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“I always like a jaunt to the mountains,” Sherman says. “I was traveling all week, anyway. “Good to see you, boy.”
I shake his hand, my eyes shifting to take in him, then Bailey, then my dad.
“This looks like a business meeting,” Dad says. “I’ll be out on the deck. Plenty of beer for everyone when you’re ready.”
“Thank you, Mr. Armstrong,” Bailey says.
“It’s Ronan,” Dad says. “No pretense here.”
Bailey nods, but she seems nervous. Meeting the parents. And under these circumstances. I suppose there have been worse. Yeah, looking at Sherman’s kids, all those situations were wild.
And this is about a lot more than Bailey.
I sit down on the sofa, and Sherman takes a chair nearby. Bailey chooses the loveseat opposite us.
Time to pay the piper, as Axel said.
Uncle Sherman takes the lead. “Rhett, when I established Dougherty for you five years ago, the only reason I wanted to be a silent partner was to make clear you were in charge. Maybe you did have an angel investor, and maybe he was in the family, but you were still at the helm. I took a hands-off approach and let you sink or swim. I never wanted you to carry the burdenof having your employees believe you were anything but the perfect person for the company. Sometimes people can jump to conclusions when they see a relationship behind a choice of leadership. I wanted to spare you that.”
I glance over at Bailey. She’s sitting primly in a navy suit I remember from before I fired her. Her eyes meet mine, and she gives a small smile.
I’m not sure what she’s here for. The company? Me? Everything about her is old Bailey, tirelessly professional, maybe a little exasperated.
I sit back on the cushions, trying to appear nonchalant even though I’m anything but. “I take it you went to Dougherty if Bailey is here.”
“It was an easy stop on my travels. Didn’t expect to see you had bailed.”
I have no answer for that.
We’re all quiet for a minute. I’m not sure what anyone is here for.
It’s a game of chicken for a while, everyone waiting to see who will speak next.
Bailey breaks first. “We need you back there. Gloria and I sent out a company bulletin about the meeting. We explained that Dougherty was and always has been a family company and that it wasn’t any secret. We downplayed Viola’s big announcement.”
Uncle Sherman nods along. “Sounds like it’s well in hand.”
“What about the marketing problem?”
Sherman turns to Bailey.
She speaks up. “The logs were deleted, but Hammond was able to cross reference the timing of the changes and the deletion with the late shift, which brought the number of suspects down to Georgia High and Blake Samuels.”
I sit forward, “But Blake is?—”
“Exactly. The missing IT guy who used to date Viola. Gloria told me about him.”
“You think he was trying to get Viola in trouble?”
Bailey nods. “Yeah, and she passed the trouble right on to me.”
“Viola insisted you weren’t guilty,” I say. “And she brought that up again at the meeting.”
Bailey tucks her crossed ankles under the chair. She’s the picture of prim and proper in front of Uncle Sherman. “I think she was so clueless about what was happening, she didn’t realize that someone had done it to harm her and was trying to protect me. The memos were directed to Marney, probably as a way to get Viola fired. Marney must have passed them right on to Viola without looking at them.”
Now I get it. “Which is why Viola said she was the only one doing any work.”
Uncle Sherman grunts. “So I suppose you call in this Blake fellow, follow up with Marney and Viola, and then what?”
