Page 15 of Bling

Darren shoved his hands into his pockets and looked around the room uncomfortably.

“I’m not talking to anyone but you, Mr. Gunn,” Garrett said sternly.

“We provided two months’ pay and continued health benefits.”

Really? The man was going to stand there and lie to his face?

Garrett gave the man a little more rope to hang himself with. “And how did you decide who you were going to let go?”

“We started with those who hadn’t been with us long, students who we thought might be going off to college soon, and finally, we looked at work records. Those with two or more write-ups were placed on the list.”

Garrett picked up his phone and sent Isabelle a text.

Sorry, Doll. Looks like I need you. You can bring Austin with you.

She didn’t respond, but a few moments later, a security guard knocked on the door. “You have visitors, Mr. Oliver.”

Garrett waved them in. Austin dropped into a chair along the wall, but Isabelle walked timidly toward him. Poor girl looked like she hadn’t slept much.

“Miss Alvarado,” Garrett said, keeping his tone as professional as possible. “Can you identify the man in this room who fired you yesterday?”

Isabelle looked worried but nodded toward Darren. “It was Mr. Gunn, Sir.”

“Thank you, and can you tell me how many times you’ve been written up since you’ve worked here?”

Isabelle frowned at him with wide eyes. “None, Sir.”

Garrett scratched his head. “I see. That’s interesting. And how long have you worked here?” He was ashamed that he didn’t actually know the answer to the question before he asked it.

“A total of five years. I spent two in high school, and again for the past three since I came back home.”

Garrett turned his gaze to Darren and scowled. “And how long had your uncle, the floor supervisor, been an employee here?”

“Nearly eighteen years,” Isabelle whispered. “He was so close to retirement.”

“And by firing him before twenty years, he doesn’t get his full retirement benefits, correct?”

Isabelle nodded.

Garrett placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You’re being immensely helpful. One more question. What kind of severance package did you get upon being let go?”

Darren Gunn squirmed in his seat.

“We were told we could collect our final checks on the way out the door and that any remaining vacation time we had left would be part of that check. For me, that was about three weeks.”

Garrett whistled. “Three weeks? You must have never taken a vacation.”

Isabelle shook her head. “No, Sir. We take one every two years to the family reunion. That’s not for a few more weeks.”

Turning to Darren, he said, “No write-ups, five-year veteran who never took a vacation. An eighteen-year veteran supervisor close to retirement?” He held up a finger as he listed each item. “Why were this woman, her uncle, and three other members of her family terminated? None of them seem to fit the criteria you gave me.”

Darren looked around the room and gave a shrug. “I guess my team wasn’t as thorough in their decision-making process as they led me to believe.”

Several members of the team fixed Darren with glares, and Garrett had had enough. He pounded his fist into the table.

“That’s bullshit. You’ve done nothing but lie to me since you walked into this room and I won’t have it anymore. I hereby relieve you of your duties. You are to vacate the premises immediately. I’ll be launching a fraud investigation to find out how much money you may have stolen from this company as well.”

Darren’s face filled with rage. “I’ve never taken a dime from this company that I wasn’t owed.”

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