The first man Dave Constantine met as a janitor dropped a coffee cup beside his mop and kept walking.
Three floors above them, Dave's CEO office stood empty. Officially, he was at a retreat. Only counsel Ruth Ellis and facilities supervisor Luis knew that David Cole, the new night cleaner, owned Atlas Enterprise.
An unsigned letter had brought him downstairs: duplicate invoices, canceled hardship grants, and six words. Your father would have noticed us. When Dave ordered an audit, the records disappeared.
Put the charges through marketing. Bennett can explain them.
CFO Grant Mercer passed without recognizing him. Dave watched an invoice disappear into the locked disposal bin.
Then the stairwell door burst open. A blonde woman staggered beneath a cardboard model of Chicago. Dave caught the boards, her elbow, and almost none of his dignity.
Please tell me that looked graceful.
You only demolished two neighborhoods.
She laughed and offered her hand. Claire Bennett, Marketing. For the first time that evening, someone asked his name.