Evan looked at the cup.
“Grant?”
“Grant.”
“Preston?”
“Also not here.”
“Sales?”
“Home.”
Evan returned to the unit in front of him.
Mara watched him.
“Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Yes.”
Again, nothing more.
At 8:14 the following morning, Preston sent a company email.
Thank you to our technical staff for absorbing an unplanned variance.
Evan read it once.
Mara read it over his shoulder.
“Absorbing a variance.”
She laughed without humor.
“That’s what four midnight shifts are now?”
Evan closed the email.
“It’s accurate enough for him.”
“What would you call it?”
Evan looked at the rows of corrected sensors waiting for shipment.
“Preventable.”
That word never appeared in the executive summary.
On December 16th, Blackidge payroll sent a notice to selected employees.
The December cycle may involve an adjustment to the method of disbursement. Additional information will be provided during the year-end employee assembly.
Evan read the message twice.
He opened the distribution list.
Calibration.
Assembly.
Shipping.
Warehouse.
Facilities.
No sales.
No marketing.
No senior management.
He wrote the date in his notebook.
Mara appeared beside him.
“What do you think ‘adjustment to the method of disbursement’ means?”
“Something written by somebody who didn’t want to use a simpler phrase.”
“That helpful, huh?”
“No.”
Curtis Bell from the warehouse believed it meant checks instead of direct deposit.
Someone in shipping said December bonuses were being deferred.
Another employee thought Blackidge was changing payroll banks.