Chapter 8

She got to the very last page before the phone rang. She took a deep breath. Here goes. “Mr. Rockford’s office. You’re speaking with Eva.”

A gruff voice shouted at her from the other end. Crashing and heavy equipment noises echoed down the airwaves. “Hello, Eva. Just put Mr. Rockford on, please. This is Jeff Rorschach calling. I’m the new factory site manager.”

Eva kept her voice congenial and smooth. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rorschach. Mr. Rockford is unavailable at the moment. Is there anything I can help you with, or would you like to leave him a message?”

“Yeah, the message is that Tino Paducci ruptured his bladder in the fall and is being rushed in for emergency surgery. His wife is calling a lawyer to sue our balls off, and the OSHA inspectors are threatening to shut us down. Now, if you would be so kind as to put Mr. Rockford on the phone, I would really appreciate it.”

Eva tightened her hand around the phone, but she forced herself to stay calm. “I’m sorry, Mr. Rorschach. I understand this is a distressing situation, but I couldn’t put Mr. Rockford on the phone if I wanted to because he’s not here. Is that the whole message, or is there anything I can help you with?”

“And just exactly do you think you can help me with? What could you possibly help me with? You don’t know the first thing about this building project. What are you, his secretary?”

“I’m Mr. Rockford’s confidential executive assistant, and I’m empowered to handle anything I deem necessary in his absence. I might not be able to help you, but I can at least try. If I can’t help you, I can at least pass on the message when Mr. Rockford gets back.”

The building site manager let out a shaky sigh. “I don’t see how anyone can help us. We’re done for, and now the building permit is in jeopardy, too.”

“What can you tell me about the fall? What was the injured man doing right before he fell?”

“Well, I don’t know. The guys had some loud music playing up there, which is strictly prohibited in a high-hazard area. Tino isn’t the most careful guy on the block, either. I’ve had to bust him downtown more than once for horsing around on the scaffolding. It was only a matter of time before he or someone else got knocked off. I’m actually relieved it was him, and not his loopy antics hurting somebody else.”

“Did you tell the OSHA inspectors that? Did you show them the records of you reprimanding Tino for breaking the safety policies?”

“Well, no, I didn’t think of that.”

“Are the inspectors still on the site?”

“Yes, they are. They’re drawing up their report now.”

“Show them the records. I don’t suppose you have a record of this morning’s incident, but you could probably find a witness among the other employees. You could get them to tell the inspectors if it was Tino who played the music and if he was misbehaving when he fell.”

A long silence answered her. Then she heard a slap. “You know what, little lady? You’re right. I’m going over there to talk to them right now.”

He hung up before she could say anything. Her heart pounded, but at least she handled that problem without losing her cool. She jotted down his message to pass on to Matt and hadn’t put her pen down when the phone rang again. “Mr. Rockford’s office. You’re speaking with Eva.”

“Where’s Rockford?”

“I’m sorry. Mr. Rockford is not available at the moment. Can I give him a message?”

“I have to talk to Rockford right away. I don’t care if he’s on his way to his mother’s cremation. Get him on the phone right now or I’ll have your job.”

Eva took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, sir. Mr. Rockford is not available at the moment. Is there any message I can give him?”

“Yeah. Tell him to call me right away.”

“And what is your name, please, sir?”

“It’s Wilson. I’m the liaison between Rockford Communications and the Design Associates.”

“Ah, yes, Mr. Wilson. I understand they’ve been going over the designs for the building.”

“Going over them’s not the word for it. We thought the City Council sent back the application for a small measuring irregularity. The designers went over the drawings, and it turns out the whole flamin’ package is wrong. They have to redo the whole design, including the measurements. It’s gonna cost a fortune to get the whole design and architecture reworked.”

“We shouldn’t have to pay for it if they made the mistake.”

“I already explained that to them, but they won’t budge. They already put in a couple hundred man-hours on this project, and they say they won’t do anything more for free.”

“Well, that’s just too bad. If they don’t fix it at their own expense, we could sue them for professional negligence and breach of contract.”

“They won’t listen, and the problem is we already paid them over fifty thousand dollars for this design package. They’ve already spent the money we paid for it. It would cost us ten times as much to take them to court.”

“I’ll tell you what, Mr. Wilson. I’ll pass on your message to Mr. Rockford when he comes in, but as soon as I get off the phone with you, I’ll call our legal department and get them on the case.”

“So what am I going to do about the application? We have thirty days to return the designs to the City Council for approval of our application. If we don’t get the new designs returned in that time, we have to start over from scratch and pay another hefty application fee. That’s a pretty short timeline, and we’ve got nothing to submit. There’s no way we can get the new designs completed in time.”

“Call the designers and tell them to get onto the new designs pronto. Tell them we’ll pay extra to get the new designs resubmitted in time.”

“Now just hold on a second.....”

She cut him off. “Don’t argue. Tell them whatever you have to tell them to get the designs finished in time. We’ll sort out the payment options later. With any luck, we’ll have the whole new package submitted in time and won’t have to pay a red cent.”

Mr. Wilson hung silently on the other end of the phone for a long moment. Then he let out a whoop. “Hot diggity! I like the way you think. All right. I don’t know who you are or how you did it, but I’ll follow your lead. I’ll get in touch with Rockford in a few hours and let him know how I’m getting on.”

“Don’t worry, Mr. Wilson. I’m certain Mr. Rockford will get in touch with you just as soon as he gets back into the office.”

Wilson hung up, and Eva’s head dropped into her hands. She could only hope against hope she was doing the right thing, but at least things were moving forward instead of collapsing around her ears.

She checked her watch. When was Matt coming back? She didn’t like all this responsibility weighing on her shoulders, and to think he dealt with situations like this all the time. Running his own multi-billion dollar company must be stressful. No wonder he wanted time away, and he couldn’t do that without the secure knowledge someone was holding down the fort in his absence.

She called the legal department and told them the whole story of the design mix-up, and they promised to follow it up. She also warned them of the impending legal action from Tino’s wife.

The minutes ticked away to forty-five minutes. Fifty minutes. An hour. An hour and ten minutes. Eva cast a sidelong glance at the phone when it vibrated across the table with an annoyed twinkle. She jumped three feet into the air and seized the phone with a pattering heart. “Mr. Rockford’s office. You’re speaking with Eva.”

“Jeff Rorschach again, Eva.”

“Oh, hello, Mr. Rorschach. How are you managing? How did it go with the OSHA inspectors?”

“I just called you to let you know you’re absolutely brilliant, and I’d like you to do me the honor of bestowing on me your hand in marriage.”

Eva gasped. “Mr. Rorschach!”

“You saved me, Eva. You saved me and the whole company with your idea. I showed the reports to the inspectors, and they agreed to stick around the site while we interviewed the workers nearest Tino when he fell from the scaffold. You were absolutely right. It was him playing music, and he was dancing around on the scaffold without his safety leash attached. He was showing off and moonwalking like Michael Jackson. He moonwalked right off the cotton-pickin’ scaffold.” He burst out laughing and let out a wild yell.

Eva gave a nervous laugh, too. “I’m glad it all worked out.”

“It did better than work out. They gave us a clean bill of operation to keep working on the site, and they’re going to lay charges against Tino. When I told them about Tino’s wife trying to sue us, they took her phone number and agreed to head her off at the pass. We’re all clear, and it’s all thanks to you.”

“Great, Mr. Rorschach. I’ll tell Mr. Rockford everything is under control.”

“I want Mr. Rockford to call me himself when he’s finished. I want to tell him what a gem he found when he hired you. I doubt even he could have come up with a solution as good as this.”

“That’s very nice of you to say, but I....”

“You tell him to call me. I gotta get back to work now. I just wanted to let you know what happened and thank you. You don’t know how relieved I am.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll tell Mr. Rockford.”

“Bye.”

She hung up when Matt walked through the door. He smiled. Even at the door, she could see the relaxed serenity on his face. He carried his shoulders lower, and his eyes didn’t dart around the way they did before. “How did it go?”

“Pretty good.”

“All quiet?”

“Sorry, no, but I think I’ve got everything under control.” She told him everything.

He blinked at her. “Wow.”

“It’s all good. The building site emergency is okay. You can call Wilson, but I think you should check with the legal department first.”

He stared straight at her, but he didn’t see anything. A thousand details ran through his mind. Then he snapped alert. “No, I won’t call the legal department. We’ll go ahead with your strategy. Now that I think about it, it’s a great idea. We’ll let the designers think we’re willing to pay for the new designs. We’ll show them a carrot of additional funds just to get the new package finished in time. Then, once we have our application filed, we’ll contest their addition cost. We’ll take them to court if we have to.”

“Are you sure? It’s not too harsh, is it?”

“Harsh? They don’t know how harsh it is. That’s what makes the plan so brilliant.”

Eva groaned. “Please don’t use that word.”

“What? Why not?”

She told him all about Rorschach’s proposal. Matt laughed out loud. He swooped an arm around Eva’s waist and yanked her in against his chest. He planted a passionate kiss on her lips and let her reel away. “I’ll punch him in the nose if he comes near you.”

She blushed, but she couldn’t stop smiling. “Stop that.”

He tossed his burly body into his desk chair. “So no other messages?”

“That’s all of it.”

He picked up his phone and checked it. He frowned at the blank notification screen. Then he humphed.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. You’ve done a great job.”

“You don’t look very happy about it.”

He gazed down at his phone sitting forlorn and silent on the desk. “Twenty years, putting out fires. Twenty years, looking over my shoulder and wondering what was going on while I was out of the office.”

“You won’t have to do that anymore.”

He pushed out his lips. “I’m not as relieved as I thought I would be. I’ve been the lynchpin of this company for twenty years, and now the company doesn’t need me anymore.”

“The company still needs you just as much. Now you can concentrate on using your company to do good for people instead of wasting your energy putting out fires.”

He cast a glance up at her. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He slapped his thighs. “You’re right.”

He jumped to his feet, grabbed her, and kissed her again. “What’s going on with you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’ve never seen you like this. You’re...you’re goofy.”

“I can be goofy sometimes, too. You don’t know all the sides of me.”

“Apparently not.”

“I want you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you to go out to dinner with me tonight. Somewhere fancy.”

Eva’s eyes popped out of her head. “Are you serious?”

“I’ve never been more serious in my life.”

“What do you want to take me out to dinner for?”

“To show my appreciation for what you’ve done today.”

“Do you take all your employees out to dinner to show your appreciation for what they do?”

“No. Just you.”