Employee of the Year

Chapter 25 - Leadership Retreat

Monday, June 27. Two weeks after the murder.

I came home from my meeting with Flytrap and found Suzy in the living room. She was still tinkering with the video camera we got from Charlie and his wife. Every day she seemed to learn something new. First it was the still frame capture, then video editing, then the direct Internet upload. She was reading through the instructions and learning what every button did. Charlie told her there was even a special feature we could use to make sure we recorded the baby’s first steps. Since the camera was originally intended for Charlie’s security team, there were plenty of bells and whistles beyond what you’d normally expect.

 She was always better at that stuff than me. Whenever we set up Ikea furniture together, she’d read the manual and figure out how to do it. I would just stand there with the hammer and the screwdriver and follow her orders.

            I was glad that Suzy was in a good mood. I definitely didn’t want her catching any bad vibes from me. The due date was in two days. I was just trying to fight my fears about Flytrap and trust that everything would somehow work out. My mother always told me things would work out for the best. Even back then I knew it wasn’t true.

Flytrap had never sent me one of his warnings before. Two weeks after Roland’s murder, the danger kept spreading around me like a brush fire. Every time it looked like I might find an escape path, the wind kicked up and sent the flames in my direction.

            On Monday, we went out for her checkup with her Ob/Gyn. If Suzy were any later than a few days, she might need a C-section.

            My shift didn’t start until noon, so after I took her back from the doctor’s office, I walked down the block to buy a coffee and a newspaper at the corner donut shop. I saw a familiar face on the front page of the LA Times Metro Section. Once again Passion Financial was making headlines.

            The article described the death of Teddy Hendricks, the former chief operating officer at Passion. He had drowned while sailing alone in his private yacht off the coast of Newport Beach, an apparent boating accident.

I remembered Teddy from the company meetings. He was Marcus’s No. 2, his friend and partner since the pizza parlor days in Tustin. He was the one who would inspire us with the stories of Marcus’s great vision and leadership.

During the ping-pong tournament last summer, Teddy was fired from the company for reasons never fully explained. I remember Teddy crying in the elevator on his way out. He was complaining how he’d given his whole career to someone and had nothing to show for it.

Apparently this was wrong. Teddy had a lot to show for his time at Passion. According to the article he lived in a $10 million estate on the BalboaPeninsula, connected to a private marina where he kept several yachts.

According to the newspaper there was no evidence of foul play in Teddy’s death, but the timing was suspicious. The executive had sold over $50 million worth of stock the week he left the company. He had also recently been issued subpoenas by federal authorities investigating securities fraud by corporate officers at Passion.

            A bank spokesperson was quoted expressing regret over his untimely demise. “Teddy was a great friend and contributor to Passion Financial for decades. We are devastated to hear of his loss and extend our deepest sympathy to his family.” The spokesperson also vigorously denied that any other Passion executives were under investigation.

            The article went on to describe Teddy’s death as the latest in a series of unfortunate incidents at Passion, hurting the company’s brand at a time when the banking industry had a bad reputation. Within the past month, a wave of shareholder lawsuits had hit the company, accusing Marcus Davis and the management team of misrepresenting the health of its core credit card business. The share price of Passion had declined by fifty percent in the past several months, and a number of corporate officers, including the CEO, had sold a significant chunk of their holdings