Number's Up

  “Yes. Tell us where you put the proof Dad sent you and we’ll let you go.” He smiled, but I heard a snicker above me.

  They weren’t going to let me go. And I couldn’t dial without looking at my phone. What stupid person thought up facial recognition as a lock? Because they should be here instead of me.

  “House. The proof is at my house.”

  “Lies. We already searched your house.”

  Good point.

  I needed to think. I was very smart. Like, exceptionally smart. Even drunk and concussed, I should’ve been able to outthink Frank and Donald. At least, I was pretty sure it was Donald up there.

  Mail. I hadn’t checked the mailbox.

  “Mail. Your proof is in the mailbox.”

  “We checked your mailbox.”

  Well, weren’t they thorough?

  “Then it’s coming tomorrow?”

  Frank sighed and turned away from me, his hand going into his hair.

  I took a risk and looked up, trying to see who the second voice belonged to, expecting to see Donald. Instead I saw a camera. Well, well. Donald hadn’t known about Kenneth’s new cameras. At least they would see what happened. And… maybe have a confession on film.

  “Why? Why did you do it?” I asked Frank, my hand reaching back to feel the back of my head. No blood. Good.

  “What? Take you? Or the insider trading?”

  “Insider.” My head really hurt, and I could feel the fuzzy feeling getting stronger. No. I couldn’t lose consciousness yet.

  “Tony had done it a few times, and Dad had missed it. But I caught it. Me. Then I demanded in. I wasn’t as bad an accountant or CPA as you and Dad made me out to be.”

  Yes. Yes, he was, and this only proved it. Plus, he failed the test. One that we had nothing to do with. I didn’t know why he was blaming us for his failing score.

  “So, you helped him cover it up?”

  “It was easy. The only one looking at their accounts was me. Dad was too busy and not as energetic as he used to be. Until the SEC contacted us, it was all too easy.”

  It’s like he missed the point. Most crimes are easy. Until the cops show up.

  “And did Henry know anything about it?”

  “No. He was too busy. And trusted me. Unlike you.”

  Huh. I felt like that was missing a swear word. I definitely felt like there was supposed to be a b-word on the end of that sentence.

  “And you think Dan killed Henry?” Confirmation is good.

  “Had to be him. It wasn’t Donald or me. We were fine until Dad ended up dead.”

  Yeah, I could see that he was really choked up about his dad.

  “Henry covered for you!” I didn’t hold back how mad I was about that.

  “The worst that could happen was him losing his license. Dad was retiring anyway.”

  Neither was that true, nor the point. Crime. It was a crime. Was I the only one who had a problem with that?

  “Get it over with,” came the yell.

  “You know, I can’t believe I went on a date with you, Donald. I should have said no, but Dorothy just looked so expectant when she asked for you.”

  “Because I couldn’t bring myself to ask out such an ugly bitch.”

  “Ooh. Breaking out the big words, huh?” Oh my god. What was I saying? Was this the panic? The vodka? Yes. I was blaming the vodka.

  “Listen—” Donald came stomping down the stairs. Now both were on the tape. Idiots. “I could buy and sell you.”

  “No, your family can. You don’t have any money, do you? Just a ceremonial position in the company that you couldn’t keep.”

  “I can keep a job just fine.”

  “Like Operations Manager?”

  “Yes. I will be. Grandmother knows I want it more.”

  “Oh, please. You don’t even know where the security cameras are. You’re too stupid to run a hotel.”

  I saw the fist.

  I felt the contact.

  I fell onto the ground with the force of the punch.

  But none of that was as scary as the next sound I heard.

  Click.

  That was a gun. I was about to die. In this dingy stairwell. Over proof of a crime that was far less than the crime of murder they were about to commit.

  On camera.

  I was going to be killed by idiots.

  There was something wrong with me, but even over the fear, I was angry. Angry that I had been brought down by two idiots who would make the stupid crimes hall of fame.

  “You two are the dumbest morons on the face of this earth.” My anger brought me to my feet, making me take a step away from the wall and toward them. “Are you kidding me? Do you even watch TV? When you decided to start your life of white-collar crime, did you even think to do a little freaking research into how to get away with it? This. This is why you will never be a CPA. Because not only are you an idiot, you can’t see the obvious!” I was screaming at them by this point. I didn’t even see the gun. Anger and vodka, making people make stupid mistakes since, well, I didn’t know when vodka was invented, but it was a while ago.

  “There are cameras everywhere, you two dipshits. You both confessed and threatened to kill me on camera. And what’s worse? Murder. Murder is worse. You both are committing a huge crime to cover up a smaller one. I used to think people like you didn’t exist. No one was that stupid. Now I owe Lark twenty bucks. Twenty. Because a freaking dressage trainer knows more about human nature than I do.”

  “Don’t trainers spend all day working with people while you sit in your office working on a computer?” Frank asked, lowering the gun slightly in his confusion.

  Did he…. he just corrected me. Nope. I refused. I refused to die at the hands of these two jokers. I was… going to find a way out. One-on-one I was pretty sure I could take them, but there were two of them. Then again, only Frank had the gun.

  I was going to tackle him. That was all I had. Tackle. Flying tackle because, well, he still outweighed me by a lot. On three….

  One. I could do this. I planted my feet, watching Frank who was still looking slightly confused about the whole situation.

  Two. It was on. Bending knees. Donald rolled his eyes at Frank, who was the focus of his attention. Perfect.

  Three. Go! I was flying.

  “Put your hands up.”

  Shit.

  It was true what they say: time slows down when you’re about to die. My brain saw everything.

  John coming in the staircase doors with his gun out.

  Nic following close on his tail.

  Frank’s eyes going wide as he saw me coming.

  Donald’s eyes growing wide as he saw John and Nic.

  Frank’s finger on the trigger. Scratch that. Tightening on the trigger.

  I was going to be shot.

  This was going to hurt.

  I squeezed my eyes closed as tight as I could, trying to throw myself aside by sheer force of mind. News flash—I had no telekinesis. No matter how much I mentally strained, I was still moving towards Frank and his gun.

  Bang.

  Chapter 16

  Nothing hurt.

  Could I be dead? Nothing hurt. Also, I should’ve landed on Frank by this point.

  Wait, there were hands around my waist. Okay. Arms. There were arms around me. Was I just plucked out of the air? Was that even something someone could do? Wait. My ribs hurt. Make that tackled out of the air.

  I peeked my eyes open.

  Kenneth?

  His blond hair was mussed, and we were both breathing hard. Like we had just run a race. One that had gotten us underneath the stairs. His back against the wall with me sprawled on top of him, his arms holding me tight, as we tried to process what just happened.

  “Did you just tackle me before I was shot?”

  “Yes.” He pulled his arms away, putting me to the side, and we both leaned against the wall.

  “That was kind of stupid.”

  He breathed harder. “Yes.”r />
  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” His head fell back against the wall.

  “Jen? Kenneth? You guys okay?” Nic’s body slowly came into view, his gaze and gun fixed on a target we couldn’t see around the stairs.

  “We’re good,” I told Nic before turning to Kenneth. “Actually, you hit the wall. Are you okay?”

  “Fine.” He still sounded a little winded.

  “Did it knock the air out of you?” I asked, concerned that he might be hiding an injury. I knew people always said men did that, although I had never experienced it. My ex made a paper cut into a mortal death blow.

  “No, just thinking through how stupid that was. I’ll stop panicking in a moment,” he admitted.

  I laughed. I couldn’t help it. I’d survived and Kenneth was funny.

  “As much as I like hearing that sound, do you two think you can move to a safer location while we arrest these two? Once they’re secure, we will come and talk with you, Jen.” Nic took a second to throw me a concerned look before focusing back on the two idiots that got me here.

  “Yeah, we will be in my office, if that works for you,” Kenneth replied.

  At Nic’s nod, Kenneth rose, offering me a hand up before ushering me out of the stairwell too quickly for me to see more than Nic and John’s backs.

  A few seconds later, we were in a room that looked like it had been a guest room not so long ago. Two desks faced each other, and Kenneth dragged a chair out from the empty one for me to sit on before collapsing into the chair behind the bigger of the two.

  “I can’t believe that just happened,” he sighed. “Donald. The gun. Jesus.”

  “I can’t believe you tackled me to save me from a gunshot. That was crazy. Thank you.”

  He smiled shyly and blushed, reaching down to straighten things around his desk as a distraction. Once everything was perfect, he took a deep breath and looked me in the eye. “While you're feeling grateful, can we talk about a job?”

  Ha. I knew that move. Hide your emotions in business. Wait….

  “For me?”

  He nodded.

  Maybe I really was dead, and this was, well, not heaven. Kenneth was good-looking and everything, but I wanted better from heaven. Maybe this was reality?

  More importantly, did I want to work for someone else? I would have financial security again, only this time someone else would have the burden of calling all the shots. It would limit my stress. But also my money. I could make more freelancing than working for a company.

  Could I let go of control over my income? Accept that it would be regular and determined by hours and not my effort. Could I give up some of my security for happiness?

  No. That wasn’t right. Money hadn’t done anything down in the stairwell. Friends did. Well, John and Nic did. And Kenneth.

  “How did John and Nic get here so fast?”

  “Dorothy saw Frank and called them. Something looked wrong and she was concerned. We were watching from the start.”

  Dorothy. Could I have been focusing on the wrong thing this whole time? Warmth flooded me. My friends. These people who I’d chosen to surround myself with had come through when I needed them. Maybe I had something more valuable than money.

  Kenneth cleared his voice, clearly uncomfortable with the non-business topic. “It would be part-time, and out of this facility—”

  “Yes.” I cut him off. I didn’t want to think about the details. Not right now. I was too numb with shock. “We can go over the details tomorrow.” When I could remember them and focus. Plus, I was kind of feeling more impulsive tonight. Maybe Nic’s attitude had inspired me.

  “Excellent.” He nodded as he stared down at his desk with a slight smile.

  My eyes narrowed. He looked a little too happy with that.

  “You took advantage of the situation.” I was so impressed.

  “Yes.” There was no guilt on his face at all.

  I was going to enjoy working for him. “Smart.”

  “I try.” He took a deep breath. “That was really stupid.” He turned the conversation back to his life-saving tackle.

  “Yes. But I’m super glad you did it.”

  He nodded shooting me another shy smile.

  “Did you guys get it all on camera?” I wanted to make sure at least I had done one thing right.

  “Yes.” His reply was short and clipped.

  “Sorry about your brother.” I knew what it was like to be betrayed by family. It wasn’t fun.

  “Sorry about your partner.”

  We sat in silence for a while.

  “I need new shoes.” Maybe some with bows. Or something in red.

  “I have no idea what to say to that,” he admitted.

  “I don’t think men are supposed to. If you did, you would either be the perfect man or gay.” And I was pretty excited about my date with Nic, so I don’t know that I could handle a perfect man right now. Or I would be, as soon as the shock wore off a little more.

  “Well, then either my straightness is confirmed, or I need to work on perfection,” he said, completely deadpan.

  “I think we are going to get along fine.”

  He nodded, sending me a small grin. “Sorry Grandma set you up with Donald. He’s a loser. She never thought you’d go.”

  “It’s okay. Not the first time I’ve gone on a bad date. Plus, I’m more upset about how stupid he was when they tried to kill me.”

  “I know. We were watching. Nice speech by the way.”

  I glared. “You know, someone could have come in to save me.”

  “They had a gun.”

  I had nothing. It was a good point.

  “Can I have a room for the night?”

  “Want a suite?” He smiled with a mischievousness that I returned.

  Sass. I could do sass. “Do I have to pay for it?”

  “Can you forget being attacked by the owner’s grandson the day after your partner was attacked and killed in the same hotel?”

  “For a suite and a free massage, I can forget more than that.” Oh my, a massage sounded good.

  “Deal.” He got out his phone and texted someone. “Eight a.m. work for you?”

  “I take it back. You might be perfect,” I admitted.

  “If you didn’t have a beau with a gun whom I’m trying to hire to run my security, I might have taken you up on that.” He winked. It wasn’t a smooth wink, like Nic’s, all sexy and sin. No. His was more playful in a very stiff manner. He was too cute. Too bad I liked sexy. Maybe I wasn’t meant for sweet. Maybe I was meant to be trading barbs with sexy.

  “Business first. Where have you been my whole career?” I asked. I wouldn’t have been stressed if I had known someone like him might be interested in hiring me here. I could make him a business legend.

  “Learning to not be stupid on someone else’s time.” His expression never changed even though his eyes twinkled with humor.

  “Jen?” Nic’s head popped through the door and he looked around frantically before finding me. “You sure you’re okay?”

  His gaze was a little frantic, but it calmed down the longer he looked. I smiled at him. I was glad he wasn’t leaving after this case was over. Wait... case. I frowned.

  “They didn’t do it.”

  “What?” He blinked several times, trying to process my comment.

  Oops. Too rapid of a topic change.

  “They didn’t kill Henry. Dan did. Have you arrested Dan?”

  His face went blank. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.” His head popped back out.

  “I don’t think he is going to arrest Dan,” I commented, my top teeth biting down on the side of my lip as I tried to figure out what I was missing.

  I thought Dan did it.

  Frank thought Dan did it.

  Donald thought Dan did it.

  How could we all be wrong?

  “No, that face didn’t look like it,” Kenneth added, pulling himself up and straightening out his jacket. “Shall
we go sign some paperwork? I would love to have you start work Monday.”

  “You really aren’t going to give me time to process what just happened?” I was shocked. And impressed. There was something wrong with me, but I liked it. I was looking forward to work for the first time in years.

  “Nope. You might change your mind. I would like to get you locked down before you start triple thinking it. Once you sign you will be all in.” He smiled. Still no guilt. No shame. And he was willing to put his life at risk for another’s. He was a good guy underneath it all. Damn. Henry would have been drooling over getting his hands on a businessman like Kenneth. Maybe I should have gone after more of Watts Industries business before. Henry, wherever you are, you were right.

  “You seem to think you know me pretty well.”

  “No, I just listen to my grandmother. She’s a pretty smart lady.”

  Too true.

  “I want vacation time.”

  “Two weeks.” He offered.

  Too easy. “Three.”

  “Two, with an increase to three in three years.”

  Since I had no idea what to do with the vacation, I guessed that worked. “I want Nic to have the same deal.”

  “I thought you guys weren’t an item?”

  “No. We’re not.”

  He didn’t look like he believed me. “Right then, sure, I can get Nic—” He glanced down as some paperwork before snorting. “—something similar.”

  My eyes narrowed. Did I care to find out what the snort was? No. No, I really didn’t.

  “Fine. Give me the details.”

  He did. The job title. What I would be doing. Not as interesting as some of my projects, but more interesting than others. The hours, which was only about twenty-four a week. It was all doable. And I knew Dorothy well enough to know they wouldn’t have made the offer if it wasn’t something she thought I would take. Plus, maybe I was in for a change. One that might need those two days off a week. I cut Kenneth off in the middle of a long description of the reporting structure. “I accept.”

  “Don’t you want to know how much we will be paying you?”

  “Please. I know my worth. You know my worth. We both know it. You will pay me what I deserve, or I walk. There will be no negotiation on that.” I gave him a flat look, so he knew how serious I was about it.

  He smiled at me. “You’re right. We are going to get along just fine.”