“It’s legit, I swear,” Drue said. “The poor man just moved down here from Pennsylvania to take a job at a hair salon. He was staying at the motel while he looked for an apartment, but after three nights he had to check out because the place was crawling with bedbugs. They just chewed him alive! He went to one of those doc-in-the-box medical clinics and they sent him to the emergency room. I’ve seen his discharge papers. He had to have cortisone shots and they prescribed him some expensive ointments for the infection.”

“Stop!” Wendy began scratching at her arms. “Just what do you think this firm is going to be able to recover in damages in a case like this? The cost of a tube of Neosporin?”

“No,” Drue said. “The client hasn’t been able to work since he got here. The salon took one look at the scabs on his arms and hands and withdrew the job offer. He was so desperate to work he went to one of those Kwik-Kut franchise hair salons, but the first time he shampooed a client’s hair, he had a horrendous allergic reaction to the chemicals because of his infection. The man can’t work, Wendy. I really think Dad could help him.”

“We are not wasting our time on a bullshit bedbug case,” Wendy said, taking the report, balling it up and throwing it into her trash basket.

She leaned back in her chair and Princess hopped up and began licking her chin.

“I told Brice this wasn’t a good idea, but of course, he has such a soft heart, what could I do?”

“You’re firing me?” Drue was incredulous.

“I wish. But Brice won’t hear of it. You must have really laid a guilt trip on him when he came over there to move you into that cottage. He was really upset when he got home.”

“If you’re not firing me, why are we having this talk?” Drue asked, knowing she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Because I need you to get with the program,” Wendy said. “You have the most dismal numbers of anybody—either here or in the offsite call center. Drastic measures are called for.”

Drue waited.

“Starting now, you’re in retraining. I want you to take your headset and plug into Jonah’s console. He’s our top producer, so my hope is that you can learn something from his technique.”

“You’re kidding,” Drue said. “I know what I’m doing, Wendy. It’s just that the calls I’m getting have all been dead ends. This is unbelievably unfair.”

“No,” Wendy snapped. “What’s unbelievably unfair is that although I run this office, your father has overruled me and continues to allow dead weight to bring down the rest of the Campbell, Coxe and Kramner team.”

“Dead weight?” Drue jumped up from the chair.