Shangri-Lah Furniture Manufacturing - Part (2/3)

Sergeant Leo stepped into the boss’ office and closed the door behind him, which quietly bounced back off the frames with a creaaaaak.

The room was large, spacious, enough to fit a large custom made mahogany office desk with solid legs and a back cover; a set of three wooden couches with well worn and exotic cushions across the eats; a coffee table carved out of a thick and gnarled tree stump; and a small standing table top corner with a collection of Scotch, Whisky, and some Wine bottles.

Leo would turn to look at some cabinets stand against the walls. One was dedicated to a series of crystal awards and brass trophies, all labelled BEST FURNITURE COMPANY, BEST SERVICES, BEST EMPLOYEE TEAM, NATIONAL FURNITURE COMPETITION, etc.

Another cabinet full of cube shelves, each holding a miniature model of some furniture assets the company produced with silver stickers. One group of miniatures had golden labels reading between the 6th and 12th year of the company’s life span they won consecutive awards in some national competition. That was until Leo looked at the rest of the miniatures dated in the last three years: 2nd place, 2nd place, 3rd place, 4th place, honorable mention, participation.

Leo reached up to touch the latest furniture miniature of a plain looking beach chair. The leg and arm fell apart, the entire beach chair model tip over dead.

“...”

The sergeant cleared his throat and walked around. The wall dividing the main lobby and the boss office was a single window-style glass wall. There were some strips of glass that were frosted, and as the rest were 100% transparent there were a series of dripping blinds dangling to obscure the boss’ office for some privacy.

As the secretary would make the occasional glances at Leo in the office, he avoided turning the blinds for now. Rather he tried to minimize detection by crouching down. He used one of the couches in the room as cover and brought out tools from the box to feign ‘helping’. As he continued examining the room, he would tap the tools together in his hands like drum sticks to mimic ‘fixing’ noises. Eventually the secretary relaxed and resumed watching her favourite mouse Vtuber girl’s horror stream. Leo took this opportunity to peek over Frank Tucker’s desk.

The office desk was well used, areas where people rest their wrist left a small impression and the sleeves having polished the wood with some scratches of the cuff links. A wooden cup was filled with the type of blue pens people can easily throw away when it runs dry, the computer screen has a crack in the corner and fixed with several transparent tape, and the clunky PC tower had a half torn sticker with the words SEC—HAND US— still stuck on it.

Leo eyed the corner of the desk, spotting a pile of mail clipped in a holder. With a wide move of his arm, he ‘accidentally’ knocked them over and they spilled across the ground. Being a ‘good Samaritan’ he started to pick them up – examining each sender.

[KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND CARGO – SUPPLY SHIPPING COMPANY, URGENT!]

[LUMIERE HEAVY ELECTRIC COMPANY – IMPORTANT NOTICE, OVERDUE]

[CITY DOCK AND PROVINCIAL SHIPPING – PLEASE ACT BEFORE DEADLINE]

He glanced at each envelope, covered in red URGENT/OVERDUE stamp ink over and over. Before Leo could try and ponder on them, or even open one of the letters, he heard a noise outside of the office. He quickly shuffled and crammed them back into the tight holder, then crawled to the window wall for a peek.

Outside, a large man wearing a red and black shipping uniform burst into the lobby with a shove through the door. As he stormed over he gripped at his cap as if getting ready for a sudden bar fight. The cap had a well embroidered logo of KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND CARGO showing a knight in full plate armor riding a cargo truck like a horse.

He slapped his hand across the secretary’s desk, the leather of his driving gloves making a violent thunder crack on the surface. It startled the secretary, making her drop her phone to the ground with a SNAP, the broken screen going out harder than a burnt light bulb. Unable to mourn over the death of her phone, she turned and seized up in front of the large man.

“Where’s he!?” The driver barked, veins bulging on his neck. “Where’s that cheap skate Tucker!?”

“H-h-h-he’s out!” was all the secretary could say before her table gets struck again. “EEK! P-please don’t hit the desk, s-sir or, or--”

“Okay, look! I’m real sorry for being up in your face, but I had it up to here with Tucker!” the driver held up his large hands and tried to suppress his scowl quivering with rage, “This is like what, the fourth time his cheque bounced! I gave him more than enough leeway, but not today! I am running a shipping business, not a charity hall. Now go and get that two faced son of a—“

“Excuse me,” Leo stepped out of the employer’s office right before the drive could finish his curse. “Something wrong?”

“Who are you?” The driver snarled, looking Leo up and down with a glare.

The secretary gasped with relief, hand on her chest to calm her heart. However, just as she was about to call out to the policeman, Leo held up a hand to interrupt her without breaking eye contract from the driver, “I’m one of Frank’s business associates. Wanted to sort out some...overdues.”

After a beat of silence, the driver gave understanding nod. “Oh come on. Don’t tell me he owes you money too. God, this jack--”

“Why don’t we, you know, step outside. Get some fresh air.” Leo would then stride over and usher the truck driver towards the door. Just before leaving he gave the secretary a silent ‘ok’ gesture with a hand and walked out of the office.

The woman just stood there with a confused stare.