Bloody Royal Prints by Reba White Williams Read Free Book Online

immediately. I don’t ever want to see it again,” she said.
    â€œWho are you to tell us what we can and can’t do?” One of the women said.
    Coleman lost it. “As you should know, if you paid any attention to what goes on here, I am Coleman Greene, the owner of First Home , and both of you are fired. Collect your belongings, and go to Human Resources. I’ll call them and let them know you are coming. They’ll handle the paperwork, and will arrange to see you out of the building.”
    â€œYou’ll be sorry,” a D threatened.
    â€œYes, we’ll tell the world how you have abused us, and you’ll hear from our lawyer,” the other one chimed in.
    â€œGoodbye,” Coleman said. Turning her back on the furious women, she looked at Evelyn, who’d stood silent during the storm. “Miss Cartright, please come with me to my office. We have a lot to talk about.”
    When they were seated in Coleman’s office, Coleman said, “I’m sorry we had to meet like this. I’d meant to keep those women on a little longer, while I figured out what to do and brought in new people, but I just couldn’t let this pass. May I call you Lyn?”
    â€œYes, ma’am. Uh—am I fired, too?”
    Coleman laughed. “No, I want you to manage the department, help me do whatever needs to be done. Do you have any ideas about how to handle this mess?”
    Lyn smiled. “Yes, I’ve been thinking about what should be done ever since I came to work here. Do you have an assistant who can help me with practical issues?”
    Coleman nodded and pressed a button she rarely used, summoning her assistant. At Heyward’s urging, she’d hired Mrs. Anderson, a middle-aged woman with considerable office experience, to be gatekeeper and to take care of the library. She sat in the big foyer outside her office and Heyward’s. Mrs. Anderson also answered Coleman’s phone and acted as Coleman’s secretary on the rare occasion when she needed one. She was efficient, unobtrusive, and competent. But there was so little for her to do when Heyward wasn’t around, Coleman had worried that she’d leave for a more stimulating job.
    Maybe the decorating department was the challenge that would keep her interested. She would be terrific helping Lyn to handle all the details of closing the obsolete department and starting up a new one.
    Half an hour later, Coleman excused herself. Mrs. Anderson and Lyn were having a wonderful time, preparing memos for distribution internally, explaining that the interior design department was temporarily closed for alterations. The head of the human resources department met with them, as did one of the company lawyers, to discuss settlements with the departed Ds. A technician appeared to deal with telephones and computers. They were getting along famously—they didn’t need her. She’d leave them to it and head for home. She wanted to plan a getaway, and didn’t want interruptions until the details were settled.
    â€¢â€¢â€¢
    After being confined to the office while she dealt with the problems of the decorating department, Coleman had cabin fever. She looked forward to escaping and spending a spring day in Connecticut, on her maiden field trip for First Home . She had invited Bethany—tired of being stuck indoors at the Greene Gallery—to join her, and hired a car and driver to take them to Merriweather. Debbi’s description of the area had galvanized her.
    With Dolly in her lap, and Bethany beside her, Coleman was as excited as a child playing hooky to go to the circus. She felt free after what seemed like a very long period of captivity. Running First Home was much more of an indoor job than ArtSmart had been. She missed all the outside activity ArtSmart required: openings, exhibitions, lunches and dinners with artists and collectors. She enjoyed the intellectual part of being in charge of