The Shake Up

For months he’d held his own secrete. Held it every time a package passed through his hands, held it as he lifter the paige file storage and moving boxes, cradled it as he piled the Wall Street, Tribune and Defender in his arms. He’d been warned the shake up was coming. He’d been paid off before he could shake them down. Attorneys were the best for that. They planned ahead. The pay off had finally come like Sheila always said it would. Not just a perq, not a bonus but an actual pay-off in a plain envelope. His hands were dirty, from his daily absorption of newsprint, adhesive and information. But he was paid for his labor and his institutional knowledge. He delivered more envelopes. These would most likely have pink slips of paper along with the blue watermarked checks. Gary passed two more empty offices on his way back to the elevator. They seemed to be moving out on the weekend now. It made sense with all the cloak and dagger that was going on. 46 was virtually empty now and the mail room had been told it was reverting back to the building. The lowest levels were all let go, impersonally, over a month ago. First all the summers went, then the selected juniors and support staff. There had been full scale cut backs in the IT department, Graphics and the mailroom. They had been the first to know. All gossip starts, snowballs and ends in the mailroom. They were there when the first envelopes came. They were the recipients of the furry and the tears as they walked form cubical to cubical. Gary had commiserated with most of them. Not every one had tried to kill the messenger. Shocked, young and new: Lynn and Jamie were the first to go on the 45th floor. Gary hadn’t known them that well; they had only been here 2 or 3 months. They came on board about the same time Terry’s campaign had taken off. Now they were gone and Terry had that new manager, David, who was having a hell of a time dealing with all the bad press. The supposition of bad management under the managing partner who was now running for U. S. Senate did not go down well. Rumors that the company was going under started in the office when Tom Zypher had left to start his own firm with his son. Tom had used the month after Gary removed the boxes to close up and assign his cases. The juniors began to speculate. The Ol’ Zypher wasn’t one to part with his cases. He was a workaholic. Judy had confirmed it for Gary. Tom had been into see the big guy. Judy’s boss, and only living original founder, Sam Norman. He was past retirement, way past. Mr. Norman often quipped he passed retirement so long ago that the date on the cake had ended in B.C. He was still much more than a figurehead. He liked to know what was going on. Everyone knew the truth was he liked to micro manage and since he didn’t carry a caseload anymore he had more time to do it. This, of course, meant that Judy always knew absolutely everything that was going on. Almost everything. He watched his step around all the executives. Gary wasn’t sure who his payoff had come through. Mr. Norman had his finger on the pulse, but his wasn’t the only hand that had access to the wallet. Gary never mentioned the boxes to Judy.
Gary put the rumors, confirmed suspicions and information together bit by bit. The executives leaving, the summers shortened terms, the pink slips to the support staff, everyone thought cut backs but by then Gary had already put it together. He knew about the monies being paid to retired partners, the expense accounts, the fact that every time another partner left he was given a pay off and with so many leaving recently there was no way the company could have kept up. There were outstanding invoices that had never been collected, either from laziness or as a favor to the client, and ended up being written off. Gary was positive they were running into debt. He was sure there would be a bankruptcy or liquidation or something. He knew more than he should and less than he wanted. The knowledge fed his guilt when HR had told him “No more over time, no more permanent hires and there would have to be other cutbacks”. He had agreed to all their requests except when it came to firing Carla. Still she had come to him a week later puffy eyed but smiling. Human Resources had called her in and let her go. She told him at first she had set her mind to fight it, but the offer they made her was too good to pass up. She had thought it odd that they would give her such a package without a fight. Gary pointed out that HR had always been afraid of her and that she was a valued employee. Carla was one of the few to take the mass disassemblement well. She was one of the few to get a nice exit package. As far as Gary knew he would be the only non-executive to get a mysterious severance package complete with it’s own well written non-disclosure form. Even if there had been nothing to it, the blue watermark faded into a lot of zeros. That many zeros was hard not to cash. Gary still speculated as to who had paid him off. The signature held no clue. Any Senior partner could request a check and get it back, electronically signed by the treasurer, in some cases same day. At first he thought it had been Terry. All the campaign mailings and messengers done on the company dime recently. Gary didn’t think it was really warranted and was proved right two weeks later when Terry gave him hockey tickets with two C notes in between them. Some times the partners made it a hassle when they tipped him. He had to make the effort to scalp the tickets but they had been great seats and he had ended up with more than face value. So his mind went back to Tom. It made sense; it came the same day as the moving of documents from his office, the documents had been questionable and Gary already knew this was not storage or remodeling but a move. The day after the move Tom had given Gary a nice bottle of whiskey, but that could have just been from his desk. Maybe just one more thing he didn’t want to have to move. So everyone was still suspect, if you wanted to look at an anonymous benefactor that way. This was always his problem with puzzles. He could never get the last piece. Too many people, to many reasons, too much motive. He always got to the last piece that made the whole thing make sense and it was never there. The last piece, the one the monkey swallowed, the one never found or never fit. His lot in life was four hundred and ninety nine pieces in a box of 500.
Evenly was making coffee in the Oval office closet, barely even looking over her shoulder as Gary stepped out of the elevator. She looked worn. The recent events had really taken a toll on her. Past her prime she had been rewarded for her years of service with a cushy job at the executive reception desk, a place she wouldn’t have to do secretarial work on a regular basis. She was rusty, old and afraid of trying to find another job. It was a story she had in common with a lot of people here. She had confided all of this to Gary one day when he had delivered a “thank you but no” letter from a potential employer. “To young for retirement, too old to hire.”
Gary rolled his cart up “We made it another day.”
She closed the door 2 coffees in hand. “For what it’s worth” she said as she settled into the chair where she would sit uninterrupted for the next few hours. Her professional persona was moving like a snowball down hill. The mask had just slipped a few times early on but they both knew every time an executive moved on another round of pink slips went out, and Evenly had to witness every time the cycle started. So many people were holding their breath that the office let out an audible sigh every other Friday. Gary exchanged the mail for the coffee she set on the counter for him.
“I hear Frydinger is taking Ina with him”
“Well when you’ve supported the same person for years and have a good working relationship there is always a chance of moving on with them” Evenly sounded bitter “They’re off to one of our competitors. That’s always a sign that the company is in trouble. I heard that Alex and that new guy Terry hired got into a fight this morning”
“Really?”
“Yeah I guess there were a lot of doors being slammed and a closed door meeting going on in that corner.”
“What do you hear from Judy?”
Evenly looked confused “Huh? No Erin told me. She’s been saying there has been tension between those two ever since he came aboard. Personally, I think Erin’s got a thing for that David guy. She blames the mess on Alex. Well I just can’t believe that. Lil’ Alex. That’s too funny.”
“So what’s going on?”
“Probably a power struggle of some sort”
“Well maybe I look in on her. I’ll let you know if I get any juicy bits”