32. Good Handle On It

32

GOOD HANDLE ON IT

“ G rant and Garrett Fierce are here to see you if you’ve got a minute,” Betsy said to him the next day.

That was longer than he thought for someone with the last name of Fierce to reach out to him or Regan.

Of course, he’d been busy and then the holiday. Or maybe Betsy and Miles didn’t say anything until recently.

“Sure,” he said. “I’ve got time.”

Betsy moved into his office and said, “I didn’t tell them until yesterday. Diane was in the building and showing off pictures of Micah. Miles hadn’t said anything either.”

“You’re just telling me this now?” he asked. “Normally you want to give me all the details of those things.”

“You were busy yesterday. You’ve been out of town and we are slammed with work.”

“Not a bad thing,” he said. Thankful once again for his father, but now it was only going to get busier. He hadn’t even said much to Betsy about what was going on either because his father was the one who was going to take the lead on this.

“Very true. I’ll show them back.”

He watched Betsy leave the office and saved what he was working on, then looked up when the twins walked into his office.

They might be older than his father, but they sure the hell looked like they were in their prime.

Big men each with a full head of hair still, only a lot of it white like his father.

They filled his office and had a powerful presence to them, but both had a shit-eating grin on their face.

“Gentlemen,” he said. “Have a seat.”

“I hear there is some interesting news to share,” Grant said.

“I’ve always got interesting news but not sure I can share most of it. You’ll have to be more specific.”

The brothers looked at each other. “The news of your relationship.”

“Again,” he said, smirking, “I’ve got a lot of relationships in my life. Working and personal.”

“With Regan,” Garrett said.

“Oh, the woman you all thought you could have my staff and Regan’s try to set me up with?”

More looks between the twins. “It seems to be working,” Grant said.

“Did Betsy and Miles also inform you that they had no idea it was going on?” he asked.

Their smiles dropped. “That might have been passed on by Diane when she filled us in yesterday,” Grant said.

“Good to know,” he said. “I don’t think there is that much to dispute that Regan and I didn’t need any help and got there on our own.”

“No,” Garrett said. “I’m not disputing it. But we’d like it known we did call this before it happened.”

He snorted. He couldn’t argue that either. “Fair enough,” he said. “Regan is aware. No secrets here or anything. She knows what is going on, and when I figured out what you guys were up to, I let her know.”

“How was she with the knowledge?” Grant asked.

“Said she’s more qualified than you to pair people up,” he said.

When their eyes lit up, he realized he might have started something he shouldn’t have. “We’ll take her input,” Garrett said. “Our wives would love it.”

“That would be between them and Regan, but I’m sure she’s busy.”

“Just like you are too,” Grant said. “We came to touch base with you about the conversation a few weeks ago regarding security in the buildings. What your thought is on it. There are a lot of businesses inquiring and we’d like to figure something out.”

“I talked to my father about it,” he said. “It is something we’d be interested in. I’m spread pretty thin right now. He’d like to take it on but knows that it will take him away from his retirement.”

Which his father gladly jumped on. He thought for sure his mother would balk and surprisingly they were both on board.

He’d let his father work his own hours and not worry too much about it.

“That’s great,” Grant said. “Is this something you’ve got a plan on?”

“I’ll go grab my father now and we can talk,” he said, standing up. Zander walked next door and opened his father’s door. He knew his father had been on the phone earlier, which was why the door was shut. “Got a minute? Garrett and Grant are here.”

“Sure,” his father said. “I’ve got some information too, so that helps.”

His father followed him into his office. “Dad, Grant and Garrett Fierce. Gentlemen, my father, Dave Conway.”

“Nice to meet you both,” his father said. “I’ve been gathering information on equipment costs, what is needed, and how long it will take to set up.”

“Which we expect will be passed onto the clients,” Garrett said.

“For the equipment,” Dave said. “Yes. The question that Zander and I have to figure out is how high tech we want to go with it. The servers we will store here should be able to support it all, but then we need someone to install all of that. I know a guy. Someone that does it for the police department.”

“Knowing people is good,” Grant said. “We know a lot too.”

“How many clients do you have now that want it and what are they looking for?” Zander asked. “They might want to contract on their own.”

“Some might, but I think if we offer it here at the building, it will have more appeal,” Garrett said. “I can have Roni get you a list of the clients that are interested in it and their numbers and contact information.”

“That would be great,” he said. “If my father and I get this squared away by the end of this week, I’m thinking we’ll have a server set up the week after.”

“Are you going to have enough room here?” Grant asked, looking around.

“We’ll set it all up in my father’s office. There is plenty of space,” he said. “Might as well start that way. One other thing we are considering adding on is private security for events. We are working that out now too.”

“Interesting,” Garrett asked. “You’re going to hire more staff?”

“I know a lot of officers or retired officers looking to make some money on the side,” his father said. “I’m gathering names and information to have ready when we get there.”

“Sounds like it’s all coming together for you,” Grant said. “We like it when that happens. In more ways than one too.”

Zander held back the snort, barely.

When they were done chatting, he shook hands with them and watched them walk next door to Regan’s office. He should give her a heads up, but she was probably with a client anyway.

“They are interesting,” his father said.

“I told you they were,” he said. “But good for business. Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m sure,” his father said. “Don’t worry about figuring out what to pay me just yet.”

He wanted to argue, but at least he knew his father would take payment. “Once we get fees set up and know what is going on, I’ll work the numbers better. Or have Betsy do it. She likes those things. I’ve got to fill her in anyway.”

“She doesn’t know?” his father asked. He’d shut the door when the twins left.

“No,” he said. “I didn’t see the reason to get her excited about something without knowing all the details. But you’re thinking it’s going to work?”

“I do,” his father said. “I looked up what other places are charging monthly. We aren’t going to be monitoring their office nonstop. If alarms go off, it will go right to an on-call service we can vet. We only pay for the calls they get, so it’s not expensive.”

“You’ve done your homework,” he said. “I didn’t know that existed.”

“I know a few people. They will deal with calling those who need it if the alarms are going off. The server will be set up to only let them see what alarm is going off and not other information. Data will be saved here and companies will know they can access data themselves or call us to do it. I think there can be different levels of services we provide.”

“Time to bring Betsy in,” he said. “She’ll be on top of this.” He opened the door. “Can you come in here for a minute?”

“On my way,” Betsy said. “What’s going on? Something new? I know there was something and figured you’d tell me when the time was right.”

He let his father explain what he’d been doing and saw Betsy’s face light up.

“It’s going to take some time to get it set up and work up prices,” he said.

“I’ve got a list of costs and what I’ve found out that others are charging,” his father said.

“I’ll get right on it,” Betsy said. “This is going to be great.”

“I know it’s going to be a lot of work,” Zander said. “I need us to sit down and go through cases and files and try to close things up if we can. If you’re getting overwhelmed, then maybe we get someone in here part time to help out on things too.”

“I’ve got it all covered,” Betsy said.

“You say that now, but then I worry you’re going to get burned out and I’m not risking you leaving.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Betsy said. “I love it here.”

“I don’t care,” he said. There was no way he was going to lose her and he’d pay her more too once he got things figured out.

A growing business was scary as fuck, but he wasn’t going to say that either.

“I’ll get right to work,” Betsy said. “Your eye is twitching so you’re stressed.”

He watched her get up and leave and turned to look at his father. “I’m not stressed.”

“You are a little. Just a lot going on in your life right now. It’s understandable,” his father said.

“None of it is all that bad,” he said.

“Good things can still stress you out,” his father said. “But you tend to have a good handle on it and you will this.”

His father went back to his office and he returned to the report he was typing and hopefully could close this case up too.

Yes, lots of good things in his life and Regan was at the top of the list.

Which made him nervous that if he got even busier, could he not give her the attention she might need or want?