Poor thing. She looked distraught. Definitely a crier and excellent witness. Add in more cash for mental distress. “Was it an accident or gross negligence?” Was gross negligence a real saying? Screw it, a good enough lawyer could argue anything.
“I’m sure it was an accident. The scaffolding has been here for months and it was windy. But I was scared. I worried the entire building might fall.
Emotional distress check here we come. I’d have her living the rest of her life in luxury on a beach somewhere. “I can’t imagine how terrifying that was. Your safety isn’t being considered. The least these megalomaniacs can do is make sure the surrounding people are well taken care of.”
She nodded along in agreement with everything I said. I already saw that Lily had potential.
“Come with me. I have a sign you can use.” I always brought a few extras for these cases. You never knew when you’d find a recruit or when one of the bakery girls would stop by for a few minutes of support.
I hooked my arm in with Lily’s so she had no escape and we trudged back to the ladies who were doing their due diligence with signs held high as they marched the sidewalk. They waved every time a car honked as it drove by headed into or out of town.
“Ladies, this is Lily. She’s one of us now.”
It was the first time she smiled since we started talking and I sorted through the signs finding her a good one. It had a big picture of Pierce’s face with devil horns drawn to look like they were coming from his hairline. One of my more classic designs.
She took the sign from me and wrapped her hand around the handle while I found her a suitable spot in front of me in line.
There wasn’t much for me to do about my other problems happening that day. I’d already filled out twenty-five job applications, which when you lived in a town the size of Pelican Bay was a task. The rest of my day would be filled with this protest and then, if there was time—which I would make time—I had a small B&E planned for the early evening. Everything else on my list needed to wait.
Once everyone left the Pelican Bay High School and the hallways were empty, I wanted to do more detective work at the scene of the crime. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust our local police force, but my cousin, otherwise known as Detective Anderson, once gave himself a bloody nose by standing upside-down to do a beer keg stand senior year of high school. Did we trust him to solve a murder without my help?
I thought it best to give the scene one more look-through. With fresh eyes.
6
Pierce
I opened the window to hear the ocean and help settle my nerves, but the seagulls squawking back and forth did nothing but agitate me more. I’d been anxious all afternoon but couldn’t figure out why. More than likely it had something to do with Katy.
It always involved Katy.
“You need to come to New York, Pierce,” my personal assistant Roxanne did her best to chide me over the phone.
It worked but not as much as she wanted. I rubbed my forehead, worried I’d develop stress wrinkles in my early thirties. Trying to run a large corporation as my father stepped further away from the helm grew harder by the day. Especially since I refused to move to New York. Pelican Bay was my home, and I didn’t want to leave it.
Everything would be easier once my cousin Jerome finished his building. I’d have an office rather than working out of my home, and I planned to bring in staff. That would show my father the legitimacy of what I planned to do here. The minute the crew completed my office on the fifth floor I would move in and hire a local assistant. Or force Roxanne to move here.
“Pierce, did you hear me?” she squawked again.
“I’m busy here right now. Can’t you fax the papers?” Now wasn’t the time to leave Katy alone. She’d found a dead body. If there was a handbook to dealing with her, this would be a lesson in chapter 1.
Don’t leave Katy alone when she’s on the hunt. On the list of things from highest priority to lowest, a dead body hit at number one. She wouldn’t be able to resist it.
“I already told you I’d fax the papers, but you need to reconsider moving to New York.”
I laughed like I did every time we had this conversation—whether it be with my assistant or one of my parents. New York City was the worst. I much preferred being the reclusive billionaire who hung out in my East Coast mansion. The talked about, but seldom seen Pierce Kensington.
Every time I’d visited New York for an extended period, my afternoons and evenings were filled with business lunches, dinners, and cocktail hours. Dates happened occasionally when the daughter of a rich old man or a new socialite in town tracked me down and forced a meeting. I got more work done in Pelican Bay than I ever did in the city.
My father was a Kensington. He cared about looks and reputation. He wanted to please everyone and be seen in every social circle that would make room for him. When you possessed Kensington money, that was most of them.
I had no plans to move to New York.
Well, that wasn’t entirely true. One thing would make me move, but that hadn’t happened yet. As much as I knew it would be better for both of us if Katy settled with someone else, I didn’t want to picture what life would look like for me when it happened.
“You need to move here.” I flipped the conversation on Roxanne. “There’s a cheaper cost of living.”
She snorted. “No, thanks. I’m not really into that buffalo plaid you’ve got going on up there.”
