Page 27 of Love In Hiding

“Vacation?” she asked. “Not just a day off?”

Bob shrugged. “He don’t tell us much. Just comes in and sits in that office up there.”

She turned her head to follow Bob’s gaze through the glass of the conference room that overlooked the production floor. Over it was another room with a large glass pane looking down.

The smell of the sea and fish had hit them hard when they walked in, but after ten minutes she was used to it. Sort of. She just knew she’d have to wash it off before she got in bed tonight.

“Who’s Chad’s boss?” she asked. She’d only been told she’d be meeting with Chad and those under him today. No one else.

“Belinda owns the company. It was left to her from her father, but she doesn’t do much with it. Just comes in a few times a month and leaves the running of it to Chad.”

Which explained a lot of what the problem was right there.

London was typing into her computer, making her notes, Spencer next to her on his phone. She didn’t know who he was texting, but then he slid his phone next to her.

She looked down and saw the message from Braylon with Belinda Gretchen’s number.

“Guess it’s time to talk to the owner,” she said, pushing the numbers into her phone and putting it to her ear.

“Hello.”

It was an older voice, but not like a grandparent. At least she hoped not. “Hi, Belinda, this is London Westerly. I’m the consultant sent here by The Carlisle Group. We are on site for a few days and it seems Chad is on vacation.”

“Oh,” Belinda said. “I had no idea. Is there anyone else there who can help you?”

“It doesn’t seem it. This was arranged almost a month ago and no one is prepared with what we requested. Wasting time and money is not the best way to impress the man who saved your company.”

The sigh coming out of Spencer’s lips wasn’t lost on her.

Maybe she could have dialed it back to the woman who didn’t appear to know what was going on in her own company, but the words had to be spoken.

This was just a waste of their time and West’s money sending them here to sit around and do nothing.

“I’m so sorry,” Belinda said. “I’ve been dealing with health issues the past year and have left the running of the company to Chad. I haven’t heard of any problems. No one has reached out to me.”

She shut her eyes and felt like shit. Her sister would give her a smack on the arm right now for assuming things without all the facts.

She knew better than to jump the gun, but this first job wasn’t going any way that she’d imagined.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” She softened her tone even more. “Is there any way you can come down and talk to us? Or let other staff here know and get us the information we need?”

“I can be there in twenty minutes,” Belinda said. “Again, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know there were problems or that consultants were even coming in.”

“Chad hadn’t told you?”

“No. I’ve left the running of the company in his hands. He’s been there for years. His father was my late husband’s best friend. I just... I thought things were going so well.”

She let out a sigh. “We’ll catch you up when you arrive. Until then, I’ve got Bob in front of me and will have him walk us through the process on the floor.”

Bob’s nose twitched as if he was going to argue, but the lift of her eyebrow almost taunted him to try.

She put her phone down, picked up her tablet that was in her bag and easier to carry around, then stood.

“We done?” Bob asked.

“You can show us around the floor and explain the process,” she said. “I’ll be recording it for our reference.”

“Can you do that?” Bob asked.