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294 SNAKES IN SUITS
telling her that I took her name off the slides. She then went to Jerry,
who came to me this morning, but I had already gotten the story
from my guy who wants off the team.”
“What else?” asked John, finishing his coffee and putting down
his cup.
“That pretty much sums it up; there are more incidents and
other details, but the bottom line is Dave is not the guy we thought
he was. He can’t be trusted. I can’t trust him.”
“I agree, he doesn’t belong here,” said John, glancing at his
watch. “I’m sure Melanie has left for the day; let’s take a walk over to
Jack’s office and see if we can shut this operation down tonight.
Dave’s only been here about ten or eleven months, right?” Frank
nodded. “Good, this shouldn’t be much of a problem. Melanie can
draw up the letter tomorrow.”
Frank could see the lights were still on in the executive wing and felt
relieved. As they headed down the hall, they ran into Victoria, Jack
Garrideb’s secretary, leaving for the day. “Hi,” said John. “Is Jack
still in?”
“You know he is, John,” smiled Victoria. “Mr. Garrideb never
gets out before the cleaning folks arrive.”
“Yeah, you’re right about that,” said Frank, smiling. “Is he busy?”
“He has someone in his office. I didn’t see who; they must have
come in while I was at the copier. But you can hang out and wait if
you like.”
“I think we will,” said Frank, smiling at Victoria as she left.
John and Frank took seats near Victoria’s desk, positioning
themselves so they could see when Jack finished his meeting and
opened the door. They took the time available to review their material
on Dave and strategize how they were going to inform Jack.
Given what they now knew about Dave, there were few options. In
fact, they saw only one. They agreed on what each would say, and
Frank took notes.