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Andrea blinked once while Clary turned back to the HR team.
“I’ve spoken to each and every one of you.” Clary hoped that it had been one or two black sheep who had covered up the harassment. “And all of you admitted that you knew about what was going on.”
Gazes all dropped to the floor, and some turned their faces away.
Andrea counted off the stack of envelopes in her hand. “Ten.”
“You’re all dismissed.”
Gasps and more murmurs, but unlike the security department, there was no malice in it. It was more disbelief than anything else.
“You can’t just fire all of us.”
“Yes, I can. I’m not impressed with your hires and how your department has dealt with issues that have arisen. So I’ve decided to let all of you go. And if Pamela would like to pursue a civil case against the department that failed her, EB Co. will assist her.”
And here came the anger.
“If she’s going to sue anyone, it will be the bank,” one of the men in the group said.
Clary nodded. “I know. I’m fully prepared to compensate her for everything that happened. It is, however, Christmas in a week, so I’ve decided to show a little more compassion when I really want to do a lot worse.” She blew out a breath. “You all have until lunchtime to come up with a good, compelling reason—backed with evidence—to convince me to let you stay. It will be on a a grace basis, and you’ll also be on probation. Should you decide to stay, there will be no bonus for you this year and you will be on probation for the next three months. Also, you’ll need to personally write a letter and record a video of apology to Pamela Bates for failing to help and protect her when she came to you for help.”
“Lunchtime?” The staff turned and started a discussion among themselves.
Andrea moved over to the closest woman and handed her the stack of letters. “Distribute these yourself.”
“We’ll make a second visit after lunch,” Clary said. “If you haven’t prepared what I require of you, then you’d better be out of here.”
“But Miss Fiore—”
“Whatever you want to say, you’ll have to do it in your five minutes. I have other cancers to cut out of the bank.” More dismissals. More enemies to make. She snapped her head over to Andrea when her assistant cursed.
“Sorry,” Andrea mumbled and dropped her phone.
“Is everything okay?”
Andrea opened her mouth, then closed it and shook her head. “Next stop, compliance.”
CHAPTER 11
Instead of going straight to work, Seth headed for a nearby Starbucks. He’d remained in the car and called Detective Murphy, the detective in charge of finding the man who’d held Seth and Clary at gunpoint.
Seth had given Detective Murphy the address of the person who sent a slashed-up mannequin head to Clary, and he hadn’t gotten any update on that.
“Mr. Anderson,” Detective Murphy said the moment he answered the call. “Robbie Keeler has confessed and is off to jail. From what I hear, he’s not going to get bail no matter what.” He laughed once. “But I’m sure you know that already.”
Seth hadn’t.
He’d never liked dealing with the police. As far as he was concerned, the police had let Seth and his brothers down. He’d lost count of the number of times the police came over to Holly’s place. But usually, it was to tell her that the neighbors had complained about her party being too loud.
And when Elton begged an officer to save them?
The officer laughed and patted Elton’s head patronizingly before heading off.
“Edward Eolenfeld was probably behind that,” Seth said. Or the police commissioner, who had seemed so eager to have a good relationship with him.
Either way, Seth was glad.
But that wasn’t why he’d called. “I want to know if you’ve gotten an update on the mannequin.”
