“I’m Sonya Manos.” The woman searched her face. “Mr. Wharton give me a chance I never have before. On the job, I learn.” Her j had that soft y Spanish lent English. “I supervise now. Nine people.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“Mr. Wharton...he can be duro...hard. But he see in your heart, what you can do with only a chance.” She pressed her palm into her chest. “He save my family.”
“I’m sure he felt lucky to have you working for him.”
“Always I am grateful,” she said, then walked away, leaving Tara choked up all over again. The funeral speeches hadn’t all been PR. Her father had done good things. She wished more than ever that she’d cleared the air with him.
On her way to the kitchen to finalize things with the caterer, she ran into Faye’s secretary, Carol Conway, filling a trash bag with plates and plastic glasses.
“You don’t need to do that, Carol. The caterers will handle it.”
“I have to do something,” she said, shaking the sack. “I’m so mad.”
“What happened?”
“It’s the gossip.” She leaned in and lowered her voice. “That’s a terrible curve. Anyone could have missed it. Faye would never drink and drive. She—”
“Wait. People are saying Faye was drunk?” Tara was stunned.
“It’s an ugly rumor. In the first place, she wasn’t even drinking her one glass of merlot a night anymore. She’d gone low-carb. And what was she doing at Vito’s? Pasta is totally off her diet. Walking by and smelling tomato sauce was too tempting, she told me.”
Chills raced along Tara’s nerves. Here was another person with doubts about the wreck. “Do you know who started the rumor?”
“No. And when I find out, he’s getting a piece of my mind. Or she.”
“I’m puzzled that Faye was driving my father’s car...” she said, leaving a gap she hoped Carol would fill.
“I know. Especially since they weren’t getting along.”
“Really?”
Carol’s eyes went wide. “You didn’t know? I’m sorry. I hope I’m not speaking out of turn.”
“You’re not. Not at all. Do you know what caused them to disagree?”
“Not exactly. Mr. Banes and Faye were arguing, too. It might have been about the quarterlies. Mr. Banes had asked for an extension.”
So Faye had quarreled with her mother, her father and her husband in the days before the accident. Did it have to do with the “transition” Faye had mentioned? Was the company in financial trouble and the management team at odds about how to handle it?
Maybe Faye had gone to Vito’s to confront her father. Or make peace. Or maybe she was sick of depriving herself and dropped in to carb load. It could be a million things. All Tara knew for sure was that the prickling sensation she’d first felt had become a cold chill.
And what was this about Faye driving drunk? She could not allow that to stand unchallenged. On Monday, she would talk to Chief Fallon, who’d been first on the scene...and whispering in her mother’s ear at the funeral.
“I love Faye,” Carol said, her voice breaking. “She’s the best boss ever. She was training me to become a project manager. She paid for extra computer training. Now...I don’t know what will happen to me.”
“You’ll be needed, Carol. You know that.”
She shook her head. “Joseph doesn’t like me. He doesn’t like that Faye includes me in meetings or lets me handle personnel memos.”
“Is that so?”
“They argued about you, too.”
“They did?”
“Yes. Faye wanted to hire you and Joseph threw a fit. He said they didn’t need a clueless consultant nosing around their business.”
“A clueless consultant? Really?”
“He didn’t mean it in a personal way. Just consultants in general. He blurts crap like that when he’s upset. Plus, you’re expensive. Faye defended you. She told him to read your website about your clients and all you’ve achieved.”
Her sister’s confidence in her warmed Tara’s heart and made her more determined than ever to help out at Wharton. Joseph didn’t want anyone nosing around. When managers got secretive, that usually meant it was time to shine a klieg light on their doings.
She’d have to approach the situation carefully. Carol could be an ally, especially since Faye had trusted her. “Faye did ask me to help out. She called a few weeks ago. I’d like to do that, but I know Mr. Banes will take some convincing.”
“That’s for sure.”
“What I’d like to do first is look over Faye’s files and emails, just to get a sense of what she was working on, but without upsetting Joseph. Is there a time I