know who he was scheduled to see and why. Find out if anyone filled those obligations in his absence.”

“Okay.” She turned.

“And Piper?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

She smiled. “Just doing my job, Mr. Stone.”