Page 53 of The Legend
The guysmingled in the infield with the fans for close to an hour Thursday night andthen it was back to the motor coach before we all headed to dinner.
Tommy andWillie approached Jameson when we were walking to the car and said Jimi waswaiting for him in the hauler. Most everyone else headed to the restaurant towait while Jameson asked me to come along with him and the boys to talk toJimi.
Jimi wasretired this year for racing and it was actually rare that he was even at thetrack these days. It seemed since retirement him and Nancy had been spendingtime together and every other week took off to Florida and Hawaii together.
When wewalked inside the hauler, Jimi was leaning against the cabinets near the backwall with Grady, Justin and Rager standing across from him. Justin smiled whenwe came inside but Rager and Grady remained looking at sheet of paper in frontof them. Rager looked up and smiled. His bright blue eyes were noticeable fromunder his black JAR Racing hat but then again, you could see Rager’s eyes inthe dark, they were just that blue.
Gradydidn’t look up but Grady also never spoke to anyone but Jameson.
Somethingabout Grady had rubbed me the wrong way from the time I met him. He was a quietboy but I didn’t trust him. Couldn’t tell you why, but I didn’t.
Thatweekend was the first real interaction I had with Grady outside of payroll withJAR Racing and even then he never actually spoke to me, only to Jameson.
“Thereseems to a 410 engine missing.” Jimi said as eyes focused on Jameson.
Jamesonshifted his stance from relaxed to tense, his hand in mind gripped me a littletighter. “What do you mean there seems to be? There is or isn’t.”
“Thereis.” Jimi confirmed.
“Did youask Noah and Charlie if they noticed anything? They were doing monthlyinventory last night.” His eyes flashed with an emotion that was hard to catch.
“They noticedit and brought it to me.” Jimi clarified keeping his voice even though Jamesonwas nearly yelling now. He had every right to be concerned over this. A 410engine ran around hundred thousand these days. “Jameson, you have to deal withthis now or before you know it, you won’t have JAR Racing.” Jimi told himquietly. “This is a lot of money gone. You can’t keep shuffling things aroundto avoid the issue. You have someone stealing from you.”
Jimi hadcome to me last month and tried to talk about the inventory issues but I toldhim what Jameson told me when I questioned him about it. “Jameson will takecare of it.”
He had for the most part. He installed surveillance cameras and started doingweekly inventory. The thing was that all of us knew who was stealing withoutneeding the proof.
Jimi wasincredibly business savvy but so was Jameson. He’d been successfully runningJARRacingfor nearly twenty years without so much asa hiccup. He landed sponsors for his drivers, was able to keep track of howeach car was doing in the series, could rattle off every top five, any victoryhis drivers snagged, and had a one-on-one relationship with all of hisemployees. He understood when there was a problem and I think deep down he knewwhere that problem was.
Most of uslooked at Grady and I think he sensed himself being singled out.
“I didn’tsteal anything!” Grady’s voice echoed through the hauler, Jameson’s eyesdrifted to his, focusing on him standing beside Tommy and Willie.
“You’rethe only one here that would have any reason to.” Jimi said to Grady.
Jamesonshot Jimi a look that told him to back down and none of us, including me,understood why he was defending Grady.
Jamesoncleared his throat, pushing past Willie and Tommy, his hand clasping Grady’sshoulder. “Come with me.”
None of usfollowed them as we understood Jameson had some things to say to Grady alonebut we also didn’t have any actual proof that Grady was the one stealing forJAR Racing. For Jameson to believe that Grady was actually stealing, he neededproof.
Jimileaned into me, his head near my ear to whisper only to me. “I have Clintlooking into this kid. If there’s something to be found, he will find it.”
It wastrue. Aside from being our bodyguard, Clint was a private investigator too. Ithelped when you had to keep those around you closely guarded.
The restof us made small talk in the hauler before Jameson came back inside with Gradyand smiled taking my hand. “Let’s get to dinner honey.”
I didn’tsay anything as we walked to the truck, Jameson seemed distracted.
When wegot inside, he looked over at me, green eyes glowing in the night. He went tostart the engine and then his hand fell away and he sighed, his head hit theback of the seat in frustration. “I couldn’t fire him without knowing for surehe was the one that stole the engine.”
I noddedand gave him a weak smile. I knew it was hard for him. He trusted him wheneveryone told him not to. He wasn’t going to fire him without actual proof ofany wrong doing. I could understand that to a point.
Fridaymorning, the energy around from the team and Jameson seemed to have returned.We agreed not to discuss the stolen engine until we returned home. For now, thefocus was on the race.
Come lateSeptember, right after the field was set for the chase, the season was headyand a tight battle was shaping up between Jameson, Tate and Paul. When themonster million approached their focus shifted from the championship battle tothe fan favorite race. The boys were amped and raring for some healthycompetition of the best of the best. Honestly, I think it was more for thebragging rights. Who am I kidding? It was without a doubt about the braggingrights.
Jamesonhad won the first Monster Million last year and Tate was on him about how thiswas his year.
