Beckett (Robinson Destruction #4) - Kathi S. Barton Page 0,38
to kill them. He didn’t even bother telling Allie she couldn’t do that. He wanted the same thing. They had taken an ad out for men to pop a cherry, it says. The biggest bidder won. Christ, to think that the system paired any child or children with this couple is beyond me.
I take it, then, that you’ve found them. She told him they were currently in jail but would be released soon. Why?
Rogen is going to make it happen. He didn’t ask. Beck was sure that he didn’t want to know any of the details. Also, he had a feeling that no one would ever just happen to come across their bodies, nor would anyone know what happened to them. Or care, for that matter. Are the kids in bed?
Yes. I’ve taken off Conor’s pants after checking with Dawson to make sure he was sleeping well enough. Mom put Holly to bed. She even told her some things about what she had planned for the three of them. They’re settled in all right here. You just be careful. She assured him that she wasn’t going to go out on this one. None of them were. I think that’s an excellent plan. No one can come back later and say you did it.
Beck went to the living room when he closed the connection to Allie. He could still feel her, but she told him that they were working on something, and he didn’t want things to go badly for any of them.
After seeing nothing on the television that he wanted to involve himself in, he went to his office. There was always plenty there to occupy his mind. After setting up the spreadsheet that he used when he was grading a place he’d worked in, he pulled out his notes and got to work.
Sixteen months ago, he’d worked in an office building that had needed some work on production time. They were a company that would help other companies sell shares of their stock for a large profit. He wasn’t entirely sure why that was necessary, but they seemed to have been making it work for them. After spending three days working in the office, he discovered what most of their issues were. It was one of those things that making it better for their employees had backfired.
The owner, a man by the name of Horacio Carpenter, was a good employer. When he made a large profit off sales, he would share it with the people who worked for him. Several times a year, he would also upgrade their office space to reflect whatever the employees thought would make their jobs easier. He’d spoiled them entirely too much. There were so many perks that the people working there would use them instead of working. Hot food when they wanted. Exercise equipment to take off the pounds after their hot meals. He’d even put in places for them to take a nap—power naps, he had called them. Everything someone would want was put there for them to use. And they did, to the point of not getting one hour of work put in.
“I never thought it would come to that. I mean, they were so excited about having things to do to keep their minds fresh.” Beck had told him that they were more than likely, not realizing they were missing so much work. “I would like to believe that, but right now, all I can think about is how they’ve taken my kindness and turned it against me. I’ll have it all removed.”
“Not all at once.” Horacio asked him why not. It was making him lose money. “Yes, it is. But if you take it all out at once after just putting it in, you’ll have everyone quit, thinking you’re a selfish man. Take out the larger things first—the exercise equipment, for starters. You can tell them that the insurance for having them there is a little more than you anticipated. Something that shows you’ve had to cut back because of the cost, that sales aren’t what they used to be.”
“They’re not.” Beck told him they had no way of knowing that if he didn’t tell them. “So, in addition to cutting back on some of the things, I should tell them that we’re not as in the black as we used to be? Without a reason.”
“That’s it precisely. You’ve made them your partners so far. There also isn’t any reason they shouldn’t know that they’re not doing nearly as