Executive Dirt: A Sedona O'Hala Mystery (12 page)

She stomped off to report to upper management that we were refusing to do our jobs.  She was new at this though. Upper management would just blame her for not being able to get our “buy-in.”  No matter how beautiful or how she dressed, no way would upper management take the blame for a late product.  That left her as the responsible party now that Cary was dead.

I frowned.  Had upper management killed him because we weren’t making the schedule?  Nah.  That implied they knew and had lifted a finger.  Killing him hadn’t improved Borgot’s chances of producing the product on time.  Of course, him being dead probably didn’t hurt our chances either.

I worked late to make it look as though the meeting had given me some incentive, but I was actually pleased that we might ship the phone without all the language support.  Of course, I now had to come up with a test plan, but if we shipped English first, there was time to figure out the other languages later. No doubt Roscoe and Kovid felt the same way.

Monique, unlike Cary, didn’t stay late to make sure the rest of us did.  At seven, I headed for the stairs.

I’ve never been a big fan of hearing about endless executive perks while the worker bees toil and hope for raises.  That said, I’m also not into employees who believe a company is a benevolent parent. Obviously, there were others who did not share my view. I stood and stared into the break room where Roscoe stuffed pizzas, quiche, frozen ice cream bars and a pack of Starbucks cold coffee into a cooler. I seriously doubted he was taking all this food back to his desk to thaw and eat while he worked.

Management bought these things to keep us here longer, not as take-home for our kids and the kids in the entire neighborhood.

Roscoe finally noticed me staring.  He froze for a second and then recovered.  “Big work weekend at home.”

“Uh-huh.”  I folded my arms and my foot started tapping.

He shrugged and closed the cooler.  “I’ll have the work done to prove it. What can they say? Besides, who will notice?”

“Gosh, you’re right,” I agreed, slapping my forehead.  “No one will notice that the freezer has been emptied out overnight.”  A corner of the break room was suspiciously empty.  “They’ll probably think that those few people who stayed all night managed to suck down two or three cases of soda, too.”

He snickered as he edged me out of the way with his cooler. “The delivery to replace this stuff is early every Monday morning. And this month there’s a big meeting with the venture capitalists who fund Borgot. They always restock heavily before those meetings so the next delivery will be huge.”

I waited until he was a good ways down the hallway before yelling, “Should be a fantastic weekend coming up with all that food, Roscoe! Have fun at the lake!”

Some detective I was.  I hadn’t even known when the food and sodas were restocked.

Chapter 17

I had promised to attend sewing meetings and gardening meetings, and here it was, Saturday, the regularly scheduled day for the garden meeting at Dave’s Garden.  The internet said we’d be talking about spring planting. I was on my way out the door when Turbo and Radar showed up, followed by the truckful of dirt that Huntington had ordered.

“We brought a few things for your garden,” Turbo said.

“The replacement dirt is here too.” I gestured at the guys in the truck to go ahead and take the dirt around back. “I’m on my way out to a meeting.”

Radar’s head tilted with curiosity.

“It’s at Dave’s Garden. I have to replace the plants that the police confiscated for no good reason, and there’s a meeting there to discuss what to plant and when.”  That was a reasonable enough explanation that it didn’t require mentioning Huntington had asked me to spy on someone.

His head leveled again. “I bet they don’t have any advice for when to plant dead bodies.”

“Anytime the ground isn’t frozen,” Turbo said. “Be too hard to bury them then.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Why did you stop by again?”

Radar said, “To tell you that Joe’s watch locks onto the phone code and the two work together.  But the latest code drop you gave me from Borgot on the SD card doesn’t have any watch support. Not even a hint of any watch support.”

I thought about that. “Can you tell if the code that ran on Joe’s phone is Borgot code?”

“Whenever you turned the phone on, a Borgot screen appeared, so there was definitely Borgot code on his phone in addition to smartwatch support.”

“There’s no mention of Borgot doing a smartwatch in our schedule or product description. And yet he has a version that supports his watch.”

“You sure the guy wasn’t a genius programmer?  Maybe he added the code to work with the watch.”

“He wasn’t playing idiot, he was an idiot,” I said.

Turbo held up a phone and another smartwatch, one I hadn’t seen before. “We’re also here to beef up security.  This is one of Radar’s old watches.  The phone app will control the security we’re adding to your garden.  You can then monitor the garden from this phone or the watch!”

I tilted my head. “The phone will run my security?”

He nodded.  “But you can keep the watch in your bedroom and from there, you’ll get alerts.”

“Couldn’t I just keep the phone in my bedroom?”

Radar nodded. “Sure, but it’s cooler to check the smartwatch. The phone app is your control unit for the system.  We’ll let the dirt guys do their thing, and then we’ll install a couple of things to monitor the garden for you. You won’t have to worry about anyone burying dead bodies back there without you knowing about it.”  He started babbling about alerts and scans and a passcode for on and off.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Huntington had responded to my request for security this speedily. He usually pontificated, argued and waited until he was tired of me nagging. Maybe Mark had lit a fire under him. I held up a hand.  “Tell me about it later. Do not break anything while I am gone.”

Turbo pouted, which is not a good look for a geek with hair that hangs low over the tops of his eyebrows and a shirt ratty enough to have come out of the rag bin. “Have I ever broken anything?”

I used logic against him. “Statistically, it would be impossible for you to have reached this age and not broken a single thing.” I headed for the garage, keys in hand.

“We’ll leave the phone and smartwatch on the kitchen table,” Turbo called after me. “You can wear the smartwatch and use our phone instead of that simple Borgot phone. It doesn’t have a smartwatch.”

“Uh-huh. Unless you’re Joe and you found a watch that works with Borgot phones.” I went back and took a spare key from the kitchen drawer.  “Here. Lock up when you leave.” I glanced at Radar. “And don’t give Radar the key. He’ll make a copy because he can’t help himself.”

“Heh-heh,” was Radar’s response.

Turbo frowned. “He wouldn’t steal anything.”

“Of course not.” I don’t know why I bothered.  Radar probably already had a key.  As a hacker he prided himself on getting in anywhere, anytime.  His skills might very well have spilled over into houses, libraries, and Fort Knox for all I knew.

* * *

Technically, I’d met Dave of Dave’s Garden a few weeks ago. Huntington had sent me on a quick mission to obtain a guest list from one of the garden meetings. The assignment had turned into a bit of a fiasco, but I’d gotten the list and assumed my job was done.  Apparently that hadn’t been enough because here I was, headed to Dave’s establishment, this time with instructions to spy on Joe’s mother. She wasn’t likely to admit to any funny business Joe might have been involved in, and now that he was dead, striking up a conversation about her son was impossible.

Dave’s Garden was on the outskirts of Denton, a flat, somewhat barren tract that had been zoned for businesses.  Dave’s Garden took up a good four or five acres on one side of Old Ranch Road, but the land across the rural route was built out with a brand new office building complex. The front of the office complex had a beautiful blue granite clock with the time, the temperature and a list of the buildings’ occupants below it. There was also a concrete garage that was not very cleverly hidden by a few large pines and a tiny strip of land for flowers.  I felt lucky to be headed to Dave’s Garden rather than the office-type garden.

Even though spring wasn’t blossoming yet, Dave had a good head start.  Snap peas, tomatoes, lettuce and a whole host of flowers were growing in the outdoor greenhouse.  The place smelled of water and dirt and good things growing.

I asked first thing about the blueberry plants. Dave didn’t have the right variety, but could order them for me.

“If you spot any computer scammers this time, could you quietly alert me?” Dave spared a desperate glance around the two of us. “Or, if I’m already lecturing, tell my new assistant, Rohit.” He pointed to a young guy working at the information stand.  Even though it was still quite cool out, the guy was wearing sandals and shorts. Perhaps as a concession to the weather, his shorts did extend past his knees.

Rohit saw Dave pointing and raised a hand to wave in our direction.

“Rohit has a good head on his shoulders,” Dave said. “I was lucky to hire him this winter after he was laid off from his old job. We don’t need any incidents in my shop like happened the last time you helped out, so alert him or me if anything seems amiss.”

I had been hoping Dave wouldn’t remember the past incident. “I doubt any scammers would come here.”  For a six-foot guy in coveralls and hefty work boots, Dave sure was turning out to be the nervous type. He had a few gray hairs, but he was younger than my dad and in good shape. You’d think a guy his size would exhibit more confidence.

“Just don’t go setting a mob on anyone. I’m trying to expand my business and some of these gardening types get carried away.”

They had done more of a tackle than a carry away when I pointed out there was a scammer in their midst. “Okay, I’ll be sure and tell you or security on the sly if I notice anything.”

He leaned in close. “I don’t have official security.  That’s why I said to tell me or the new guy.  He’s been fantastic. Most people a year or two out of college don’t have much gardening experience, but he’s got real know-how. He’s even convinced me to grow hops this spring.”  He stepped over to a box near the greenhouse. “Lookee here.  I’ve got some rhizomes if you’re interested.  Easy to grow, and I’ll be packaging the hops right here and selling them with other organic grains for beer brewing.”

I grinned and put my hands behind my back so that he couldn’t hand me the gnarly brown root he was waving around with enthusiasm. “Thanks, but I think the blueberries will keep me plenty busy.”

“You never know when you’ll want to try something new.”  He smiled and gazed around proudly at his kingdom.

“And I’ll come straight here if I need more supplies.” I nodded. “I’ll be sure to tell you first if I see anything suspicious.” I did a quick check to see if there were any geek-wannabes with tattoos trying to sell unnecessary computer services. There were a few hippies, but I think they worked for Dave. During my scan, to my surprise, I spotted Monique in the crowd that was gathering for today’s lecture.

Dave noticed my eyes widen.  “Who? What?”

“Just someone I know from work.  Nothing to fret about.”  My voice trailed off at the end. She worked at Borgot.  There were two dead bodies to account for.  Maybe she was a scammer in cahoots with Joe.  Now that he was dead, was she his replacement at the garden meetings?  Or had she been his partner?

I glanced around at the plants, pots, chair, benches, hoses and rows of supplies along the outside of the main building.  What nefarious deeds could possibly take place in a garden store???

I gave Dave a good-bye nod and casually sauntered over to Monique.

Dave headed for his assistant, no doubt with dire warnings.

I ignored him.  I wasn’t here to cause anyone any trouble. Monique turned as I approached. “Monique! I didn’t know you were a gardener!”  She wore clothes that for me were work clothes—jeans, a nice sweater and sneakers.

She grinned and flicked perfectly manicured fingernails at me in a finger wave. “Hi Sedona! I didn’t know I was into gardening either. Not until Lawrence suggested,” she stopped and put a hand to her heart, “that maybe I could help him with landscaping this spring!” Her voice was a hushed squeal.  “I think he’s finally planning to ask me to move in with him.  He owns a great house over in Alpine Hills.”  She waved one hand. “Oh, you probably don’t know the area. But it’s gorgeous.”

She was right about Alpine Hills being way outside my normal social circle, but I’d helped with a case there. From behind me, I could hear Dave start the meeting. “I’m here for the free class. Are you attending it as well?”

She shook her head. “No, I don’t need a class.  What do you think of this piece?”

I hadn’t noticed we were standing near the garden sculpture area.  She ran her hand down the side of a copper can.

“What is it?” I asked.  The thing was just taller than me, a mass of metal with bits of wire decorations.

“Isn’t it gorgeous?”

The base was some kind of twine stuff that would probably grow moss or grass once permanently installed.  There was a long tin can opposite the copper one, and some sort of ceramic blue octopus with holes all along each appendage. Maybe you could plant strawberries in that part.  An ugly metal flower sprang from the middle of it. What might have been a snake looped in and around various pieces.  Then again, maybe the snake was just random metal. “Uh...”

“I know, it’s kind of expensive. But Lawrence can afford it and really, a thousand dollars for something this unique? He’ll be the talk of the neighborhood!”

I blinked and stared harder, but with focus. Maybe I should abandon sewing and gardening and become a sculptor.  I’d only have to sell one piece a month. “It’s unique,” I agreed.

“He’ll love it.”

“You know, if he does love it, I think you should marry the guy because you two were made for each other.”  I found it hard to believe there was one person who could love this thing, never mind two.