A pause. A longer one than he expected. Malcolm, Rachel said. Did you just tell me to hire someone? An office coordinator, he said.
Someone who can manage scheduling and client communication. Post the position today. Another pause. You know what this means? It means we're growing, he said.
Post it today, Rachel. He hung up. He stood in the shop for a moment looking at the workbenches at the name above the door visible from inside through the window. Hayes Arrow works still his still standing and now for the first time in a long time actually moving forward instead of just holding on. His phone buzzed.
Daniel Mercer, he answered. Good morning, Captain. Good morning. Daniel's voice was steady, unhurried as always. I assume you've heard.
Two words from Rachel's contact. Malcolm said. Curtis Hayward. I've known that name for 6 hours. Daniel said, I'm still processing it.
Did you know him? I knew of him. Daniel said, "Never worked with him directly. He handled procurement. I handled operations.
Different worlds in a corporate flight department." He paused. But I knew something was wrong in that department for a couple of years. Malcolm went still. You knew not what I know now, Daniel said immediately. Not specifically, but there were anomalies, components that didn't match my memory of what we'd ordered.
Invoices that came through after maintenance events, not before. small things, the kind of thing that makes you pause and then move on because nothing visible is failing and you don't have the technical evidence to take it further. His voice was heavier than usual. I should have pushed harder. You refused to fly the aircraft, Malcolm said. When the log was wrong, you refused.
That matters. That was one aircraft on one morning. Daniel said Curtis Hayward was running this for 4 years. Then the question is what we do with what we know now, Malcolm said. Daniel was quiet for a moment.
I've been thinking about that, he said. I've been thinking about it since Monday night. Another pause. I'm going to retire at the end of this year. I had already made that decision before any of this happened.