“I’m not bored.”
“Anyway, you get the gist. Even if he had fewer accounts, he could make more money per account. I thought he could handle fewer accounts better than so many. I thought I was doing him a favor. No good deed.” Todd sighed. “Anyway, I had good reason to fire him and I didn’t like doing it, but I did it. I’m not a jerk. I’m a father, too. I know that his kid is sick. I know that he needs a job. But I need a rep. Because if I don’t produce, then I get fired. So it’s my family or his family.”
Ray nodded, a newly determined set to his lips.
Bennie asked him, “Ray, did you discuss this decision with Todd?”
“The decision to fire Simon? Yes, I did.”
“What did he tell you about why he wanted to let Simon go?”
“He said it was sales. Performance. Like he just told you.”
Bennie kicked herself for having them both in the same meeting, because they were supporting each other’s version of the facts. “When did you have this discussion with Todd?”
“The day before he fired Simon. Monday.”
“Was that the first time you heard Todd was unhappy with Simon’s performance?”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t discuss it before that?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Why would I? He runs his people, I run mine. We’re busy. We talk twice a week, if that.” Ray shrugged, arms still folded.
“How long have you worked here, Ray?”
“Twenty years, same as Todd.”
“Do you socialize, play golf, have dinner?”
“Hell no.” Ray chuckled, for the first time. “I’m not the social type.”
Todd laughed with him. “He doesn’t even drink. And if you don’t drink, I got no time for you.”
Everyone laughed, and Bennie took advantage of the moment to check her notes. “Todd, I just have a few more questions, but they’re specific. Simon would submit medical expenses to you for his daughter, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And what would you do with them?”
“Pass them on to accounting.”
“Why would he submit them to you and not directly to accounting?”
“I’m his boss. That’s how it works.” Todd frowned again. “Why?”
“Did you ever make a remark to Simon about the amount of the expenses?”
“No.”
Bennie kept a poker face. She had been hoping that Todd wouldn’t deny it and that it was an honest mistake, ignorance of the law. “Did you ever say anything like offhand, well, ‘that’s a lot of money,’ or anything like that?”
“No.”
“Did you ever say anything like ‘I hope this chemo works because it’s pretty expensive’?”
“No,” Todd answered firmly. “Did he say I did?”
“Yes, he does.”
“That’s a lie!” Todd slammed the table again, and Jason looked over with a frown, but didn’t say anything. Ray unfolded his arms.
Bennie bore down. “Did you ever explain to him the fact that the company is self-insured up to $250,000?”
“No.”
Bennie couldn’t tell if Todd was lying or not, but this was shaping up to be a credibility contest. “You never discussed that with him?”
“No.”
“Was anybody else ever around when he handed in expenses?”
“No, he brought them into my office.”
“Was Ray ever present?”
“No, nobody was.”
“How about your secretary?”
“Who has a secretary?” Todd snorted.
“Did he ever submit them by email?”
“He may have, I forget.” Todd permitted himself a half-smile. “I would say yes.”
“So would I,” Ray interjected, with a wry smile.
“Why do you guys say that?” Bennie looked from one to the other.
Todd chuckled. “We call Simon the Mad Emailer. He emails about everything and he writes paragraphs and paragraphs. He writes books. I barely get through the first paragraph.”
Bennie turned to Jason. “I’d like copies of Mr. Pensiera’s emails for the past year, his personnel file, call logs, purchase orders, and his sales info. It has to show department-wide sales, so I can compare his performance to the other reps. Can you send that to my office before the weekend?”
“Sure, that’s standard operating procedure.” Jason turned to Ray. “Can you make that happen by the end of the day?”
“Yes,” Ray answered. “Most of it’s in the computer. I’ll text Mona in HR so she can get started. She’ll have to talk to our IT guy.” He picked up his phone, texted a message, then set it down. “Thy will be done.”
Bennie smiled. “Thanks. Todd, let me ask you a few final questions. Have either of you ever had any training in employment discrimination laws?”
Todd blinked. “They send us to a bullet-point slideshow for sexual harassment. We go to some law firm in town. You wouldn’t believe the food. They put out a spread like a wedding.”
“Ray, how about you?” Bennie asked, turning to him.
“Not always.”
Todd interjected, “He cuts class. He’s a bad boy.”
“I have to work,” Ray countered.
Bennie forced a smile, her mood circling the drain. “Do you remember getting any training in the law under the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act?”
Todd thought a minute, then shook his head. “No, not really.”
Ray shook his head. “I don’t either. I’m sure HR knows about that. But that’s not my bailiwick.”
Bennie had to get the truth, but she couldn’t do it with an audience. She stood up, crossed to the door, and opened it with a smile. “Gentlemen, I’d like everyone except for Todd to leave the room.”
Todd recoiled, bewildered. “For real?”
“Yes. I won’t keep you long.”
“Okay.” Jason and Ray rose from the chairs and headed toward the door.
Only Nate didn’t move, looking up at her with a mock-frown. “You can’t mean me, too.”
“Yes, I do,” Bennie answered, opening the door wider.
CHAPTER NINE
Mary and Anthony threaded their way through the Children’s Hospital lobby, which was bustling with early-morning activity. Doctors in scrubs and surgical caps, nurses with decorated stethoscopes and laminated IDs, and staff with colorful plastic carry-alls hurried this way and that, mixing in with the patients’ families, the mothers and fathers bearing up under the strain, tugging toddlers and siblings by the hand.
Mary and Anthony fell silent as they climbed into the crowded elevator, and she knew that he felt the same way that she did inside. The elevator pinged on their floor, the door slid open, and they made their way out of the cab, down the hall, and into the BMT unit, where they Purelled their hands. They stopped at the lounge, taken aback at the crowd filling it to its glass walls.
“What’s going on?” Mary wondered aloud, then did a double-take at the same moment that Anthony did, when they began to recognize faces from the neighborhood in the crowd.
“It’s everybody. It’s all of South Philly.”