Chapter 4 - Colin Pierce
Colin Pierce arrived in Wichita with two attorneys.
He did not look like Todd.
Todd was visibly arrogant.
Colin looked reasonable.
Gray suit.
No raised voice.
Fifty one.
The kind of executive who apologized before explaining why nothing was his fault.
“I should have escalated Claire’s complaint.”
Eleanor asked:
“Did you see the deleted footage?”
“I saw Todd had accessed the recorder.”
“That was not the question.”
Colin looked at his lawyer.
Then:
“I reviewed available cameras.”
“Did you see Claire leave the freezer area injured?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask her what happened?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Todd told me she had attempted theft.”
“Did you verify?”
“I reviewed register logs.”
“Did you verify the alleged $4,800 shortage?”
Colin stopped.
No.
There had never been a $4,800 shortage.
Forensic accounting found the number came from a manual adjustment Todd entered after Claire questioned tip pooling.
Colin had accepted it.
Why?
Todd was one of his best performing managers.
Labor cost down nine percent.
Food waste down.
Overtime reduced.
Complaints low.
Of course complaints were low.
Employees had learned what complaints did.
Colin said:
“I made a judgment error.”
Eleanor replied:
“You made several.”
The attorneys ended the interview.
Then the financial side widened.
Heartland’s Team Stability Reserve existed at four restaurants.
Todd had not invented the code.
Colin had.
Official purpose:
Temporary pool for staff bonuses during seasonal shortages.
Problem:
Employee handbook never authorized funding it from server tips without clear disclosure.
At Maple Street, more than $21,000 entered the reserve.
Only $4,600 returned to employees.
Where did the remainder go?
Heartland management fees.
Colin called that an accounting allocation.
Samuel Baird called it theft.
Lawyers told both men to stop using legal conclusions casually.
Fine.
Then Jenna learned something worse.
Her own pay records showed a weekly deduction labeled:
CASH VARIANCE ALLOCATION.
Total over ten months:
$1,184.
She had never been responsible for cash shortages totaling anything close.
Megan Hale:
$930.
Beth Nolan:
$1,407.
Across the staff:
$17,200.
Todd told employees Samuel required those deductions.
Samuel had not.
Heartland policy prohibited most such deductions without specific authorization.
Colin claimed ignorance.
Then Eleanor produced emails.
Todd:
Need approval to allocate repeat drawer shortage across service team.
Colin:
Do what keeps labor stable. I do not need every detail.
Todd:
I will use variance code.
Colin:
Fine.
Not a direct command to take illegal deductions.
Permission not to ask.
The pattern.
Then Prairie Horizon Development entered.
Samuel showed Eleanor the purchase offer that started his suspicion.
Prairie Horizon wanted the diner property.
Not the business.
Maple Street sat near a planned highway interchange expansion.
The land had become more valuable than the diner.
Offer:
$2.8 million.
Samuel refused.
Two months later:
$3.4 million.
Refused again.
Then the latest offer:
$3.1 million.
Lower.
Attached justification:
Declining operating performance.
Labor instability.
Management risk.
Samuel looked at the report.
“These numbers were not public.”
Who provided them?
Prairie Horizon said a broker.
Broker:
Colin Pierce.
Jenna stared when Eleanor told staff.
“Todd’s boss was trying to sell Samuel’s property?”
“Not exactly.”
Colin was licensed as a commercial broker through a separate company.
He introduced Prairie Horizon to Samuel years earlier.
Samuel knew that.
What he did not know was Colin continued consulting for Prairie Horizon after Samuel rejected the sale.
Fee agreement:
If Prairie Horizon acquired Maple Street property, Colin received two percent.
At $3 million:
$60,000.
Not fortune.
Enough incentive.
Then another clause.
If property sold because diner operations ceased or lease default occurred, Colin received additional “transition consulting” of $125,000.
Now failing operations paid him more than healthy operations.
Conflict.
Did Todd know?
Emails:
Colin to Todd:
Samuel still thinks the diner can run another decade.
Todd:
Not at current labor cost.
Colin:
Exactly.
Another:
Need cleaner numbers by Q4.
Todd:
I can cut overtime and tighten cash loss.
Colin:
Do it.
Could mean legitimate cost control.
Could also explain aggressive deductions.
Then one email from Todd:
Staff are complaining.
Colin:
Complaints are cheaper than losses.
Eleanor read it twice.
“Cruel.”
Mara said:
“Also not automatically proof he ordered assaults.”
Important.
Todd chose violence.
Colin created incentives.
Responsibilities could overlap without becoming identical.
Then Jenna found Todd waiting near her car after an evening shift.
He stayed twenty feet away because temporary no contact conditions restricted him from approaching.
He raised both hands.
“I just want to talk.”
Jenna did not.
She went back inside.
Called police.
Todd left before they arrived.
No chase.
His attorney later said he had been returning company keys.
Beth confirmed he still had keys.
Possible.
But Todd sent Jenna one text that night.
ASK ELEANOR WHY SHE DIDN’T TELL YOU ABOUT AVA.
Jenna showed Eleanor.
The older woman’s face went pale.
“Ava is my granddaughter.”
“What did Todd do to her?”
Eleanor looked at the message.
Then:
May you like
“More than I told you.”
Continue to the next part: Todd knows Eleanor’s personal reason for investigating him, and the Oklahoma case involving her granddaughter was far more serious than a missing security clip.
