Maximum Impact by Jean Heller

Author:Jean Heller [Heller, Jean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781732725249
Published: 2020-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

23

Monday, April 28th, 9:30 A.M.

Kathy cleared her throat and rapped her knuckles on the table, demanding attention.

“Okay, listen up. We could sit here all morning and talk over dirty breakfast dishes, but that won’t get the picnic done. I repeat, we have baked ham and turkey, Swiss cheese and cheddar, rye and cracked-wheat bread, veggies, fruit, seltzers, Cokes, beer, and lemonade. I’m taking orders on what you all want for lunch.”

“I think I’d like roast beef on a Kaiser roll,” Pace said.

“Da-a-a-a-d,” Melissa scolded, sounding like a bleating sheep.

“Okay, out!” Kathy ordered, waving him from the kitchen. “Out! Out! Out! Melissa and I will pack what we want.”

Pace listened to the giggles behind him. He settled in the living room with the morning paper and left the kitchen things to the women. Like we’re a family… Stop it! That’s not the way it is and not the way it will ever be. Be grateful for what you have.

But he couldn’t let it be. He wallowed in the pleasure of it. The paper lay ignored on his lap while he watched Kathy and Melissa do the breakfast dishes, rubbing maple syrup from the plates and milk scum from the glasses before the dishes were stowed in the dishwasher. Pancake crumbs slid off the no-stick griddle with a swipe of a damp paper towel, but Kathy hand-washed it with soapy water anyhow and rinsed it, and Melissa dried.

Kathy was still in anguish over her brother’s death, but she was making a determined effort not to let her grief bubble to the surface in front of Melissa and dampen the teenager’s fun. Sissy knew about Jonathan’s death; Pace told her on the way into town from Great Falls. And Sissy said the right things when she first saw Kathy at the apartment. After that, they set the subject aside.

Pace glanced at the front page in his lap, at Glenn Brennan’s lead story. Brennan had reached Cullen Ferguson at his hotel and Whitney Warner in Los Angeles. Ferguson professed outrage at the groundings, particularly, he noted, since the NTSB board member overseeing the investigation of the ConPac crash concluded such a move wasn’t necessary. Whitney was her normal, calm self. Sexton wished the FAA hadn’t deemed the action necessary, but in view of what happened to TransAm Flight 957, the precaution was in order. She threw Converse a bone, saying Sexton was confident the C-Fan would pass the inspections without difficulty.

Brennan also reached TransAm officials and the president of Wentworth Fabricating Company, the manufacturer of turbine disks for Converse. TransAm had no statement of any significance. Seymour Wentworth’s statement was self-serving claptrap about using only the best technical equipment and having state-of-the-art inspection practices.

There were quotes from Lane Simmons and Ken Sachs; Pace winced when he saw Glenn had been able to get a statement from Sachs. Vernon Lund refused comment. There was nothing from Harold Marshall, which Pace thought strange. The previous evening, Brennan said he’d called the Ohio senator and was confident Marshall would call back.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.