So were Gigi’s thoughts as she entered the Beaumont offices eight thirty Friday morning, a latte in one hand, a brown bag containing a scone in the other. The place was quiet. The party for Mark ran late last night. When Gigi left River Rock at eleven, most of the staff was still there.
She didn’t mind a quiet Friday as long as everyone got their work done before Monday.
As she crossed the lobby, Jones, still on security,pssther over. Gigi had a good mind to keep going, but she yielded with a telling exhale. “Yes, Jones, good morning. What can I do for you?” Admittedly, he was a great source of information and gossip about the Melbourne staff. Gigi leaned over his security desk, listening with a keen ear. She was suspicious her director of IT was stealing from her. Seems she was signing for an awful lot of new laptops lately.
“I thought you’d like to know that a gentleman met Miss Del Rey in the parking lot last night after you left.”
That’s it? Hispsstnews? “You don’t say? What kind ofgentleman?” Corina was a goody-two-shoes. How? Gigi would never know. The girl ran with the likes of Paris Hilton when they were teens and never once got busted for drinking, smoking, or sex taping.
Gigi raised her latte for a sip, already bored with this conversation, just as the edge of her nose twitched.Well, well . . .
“Can’t say what kind of gentleman. He seemed like an all-right dude, though Miss Del Rey appeared a might tense. I called out to her, asking if everything was all right. She assured me it was, but Ms. Beaumont, I think they was arguing about something.”
Gigi gave Jones an approving smile. “Did you hear any of their conversation?”So Corina, what are you hiding?
“No, can’t say as I did, but I’m thinking something serious was going on between them.”
“Thank you, Jones. You’re a good man. Remind me to give you a raise.”
“Yes, ma’am. Anytime.”
He nodded in a way that told Gigi he was more delighted that heknewhow to fit into her scheme than over the idea of a raise.
As she turned to walk away, Jones offered an oh-by-the-way. “Did I mention there was another man too? Big and burley, reminded me of my brother-in-law in the Special Forces. He waited for the man by their car. Being in the security business, I knows a bodyguard when I see one.”
“A bodyguard? Are you sure?”
“Would wager that raise you promised.”
“Hmm. . .See what else you can find out, Jones.”
He flashed his large, white grin. “You can count on me.”
At the elevator, Gigi pressed the Up button. How-do, but if the plot didn’t thicken. She’d not planned on working a mental puzzle this early in the morning, but Jones’s news fascinated her.
“Then the roses came.”
Gigi spun toward Jones. “Roses?”
“Up on her desk. A man delivered them at eight this morning. Can you believe that? Eight a.m.”
“Really, Jones?”
“My bet, someone fancies her a great deal.”
“You’d probably win that bet.” A man in love? Gigi rubbed the tip of her nose. Yep, love. She’d bet her fortune on it. “Thank you very much, Jones.”
“Anytime, Ms. Beaumont.”
“I’ll have accounting put that raise through for you.”
“Why, thank you very much. Very, very much.”
This was how she expanded her empire, won folks over. By paying them what they were worth. Paying them for their knowledge, loyalty, and on occasion silence.
Gigi rode the elevator to the second floor, mulling over this development. Typically, she’d not give a second thought to one of the women talking to a man in the parking lot. But Corina Del Rey was no ordinary woman.
Gigi entered the bull pen, aiming for Corina’s desk, where the most beautiful bouquet of red roses captured the sun falling through the skylight. Two dozen if there was one.
