Chapter 26: Finding Secrets
I check my watch.
It was 8'o clock at night.
I cover myself from the long loose coat that hangs below my knees. I slowly walk out of the house and straighten my scarf on the head. I release a breath which comes out as a smoke.
"Okay... Let's do it."
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"I am asking you if you have the old stack of newspapers!" I shout at the shopkeeper for the fourth time.
"Huh?" He gives me the same blank look for the fourth time again.
"You are getting on my nerves old man. It's against my culture to be disrespectful to you so you should start being nice to me." I glare at him.
"Huh?"
"Where is that lady who used to read all the time while sitting here?!"
"Huh?"
"I... Need to find... The lady... Who used to... Work here?" I try to explain him with hand gestures but he just scratches his head in confusion like I was some crazy person.
"Who... Put you... To this... Job?" He again scratches his head.
"Ah! Forget it, I'll check on my own." I say, passing through the counter and coming inside as the old man stands in my way with yet again a blank face.
"Huh?"
"Make way through," I tell and nudge the old man aside.
"Oh common! It's closing time." The old man trudges away tiredly. I gasp at him.
"Oh, my Almighty! You speak! You finally spoke something else!" I smile at him. "And here I was worried that you lost your hearing or something," I say, putting my hands on my hips with a smile on my face.
"Huh? What?" He looks at me blankly again.
"You know what? I'll just go look inside. You go sit there." I point towards a nearby wooden chair and without waiting to hear his 'huh', I walk inside the back room.
The storeroom was quite bigger than it seemed from the outside. I take in the view of the books stacked across the shelves fitted on each wall, leaving no empty space. The room smelled of old, new, crisp and foul papers. I took a deep breath and rub my hands together in anticipation.
"Looks like I am going to spend my night here today. Let's start finding the newspaper portion."
Half an hour later, I'm surrounded by stacks of the newspaper as I search through all of them by dates and news headlines and skim over their contents.
I sit on the floor and stare calmly at the papers, thinking of the stories that they might hold.
And with a sigh, I dig into those papers.
Cameron suicides under pressure of debt....
Mrs. Cameron not convinced of the suicide...
SILLA lost a big support...
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I further search into papers for something new that may help me somehow and it didn't take long.
1961, SILLA's Chief Executive died out of heart attack on his vacations: Mr. Robinson took vacations from his job to spend some quality time with his family. Sources say that he wanted to take his mind off due to the current condition of the company. On a family dinner, he received a call from a colleague and went back to his penthouse, excusing himself from the dinner. Later the wife received a call from Mr. Robinson number, as stated by her;
Mrs. Robinson: We were all having a nice family dinner together with my husband, my little daughter, my mama and papa at the west side restaurant. Robinson never shared about the things going on in business but he sure was depressed due to the burden of debts increasing and for the first time he admitted to me that he wanted a break and that he was afraid of something, something that might be taken away from him, something that was to happen if he didn't take this vacation. So we all took this vacation and flew far away without notifying anyone in the company. And then the family dinner, if I knew it was our last dinner, I would have made it from my hands. He was ill from the inside and I knew it but I also knew that he'd overcome it soon like he always did. I wish I would have helped him.
When I received his call, I heard no voice for a few seconds. I called out his name to make sure he was on the line then I heard his shivering breaths. He said my name with a trembling sound. I knew that something was wrong with him.
I asked him what was wrong and why was he out of breath. Then I heard him howl in pain. I instantly stood up and the chair fell behind me.
He called my name again with ragging breaths. I panicked on the phone and raced outside of the restaurant, leaving my family even panicked behind. I kept asking him where he was and what has happened to him but he didn't reply instead I could only hear his pained mumbling. But the last thing he said was very clear to me. He told me that he loved me and that he was true to me and then the line was dead. I called again and again but he never picked up.
Later when the family went back to their penthouse they found Mr. Robinson lying on the floor while holding his chest. Upon taking him to the doctor, he was already found dead and the doctor diagnosed the cause was a heart attack. The doctor further stated that Mr. Robinson was too late to identify his heart pain which caused his death.
I searched through more papers.
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Who is the next heir to SILLA?
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Mr. Robinson's company shares under the nams of his stepbrother according to the deed.
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SILLA in good hands says the sources.
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The new CEO, Mr. Garrison changing the culture of the organization.
Two deaths for the same reason?
If companies were under debts they were supposed to be moving towards retrenchment but how come everyone is dying under pressure? What kind of pressure were they under actually?
Are the deaths mere coincident? First the CEO and then the managing director of the cafe?
I was more confused, this was all getting complicated after every word I read but then I remembered.
If there was the cafe chain, then there was a garment chain as well then there was supposed to be one more managing director controlling the garment chain.
I skimmed through the papers again until finally after half an hour I found another story.
Company's revenues slowly changing into debts...
Company under more than a million dollar debt!...
SILLAS Employees under question...
1960, Employees arrested under corruption case: Managing Director, Timothy Francisco of SILLA corporation, the garment sect has been accused of corruption. After the police raid at his farmhouse, he was taken into custody when he himself confessed that he has been corrupting the company since the last five years of his employment.
The action was taken against the director when an unknown source informed about the illegal money in his farmhouse in bulk not only was he involved in this case but a majority of fifteen employees caught red-handed. The case seemed disapproving until.....
Timothy took the company under debt...
Employee insincerity cost the company's assets...
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When I finished reading the news I noticed a slight tremble in my hands, I instantly dropped the paper which was tight against my fist. I watch my hands as the paleness slowly fades away and blood rushes through my veins.
First Francisco then the CEO and after that Cameron.
If I connect the series of incidents...
In 1960, Francisco internally damaged the company who was the main reason for all the debts while corrupting the company with the help of other major employees.
Francisco who wasn't only the managing director of the company but also the legal adviser and cousin brother to the CEO, Mr. Robinson. When his acts got caught he was immediately arrested which came as a great shock to Mr. Robinson.
Just after he was proved guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment Mr. Robinson took off for the vacation which was in 1961 and there he died out of heart attack while his family confessed that he was in a constant depression phase and was afraid of some things.
During these phases, the company was still working on international franchises as an opportunity to overcome debts however the decision wasn't beneficial. The locals under the radius of the franchises became sick however all blame came upon the brand name. And thus the revolt caused the company to invest more in the quality. Unfortunately, most of the sources refused for the funding and some demanded the money back, causing an internal financial chaos and the main culprit among this seemed to be Cameron Wizawoski.
In 1962, Cameron suicides to deprive himself of all the legal obligations and Samuel appears as his replacement.
But the commotion went down soon within the time span of six years. The company was out of debt and earning good profit. The credit was rewarded to the new CEO, Mr. Garrison. His name was enough in the market for the general investment which brought back the company to stability. He shut down the international franchises and started to work on local products, building trust around the locals again and this strategy helped him over.
I picked up a newspaper that I have recently studied. It had some pictures of Mr. Robinson shaking hands with some partners, flashing smile at the camera. Behind them I saw a blurred image of Mr. Garrison, standing with folded hands in front of him and looking to his left with a slight head down.
The other pictures I have seen of Mr. Robinson in most of them, I could also see Mr. Garrison somewhere at the back. He seems to be camera shy, always looking opposite to the camera. The only picture that I have seen of him facing the camera was when he was officially announced as the CEO of SILLA. If I wouldn't have seen this image, I wouldn't have noticed the guy at the back.
There were things that poked in my mind. After all, I have read, the stories were still not satisfying. I didn't know what the feeling was but it wasn't satisfying.
And the words of Samuel... They still cloud my head.
'You don't know how much I have sacrificed and done to reach this place. You don't know a single bit of how this market functions. You gain something after you lose something... And you don't care what others loose when you gain.'
'We have to get hold of the girl soon.'
I look at the time at my wristwatch and jolt up.
11:15 pm!
I pick up my bag and shove all the papers back to their places in a hurry and run outside of the storeroom, stumbling through the way. When I came out, I saw the old man snoring loud on his chair while sitting. I smile and walk out for home.