Several months had passed since Janet had had her appendix removed. Dexter had not had any contact with his family since that horrible Monday night. He was still angry at Sarah. He hadn't appreciated being ambushed like that.
The website continued to gain visitors. Business programs on the cable news stations started talking about the increased number of lawsuits filed by employees against the companies. The employees were winning their lawsuits, and the executives were stunned.
Companies were swamped by demands for corporate credit cards for use when traveling. A lot of companies stuck to their policy that only people above a certain level in the company got company credit cards. Then came the expense vouchers for interest charges. Then came the lawsuits.
Having expensive lawyers defend the company in small claims court was costing a fortune. Not being able to float loans on the backs of their employees started costing companies a lot of money, also. All of a sudden, the travel budgets of companies were hurting.
Reimbursements for cell phones and home offices poured in. One success in a company was followed by hundreds of additional requests by other employees of the company. Often times, a quick trip to small claims court forced the company to revise its corporate policies. It simply wasn't cost effective to fight it.
People stopped answering work related calls on their cell phones after working hours were over. Executives and a few managers stood in empty office buildings on weekends waiting for people to show up for work. Few people showed up.
Managers at all levels started demanding secretaries. Executives rejected the demands. Tensions mounted inside offices across the country. Business leaders turned to academics for advice on how to deal with the situation. Arguments over the economic benefits of support staff arose in business schools around the country. Those arguing for support staff pointed to the data on Dexter's website. Those arguing against it claimed Dexter lacked the credentials to collect data of quality.
Dexter's articles on delegating responsibility and authority downwards, were met with the same level of resistance. He argued that while delegating responsibility downwards was a long standing tradition, failure to give the authority to the responsible individual cost companies millions of dollars. Dexter maintained that it all came down to a matter of trust, and the companies didn't trust their employees.
Dexter's website was often blamed for cases of extreme violence between employee and employer. Several knockoff websites suddenly appeared. There were radical websites that promoted destruction of company property. When something horrible happened, his website was often blamed. This was unfair, since his website promoted a passive aggressive approach to dealing with things.
There was a measurable effect on a lot businesses, and not all of it was negative. Theaters, which had been sitting empty because of online movie services, suddenly found lines at the ticket counters. People now had time to take in a movie, and they wanted the full theater experience, complete with overpriced popcorn and soda.
High end restaurants saw an increase in business as well. Young couples without children, and older couples whose children had left home, were taking the time to have a nice evening out. They wanted good food, outstanding service, and to enjoy a leisurely intimate conversation. They were willing pay for it. Complaints about bad food and poor service forced restaurants to increase staff and improve cuisine.
With all of the conflict boiling in companies across the country, some of that anger was bound to get directed at Dexter. It happened on a Wednesday when Dexter entered the office to find Eric sitting at his desk looking worried. Actually, Eric looked afraid.
Concerned, Dexter asked, "What's wrong, Eric?"
"I'm getting worried about the threats being made against you. You've made a lot of enemies. There's one guy who looks like he's really serious about hurting you," Eric said.
"I wouldn't worry about it. I've been getting threatening e-mails ever since I started the website," Dexter said.
He dismissed the concern out of hand. He had basically stopped reading the threatening e-mails.
"This is a little different," Eric said.
"Why?" Dexter asked.
Eric pulled up an e-mail and said, "This guy is threatening to kill you. He says that he wants to see your corpse lying in the street in a puddle of blood. He actually knows where we are. I think he's serious."
"I guess we'd better call the police," Dexter said.
He had never expected to be the subject of real death threats. Those were for politicians and other public figures. He was just a guy running a little website. It was making money, but it wasn't making that much money.
Eric frowned and said, "I'm thinking we need to do more than that."
"Like what?" Dexter asked.
"I think we need to stop coming into the office. Maybe we should move from place to place for a while," Eric said.
"You think it's that serious?" Dexter asked, surprised by the suggestion.
Eric clicked on the e-mail to open an attachment as he said, "This guy included a photo of you coming into the office building."
"Oh, shit!"
"Yeah. 'Oh shit' is right," Eric said.
"We better call the police, right now," Dexter said.
"Once they are finished here, I'm leaving the office. I won't be coming to the office for a couple of months. I figure that guy doesn't know that I work for you, and I'm not going to let the bastard learn that I do. I'll work from home, from now on. I don't want my wife to become a widow," Eric said.
"I can understand that. Truthfully, I don't blame you," Dexter said. "I think I'll do the same thing, despite the fact that no one would miss me."
"I'd miss you! You're the best damned boss I've ever had," Eric said.
"I'm not that great of a boss," Dexter said.
"Four day work weeks? No supervision? No phone calls after hours? I've got a debit card for office supplies? I don't waste time on bullshit, anymore? I can't tell you how much I like this."
"That's the way it should be," Dexter said.
It had never made sense to Dexter to hire people to do a job and then get in the way of them doing the work they were hired to do. To have two levels of management sitting in every meeting was absurd. If you didn't trust someone to manage their staff, you shouldn't put them in that position.
He didn't see why a company would pay someone more than eighty thousand a year and not trust them to spend a hundred dollars a year on office supplies. It was insane to think it was cost effective to have someone who made over a hundred thousand a year dispense pens and pads of paper to sixty people working for him. The lunacy didn't stop there. It first required a vice-president's approval, for that individual to purchase the office supplies that he was going to hand out.
"So you would be missed," Eric said. "Now call the police, and then lets get the hell out of here."
"Good plan," Dexter said, in total agreement.
It was two hours before a policeman, Detective Kingsley, showed up at the office. He browsed through the e-mails without demonstrating much concern, until he saw the one with the photo attached. Suddenly, he started taking the threat a whole more more seriously. Even his body language changed.
Detective Kingsley said, "This looks serious."
"That's what we thought," Dexter said.
He really wasn't very pleased to hear the detective say that. He'd rather have heard that they were worried about nothing. Eric nodded his head in agreement with the detective.
"The problem is, I don't know much about the internet. I mean, we don't have an internet crimes division," Detective Kingsley said.
"That doesn't sound very encouraging," Dexter said, as the only clue they had was the e-mail.
"I don't think we'll be able to find this guy from these e-mails. Maybe when we catch him, we'll find copies on his machine to support a conviction. At least we know he was physically in the area and we can work from there," Detective Kingsley said.
Dexter didn't like the sound of that. It almost sounded like the e-mail would only be of value after he had killed.
He asked, "What does that mean?"
Detective Kingsley answered, "It means that we are going to have to do some good old fashioned police work."
"That's good, isn't it?" Dexter asked.
"Yes and no," Detective Kingsley answered. "We're a little short staffed."
"Oh, great," Dexter said.
Detective Kingsley said, "You guys know a bit about the internet. Maybe you can find out who this guy is, and let me know."
Eric and Dexter exchanged a look. Dexter was not happy.
He said, "I don't think we know enough to do that."
Detective Kingsley said, "If you know someone who is really good at this internet stuff, you might ask them to see if they can track this person down."
"You mean, we should hire a private cyber-detective," Dexter said not even knowing if such a thing existed.
"Basically," Detective Kingsley said.
"So what happens next?" Dexter asked.
"We'll have a patrol car drive by occasionally to see if they spot something out of the ordinary. You never know."
"Okay," Dexter said.
"You two should keep your eyes open. If you spot anything suspicious, give me a call," Detective Kingsley said.
"We'll be sure to call 911, and then you," Eric said.
"Only call 911 if you really feel threatened," Detective Kingsley said.
"Believe me, if I see anything suspicious, I'll feel threatened," Eric said.
Dexter pointed to Eric and said, "I agree with him."
The detective left after getting a copy of the e-mails. He left behind a very disheartened Dexter, and a very worried Eric.
"It started with them moving the soda fountains at fast food places from behind the counter, to in front of the counter," Dexter said.
"What started?"
Dexter said, "It continued with ATMs."
"ATMs?"
Dexter said, "Then self-service gas stations popped up everywhere."
"What are you talking about?"
"Then we got self-service lines at the grocery and department stores."
"Sure. That's about the right order. I don't get the point."
Dexter said, "Now we have self-service criminal investigation."
"Oh. Yeah. That's what it sounded like to me, too," Eric said.
Dexter asked, "Do you feel safer now that we've met with the police?"
"No, not at all," Eric said. He slumped down in his chair and added, "I'm gonna go home."
"Don't go directly home. Make sure no one is following you," Dexter said.
Eric slumped even farther down in his chair and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to call a private detective, and then make myself scarce," Dexter said.
"Good idea," Eric said.
Right after Eric left, Dexter headed over to a private detective agency. He met with a private detective by the name of Jeff Mertzer, and showed him the e-mails he had received. Jeff suggested installing motion activated video surveillance equipment in the office in case anyone entered. Using the internet connection in the office, he would store the video off the premises. Dexter agreed to the plan and gave the detective a key to use for when he went over to the office that afternoon to install the cameras.
Dexter left the private detective agency in his car. Rather than heading home, he got on the highway headed towards Nevada. He figured that it was about time for him to make himself scarce. A long session in a casino and a short visit to a brothel might be a nice way to relax and waste a little time.
Feeling a little paranoid, Dexter drove for an hour checking his rear view mirror frequently. Still not convinced that he wasn't being followed, he pulled off the highway and stopped in a little gas station. He got out his cell phone and took pictures of the cars in the area.
After putting a gallon of gas in the car, he got back on the highway. An hour later, he pulled into a truck stop, and took more pictures. He went inside the truck stop restaurant and spent a little time comparing the cars in the first set of pictures with the cars in the second set of pictures. He didn't see any evidence that he was being followed.
Dexter drove for a couple of hours and then stopped at a small motel that was located well off the highway. It was an older place, and didn't provide internet connectivity. It would be a good place to sleep, but he wouldn't be able to work there. He checked in, and considered his next move. He had a little work to do on the website, and he needed some clothes.
Searching for place that provided an internet connection, he drove back towards the highway. He found a truck stop that had wifi 'hotspot'. He stopped and checked on his website. There were a bunch of e-mails that had to be answered. He worked for a couple of hours, answering e-mails and posting some of the more interesting ones on the website. He drank too much coffee, and ate a couple of the pink pills.
After finishing his work, he purchased a pair of pants, underwear, socks, and shirt at the truck stop's store. The clothes weren't anything great. He ended up looking like a truck driver. However, the clothes did fit, and wouldn't get him kicked out of a restaurant.
He headed back towards the motel, stopping at a steakhouse he had spotted, earlier. He had a good porterhouse steak, cooked just the way he liked it. He took his time to enjoy the meal. Satisfied, he returned to the motel, but it was too early to head to bed. He wondered how Eric was making out, and decided to call him.
When Eric answered, he said, "Hey, Eric! This is Dexter."
"What's the matter?" Eric asked, concerned by the after hours call.
"I just wanted to check and make sure you were okay," Dexter answered.
"I'm fine," Eric said shocked that Dexter was concerned about him.
Dexter said, "Well, I know you were kind of worried, because of the threats and all."
"I really appreciate you calling. How are you doing?" Eric said.
Eric was quite touched that Dexter had actually called him, just to make sure that he was all right. He hadn't even thought to call Dexter to find out if he was okay, and Dexter was the individual who was threatened.
"I'm about four hours out of town. I'll keep heading out for the next day or two until I find a good place to hide out for a spell," Dexter answered.
"I'm glad to hear that. I've got a bad feeling about this threat," Eric said.
"You take of yourself. If you would feel better about leaving town for a few days, I'll cover your expenses. Just pack up your family and go," Dexter said.
"I'm fine right here," Eric said stunned by the offer.
"Give me a call if anything happens. I'll come right back if you've got a problem," Dexter said.
"Will do," Eric said.
After the call had ended, Dexter considered his situation. He hoped that nothing bad happened to Eric. He didn't know what he would do if the guy got killed. For the past few months, the only person he had talked with was Eric.
After Eric had pointed out the photograph, he had gone through the past few months worth of threatening e-mails. They had truly escalated in tone, but the last one had sent chills down his back. He could just imagine stepping out of his office and getting shot.
Dexter had never served in the military. He didn't have any kind of training that would help him cope with this kind of situation. He was the type of person who trusted the police to take care of things like this. Unfortunately, he didn't feel very confident that the police would get a handle on it, until he after he was dead.
That thought terrified him.
Trying to distract himself, he watched a little television, but just couldn't get interested in any of the programs. He went to bed, but his fertile imagination kept him awake for most of the night.
Edited By TeNderLoin