A Brother's Honor (Grangers) - By Brenda Jackson Page 0,62
replied.
Dalton didn’t say anything but thought about what she’d said. “We’re going to need proof.”
“And we’ll have it. My team is thorough and won’t stop digging until they have something. Once the FBI is involved, they’ll probably do their own thorough investigation and even a sting operation. I know the guy in charge, Marcel Eaton. He worked with my father in Boston when he and Dad were police officers.”
“Your dad was a cop?” Jace asked, surprised, being reminded of how little he knew of her personal life.
“Yes. He retired from the force after twenty years and moved here a few years ago. Marcel is very thorough, and because of my friendship with him, he will keep me in the loop. I’m glad your grandfather suspected something.”
“I’m glad, too,” Jace said. “Now I understand why he wanted us to take things over. He felt no one would look after Granger Aeronautics like we would.”
“Until Dad comes back,” Dalton added.
Shana lifted a brow. “Your dad?”
“Yes,” Jace said, drawing in a slow, deep breath, knowing his grandfather’s thought processes. “Our grandfather believed that our mother’s killer would eventually be caught and that our father would be set free. He believed it so much that basically nothing in Dad’s office has changed. Granddad made it his business to keep everything intact, just the way Dad left it.”
“For fifteen years?” Shana said, not believing what she was hearing.
Jace nodded again. “I’m sure he didn’t think it would take this long. Granddad hired a private investigator who was supposedly the best in the business at the time.”
“What happened?” Shana asked.
“All I know is that the man died a few years ago in a car accident. I understand he’d been drinking at the time and was on his way home from a party,” Jace supplied. “Granddad thought the man was onto something big—at least that’s what the investigator claimed—but no one was able to find his report.”
Shana didn’t say anything for a minute and then spoke. “I also made several other recommendations in the report that I’m sure you saw but that you’ve yet to comment on,” she said to Jace.
Yes, he’d seen them, and a number of them involved massive department cuts. “People need their jobs now more than ever, Shana.”
“I am aware of that, Jace, but no company can afford to bear the expense of employees not doing what they are paid to do. And, if you notice, there are several departments not meeting monthly quotas. Your grandfather passed a couple of managers over for raises last year.”
Jace had noticed that, as well. “I will meet with them and put down the law. Jace’s Law. They’ll be given six months to turn their departments around or I’ll go in and make personnel changes.”
“Some of them have worked here for years, Jace,” Dalton reminded him. “A few even feel entitled,” he added, thinking of Cal Arrington.
“They can feel entitled all they want, but I’ll be holding them responsible for the success of their departments. But more than anything, I want to know who’s responsible for passing off Granger trade secrets.”
* * *
An hour or so later, Shana leaned back in her chair and gently rubbed the back of her neck, trying to work the stiff kinks out of it. She released a deep breath as she thought about what Jace had said. “Jace’s Law.” She had a feeling he would be fair with his employees, but at the same time, his expectations would be stern. She agreed with that approach.
There were three departments that Jace would need to concentrate on, and all three of them were currently overstaffed. Granger had to redefine itself, and there was no choice in the matter if they wanted to regain their position as a market leader in aerospace. Five years was a long time not to have been awarded a huge contract instead of the crumbs that had been left over.
There was a knock on the door, and she glanced up. “Come in.”
Jace walked in. “You’re still here.”
Shana nodded, trying to ignore the stir in her stomach and the way her heartbeat had begun throbbing in her chest. “I see you haven’t left, either.”
“No,” he said, coming to stand in the middle of the room. “I had planned to join Dalton at McQueen’s. It’s becoming his favorite hangout, but some female called and he dumped me to hook up with her.”
Shana couldn’t help but smile. “I understand he’s moving away from the family estates.”