Marcel’s brow rose. “Your mom worked for the company?”
Jace sighed. “Yes, for a short while. From what I remember, she began complaining about getting bored at home and said that she regretted never having had the chance to use her college degree in marketing.”
“So she was brought in as part of the marketing team?” Shana asked her husband.
Jace shook his head. “No. I asked Dad about it once, and he said he and Granddad decided to give Mom the glorified title of marketing analyst to keep her busy and away from Sutton Hills when they weren’t there.”
Caden’s brow furrowed. This was the first time he’d heard any of this. “Why would they want to keep her away from Sutton Hills when they weren’t there?”
“Evidently, during that time, she had it in for Hannah, and Hannah threatened to quit unless Mom’s attitude improved,” Jace explained.
“Who’s Hannah?” Marcel asked.
“Our housekeeper. She’s actually more than that. She’s been with us for more than fifty years.”
Marcel didn’t say anything for a minute. “I had our investigative team work with your security guys, and it seems that key,” he said, pointing to the one on the table, “would be the same key that opened Dalton’s office years ago.”
Jace frowned. “If that’s true, how did Brandy get my mother’s old office key?”
Twenty
“So how was Miami?”
Jules continued eating her breakfast, refusing to meet her father’s eyes. “Nice. I needed it.”
“Evidently. You had originally said you’d be returning Saturday, but I got your text message that you were taking an extra day.”
The additional day had been Dalton’s idea, but she would never admit that to her father. As far as she knew, no one was aware she and Dalton had spent the past week together. And what a week it had been with a man who was bold enough to have a colorful tattoo of Sonny the Cuckoo Bird, the mascot for Cocoa Puffs cereal, right on his lower hip. Jules thought it was a pretty erotic place for a tattoo.
She was a woman who enjoyed sex, and his presence had definitely served a purpose. Today she felt relaxed and back in control. Alert. Ready to tackle anything that came her way. Although the extra day had been Dalton’s idea, she had agreed one hundred percent. Surprising what a few nights of nonstop sex could do for you, which had been a testament to just how horny she’d been. He’d been determined to transform that annoying ache into a pleasurable one, and he had done so. Possibly too well. And what was also surprising was how much better they got along once the issue of sex had been resolved.
They’d both agreed that what happened in Miami would stay in Miami, and there was no need to continue things in Charlottesville. Miami was one and done. They were out of each other’s systems, and that was all that mattered.
“Have you talked to your sister yet?” her dad asked, interrupting her thoughts.
“No. It was late when I got in.” Last night all she’d wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep. It had been the best sleep she’d had in months. While in the shower, she’d noticed passion marks over a good percentage of her body. Luckily, none of those places could be seen when she was wearing clothes.
“So you haven’t heard about the new development Marcel uncovered with respect to that girl who committed suicide?”
Jules’s brow lifted as she took a sip of her coffee. She remembered the incident Shana had told her about. The suicide had come as a shock, and the mother had suspected foul play, but nothing had been proven. And then there was the issue of whether she’d been connected to that trade-secret scandal Marcel had exposed earlier in the year, when several Granger employees had been arrested. What had made the woman a suspect was that the security camera at Granger Aeronautics had captured her searching Dalton’s office after hours.