“Please hold on one moment, ma’am,” I heard Leona, my office manager, request as I rounded the corner from the hallway into the office lobby.
I glanced down, and she handed me a few phone messages.
As she went back to the call, I looked through the message. I paused at the third one, and peered over at my office manager, glaring.
“Hold on again, one momentm, ma’am.” She pulled the phone from her ear and smirked in my direction.
Monica Birdwell. That was the third phone message she’d given me. Without reading it in its entirety, I crumbled the paper up and tossed it into the trash.
While looking at my office manager in the eye, I said, “She ain’t worth the damn trouble.”
Monica might be beautiful, but she was a fucking nag. She was searching for something profound and long-lasting. The very thing I let her know from the start I wasn’t interested in. I curled my top lip at the thought of becoming so damn attached to a woman, any woman. I shook my head.
“One day, you’re going to find a woman that’s going to kick you square in the chest.”
Pain seared across my chest, reminding me of my late mother’s words.
I glared at Leona. Through clenched teeth, I said, “You know I don’t take kindly to threats, right?”
She had the damn audacity to laugh right in my face. Shaking her head, she returned to the phone call.
“Sorry about— Hello?” she called. “Hello? Ma’am, are you still there?” After a moment, Leona shrugged and hung up the phone.
“What happened?”
Her eyebrows rose. “Not sure.”
“Potential client?”
“Probably not. She said the case had something to do with her grandfather’s death and a missing teenage girl.”
I shook my head. “We don’t take those cases.”
“I was about to tell her that when you passed. Oh well, she hung up. If she calls back, I’ll direct her to someone else who can help her.”
“Like the damn sheriff’s department,” I grumbled. I hated when prospective clients came in with what they thought to be a legitimate case that wehadto solve for them. Nine times out of ten, it was some bunk, contrived nonsense they concocted in their mind. We’d had people come in with apparent vendettas against neighbors, former friends, or even family members, and they’d want us to look into some scheme or criminal activity. It was all to get the person they had a falling out with in trouble. The lengths some people went to.
I shook my head. “I’ll be on a call with Oliver Wilson Senior for the next half hour,” I informed Leona before pivoting and heading for my office. As soon as I rounded the corner, Bass opened the door at the other end of the hall and out strolled Hound. He bounded up to me, keeping close as he walked down the hallway with me. I ran my fingers behind his ear, scratching there as he relished in the petting.
“He missed you while you were away,” Bass called.
“You better not have given my dog any of that vegan bullshit you eat either,” I said over my shoulder. I left Bass in charge of Hound while I was out of town tracking down Oliver Jr.
Bass chuckled. “I’m heading out to meet up with Wilkins. Got some intel on the new hire he was worried about.”
I snorted at that. “He should’ve come to us before he hired the guy.” If he had, Wilkins could’ve saved himself time and money.
“Right about that, Boss.”
I tossed my head in Bass’ direction as he exited the hallway and continued to my office. I made it to my chair in time for my videoconference with Oliver Sr.
“Micah,” he greeted with a nod.
“Oliver, how’s Junior?”
“He’s doing okay,” he stated, but a grim look covered his face. It was evident he was concerned about his only son. “Keeps talking about this pregnant girl out there who needs help. Even though he’s been on his meds for a few days.”
“I told you, there wasn’t anyone in his group that was pregnant from what we found.”
