Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94624 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
“But he could also say the bartender did it, yeah?” Dylan asked her.
“That’s right, so from a proving-it point of view, we were screwed, but Uncle Aaron, he doesn’t have to worry about chain of custody. I told Dad what Talia told me, then he called Del, and I know this because Talia told me, and Dad drove over to see Uncle Aaron that following morning and told him everything that happened with Mr. Alcott.”
I had remembered Sam having a meeting on that Saturday, but I had no idea it was with Aaron. And no, I didn’t need to know, because it was work, not personal.
“I love that Aaron listened to your father and then fired the man.”
“I mean, I’m sure he did some quick internal investigating too,” Hannah told us. “Not that Uncle Aaron would not believe Dad, but trust but verify, right? Both Dad and Uncle Aaron are big on that principle.”
“That’s true,” I apprised her. “Your dad always gets more evidence.”
“So I’m sure Uncle Aaron had Miguel check everything out, and that Sunday, Mr. Alcott was fired because whatever came to light was not good.”
She turned her attention to our waiter, who was a very handsome young man, as he came up beside the table.
From the smile she got, he was very happy to find such a beautiful young woman in our midst, and of course she spoke to him in Spanish. She had been working on getting fluent over the last year. So many people who needed help saw her and took her for a native speaker, and in response she’d taken the plunge.
“That was good,” Aja told her, and she would know. Both she and her oldest son, Robert, were fluent.
“It’s a work in progress,” Hannah told her aunt. “Robert’s been talking to me every other night, which has been very helpful.”
“I think it’s so great to speak two languages,” Dylan told her.
“Well, I want to be able to help people out if I can, plus, if I ever meet Bad Bunny, I want to be able to talk to him.”
I shook my head at her.
“What? I have my priorities.”
“And now back to this Alcott guy,” I reminded her.
“Oh, yeah, well, Talia and I, we went to talk to Uncle Aaron about it on the Monday after everything happened, and when we got to his office, she’s all nervous, and she’s making me squirmy even though I know better, but we get in there, and the first thing he does is come around that desk of his that looks like the bridge of the Enterprise––”
“It does,” Aja agreed. “It’s ridiculously massive.”
“Yeah,” Hannah said with a chuckle, “but he comes around, walks up to Talia, takes her hand, and explains that Quentin Alcott has been fired and that he’s so sorry for what he tried to do to her.”
“Oh.” Aja sighed. “That’s so like him.”
“He fired him,” Dylan said, smiling. “Awesome.”
“Yeah,” Hannah confirmed. “He terminated his ass, and good luck working in Chicago ever again or with anyone associated with Sutter. He also asked Talia to sit down with the head of HR, because they want to make certain that she’s not had any issues with anyone else.”
“That’s excellent,” I told my daughter.
“And then Talia called me on Wednesday and said that they had new mandatory HR training about how to treat people in the workplace and at all off-site company events including parties, drinks out, whatever.”
“Can he mandate off-site get-togethers, though?” Dylan asked.
“He can if it’s like what Mr. Alcott did. It was a party to celebrate something he did at work, so that is considered a company event,” Hannah clarified for us. “If someone’s throwing a holiday party at their house and inviting people from work, no, Uncle Aaron has no say in that, but if it’s anything associated with Sutter, there’ll be rules for that now,” she ended with a raised eyebrow.
“That’s so good to hear,” I said.
“And I talked to his assistant, and she said that she could hear him yelling through the door when he fired Mr. Alcott, so that is epic. Uncle Aaron handed him his balls.”
“This guy might sue Aaron for firing him without cause since there’s no actual evidence,” I told her, playing devil’s advocate.
Hannah shook her head. “There’s no way. This is one of those times when Goliath will actually crush David, and you’ll be rooting for the big guy. I really don’t like their chances,” Hannah assured me. “Plus, I mean, if he persisted, we could send George over there to have a talk with him up close and personal.”
“I would like that,” Aja told her. “Men who think they can get away with anything, entitled assholes like him, I think sometimes violence is actually the answer.”
“No, you don’t,” I argued, because I knew her better than that.