“It’s nothing,” I said. “But let me look into it. I might be able to get some answers for you.”
“It’s no big deal, anyway,” he answered brightly. “I was just curious.”
“Well, we both know where your curiosity gets you,” I teased.
Xavier giggled again, then took another sip of his coffee. “So,” he asked, “do you need to get going soon? I know the office is waiting…”
“I do,” I said, “but not so soon that I need to rush. I might even have time for a shower, if you wanted to join me…”
Xavier looked up. “Sure,” he said. “Sounds nice.”
“Good,” I said, setting my fork down on the empty plate. “Let’s get this dirty boy clean.”
* * *
By the time I got to the office, there were a few people milling about. Everyone was wearing their casual weekend clothes, although I was still in the rumpled outfit from the night before, retrieved from the floor of Xavier’s room. I grabbed a fresh suit from my office and quickly changed in the executive restroom before returning to my desk.
Which was when I saw the file waiting, delivered fresh from New York. I flipped it open, sipping a new cup of coffee as I stared down at the faxed pages. A little note from Zachary was scrawled on the first page.
Looks like you got a live one here, champ. Keep your head up.
And he wasn’t lying. Patricia Austen had a long and storied career. She jumped sectors and specialties so fast, you would have thought she would have had trouble making a name for herself. But from one shady business deal to the next, she always emerged a little bit richer, a little better connected, and poised for another ambitious project.
I tapped my fingers against the desk, then sighed when I came across it.
Zed Four. Of course. She’d been on the payroll for a couple of years, since the company formed right around the time this city redevelopment project was first conceived. Her, and a few other key people on my team, that was. People who I recognized as movers and shakers, the ones who pushed certain zones of development and insisted on investments that had always seemed a bit puzzling to me.
And Zed Four? I still wasn’t certain what their intention was, but I knew one thing for certain. They owned a lot of prime properties, and in a few years, their investments would skyrocket.
“Damn it,” I cursed myself. “Damn it, damn it, damn it.”
I remembered what Grandpa had told me so many times. Just because I was away from the coast didn’t mean the people I was working with had pure intentions. I had wanted to believe this year would be different, and I had let that silly wish blind me to what was actually going on.
But now I knew. There were snakes in the office, slithering right beneath my feet.
And I knew how to deal with a fucking snake.
