Page 102 of Fierce-Zander

She snorted over that.

“Grant and Garrett stopped up last week,” Zander said. “They’ve got several tenants who want better security cameras in the building. Not just in the halls where they’ve got someone that can look it over if needed, but in the actual companies. They asked if this was something I could do and monitor. It’d be a whole new end of the business. We’d be installing the systems or sourcing that out. Monitoring it when there are issues. It got me thinking that maybe I could expand to private security.”

“There are a lot of guys on the force that wouldn’t mind that,” Dave said. “They’ve asked before if you ever needed it.”

“It might be bigger than I want to go, but I need to work it out. It’d help if it’s something you could handle or oversee. You’ve got a lot of contacts. I know you don’t always like sitting at a computer.”

“I like your father sitting at a computer,” Marjorie said.

“You heard your mother,” Dave said. “We’ll talk about it next week and get a game plan worked out. I can reach out to some guys and see if they are interested if it comes up.”

“Betsy can work on the business end of it with services.”

“Doesn’t look like you need me at all,” Regan said. “You both have a great line of communication. I’m going to assume that you’ll become an employee now and collect your salary. Maybe in stipends? You know, paying taxes and all to keep it legal in front of the DA and ADA?”

“She’s good,” Marley said.

“Why, thank you. Dave? What is it that you would like to get out of this?”

“Not a therapy session. You win, Zander. And you too, Marjorie. I think I was the one played today.”

She laughed and Zander came over to kiss her on the lips. “Not bad for improvisation.”

“I’ve got some talents you haven’t seen yet.”

“I can’t wait to find out more,” he whispered in her ear.

30

SAID STUPID SHIT

“Thanks for meeting this late,” Sloane said to Zander Monday. He was glad he could get to Tennessee on Friday and be home by Sunday afternoon with everything he needed to close this case up concerning the guardianship of Sloane’s five-year-old sister.

“Never a problem,” he said. “Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”

“I did,” Sloane said. “After spending the holiday alone for so many years, it was a big change to go to Dane’s parents’ house and I was so happy to be able to give that to little Shiloh.”

“That’s great.” Zander smiled, knowing that Sloane and Chloe’s brother, Dane, were on the Fierces’ matchmaking list, and it looked like this was going to be another win for them.

“I know you’re recently dating someone,” Sloane said, “so I’m sorry if this case pulled you away from her for the holiday.”

“We got to spend it together,” he said. “No worries.”Regan didn’t seem bothered with him leaving early Friday. She said she was going to get some Christmas shopping done and then catch up on work. She had a few sessions booked that she’d take from home so he was glad to know she wasn’t going into the officeeither. “I’ve got information for you. Sorry it’s taken so long, but it’s hard looking in another state and tracking people down. Not everyone gets back to you via email or calls.”

“I know,” Sloane said. “I didn’t expect you to find anything but knew I had to try.”

“I did find things out,” he said. “Enough.”

“You found out who Shiloh’s father is?” Sloane asked.

“Sorry I’m late,” Dane said, opening the door. “I got held up at the hospital.”

“You haven’t missed much,” he said. “I was just telling Sloane that I have information for her. I’ll email the whole report to you, Sloane, and everything I found but will give you a summary now and answer any questions. You can ask more after you read everything too.”

“What did you find?” Dane asked.

“First, the locket that you had. That was from an old coworker. Actually, your mother’s boss. She’s the one I was waiting on. I had to go to Virginia to meet with her, then stopped in Tennessee after.”

He’d hated that the bill would be more, but there was part of this that Sloane didn’t know about that Dane had asked him to do so he did it all at once. That bill would go to Chloe’s brother.

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