handed his phone her way. “Would you look at that?”
A young boy in bright orange clothing stooped next to a deer with antlers as tall and wide as a tree.
“Been after that elusive buck for three years,” Bill said. “He really grew over the summer. Enough rain for lots of food. Have to say it made me even happier for my grandson to get that fine buck than if I had done it myself.”
She didn’t really understand the attitude about killing Bambi’s dad, but she kept her mouth shut, smiled, and returned the phone.
“And here you are.” She was genuinely happy that he’d killed that buck yesterday, but for her own reasons.
“Yes, ma’am. As promised, and I have a team of four guys ready to take care of things. Honestly, I don’t think it’ll take but a few days. These guys are ready to work through the weekend to knock it out. I’m assuming they can clock in and out as usual?”
“Yes. Absolutely.” She’d have paid them extra, but this worked out even better.
“We’re going to start with scrapping that old equipment. It’ll take most of the day, and then we’ll clear everything else out.”
“That works for me.”
Bill slapped his hands on the arms of the chair, then rose to his feet. “I’ll check in with you right here on Monday morning with the complete report.”
She handed him her business card. “Call me if you hit any snags, or need anything.”
He tucked the card into his pocket and walked out.
Today was treating her much better than yesterday.
She picked up her phone and dialed Edward’s phone again. He still hadn’t returned any of her calls, but he’d surely be back home for the holiday. She closed her eyes, hoping for an answer. On the third ring, a woman answered with a cheerful hello.
“Oh?” Vanessa pulled the phone from her ear wondering if she’d misdialed, but the display showed that she’d dialed Edward. “Hi. Happy Thanksgiving. I’m so sorry to call on the holiday weekend. This is Vanessa Larkin; I work for Edward. I was hoping I could catch him at home today. I’ve been leaving him messages all week, and no luck.”
The woman laughed. “Glad it’s not just me. I had the same problem. Hang on. I’ll get him for you.”
“Thank you so much.”
“Hello?”
“Edward. I’m so sorry to bother you, but I need to discuss a couple things with you about the Porter’s project.”
“Is there a problem?”
“Not entirely bad ones, just things here onsite don’t match up with the reports Micky prepared. Am I missing part of the story about Porter’s, and the warehouse project? There’s a ton of old equipment that needs to be scrapped. It’s not on the inventory, it’s taking up most of the space in one of the buildings. They’ve been waiting for approval from corporate to scrap that junk since we bought the place.”
“So, scrap it. The mission is straightforward. Porter’s isn’t making money. We’ll repurpose the buildings for the warehouse space. It’s better than the town losing the business altogether. At least there’ll be other jobs, and we’ll increase our bottom line. What’s the problem?”
“Porter’s is making money, Edward. It’s not huge, but the numbers that have been reported are against the square footage of the entire footprint. Porter’s is only using a very small portion of all the properties owned in this portfolio. There is already vacant space once we get the rest of the scrap moved out. They’ve increased efficiencies since we bought them, the sales are steady, and—”
“But Micky was very clear that—”
“Sir, I’m not sure exactly what happened the last time Micky was in town, but more than a few people are saying they were flat-out promised things wouldn’t change, and there’s nothing in the contracts indicating changes coming. That clause was completely stricken.”
“Not anything about changes not coming either, though, right?”
Did you really just say that? Was it an intentional gray area just to get them to sign?
“It’s business, Vanessa. Take care of it as we discussed. Micky doesn’t have any reason to misrepresent that account, and quite honestly even if they are not losing money, they aren’t making enough for us to not move forward with this warehouse project.”
“But we can do both. Easily.”
“There are only so many people in that town.”
“I took a look at the surrounding counties. With the right compensation package, I believe we can pull plenty of good resources into the area. I can make it work.”
“Vanessa. We have a schedule to meet. I promise