I’d been in Pierce’s home enough, normally to argue with him over whatever stupid decision he’d made recently, but I knew where he meant.
His office.
The enormous room was the size of my bedroom with large windows and balcony doors that overlooked the ocean and bookcases on both sides crafted from dark wood. Probably mahogany because he liked to feel important. One day he’d be an old man sitting in one of the leatherback chairs, smoking a cigar, and literally become every single stereotype I’ve ever called him. I hoped I was there to catch it on camera.
The bag from the Pelican Bay diner crinkled in my hand as I took the stairs two at a time, rubbing my shoes on his expensive carpeting.
“I hope you left any weapons in the kitchen,” Pierce said when I peeked my head around his office door with a fake smile.
“Oh, Pierce, if I was going to kill you, I’d use my bare hands.” If you want a job done, you do it yourself. Right?
“What’s in the bag then?” he asked looking at me speculatively.
“I brought you breakfast from the diner.” Pierce was my last choice for what needed to happen this morning, but I figured it was better to hedge my bets and have him in a good mood with grease and eggs. I didn’t want to ask the question I came to ask, and he wouldn’t want to say yes. Even though he eventually would. We were definitely playing a game now, and I planned to win.
I need a patsy to go along with me and my grand plan this afternoon. I had two options. I got Pierce to go as a knowing helper or the henchman he had following me around town would inadvertently call and tell him where I landed. Then he’d show up there a few minutes later. Really, I was doing him a favor. It’d work out better for both of us if he came along willingly from the beginning.
Yes, I absolutely knew Pierce had me tailed. It wasn’t the first time he’d done it and everyone knew what it meant when you had a black SUV parked in front of your house. Ridge was not-so-secretly tailing you. He wouldn’t do that unless Pierce paid him. I didn’t see Tabitha or Anessa conning one of their men into keeping an eye on me. They were normally trying to keep the guys out of their business as much as I did.
Well, maybe not quite as much, but enough.
But I didn’t plan to let Pierce in on the henchman piece of knowledge anytime soon. We’ll call it an ace up my sleeve. I’d drop the tidbit like a bombshell later and pretend to be super annoyed.
I wouldn’t have to pretend hard, considering it did annoy the hell out of me. Did they think I was a moron? I wasn’t someone Pierce could have followed and not notice. He might not have understood, but I wasn’t a plaything for him to keep tabs on every day. Regardless of Pierce’s feelings, I was a human—an individual citizen of the town who required privacy. But yelling about it at that moment wouldn’t do me any good. I needed to wait until the right time and use it to my advantage.
“Katy? Did you hear me?”
“Oh, what?” I crinkled my nose at his words and the scent of perfume I whiffed in his office. Did Pierce have a woman around before I got here? Had she left? Was he hiding her somewhere? A bedroom?
He sighed, something I was very used to hearing Pierce do when we were together. “I asked what you have in the bag.”
“And I answered. Breakfast.”
Another sigh. “Yes, but what kind of breakfast?”
Oh. If he wanted that level of detail, he should learn to ask better questions. It was a double egg muffin with cheese and two pieces of bacon from the diner, but no way would Pierce get that answer from me.
“I don’t know. I’ve never paid attention to what you order.” He ordered the exact same thing every morning for years. “I asked Tricia at the diner what you get and she boxed it for me to pick up on the way here.”
I passed the brown bag over and waited as Pierce unwrapped the sandwich and grinned at it before taking his first bite.
“Obviously you want something,” he said when he finished chewing.
Now came the tricky part. How did I ask him? It would be better to appear sympathetic and polite, but that’s not how Pierce and I worked. “I’m going to interview the janitor today.”
He shook his head. “No, you aren’t.”
Exactly what I thought he would say, less a few swear words. Progress. I’d practically already won.
“Fine. We are going to interview him.” Hopefully he caught the emphasis on the we part.
“We will not do anything. The police and Ridge are handling the situation.”
“Pierce, a dead body was found in the janitor’s closet. We have to talk to the janitor.” He’s suspect numero uno.
He rubbed a spot above his eye that he often did when I frustrated him, which was a good sign. It meant he was still listening to what I said. “No, we shouldn’t talk to anyone. The police will talk to him if they decide it’s important. But, Katy, the janitor’s closet was unlocked that evening. Everyone there had access.”
“Exactly what a killer would want you to know. Jason, the janitor was the only staff on duty that night and he left his door unlocked, setting it up for anyone to be the killer. But who else besides the janitor would go in the closet?”
