The Defender

Derrick

Damn! This was not how I thought this morning was going to start, but I am sure glad it did! Carol completely caught me off guard!

We got up and got dressed.

“I am glad no one is here yet! We need to head to the bathroom and clean up!” I said with a giggle. “You really know how to start a man’s day off right.”

“Your day and mine!” she said with a smile. “And yes, let’s go clean up before anyone else gets here.

As we walk out the door, we run straight into Terry.

With an amused look on his face, he says, “Well, how long has this been going on? And I know Bryan doesn’t know yet because if he did you two wouldn’t be sneaking around.”

At first, I try to deny it and say, “What the hell are you talking about Terry?”

“Don’t play dumb with me, Derrick. How long have you to been sneaking around?” he asked again.

I look at Carol and she is shaking her head, yes, so I reply, “Four months. And we wanted to make sure this was for real before we told anyone.”

“Well, it sure sounded for real when I walked by your office! You need to tell Bryan. If it would have been him here early instead of me, this would have been a disaster. The blowup is going to be worse if he catches you, than if you tell. However, either way it is going to be bad. Am I the only one who knows?” Terry said.

“Ava caught us a few weeks ago. I just want to wait until after the wedding. I don’t want him to go ballistic before then,” Carol responds.

“Well, I am not going to say anything. But how the hell did this happen? I mean, damn Derrick, how could you let this happen? I know Carol is sexy as hell, but bros code man,” Terry said in a concerned tone and not condemning.

“It wasn’t planned, man, it just happened,” I responded.

“Okay, well, you, two need to clean yourselves up before anyone else arrives. I am heading to my office like I don’t know shit. And when it hits the fan, I still don’t know shit,” Terry replied.

We all walk off then, Terry to his office and Carol and I to the restroom.

At 0730, we all head into our partners meeting before the staff comes in and we have a staff meeting.

We all discuss our current jobs and how they are going. The only ones currently not on assignment are me and Bryan. Bryan because he is fixing to get married in a few days and I am waiting on a new assignment. Today it looks like I get mine.

“Okay, so Derrick, we got a call from Chandler Risen, the CEO of Risen Toys and he’s had a few death threats over the last several days. The police are thinking it is maybe a recently fired employee. Mr. Risen did a little downsizing three weeks ago because of the pandemic,” Carol said.

“Okay, I will call him and set up a meeting. Who is the lead detective on the case?” I asked.

“It is Detective Connors,” Carol said.

“Okay, I will call him as well and see what they have,” I replied.

The meeting went on for another twenty minutes before we met with the rest of the staff.

After the meeting, I went and set up an appointment with Mr. Risen for 1300 today. Then I called Detective Connors and he went over what they had found, which at this point wasn’t much.

Detective Connors stated that they had put a tracer on all Risen’s phone lines as of yesterday. There was one letter dropped off at the corporate office by the carrier, but there were no fingerprints on it.

I asked what made them think it was a disgruntled employee outside of the downsizing event. Detective Connors replied that the note stated, ‘You have everything, so you don’t care how your decisions affect others.’ I agreed it could be a recently fired employee. The issue now was that per Conners, there were 443 people laid off over the course of the last several weeks from the factory and the toy stores across the west coast.

“Derrick, this is going to be a weeding-out process that could take months, since we have no actual suspects. That’s why I suggested to Mr. Risen to reach out to your company for protection,” Conners said.

“As always, Detective, we appreciate you sending business our way. I have a meeting with Risen at 1300 today,” I replied.

We hung up and I headed into the breakroom for another cup of coffee. When I walked inside there stood Ava and Carol giggling. I looked to my left and there was Bryan trying his best to tie his tie on his tuxedo for the wedding, begging his sister for some help!

I busted out laughing myself. We have all worn suits and tuxedos at this job depending on the client and the functions we were to attend. So, to see Bryan standing there having a hard time was funny because he was so nervous about his upcoming nuptials that his hands were shaking so badly that he couldn’t tie his tie!

“Bruh, are you okay over there!?” I asked laughing.

“Go to hell Derrick! Wait until you are in this position and then come and talk to me about am I okay!” Bryan replied.

“Carol, please go help your brother,” I said still laughing.

About that time Wyatt walks in and about fell to the floor in laughter.

“Carrrooollll,” Bryan bellows out.

“Okay, okay, I will help you, but you know I will not be there on your wedding day while you are getting dressed!” she laughed as she looked over at Kadon who had just walked in because he was the best man, and the rest of the guys were groomsmen.

“I am not going to be dressing you, Bryan,” Kadon bellowed out as he came in.

“What the hell! Does everyone need coffee at one time?” Bryan yells and everyone laughs harder.

The rest of the morning was non-eventful. I left at 1215 to head to my meeting with Chandler Risen at his office.

I pull into the parking deck of the six-story office building of Risen Toys and notice that there are no guards, so anyone can drive in. I park and head to the elevator to go down in the parking deck from the third level so that I can walk to the glass doors that lead into the lobby from the parking structure. Once I get into the lobby, there is only a receptionist who is seated in the center of the room facing away from the parking lot doors but facing the doors coming from the street. Again, no guards. What wealthy person leaves themselves so vulnerable?

The receptionist asks me my name and who I am here to see. She calls his office and then points me toward the elevators. When it arrives, I get in and hit the sixth floor to the executive offices. The doors open into another lobby area, still no security.

His executive assistant comes out from behind her desk and walks me to Risen’s office and announces me. This is going to be a very interesting conversation with all my mental notes about how unsecured this place is from the time I parked.