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Part 4
Leo pulled into the parking lot outside Rockway Groceries and Provisions, self-consciously seeking the most unobtrusive spot he could find. He would never have chosen a car in such an eye-catching color, but it made sense for an avocado company to give its staff green cars, and he wasn’t going to say no to a free set of wheels. Hell, he wasn’t going to say no to anything his bosses said – he needed the job too much for that.
Of all Outstanding Avocado’s clients, Rockway was the one Leo most liked to visit. The store itself had a folksy vibe, with wooden boxes of veg out front and an old-fashioned ice cream counter near the window. It reflected the welcoming personality of its owner, Dave Rockway, who was already standing in the doorway, smiling as Leo approached.
“Hey, buddy.” Dave held out his hand. “Good to see you.”
“You, too.” Leo smiled up at Dave as they shook. “Your message sounded a little odd.”
“Yeah, about that…” Dave frowned, a look Leo had never seen on his face before. The big man flexed his hand and muscles shifted beneath the sleeve of his shirt. “You know I like working with you, Leo, but the last few weeks, all the shipments you’ve sent have come up short.”
“Really?” Leo had heard mutterings from other store managers, but those guys liked to complain. Hearing this from Dave was different. He was a guy Leo had been for beers with.
“That’s right. And it’s not just the over-paying that bothers me, I’ve got the store’s reputation to consider. Customers are complaining ‘cause we’ve not got enough avocados in, which means those customers go elsewhere, and that hits revenues across the board. I’ve been trying to check in case it’s one of my guys stealing, but I can’t find any sign, and me snooping around ain’t doing good things for morale.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll work out what’s happening.”
*** abbreviated version for website ***
The roadside diner was half empty, the lunchtime rush still a while away. Leo sat with his laptop open in front of him, a coffee cup to one side and a half-eaten slice of apple pie to the other. He’d given this place enough business over the years that he didn’t think they’d mind him occupying a table for an hour or two. Certainly, the waitress smiled when she refilled his cup.
Opening up the Outstanding Avocado company Slack, Leo quickly found his communications with Tod Pullman. The messages were mostly about sports and beer, not Tod’s job on the inventory floor, but Leo knew from past conversations that Tod had a good memory for the details of his work.
“This might sound odd,” Leo typed, “but do you know how many boxes you guys packed for Rockway the last few times?”
He clicked send, then sat back to finish his pie while he waited for a response. As usual with Tod, it came quickly.
“4 boxes worth in the last load, 5 each for 3 before that. Why?”
Leo compared those numbers with the spreadsheet on which he tracked his customers’ accounts. Five boxes each time was well below what Dave had ordered and paid for.
“Do you know who gave the numbers to pack?” he typed back.
For a moment, dots flashed up, indicating that Tod was typing. Then a company-wide notification popped up.
“We value collaboration,” the memo began, “but let's make sure our interactions match our roles. Slack should only be used for approved formal project communication.”
Leo stared at the message. Had that been triggered by his communications with Tod? It seemed fast, but the timing was too eerie to ignore. If someone had noticed him nosing into an issue he’d been told to leave alone, his job really could be at risk.
His phone pinged, a WhatsApp message from Tod:
“Sorry, got to get back to work. Think I made a mistake about those numbers on the boxes, nothing to worry about there.”
*** abbreviated version for website ***
A yawn rose from deep inside Leo, long nights and longer days catching up with him. He leaned back in his seat and stretched, battling the weariness. Around him, customers were bustling in and out of the coffee shop opposite Rockway Groceries and Provisions, grabbing a caffeine hit on the way to work. Leo had needed that hit too. He’d barely slept the previous night, his mind whirring with everything he’d learned. Fake billing, missing produce, someone in the company monitoring him and trying to make him back off.
He’d exchanged more messages with Tod and Jayla over the evening, double checking what he’d learned. Everything was on WhatsApp or social media, instead of in the work channels where management might see it. He knew that wasn’t how he was meant to work, but none of this was how it was meant to be.
With a bleep from his laptop, another company-wide memo popped up, this time about productivity and not wasting company time. Some people might have put that down to a coincidence, but not Leo. Someone was still trying to deter him.
He slid the laptop into his satchel, dropped a tip next to his coffee cup, and headed out the door. Across the street, Dave Rockway was opening his store.
“Hey, buddy,” Dave called out as Leo approached. “Have you come with good news?”
“Actually, I’ve come with questions.”
“Go for it.” Dave finished raising the shutters and turned to face Leo.
“Why didn’t you complain about the shipments right away? That would seem like the obvious thing to do.”
Dave frowned. His hand flexed out by his side, then curled into a fist. “Are you accusing me of something, Leo?”
“Just looking for more information.”
“Because it sounds like you’re maybe about to blame me, like your guy Fry did.”
“Scott Fry?” That caught Leo by surprise. “When did you speak to him?”
*** abbreviated version for website ***
Leo sat at the desk in his home office, facing the screen. His call with Helen Rhodes, Outstanding Avocado’s top executive for the southeast, wasn’t due to start for another ten minutes, but he was too tense to focus on anything else. Instead, he sat staring at the data he’d gathered, drumming his fingers on the desk, waiting for a call that, if he’d misjudged this, could end his career.
His phone buzzed, the shock jolting him out of his seat. Scott Fry’s name appeared. Leo swallowed.
“Hi, boss,” he said as he answered. “How can I help?”
“You’ve got a meeting scheduled with Rhodes,” Fry said, his voice softer than usual. “Why?”
“Just going over some sales figures.” If Fry knew about the meeting, then he’d been snooping around Leo’s calendar. All the more reason to be cautious.
“Uhuh.” Fry’s tone made clear that he didn’t believe it. “Speaking of figures, your performance review is coming up, you should be careful how you spend your time. You want me to see the best results when I write that report, right?”
“Of course.” Leo glanced at the computer screen. He needed this over with, so he could rally his thoughts for the meeting with Rhodes.
“Because in the end, what I write could determine your chances of promotion, even of keeping your job. It could shape your whole future. You wouldn’t want to mess that up, would you?”
The words and the tone were so innocent, but Leo could sense the threat beneath them. Or maybe he was paranoid and Fry really had his best interests at heart. Maybe Fry didn’t know about the lies and the fraud, and Leo should confide in him now. It would be safer than going up the chain.
Then he remembered how Fry had dismissed his concerns. This wasn’t a real attempt to help. It was a threat, pure and simple, and one Leo couldn’t stop Fry acting on. But he could still do the right thing.
*** abbreviated version for website ***
Credits
Designer
YENNY HERNANDEZ
Contributor
CHARLES BERGMAN
Contributor
JASON STEVENS
Creator
About
Delivered by our SOURCE Newsletter, Short Stories explores the drama of work through real and fictional storytelling. All characters and storylines are fictional unless otherwise specified. To sponsor, collaborate or report an issue, please use the suggestion button in our main nav.
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