by Hadley Knox
“Yeah,” Greg chimed in. “You haven’t. Do you need to call Monica and check with her before you decide?”
Everyone chuckled, including Xavier. The fact that he had a controlling girlfriend was something the guys teased Xavier about, and luckily, he took it in good humor.
“I’m down with everyone else,” Xavier said. “I’ll do what I need to do.”
“Good,” Greg agreed.
“We need to figure out a plan,” Mike said.
“It’s hard to do that when we don’t know much about what happened,” Greg said.
Derrick frowned. “Do you think it was another Hammer guy? I heard Hugh saying that he was considering working for the Madam full time.”
Ray nodded. “I bet they’d be real mad if they found out they were going to lose one of their little dancers.”
“I’m sure they wouldn’t be very happy,” Greg said. “Most of you know that I worked at the Steel Hammer before doing this, and I know how they think. It would suck to lose one of your dancers, but it wouldn’t be so upsetting that you would kill someone over it.”
“Kirk was his good friend,” Mike said. “Wouldn’t he know what happened?”
“He was with Adam last night,” I said.
Mike turned to me. “Wait, have you talked to Adam? Where is he?”
“He’s not here,” I said. “We had an argument over this whole thing.”
“I’m sorry,” Greg said.
“It’s fine,” I shrugged. “He was out with Kirk last night and then I didn’t hear from him until late this morning. It upset me that I had to find out about the murder from someone else.”
“That’s a little weird,” Betsy muttered.
“I didn’t know that Adam was friends with Kirk,” Derrick said. “I always thought that he was friends with Ellis.”
“I guess they all hang out together,” I said.
“Who can keep up with stripper drama,” Betsy threw her hands up. Everyone chuckled.
“What about their boss?” Mike asked. “He looks a little shady.”
“Now I could see him being upset about this,” Greg said. “I’m not sure he’s the type to murder someone, but Lucas is a ruthless business man.”
“So he’s the lead suspect in your mind?” Ben asked.
Greg shrugged and ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s not like I’m conducting an investigation. But if I was to pick a top suspect, then I would say it would be him.”
“This is just crazy,” Ben said. “I can’t believe this.”
“So what should we do?” Hung asked.
“Nothing right now,” Greg said. “Just be cautious on your jobs from now on.”
“I recommend that we postpone client sessions,” I said. “I don’t know if you can all afford it, but I think we should stop booking appointments for the next week. We’ll leave the ones that are set already.”
The guys unanimously agreed that might be the best plan considering the cops might be breathing down all their necks in the coming days.
We talked for a little while longer, but when they realized that there really was nothing to be done about the situation that evening, they all left. Most of them had clients to see, and I knew that they all needed their time to deal with this situation in their own way.
Each one promised to call and check in on me. They all wanted promises that I would let them know the minute that fresh news came.
Chapter Eight
The next morning, I decided to go into the office. I had finished two manuscripts that I needed to send in anyway, but I always tried to make a point of stopping by at least once a week. It was silly really, because now that computers had come into the world, I could practically do my job virtually without ever going there.
After dropping the kids off, I drove to the office and parked in the garage. I waited a minute before getting out of the vehicle, mentally and emotionally preparing myself for the day.
I didn’t sleep very well the night before. I hadn’t talked to Adam since he left the day before, and that was really starting to get to me. We had never fought like this before, and it was more than a little unnerving to see how he handled conflict.
Luckily, Ben was in the next cubicle over, so I at least had someone to talk with about all of my problems. We didn’t really spend much time discussing it due to the fact that there were a lot of ears around. My reputation at the company was bad enough without the need for such a scandal.
I sat down at my computer and started going through the manuscripts that I had completed. By lunchtime, I had made the suggestions and corrects on the digital document and started forwarding them to Reginald.
Within a few minutes of sending the first one, I heard footsteps behind me.
“Nice of you to come in today.”
I rolled my eyes before turning around. I really didn’t have the energy to devote to this asshole behind me.
“Morning, Reginald,” I said. “What can I do for you?”
“I just got one of your documents,” he said. “Is that all you have completed?”
“Well, if you had stayed at your computer long enough, you would have seen that I sent three.”
“Three? That’s it?”
“No, Reginald. I have four more finished, but I’m saving them on my computer because that’s just what I do.”
“Please watch your disrespectful tone, Lana.”
“Then stop harassing me,” I snapped. “I came into the office once this week just like you requested. I’m sending you the manuscripts by their deadline. So what else do you want from me?”
“First of all, you need to calm down.”
“No, I need for you to leave me alone.”
“I’m your boss and you are standing in my work area.”
“No, you are standing in my work area.”
“Would you like to come to my office so that we can finish this conversation?” he asked.
“No, because the conversation is already finished. I have a job to do and you’re preventing me from finishing it.”
I had never talked to him this way before, but damn, he was making me so angry. It seemed like his only form of communication was passive aggressive corporate speak.
“This conversation is not over.”
“Then what do you want?”
“I came over to talk to you.”
“But you still haven’t said what you want.”
“I wanted to check your progress.”
“You saw my progress. It’s in your e-mail box. If you don’t see a manuscript in your e-mail box, then that means I’m not finished with it. Did you expect more than three?”
“Now, Lana, here at the Weatherington – ”
“No, we’re not going to keep going around and around like this. Answer my question directly, Reginald. What was the expectation today? Tell me exactly how many manuscripts you expected.”
“More than three, certainly.”
“That’s still not a number.”
“We don’t typically put expectations like that on editors. Each work is different and requires a different amount of time.”
I gripped the pen in my hand and fought the urge to stab him in the neck with it. What I wanted more than anything was for Reginald to go back to his office and leave me alone, but no matter what I said, he just planted himself at the opening of my cubicle.
“Then if you haven’t placed an expectation on me, why are you acting like three was not enough? Unless you can tell me a specific number you want finished, then I don’t see the purpose for this visit.”
“You are my employee.”
“So? That doesn’t mean that you should come question my work product like this. And the fact that you are approaching me in front of everyone in some attempt to embarrass me is not right.”
“I didn’t mean to embarrass you.”
I sat forward in my chair. “Then why are you here?”
“I just wanted – ”
“No,” I sto
pped him. “If you are not going to say exactly why you are here, then don’t even bother. I’m sick of your corporate non-speak.”
“I could have you written up,” he said quietly.
“Go ahead, I don’t really care right now. I’ve got a lot of work to do and you’re preventing me from doing it. So if my write up has anything to do with productivity, then I will contact HR. I’m sure they’d love to chat about this.”
“We’re not finished here,” he seethed before turning on his heels and going back to his office.
I sat back in my chair and leaned my head back. What a complete, total tool, I thought to myself. A second or so after my boss left, Ben poked his head into the opening my work area.
“Are you okay, Lana?”
“Of course I’m not okay. Why?”
“You normally have more patience with him.”
“This whole mess is really getting to me,” I said quietly. “It makes it even worse that I haven’t talked to Adam yet.”
“He hasn’t called, texted, or anything?”
“Nope, not a word.”
“That doesn’t seem like him.”
“I know,” I nodded.
Ben was right though. Something was definitely off with Adam, and it was more than just our fight over this whole murder business.
“I’m going to go home now,” I said. “I e-mailed those manuscripts. I can probably get more done there.”
“Okay,” Ben nodded.
I grabbed my purse from the drawer and slung it over my shoulder. I unhooked my laptop from the monitor and keyboard and left without even putting it in the bag first. The Weatherington Publishing Company was the last place I wanted to be when there was someone out there murdering my gigolos.
Chapter Nine
My house proved not to be any better of a work environment. In many ways, it was worse. I was reminded of Adam by nearly everything that I saw. I had a manuscript in front of me and had managed to go over two pages in the last two hours, which was extremely slow progress.
I knew the only solution to my problem was to call Adam. If I could just hear his voice, I might learn that everything was okay between us. We could just talk, or even better, he could come over. If we had the chance to make love, then all of these external problems would magically disappear.
But I knew that was the stupidest thought I had ever had. The problem would certainly vanish if we had sex, but only temporarily. The moment we climaxed and started putting on clothes, the issues that we were facing would rear their ugly heads.
Finally, I just gave up on editing. I stuffed the manuscript back into its box and slid it under the table. I would get to it later.
I thought about going into the office and talking to Pearl but she had a job to do, and she was serious about that job.
So I decided to just go and get the mail. Maybe something in the stack would take my mind off my worries.
When I opened the box, I grabbed the wad of envelopes. All but one was regular, letter size. All except one.
On the way back up the walk, I pulled the small manila envelope from the stack of bills and letters. It was thick in the middle. There was no return address. On the front of the envelope was only my name and my address. Nothing else.
I kicked the front door closed and started tearing the top of the envelope open. Inside, I saw that it had the bubble wrap protective letter. I opened it up and dumped the contents into my hand.
It was a cell phone.
But not just any cell phone. It was one of the cell phones I had given each of the guys that work for me. Even though it had no name or way of identify on the front, I knew immediately whose phone this was.
Setting the rest of the mail on the nearby console table, I opened the front of the phone and saw that it had been turned off. I nearly shook from anticipation waiting on the phone to power up. When it finally did, I went to the text message history.
Sure enough, the only messages in the application were from me. I knew by looking at the first text that this was indeed Hugh’s phone.
Who would send me Hugh’s phone? This was even crazier than the murder itself. My mind reeled, trying to make sense of this.
Pearl might be busy, but I needed to talk to her right now. I called her name as I continued staring at the text message I had sent Hugh just a few days ago.
“What’s wrong?” Pearl asked as she walked out of the office while taking her headset off.
“Look at this,” I said, holding the phone up.
“It’s a cell phone. So?”
“It’s Hugh’s.”
“What? How did you get it?” She crossed the living room and snatched it from my hand. She stared at the text messages that we had sent Hugh regarding client meetings.
“Someone mailed it to me.”
“What the hell? Who would have mailed it to you?”
“The killer?” I said, though not fully committing to that theory.
“Why would the killer mail it to you? It just doesn’t make any sense.”
“I have no idea.” I looked down at the phone as if it were the murder weapon. It felt strange in my hands, knowing that just a few days ago, it had been held by the guy who had been murdered. So many questions ran through my mind.
“Someone is protecting you,” Pearl said.
“What?”
“It’s the only explanation,” she explained. “Someone found this phone and sent it to you so that the police wouldn’t be able to find it.”
“What if Hugh just didn’t want it anymore? He could have mailed it to me.”
“That doesn’t make sense. If he didn’t want to be a gigolo anymore, he could have just dropped it off one day. It’s not like you would have broken his kneecaps or anything.”
“True,” I said. My guess did sound a little stupid.
“It had to have been the killer though,” Pearl said. “Someone took the phone from his place when they committed the murder and then sent it to you so that nothing would get traced back to you.”
“So that means I know the killer,” I said. “It has to be one of my guys or one of the men from the Steel Hammer.”
“Or Dixie, Betsy, or me.”
“Don’t’ say that Pearl.”
“I know I didn’t do it, and I can definitely say that Betsy wouldn’t have done it. Now that bitch Dixie is a little crazy, but I don’t think she’s capable of that either.”
“I don’t feel like it could have been one of my guys either.”
“You can’t say that for sure,” Pearl said. “You know it probably wasn’t most of them, but what about Hung or Xavier. You don’t know them as well as the others.”
“But why would they murder Hugh? I can’t even fathom a possible motive.”
“What if they were worried about him cutting in on their earnings?”
“That just sounds crazy.”
“This whole this is bat shit crazy, no matter how you look at it.”
“So what should I do?”
“For one, you hide the cell phone. I would tell the guys that we don’t have anything to worry about anymore. But I wouldn’t let anyone else know you have it.”
“What about Adam?”
Pearl studied me for a minute before responding. “Lana, you can do what you want, but I would be careful with Adam from now on.”
“You think he’s the murderer?”
“He’s acting really strange lately. I’m not saying that he’s the murderer, but something is off with that guy.”
“Maybe he’s just in shock and grieving.”
“Okay,” Pearl nodded.
I could tell that she wasn’t convinced. As much as I hated to admit it, I wasn’t really convinced either. Adam had been acting strange, and I couldn’t tell what the hell was going on with him.
Chapter Ten
I decided to call Greg and let him know about the phone. He was relieved, but I could tell that he was suspicious of the sender’s motives. We talked for a moment, and
he told me that I should be careful and keep the gun handy in case something happened.
For a brief moment, I thought about asking for his help with getting the kids to safety, but then I stopped myself. Whoever this was that sent the phone was helping me. As much as it freaked me out, this creep liked me.
Greg told me that the funeral arrangements had been made by Lucas. Since Hugh had no other family that anyone could find, it was left up to his boss to see to the arrangements.
“Do you want to go to the funeral?” he asked me.
“It would be weird. I feel like I should though.”
“There won’t be many people there. I’m going to text all the guys and let them know, so some of them might come. You can probably expect all the strippers from the Hammer to be there, too.”
I considered whether or not I should. Some part of me wanted to pay my respects to Hugh, even though we hadn’t known each other that long. Another reason to go would be that I could see Adam. It would be awkward, but at least I could see him and make sure that he was okay.
The other reason to say yes was that the person who sent me the cell phone would probably be there. I couldn’t know that for sure, but I just had this gut feeling that it would be so.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll go.”
“Good,” Greg said. “I’ll pick you up at fifteen ‘til ten.”
“Great,” I said.
‘Great’ was the right word. Not only would I be attending a funeral in which my recently estranged boyfriend would be at, but I would now be going with the man I had most recently slept with. This whole situation couldn’t get any stranger.
My mind continued to wonder, and I found it nearly impossible to focus on any one thing. At some point late in the evening, I did manage to find a way to put it mostly out of my mind, and I actually got some editing accomplished.
It felt lonely in my bed without Adam. One night, maybe even two, was not such a bad thing, but going this long without contact from him was almost more than I could handle. Even as upset as that made me, I refused to shed a tear. If this was how he wanted to handle conflict, then so be it.
The next morning, Greg picked me up right on time. It didn’t take me long to find something to wear as my only options were black. I found a simple black skirt that didn’t look too slutty and a pair of matching black shoes with a low heel. I resisted the urge to over-accessorize, and instead, chose a simple silver necklace and small earrings.