Harvest of Ambition: A CEO's Odyssey novel · Chapter 10 of 24

Chapter 10: The Chair

The chair of the board drank Joanna's shed coffee out of a chipped co-op mug and did not complain once.

She was sixty-eight, small and straight-backed, with a silver bob and eyes.

She had driven four hours before dawn to sit on a folding chair between two stacks of tomato flats.

I had pulled on yesterday's trousers and a clean shirt.

Joanna stood at the packing table with her arms folded, braid fixed, cheeks still pink.

The chair looked at her once, then at me, and said nothing about it.

"Mason," she said. "You have straw in your hair."

I picked it out.

"Thank you for coming, Madam Chair."

"You told me to be sure before you swung." She set the mug down. "So I got sure."

She opened a leather folder and laid it across the packing table.

Joanna leaned in to read.

"Mr. Pelletier's regional accounts," the chair said. "For two years, he has taken ten percent from growers in three counties. Not only Ashford Mills. Always in cash, always as a finder's fee, always off the books."

"How much?" Joanna asked.

"Just over nine hundred thousand dollars."

Joanna swore under her breath.

The chair turned the page.

"He also billed Brightwater for sixty-two nights at a lake house outside Dayton. Two guests every time. The second guest appears on the card receipts as a spouse."

"Delaney," I said.

"I assume." She looked at me steadily. "I'm sorry, Mason."

"Don't be."

"I am anyway. It is a poor way to find out, from a board chair."

I almost laughed.

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