Certainly Dead: Ellen Sparks Mysteries, #2

By Karen Fields

The nice lady that works in Human Resources can't seem to get away from people who want to kill each other (even at work; how annoying is that!)

While minding her own business, Ellen Sparks finds a dead body at the office.  To make matters worse, her boss looks like the number one suspect, and Ellen really likes her boss… so she's not at all pleased.

Now, she must use all of her powers of deduction to figure out what really happened, who was responsible, and the true motive behind the crime.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Karen Fields
• Release date: Oct 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781501482557

Karen Fields

Karen Fields is a dynamic and results-driven professional who has left an indelible mark on the world of corporate learning and development. Serving as the President of Learning-Dynamics, LLC in San Diego, CA from 2012 to 2018, Jane exemplified excellence in delivering top-tier learning solutions to corporate clients. She was the driving force behind the creation of specialized eLearning modules designed to support a major information technology upgrade for an esteemed international automobile manufacturer. Karen’s expertise also extended to crafting comprehensive Instructor Led and eLearning modules for a prominent West Coast financial institution, covering a spectrum of subjects from sales and business systems to federal regulations and human resources. Karen now lives in Chicago, Illinois. She is semi-retired and pursues projects of personal interest. She has authored several mystery novels, and content related to teaching and training. In addition she works with artificial intelligence to produce dynamic images featuring people and animals in setting that could not possible occur in real life. As someone who was involved in the hiring process for countless individuals, she had lent her expertise to this short book filled with practical, action-oriented tips for job seekers.

Book preview

PROLOGUE

Uniform…. Yep, looks good. Truck… gassed up and ready to go. Special delivery box… hah! All set for the merchandise.

Okay, he said out loud. I’d better get going. It’s time to execute this transaction.

1

AUGUST 4TH

Wildfire season in Southern California is nothing to joke about. Ellen listened to the radio as she drove into work, anxious to reassure herself that the fires being fought at the moment were not near San Diego. It had been a hot, dry summer. Living close to the ocean made it easier for her to deal with the heat, but many of her co-workers were not so lucky. Temperatures could vary dramatically away from the coast, and the day-to-day tasks of commuting and running basic household errands became more onerous as the mercury climbed. Most of the people Ellen saw every day had central air-conditioning at home. Those who didn’t were easy to spot, as they came into the office with dark circles under their eyes borne of night after night of being unable to sleep in the heat.

Ellen Sparks was the Director of Employee Relations at BioCell Systems, a Carlsbad California company that produced the equipment and software used for genetic research and testing. Their workforce included biologists, chemists, and a variety of engineers, so Ellen was used to dealing with super-smart people. In addition to the technical personnel, there were other employees of various types—who were also smart, but were sometimes a little easier to talk to.

Altogether, BioCell employed around six thousand people, although not all of them were at the same site. Since the company produced both hardware and software, they maintained three manufacturing facilities and a research lab in the greater San Diego area, in addition to their corporate headquarters.

Some of Ellen’s friends who didn’t understand what people in Human Resources did all day long teased her about having a job where she listened to people complain all day. Every once in a while, she thought they were right – but in reality what she did was very different. Ellen and the members of her team developed people-management strategies to keep BioCell competitive. They were also problem-solvers who were used to dealing with the unexpected.

Ellen was more serious-minded than most women in their mid-thirties. She read the Wall Street Journal daily, along with business and industry blogs. Her best friend David was constantly on her case about this.

Lighten up! he would say, Pick up a fashion magazine. Would it kill you to read about what’s going on in Hollywood?

Still, as strange as it might seem to other people, reading about business was her idea of fun.

Ellen felt the heat reflecting off the asphalt as she pulled her briefcase out of the Mini Cooper’s back hatch, It had to be in the mid-eighties already; temperatures could well rise above one hundred degrees today. Brushing her dark hair out of her eyes, she walked quickly to the front door and heaved a sigh of relief to be inside the air-conditioned building.

At least three people said, Hot enough for ya? to Ellen as she walked down the hall to her office.

Someone could make a fortune coming up with a more original line, she thought to herself as she unlocked her office door. While waiting for her laptop to boot, Ellen sent a text to her thirteen-year-old niece, Whistler Benton, who lived with her. Whistler was enrolled in a computer camp at the local high school. Ellen was in the habit of checking in with her every morning to make certain she was up and dressed, and on her way to camp.

I’m being an idiot about this, she said to herself. Whistler is fine.

Her niece had become part of Ellen’s life earlier in the summer after the death of her mother, Ellen’s sister Jana. The two sisters, (technically half-sisters as they shared the same mother and different fathers), had not known one another.

The genesis of this unusual situation began during the Vietnam War. Jana’s father, Noel Benton, had taken his infant daughter with him as he fled the country to avoid the draft. Ellen, born many years later, was raised without knowing anything about this early chapter in her mother’s life. By the time she discovered her sister’s existence it was too late—Jana had become the victim of murder. During that difficult time, Ellen became very close to her niece, and made peace with Noel, the child’s grandfather—for the girl’s sake. Noel and Ellen decided it would be in Whistler’s best interest to leave Arlington, the town that held so many painful memories, and for Ellen to become her primary guardian. Noel had by no means abandoned his granddaughter. He planned to relocate to San Diego so he could also be a part of her life. He was presently tying up loose ends on the East Coast, and was expected to arrive in San Diego during the early fall.

Considering that Whistler was still recovering from the loss of her mother, she was doing well—but Ellen knew having Noel nearby would help to bolster her spirits.

Ellen had done everything she could think of to make Whistler feel at home. She’d given her free reign to make whatever changes she liked to her new bedroom. They’d worked together to paint three of the walls light lavender, and one a deeper purple—as purple was the girl’s favorite color. Whistler was an avid photographer, and together they’d framed some of her pieces and hung them around the condo.

Their time together fell into an easy rhythm that seemed to suit them both, although Ellen hoped once school started Whistler would make some friends her own age.

The unexpected aspect of Whistler’s presence that Ellen struggled with was her own degree of worry. She was constantly asking herself, Am I doing a good job with her?—Is she happy?—She’s been inside all day, doesn’t she need some fresh air? David was constantly telling her to give herself a break; things were fine. They were; she knew that. Still, she worried.

=====

The morning flew by. Looking at her calendar, Ellen realized she was booked with lunch meetings for the rest of the week. Today would be a good day to eat in her office and catch up on phone calls.

Yuck, she thought, Cafeteria food.

Despite her lack of enthusiasm, she headed down the hall and picked up an assortment of items from the newly installed salad bar in the center of the serving area. It had been a welcome alternative to the options that had previously been available. BioCell outsourced the management of the cafeteria to a catering company. Last year, they had signed a contract with a company that had been somewhat of a disappointment.

Although they promised to provide, fresh, healthy lunches, in reality they had been serving processed meat sandwiches and heating up frozen pizzas. Ellen had seen numerous complaints in the suggestion box—some more colorfully worded than others. At first, her discussions with the catering manager hadn’t yielded much in the way of results. However, in another month the firm’s contract would be up for renewal and miraculously last week, the salad bar had appeared. Ellen wasn’t certain this belated gesture made up for months of bad food, but today, she was happy to have the salad.

Between mouthfuls of lettuce, Ellen began to make a couple of quick phone calls.

There were only a few people that Ellen considered to be part of her family. Technically, Whistler was her only living blood relative, but she was close to her late mother’s best friend—whom she called Aunt Muriel. Muriel had been a formative influence throughout Ellen’s life. She’d been a college friend to Norma, Ellen’s mother, and Noel, Whistler’s grandfather during the nineteen sixties. Muriel had helped Norma through the tough times she experienced after Noel left the country with their daughter. Now, close to fifty years later, she’d also forgiven him and was looking forward to having her old friend return to California.

Ellen dialed Muriel’s number. Hi Aunt Muriel, It’s me. How are you doing?

Good, said the older woman, I’m just in from the garden. It’s too hot to stay out there very long.

You shouldn’t be out there at all in this heat, Ellen admonished. Those plants will be fine without you—you need to stay inside where it’s cool.

I heard from Noel over the weekend, she said settling down in her kitchen. He’s had an offer on Jana’s house. It sounds like he’s going to accept it.

Really? Ellen said. That didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

I gather the neighborhood is desirable, Muriel went on. "He had quite a few couples come by to look, but this is the first offer. I think he just wants everything to be over so he can leave Arlington. I don’t think he’ll wait for a higher price."

That’s good, said Ellen. Whistler will be happy to have him here. They chatted a bit more about plans for the weekend and then Ellen rang off, saying she needed to make a few more calls before she was finished with lunch. Next on her calling list, was her best friend David.

David Chapman and his partner Louis Ryan were like brothers to Ellen. She and David had been inseparable since college, and she couldn’t imagine life without him. Louis and David had been a couple for about five years. Together they owned a bakery in Encinitas, close to the condominium complex she called home. When Whistler had come to live with her, David and Louis eagerly embraced the notion of being Uncles, and it was a constant struggle to keep them from spoiling her.

Their early-morning schedule was a lifesaver when it came to getting Whistler wherever she needed to be in the morning. Chapman’s Bakery opened at six, and since they were up-and-out anyway, it was no trouble for either David or Louis to pick Whistler up and run her over to school by eight. The school was within walking distance of home, but having a ride in the morning meant almost an extra hour of sleep, which was exceptionally valuable from the teenage perspective.

Hey there, Happy Monday, she said as David answered the phone.

Hey yourself, how are things in corporate America this morning? Are you making the world a better place?

Better is a relative term, she answered, You ought to know that by now. So, how did it go this morning?

The same as it goes every morning, David answered. She was out in front, on time—Louis dropped her off at the school and she was babbling on and on about whatever coding thing they’re going to start working on today. She’s happy as a clam. You need to chill.

Right, I’m chilling—got it. And she’s coming over to the bakery afterwards, right?

Absolutely. We’re planning to make apple tarts this afternoon. She’ll be doing lots of peeling.

Okay, thanks. I should be able to get out of here at four-thirty, so I’ll be by as soon as I can.

No worries, he said cheerfully, Take your time; we’ll be here, just peeling away.

2

AUGUST 4TH

Bob Parker was not looking forward to his afternoon. He’d spent an hour the previous week in a closed-door session with BioCell’s Chief Executive Officer, Randall Colter, and Chief Finance Officer, Frank Anderson. The meetings had been painful. Sales of the company’s flagship product had been lower than anticipated during the first two quarters of the year. Their stock price was down. Now, the only way to make their numbers look good by the end of the year was to reduce operating budgets and to cut heads, a euphemism for reducing staff. One of the company’s manufacturing locations would be eliminated entirely, and at the corporate level they would have to eliminate employees who were considered ‘overhead’, meaning their positions didn’t directly generate revenue.

Situations like this were not unusual in business, and Bob was no stranger to having to lay people off. However, in this case, he felt the Human Resources department was being asked to make a greater sacrifice than any of the other overhead areas of the company. He was being asked to eliminate five positions overall, while Marketing, Legal, and Finance would only have to eliminate two each—and Sales Management would be completely unaffected. The same was true of operating budgets; HR would be losing a disproportionate share of its funding for the remainder of the year, compared to the other departments.

He’d done his best to make a compelling case for alternative ways to cut costs, but Randall’s mind was already made up. It was obvious that Frank had presented a financial plan to Randall in advance of the actual meeting, and the CEO had agreed with his breakdown. The meeting between the three men was not a discussion about solutions—it was a session intended to deliver orders. Bob could remember earlier times when he and Randall had a much more collaborative working relationship. In fact, Randall’s pro-employee philosophy had been one of the reasons he chose to work at BioCell—back in the good old days, before they became a public company. In the beginning sales were strong, and the new company received great press—focused on the life-saving potential of their gene therapy products. Against the backdrop of a depressed national economy, their story was one of hope, and a bright future.

However, in the fall of 2013, the Food and Drug Administration forced one of the companies that had begun selling genetic testing equipment to take their product off the market, citing their results as unreliable. BioCell Systems had nothing to do with this, but they were impacted nonetheless. The overall market for products and services associated with genetics seemed to suffer guilt-by-association. Sales were down, and Randall was panicked. Convinced he needed a take-no-prisoners strategy to manage the company’s finances, he replaced the firm’s long-time Chief Financial Officer with Frank Anderson, a man who had a reputation of turning difficult situations around.

Emphasis on the stock price and bottom line had gradually shifted Randall’s opinions on the best way to manage his workforce. Once Frank joined the team, things went from bad to worse from a human resources perspective. Frank was strictly a numbers guy, and there was no way Bob was going to convince him that investing in people was important—especially during a downturn.

In addition to reducing HR staff, there would be changes that would affect the general employee population. Tuition reimbursements would be halted. Employees who already had been approved for classes would be safe, but he would have to reject any new applications for the remainder of the year, and perhaps in the future. This would be very disappointing for the employees who were enrolled in degree programs. One of the reasons people wanted to work at BioCell was because of their active support of continuing education. It was the key point they highlighted in all of their recruiting materials, particularly on college campuses. Now, they were going to have to break the promises that had brought some of their brightest people on board.

If that weren’t bad enough, according to Frank the company’s contribution toward employee health benefits would have to be reduced. That wouldn’t happen immediately because there were regulations governing those types of changes, but the next time employees went to sign up for coverage, they would all be surprised to learn they would be paying more. All of this was going drive down morale. He’d decided to speak to Ellen and April together because he expected them to collaborate in managing employee reactions to the bad news.

=====

Bob and April were just sitting down at his conference table when Ellen arrived. She could tell something was wrong even before Bob began to speak. Normally a good-humored man, he looked quite troubled. He had a folder of spreadsheets in front of him and he handed copies to April, and to Ellen.

I’m afraid I have some bad news, he began. I know that you’re aware of how our numbers are lining up this year. I’ve been directed to make cuts in the department. The cuts will impact each of our teams, but I wanted to speak with you two at the same time because I’m going to need you to work together to minimize the fallout.

April said, Bob, you’re scaring me. How bad is it?

It’s pretty bad. You’re each going to lose one person and you’ll need to take a hundred thousand out of your budgets. It gets worse. New requests for tuition reimbursement will be denied. Also, next year we’ll be reducing our healthcare contribution. I don’t have the final percentage yet—it could be as much as fifty, but I’m still negotiating.

Both women were stunned. Bob waited for them to absorb what he’d said, and then continued. I know you have small teams to begin with, and losing one person will have a huge impact on each of you.

Are there going to be layoffs across the board?

The Chula Vista facility is going away, he answered. We’ll lose several hundred people there, plus we won’t have that real estate expense going forward. At the corporate level, there will be eleven positions eliminated, and over a million taken out of department budgets.

April began, Who else …

Let me stop you before you begin, Bob interrupted. You’ll figure this out soon enough, so there’s no reason not to let you know now. HR is taking a bigger hit than the other departments. Legal, Marketing and Facilities are taking a hit; Finance and Sales are not. Don’t bother being annoyed. There’s no point putting energy into why it turned out this way—it just did. So, this is our new reality. We can’t change it. I hope you know that I did everything I could to have Frank and Randall look at alternatives, but this is what they feel has to happen, and my job is to carry out their directives.

Bob, Ellen offered, We know you did what you could. No one is blaming you. We’re just shocked. How long do we have on the layoffs?

"Corporate