Chapter 16 - Zach

I’m looking at the HR report on Greg Chalmers and I can feel my blood boiling. Why wasn’t I told about this?! The woman’s name is censored from the report and I wish I knew who it was. I’m told she still works here, and I can’t imagine how uncomfortable it must be for her.

I read through the details of the file. I can’t believe this guy still works for us. He followed and harassed a coworker for months. I read through the transcript of a meeting with her and I shiver.

I’m always looking over my shoulder, I don’t feel safe. He was outside my house!

The HR representative asked her if she wanted to press charges and she said no. Why would she say no? She had grounds to get this guy fired and she never pursued it. Why??

At the moment we don’t have enough evidence to fire him. A ‘feeling’ isn’t evidence, you understand that, right Ms Ellis?

I can almost hear the contempt in this person’s voice, even just reading the transcript. How are they not outraged?! This must have been incredibly difficult for whoever was sitting on the other side of the table.

I push my chair back and stand up. This has gone too far. If she wouldn’t press charges then I will. I need to confront this guy directly. I feel like a fool! How did I not know this was going on?! I should know everything that happens in my company.

My hands fly up to my temples for the thousandth time this morning. I can’t ignore the shame and disappointment that’s making my stomach burn right now. The last year I’ve been neglecting my work. I’ve been too busy going out and meeting women, partying, or ‘networking’ as I call it. It’s a necessary part of the advertising industry, but now I realise I’ve been neglecting my company, my employees! This was going on right under my nose as I was off having nice lunches and dinners and going out with a new woman on my arm every night. It’s not right.

I stomp out of my office and turn the corner towards the accounting department. I can feel the anger flaring up deep inside me, giving every step a new purpose. No one is allowed to make my employees feel uncomfortable! No one! He followed her to her house!!

As soon as I’m done with him I’ll find out who she is and apologise to her personally. I should have known. I should have been here.

I get to the maze of cubicles in the accounting department and turn to the first one.

“Where does Greg Chesney sit?” I ask gruffly. The middle-aged man looks up and shock paints itself on his face.

“Mr. Lockwood! Hi! Um, Greg? Greg sits over there.” He points to a cubicle a couple work stations down.

“Thanks,” I grunt. I march over to the cubicle and get ready to chew his ear out. He’ll feel the wrath of Zachary Lockwood. I take a deep breath and get ready to spit my words out.

One more step and I’m there.

And… No one. He’s gone.

His desk looks perfectly clean and tidy, like he hardly has any work in progress. There aren’t any personal effects. No photos, no plants, nothing hanging on the cubicle walls. Just a neat row of pencils and a stack of files with ordered tabs separating them.

I turn to the woman who sits next to him. Was she his victim? I don’t even know her name. I’ve been a terrible boss.

“Where’s Greg Chesney?”

She’s wearing the same surprised expression as the last man. I guess I haven’t been over here in a long while. Maybe ever.

“He’s gone,” she says quickly. “He was just here maybe an hour ago and he grabbed his bag and walked out. I asked him where he was going but he didn’t even look at me.”

The frustration inside me builds. This shouldn’t be this hard!! I’m the CEO of this company! I built it from the ground up and I should be able to find one accountant when I need to speak to him!

I stalk back to my office with a dark cloud over my head.

“Becca!” I bark. She jumps and looks at me like a deer in the headlights. “Get Greg Chesney on the phone. I need to see him right away.”

She nods and picks up the phone, finding his number and punching it in. I walk into my office and wait for her to page me through.

I’m taking deep breaths and composing my speech for him when she walks into my office.

“I couldn’t get a hold of him, Mr. Lockwood,” she says, wringing her hands with worry. “The number he gave us for his personal phone was disconnected. I tried his building but they said no one by that name lives there.”

My heart starts thumping. “What?”

“I don’t know,” she says. Her mouth opens and closes again and she looks at me, terrified.

“Get HR on it. Do we not know anything about this guy?! Get him in here ASAP.”

She nods and almost runs out the door.

“Becca,” I call after her. She turns around. “Thanks for your help with this,” I say. Her face softens and she nods before leaving my office. I lean back in my chair and rub my temples, closing my eyes and taking deep breaths. Rage won’t help me, frustration won’t help me. There could be a simple explanation for all this. I need to figure out what I’m going to ask this guy, who he is, how he got a job with us when we know virtually nothing about him.

I can’t believe I’ve let this happen.