As they made their way down to her car, Chance couldn't help but wonder if it was really a good idea to leave Tucker with Koty.
'Eh, should be fine.' He decided to shrug it off and instead focused his attention on Nevada's new ride.
It was not the red pickup truck she had used before. In its place, Nevada brought along a shiny new Mini Cooper with an unusual vibrant purple paint job.
"What happened to the truck?" He briefly inspected the compact car before opening the passenger door.
Nevada sighed, her pleasant mood faded slightly as she thought about how to answer. There was no way that she was going to admit outright that Charlie gifted it to her.
She and Koty had stepped out of their house earlier to find it sitting outside, keys in the ignition, dressed up with a flashy oversized bow and gift tag too. It was a wonder that someone else hadn't made off with the tiny thing!
"Nothing. Just thought this was better suited to city driving." She mumbled as she made herself comfortable in the well padded driver's seat.
"I see." Chance awkwardly lowered himself down into the little hatchback and buckled in.
As soon as she heard the crisp click of the buckle, Nevada's eyes flashed. She had just thought of a great way to distract herself for a little while.
She shot a quick side eyed peek at Chance, who was still adjusting his seat, before she grinned and slammed her foot down on the accelerator.
"Really, Nev?" Chance groaned as the sudden take off forced him backwards against the cushioned leather.
She just continued to smile and concentrated on the traffic around her.
A cut of the wheel here, a slight drift there, then a shortcut through an alley. Each maneuver was expertly executed to guide the Mini out of the city in record time.
...
While Chance was questioning his judgement in allowing Nev to drive, Tucker yawned as he stood up and stretched.
An hour had passed, since his gracious benefactor had left with the younger Flynn sibling, and he had spent every second of it typing.
He had finished with a rough summary of events for now and he wanted to break away from it for a little while. The words were starting to run together in his mind so he was going to work on the other task Chance had given him.
In addition to recording everything that had crippled Chance and his company, Tucker was also asked to compile a list of the former employees and profile each of them.
Chance wanted to know their names, a little bit of their background, and how they were impacted by the disbanding of Addison Enterprises. It was the first step in righting those who, much like Tucker, were very severely wronged by Jerome Hughes' scheme.
Their motives were not solely philanthropic though. Not only would they identify the ones who had suffered, Chance was also counting on Tucker to identify those who benefited when the company folded. Those traitors who knew what was coming and aided in the ruin of Chance's business and his reputation.
While Addison Enterprises had not been a really large company, it had still employed close to two hundred people. One thing working to his advantage was that, as the director of human resources, Tucker had been present for the hiring and orientation of more than three-quarters of the employees.
His other greater advantage was that he was a people person. Over the years he had once built a name for himself as a professional networking genius. Even though his notoriety had only followed him in the realm of human resource management, he took the utmost pride in it. Tragically, when he was ousted from Addison enterprises, all of that went up in smoke and his name instead became one of infamy.
However, just because the respect and esteem was gone did not mean his abilities had faded. Just by working from his memory and digging through social media, Tucker would definitely be able find and check up on the majority of the former employees.
Listing the employees and their backgrounds should be the easy part. Tracking them down to ascertain their current statuses may prove to be slightly more difficult.
He had hoped to keep himself busy and completely confined to the office the entire time that Chance would be gone but he really needed to use the bathroom.
From his interactions thus far with Koty and the others, he knew he wasn't well liked or trusted. Koty and Fait definitely looked down on him. And, although Lola seemed to just be indifferent to his existence, he had a gut feeling that they wouldn't become friends anytime soon.
The longer he could avoid them, the better. At least that's how he felt about it.
Tucker couldn't ignore the discomfort anymore and poked his head out of the office door. Much to his relief, he was greeted by the sound of soft snores.
He silently rejoiced as he quietly made his way to the bathroom. Unfortunately, his luck did not hold for his return trip to the office.
Tucker slowly opened the door and jumped back in fright. A very disheveled and very annoyed Koty was standing right outside the door, glaring down at him.