Chapter 24: Payroll Goes Out Friday, Again

On Friday morning, two hundred people filled the open floor for the all-hands.

I took the seat in the front row, in the taped headset.

I own two headsets now, the new white one and the old one, and I had decided the old one was for important days.

Gus stood on a chair at the back with his clipboard and a sandwich bag.

"New pool," he announced. "How long will Roxie Kettering hold on to Lorne Roark?"

"Gus," I said.

"I'm obliged to tell you the odds. Everyone bet forever."

"Everyone?"

"Two hundred out of two hundred. The night-shift tester bet forever and a day, because he wanted to be different."

He held up the bag.

"The house keeps the money. It's the rule."

"Whose rule?"

"Mine," said Gus. "I wrote it."

Lorne climbed the three steps to the stage.

He wore the navy suit, freshly dry-cleaned, and the cheap steel watch.

On his left hand was a ring wrapped in blue painter's tape.

He set his phone on the lectern, face up, beside a sleeve of cheese crackers.

The phone lit.

I read it from the front row, because I read everything.

Transfer complete: 41,000 to Pinecrest Payroll. Source: Pinecrest Operating Account.

"Good morning," he said.

The room went quiet. It was the same quiet as the first day.

"A few things," said Lorne. "The board has voided the note."

"Ms. VanHoesen has resigned her seat and sold her shares to the employee fund. QA stays at eleven."

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