Chapter 5 - Ava Shaw
Ava Shaw was twenty three when Todd managed Riverbend Grill outside Tulsa.
Eleanor showed Jenna a photograph.
Ava had Eleanor’s eyes.
Dark hair.
Wide smile.
She looked fearless.
“She was not fearless,” Eleanor said.
“She was stubborn.”
“What happened?”
Ava worked evenings while finishing nursing prerequisites.
Todd was assistant manager.
Not yet general manager.
Tips began disappearing.
Same pattern.
Small deductions.
Register variances.
Uniform fees.
Ava kept copies.
Then she discovered something else.
Riverbend paid a staffing vendor called Prairie Staff Solutions.
Invoices listed temporary workers.
Most employees had never seen them.
Ava photographed the invoices.
Todd caught her.
“He shoved her into shelving?”
“Yes.”
“Like Claire.”
“Worse.”
Ava broke her wrist.
Todd told the owner she slipped carrying trays.
Ava reported him.
The camera footage from the storage corridor disappeared.
Todd denied touching her.
Two coworkers initially supported Ava.
Then changed statements.
Why?
One feared losing immigration sponsorship through a separate agency.
One had a prior cash advance Todd threatened to expose.
The complaint died.
Ava quit.
Then Eleanor found something else.
Riverbend’s owner paid a settlement.
Not to Ava.
To Todd.
$14,000 “retention payment” after the incident.
Why?
Colin Pierce had been regional consultant there too.
He recommended Todd be retained because firing him during a disputed workplace complaint could “create liability.”
Eleanor laughed when she read that.
“The person accused of assault received a bonus for staying.”
Ava moved to Colorado.
Finished nursing school.
She refused to talk about Todd for a year.
Then Eleanor retired.
She began reviewing the case herself.
Not to sue immediately.
To understand.
She traced Prairie Staff Solutions.
Company registered in Missouri.
Owner:
Melissa Pierce.
Colin’s wife.
Now the wage scheme and property conflict connected.
Prairie Staff had billed restaurants under Colin’s oversight for temporary labor.
Some workers existed.
Some invoices looked inflated.
At Riverbend, Ava found names belonging to people who never worked scheduled shifts.
At Maple Street?
Samuel’s records showed Prairie Staff invoices too.
Todd had approved them.
Total in ten months:
$76,400.
Beth Nolan looked through names.
She recognized only four.
Invoices listed thirteen.
Eleanor cautioned:
“Temp workers can rotate. We verify before calling them fake.”
They verified.
Three had worked.
Two were legitimate substitutes at other Heartland restaurants but not Maple Street.
Four names corresponded to people who denied ever working there.
One identity belonged to a man dead for six years.
Now the issue became serious.
Prairie Staff had billed Maple Street for labor that apparently never occurred.
Where did payments go?
Samuel’s diner paid Heartland.
Heartland paid Prairie Staff.
Prairie Staff paid salaries, expenses, and dividends.
Colin’s household benefited.
Did Todd receive money?
Bank records later showed monthly transfers from Prairie Staff to Mercer Operations Consulting.
Todd’s LLC.
$1,500.
Ten months.
$15,000.
Description:
Training support.
Todd had never disclosed outside consulting.
He told investigators he trained temp staff.
Which staff?
No records.
Then Jenna understood.
Todd had been taking from three directions.
Employee tip reserve.
Cash variance deductions.
Consulting payments from Colin’s wife’s staffing company.
Maybe more.
Why assault employees?
Because questions threatened the system.
Then Ava agreed to speak by video.
She looked directly at Jenna.
“He will try to make you feel like the slap is the whole story.”
“What do you mean?”
“If he can make it about anger, he can say he lost control once.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Ava described Todd’s behavior after her wrist broke.
He did not panic.
He closed the storage door.
Told her:
“You slipped.”
She said no.
He replied:
“Then you stole invoices.”
He immediately created another allegation.
That detail matched Claire.
Injury followed by accusation.
The victim becomes suspect.
Jenna felt sick.
“What did you do?”
“I took pictures first.”
“Of your wrist?”
“Of the invoices.”
“Where are they?”
Ava looked toward Eleanor.
“Grandma has them.”
Eleanor opened an encrypted folder.
Old Prairie Staff invoices.
One contained handwriting in the margin.
Todd:
MOVE THESE TO MAPLE AFTER FRANK RETIRES.
Maple.
Years before Todd became manager in Wichita.
He had been planning to transfer questionable temp billing to Maple Street before the previous manager retired.
Who was Frank?
Frank Dalton.
Maple Street’s beloved manager for sixteen years.
He retired suddenly eleven months earlier.
One month before Todd arrived.
Jenna remembered his goodbye party.
Frank cried.
Said his knees were bad.
Said he wanted fishing.
Then never visited again.
Eleanor had tried calling him.
No answer.
His daughter finally responded.
Frank had not retired because of his knees.
“He was fired.”
“By who?”
“Samuel, supposedly.”
Samuel stared when told.
May you like
“I never fired Frank Dalton.”
Continue to the next part: Todd’s arrival at Maple Street was planned before the longtime manager left, and the owner insists he never authorized the firing that made room for him.
