The Investigators Pt. 03

"Mike. Lee. A month or so ago, a flag was erroneously waved and a very nice project was shut own and I had to tell your company to shut down and send everyone home. It has happened again. Your initial estimates were quite a bit higher than what the board had expected and after doing some research, they decided that we do not need a coker here. The wholesale price of pitch has suddenly gone up to a little over $5 a barrel so the board has made the decision to sell the pitch to South American refineries instead of making coke and selling that. I do not know how the money things will work out but that is the decision of the board and I was out voted and told to drop the issue. You and your team are finished as of now, or at least as soon as you clean out your offices. I am sure you are anxious to get home, but I invite you all to stay a day or so and unwind before going home. We will pay your expenses for it.

"Mike, you and Lee and the others have done a fantastic job for us, and I do hope we get to maintain a good relationship with your company. I know they will maintain a presence on the island and continue to do small jobs for us like always.

"Again, let me apologize for the suddenness of the board's decision and for their decision in general. We were sure looking forward to building a new unit and getting to hire more people and help the local economy. Have a safe trip home."

"Damn, Carl. That is about the last thing I ever expected, especially with the board wanting all the estimates and all. Oh, well, such is life in business. Lee and I have a waiting list of tasks at our office and Davis has already been asking about when we would be finished here, so do not worry about us. These things happen all the time. We will leave and I will tell the others and call Davis and inform him. We may stay a day or so but we were off yesterday so I don't know. This is sudden so we will have to talk. Good bye, Carl. You all are good people and it has been a pleasure to work with you. Call us for the next turnaround or expansion project, or just simple maintenance work. We do them all, and try to do them well. Bye now. Let's go Lee."

They left Carlton's office to find the others, who were in the conference room drinking coffee and taking advantage of the always available sweet rolls. Mike informed they that this project had come to a sudden stop and they were free to go back to the home office now. This shocked all of them but the news was well received as each of the men had someone waiting for them at home. They said they would check their temporary office and then pack and if they could get a flight out, check out of the hotel and turn in their cars at the airport and go home.

By this time, it was late morning and they decided to go to their favorite local bar for a last meal of ribs and chicken and to call Davis while they were there to inform him of these developments.

Davis was shocked at this sudden turn of events, but at the same time, rather glad to see his favorite two investigators being able to return to the tasks he had planned for them.

As they were finishing eating, Mike looked at Lee seriously and asked what she wanted to do. Either go home quickly or stay a day or so to play and sightsee.

"Mike, as much as I like it here, I think I would like to just go home and see our own homes and do laundry and visit family and friends for a bit. It doesn't matter, really, not as long as I have you around. I love you and am so anxious to be your wife in every way. We are going to be so good together."

And they were.

Epilog:

Mike and Lee were married 4 months after their return from Aruba in a moderately small ceremony with mostly family and close friends invited. They chose to go back to Aruba to see what someone could do to fill a whole week's stay on the island with no work to do. They did find a way to fill all those hours. They also managed to eat a total of three times at that little bar in San Nicholas.

Mike and Lee did spend about another year going from job site to job site solving a myriad of problems along the way and thus saving both companies a ton of money and giving them a stellar reputation for quality work and safety on the job before both being promoted into the home office. Soon both Mike and Lee were promoted into senior management positions that did not require any travel except for the few customer called meetings that necessitated their attendance.

Whenever one of them had to go someplace the other went also. It went without saying that they were a team and often worked together on either of their jobs. It was also well known that they were usually correct in whatever they said about anything pertaining to their work.

After Wilson retired, Lee took over as CEO of his insurance company but as she was not really schooled in actuary tables and some of the other finer points of the insurance business, her father helped her pick a good management team with a President, COO, and CFO, all of which answered directly to her. She always had her father to fall back on as he retained a position as Emeritus Chairman of the Board, but spent most of his time traveling the country with his wife.

Mike was offered the top job in his company but he declined saying he would rather work with the engineering department as its head as he enjoyed the design phase of engineering much more than the bidding and construction phases. Later in life this would change and both Lee and Mike would be CEOs until their retirements.

Along the way, Lee managed to give Mike two little girls to follow in their mother's footstep which he knew they could and probably would. They also had a son, the pride and joy and spitting image of his father, and always in trouble for getting into his dad's tools and building supplies and building something only he knew what was out in the back yard. Yep, just like his dad. Or so his mother proudly and lovingly says.