“How about with anybody at Dumbarton?” Bennie held her breath.
“No.”
“Do you keep anybody at Dumbarton informed of hiring and firing?”
“No.”
“How about payroll? Where does that come from? You’d have to take Pensiera off the payroll.”
“We do our own payroll and accounting.”
Bennie breathed a relieved sigh. So far so good. She avoided looking over at Nate and put him out of her mind. “How big is the Sales department?”
“I have ten reps under me.”
“And they all have different territories?”
“Yes, we’re national.”
“So you’re spread thin.”
“Understatement of the year.”
“Do you have accounts, as manager?”
“Yes, I kept some of mine as I got promoted. It makes up for the lost commissions. I kept my bread-and-butter, mostly in the area. I got tired of being a road warrior and I have a lot more paperwork as manager.”
“Okay, I’m here to try to understand the facts concerning Mr. Pensiera’s termination. Let’s start with—”
“Why?” Todd leaned forward, with a frown. “Why does this come up? What does this have to do with you, an outside lawyer?”
“Mr. Pensiera is claiming that you fired him to mitigate medical expenses for his daughter, Rachel, who has cancer.”
“That’s bull!” Todd raised his voice, his handsome face flushing under his fresh tan. “Are you serious? I mean, for real, what are you accusing me of?”
Jason interjected, “Todd, she’s not accusing you of anything. She’s here as our lawyer to tell us about the suit.”
“There’s alawsuit?” Todd’s blue eyes flew open, incredulous. “Simon is suing me? What law says that I have to keep a rep who doesn’t do his job anymore?”
Bennie raised a hand, signaling for him to calm down. “I know this is unpleasant, but let’s get the facts on the table, then we can sort it out. That’s the quickest way to get us all back to work.”
Jason nodded. “Todd, please listen to what Bennie has to say.”
“Fine!” Todd lowered his voice, but a frown took up residence on his forehead, creasing his sunburn.
Ray said nothing, folding beefy arms over his paunch.
Bennie changed tacks. “Tell you what, Todd. Instead of me doing all the talking, why don’t you tell me why you fired Pensiera?”
“Okay, good.” Todd shifted forward in his chair, his anger controlled but obvious. “It was his performance. He was doing a bad job. His numbers were going down. They don’t lie.”
“Has that always been the case?”
“No. He’s always been one of our top guys. Always made above quota. His accounts love him. He reports directly to me. We get along great. I gave him the biggest region. We’re friends, for God’s sake! We socialized, at least we used to. I can’t believe he would do this to me!” Todd banged the table, but Bennie ignored the outburst.
“When did his performance start to change?”
“I would say about two years ago.”
