Protecting the Boss

by Beverly Long

  “I’ll call now to see if I can get a flight.”

  “Don’t worry about a flight. I’ve got a friend who flies out of the North Las Vegas Airport. I’ve already sent him a text and he’ll be ready to be in the air as soon as you can get there. I’ll text you the info as well as the website info on Marta’s Deli so that you have an address.”

  “That will all be helpful. I’ll do my best.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “I know you do. Be careful, Seth. In all ways.”

  He hung up before he got sloppy on the phone and confessed that Megan had him in knots. He thought maybe Royce would understand, given that he’d secretly been in love with Jules Cambridge for years.

  He undressed, shaved and brushed his teeth. Fifteen minutes later he was showered and dressed. And he still had some time to kill before he needed to meet her outside the room. It was time he read the NTSB report on her parents’ accident. He knew the victims’ names, the approximate date and that it had occurred in California. Plenty of information to be able to find it.

  He was expecting to see a preliminary report done just days after the accident and then a final report completed much later. That was exactly what he found. The preliminary report, indicating cause of crash as pilot error, had been completed within three days. It was brief. Didn’t tell him much more than what Megan had already said. There was a little additional information about weather conditions, visibility, witnesses on the ground and such but she’d summed it up pretty well. The final report had been completed fourteen months later. He skimmed the fifteen pages. There was nothing substantially different in the final report.

  The pilot had been flying for only three years and had logged less than two hundred hours in each year. It wasn’t much. He’d had one prior accident, where he’d been alone and experienced a hard landing. He’d walked away from that one with bumps and bruises.

  His injuries, which were part of the report, had indeed been serious this time. Seth suspected he still felt some aches and pains all these years later. If he was any kind of decent person, he likely suffered a hell of a lot of mental anguish as well, in that he’d been flying an aircraft that had crashed and somebody had died.

  He’d ultimately lost his fiancée over the accident.

  Lost Megan.

  It was a wonder the man had been able to go on.

  But the years had gone by. And now, what new information could there be that would prompt somebody to contact Megan? Or if the information wasn’t new but simply hadn’t surfaced before, then why now?

  Megan had quickly closed down the possibility of contacting Logan Lewis. And that made Seth’s head spin a little. Was it even possible that she still harbored feelings toward the man? Was that why she’d never married anyone else?

  Well, she might be adamantly opposed to reconnecting with her ex-fiancé, but that didn’t mean that his hands were tied. He closed out of the NTSB website and in seconds had sent a message to his partners. “Need background info on Logan Lewis, ex-fiancé of Megan North.”

  He knew the last part would make them wonder, but it was necessary info so that they made sure that they were looking at the right Logan Lewis.

  He hung his phone on his belt, slipped on his sport coat and went to stand in the hall. Five minutes later, Megan opened her door.

  Today, her dress was a deep purple and she wore a white, navy and purple flowered scarf. Her hair was once again on top of her head and she looked lovely, as usual.

  “How’s it going?” he asked.

  “Did you get something to eat?” she asked, avoiding his question.

  He shook his head.

  “Now that makes me feel bad. Just because I didn’t eat doesn’t mean that you can’t.”

  “I’ll just have an extra tea sandwich,” he said. “I mean, one generally fills me up but I’ll go for two.”

  “Maybe there will be doughnuts at the meet and greet,” she said as they walked down the hall.

  “Don’t tease me,” he said. “Who exactly are we meeting and greeting?”

  “This event is sponsored by the local junior college. Probably a few administrator types, a few faculty and hopefully at least half the crowd will be students. There were fifty tickets in total.”

  “But it’s not a fashion show?”

  “No, we wanted to mix up the type of events a little. We were able to get some press interest in offering an informal meet and greet focusing on the intersection of textile design and entrepreneurship, both curricula offered at the college. I’m going to do a short presentation followed by a Q and A session.”

  “Sounds very smart. Who is your marketing genius?” he asked.

  She smiled. “Me.”

  “And the woman with one head wears yet another hat.”

  Her eyes sparkled. “Let’s hope it’s the start of a new trend. Hats for all!”

  “And the event afterward?”

  “Ribbon-cutting at the store. Then we’ll do the rah-rah meeting with the staff late afternoon along with another small cocktail party. We’ll fall into bed and open the store tomorrow.”

  “Was there a reason that these store openings all needed to happen within two weeks? It’s a pretty tough schedule.”

  “I know. But social marketing and trending topics have changed everything. We need the buzz of having multiple store openings in several cities. If we’d staged this over a couple months, we were concerned that we’d lose good energy. It was a risk that we weren’t willing to take.”

  “Got it,” he said. “Onward, then?” he asked, motioning to the door.

  “Onward.”

  They took the elevator downstairs and walked outside to their car. A wall of heat knocked them back. It had to already be ninety degrees, which was very hot for an Albuquerque morning. Once they were seated and she’d started the car, he turned to her. “Aren’t you going to ask what my partner said?”

  She stared straight ahead. “I wasn’t going to.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can’t think about it. I can’t be distracted by it. Attendees at the meet and greet have a right to expect me to be at the top of my game.”

  “I get that. And it is damn unfair of somebody to lay this at your feet. But they did. And I just want you to know that Wingman Security is on it. Royce will be at the Laundromat at ten. He’s also going to do what he can to find the person who could have called from Marta’s Deli this morning.” If Marta was simply going to tell Royce that it was impossible that somebody had called from there, it wasn’t going to be good enough.

  He didn’t tell her that he had initiated a background check on Logan. If he found something interesting, he would. Until then, there was little use in discussing it.

  * * *

  She supposed that she was grateful that Seth had so easily picked up the ball and arranged to have someone at Marta’s Deli. To have one of his partners there was as good a solution as any. She couldn’t be—for so many reasons. First of all, she needed to fulfill her commitments in Albuquerque. Second, it was impossible to get her head around the idea that there could be any new information about the crash after all this time.

  The first message had been rather cryptic. Your parents were killed. It wasn’t an accident. You better wake up and start smelling the roses.

  The second call had been much instructive. A simple quid pro quo arrangement. You do this and I’ll do that. You come to Marta’s Deli at 10:00 a.m. and I’ll tell you something important about your parents’ plane crash.

  She supposed the only good thing about the second call was that it had come in this morning when she was sharper, versus last night, when she’d been almost too tired to form a complete sentence. She’d managed to get a very decent night’s sleep, which had surprised her. But eating pizza with Seth had been...fun. And she’d gone to bed relaxed. Enough
that she’d managed to put aside her worries and had simply stretched out in the big bed.

  “Take a right here,” Seth said. He was navigating off his phone.

  She did. It was a big parking lot with lots of cars but she found a space pretty quickly. In minutes, they were in the right building. Like most buildings on a college campus, there was a big map inside the door and she quickly located the auditorium. When she started to walk away, Seth stopped her.

  “Hang on a minute,” he said.

  He was staring at the map.

  “It’s right there,” she said, pointing.

  “I see that.”

  She waited. “What are you looking for?” she asked finally.

  “Three other ways out of the building,” he said. “This wasn’t online,” he said. “Otherwise, I’d have done it earlier.” He studied the map for another minute before turning to look at her. “I think I’m good. Now we can go.”

  She wanted to be irritated that he was so compulsive in his need to be prepared for any eventuality, but she realized it was exactly this that had allowed her to sleep restfully the night before.

  She opened the doors of the auditorium. There was a lone man sitting on the stage. He was wearing faded blue jeans with a sport coat and a button-down shirt. She guessed early fifties. He sprang up. “Ms. North?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Dr. Scott. It’s a pleasure to have you here.”

  “The pleasure is mine,” she said. It was true. While the fashion show in Sedona had been fun, she really loved the idea of talking to professors and students. “This is my associate, Seth Pike.” There was no need to say more.

  The two men shook hands. “Got your laptop?” Professor Scott asked.

  “Yes.” They’d discussed her presentation at least twice.

  “Okay.” He waved to a person in the production booth at the rear of the auditorium. “Rory will take care of everything you need.”

  Twenty minutes later, she was confident that the presentation would come off without a hitch. People had started arriving and she introduced herself to as many as she could. Seth stood near the front of the room, watching everyone who entered.

  Then it was time for Dr. Scott to introduce her. His opening remarks were brief and she slid into her presentation. Was on slide twenty-three of sixty-four when a jarring ring sounded and the lights started blinking.

  Fire alarm.

  Dr. Scott jumped up. “We need to exit,” he announced. He pointed toward the rear doors. “That way.”

  People groaned at the unexpected interruption but got up and stared filing out the back entrance of the auditorium. By the time she’d reached for her purse that she’d stored on the interior lectern shelf, Seth was standing next to her. “This is fun,” she said glibly.

  “We’re going this way,” he said, pointing to the left of the stage.

  “But...” Everybody else was going out the back.

  “Follow me,” he said.

  He led her down a narrow hallway, made two right-hand turns, and then it was down a flight of steps. They exited on the side of the building. There was nobody else around.

  “Hold this,” he said, motioning to the still-open door.

  In a second, he’d grabbed a stick from the ground and used it to keep the door from shutting. She could hear the sound of approaching sirens. Fire or police, maybe both. She looked for signs of smoke but saw none. “False alarm?” she said.

  “That’s what I’m thinking,” he said. He didn’t sound happy about it.

  “We’ll resume once this gets sorted out.”

  “Uh-huh,” he said, as if he wasn’t convinced. He put a hand under her elbow and gently guided her to the corner of the building, where they could see the people who had gathered out front. There had to be at least two hundred people. Not all from the meet and greet, because there were other classes being held in the building. Nobody seemed too concerned—most were on their cell phones and she imagined the social media posts that were popping up. It was a warm summer day and certainly not a hardship to be outside for a few minutes.

  “It’s like an impromptu lawn party,” she said. “If only there was a beer cart...”

  He didn’t respond. He was scanning the crowd.

  “What are you looking for?” she asked.

  “Anything that doesn’t look right,” he said.

  “It’s just a fire alarm,” she said. “These things happen all the time. It could have been a planned drill.”

  Again he didn’t answer. Two fire engines and one cop car pulled up in front of the building. Six firefighters went into the building.

  “We should probably join the group,” she said. “It looks as if Professor Scott might be looking for me.” The man had his hand up to his forehead, shielding his eyes from the sun. He was turning in a 360-degree circle. “He’s going to think that I’ve abandoned the meet and greet.”

  “Let’s just wait until the firemen clear the building,” he said, still watching the crowd. “You don’t see anybody who looks familiar?”

  “Like the blond man?” she asked.

  “That or anybody else. If we only focus on the blond man, we run the risk that we’re going to shut our minds to the possibility of somebody else. That could be a problem for us.”

  “Of course.” It wasn’t that nice to think that there were multiple people wanting to cause her problems. “When will we hear from your partners about Marta’s Deli?”

  “As soon as they know something. Remember, they’re an hour behind us. It’s not even nine thirty there.”

  “Time’s a-wastin’ here,” she said, feeling as if she was losing control of her morning. She could not be late to the ribbon-cutting at eleven thirty. She let out a sigh when she saw the firemen exit the building and the crowd starting to go back inside.

  “Come on,” he said. But instead of leading her around the building, he pointed at the still-propped-open door.

  She didn’t hesitate. And within minutes, was back on the stage. She could see Professor Scott’s face relax when he saw her.

  “I lost track of you,” he said.

  “Just happy that there’s no fire,” she said, not wanting to give any more of an explanation. And within five minutes, the auditorium had settled and she was back in full swing, although truth be told, she felt a little unsettled. She attributed that to Seth because she knew he wasn’t happy about the interruption. At one point, during the presentation, she saw him quickly pull out his phone and type something and she knew it likely had something to do with her, because Seth wasn’t the type to do casual correspondence when he was working.

  At the end of the program, they still had fifteen minutes for questions and she could tell the audience was engaged. But she ultimately had to close it down so that they wouldn’t be late to the ribbon-cutting.

  When they were in the car, she turned to him. “Did you hear something from the Sedona police? I saw you looking at your phone.”

  “No. I was sending a message to my friend in the Vegas Police Department, asking him to make inquiries about the fire drill.”

  “Because?”

  “Because that building had cameras everywhere. If somebody pulled an alarm, they are going to know it.”

  “Why didn’t we just ask Professor Scott to look into it?”

  “We’re keeping the circle small.”

  She stopped for a red light and turned her head to stare at him. “In other words, you don’t trust anybody.”

  “Not true,” he said. “I trust the guy I sent the message to. I trust my partners.” He paused. “I trust you.”

  Heat flooded her face. And she was glad when the car behind her honked.

  She faced the road again and pulled forward with a jerk.

  “That’s not a bad thing,” he added, sounding amu
sed. “That last part,” he clarified.

  “Of course not,” she said.

  They rode in silence for several minutes. “Here’s where you say,” he said, “that it’s reciprocal, that you also trust me.”

  She pulled in to the parking lot that was a half block from the boutique. They were right on time. “I wouldn’t have signed the contract with Wingman Security if I didn’t trust you.”

  He sighed. “There’s trust and then there’s trust. But no worries, we’ll keep working on it.”

  “I’m not sure I understand the difference,” she said.

  “As they say, ‘Houston, we have a problem.’ But let’s not worry about that now. Let’s go cut a ribbon.”

  Chapter 13

  Megan used a key to unlock the storefront. If there had been brown paper in the windows, somebody had already removed it. Two big windows facing the street allowed enough light in that he could quickly see that the Albuquerque store looked very much like the Sedona store—about the same square footage, and the paint colors and flooring were exactly the same.

  Jasmine Pajo had not yet arrived in Albuquerque but it was just minutes before other staff showed up. He could tell that Megan had not met them before but she was immediately welcoming and told each person how happy she was to have them on the team. Then the mayor and a couple people from the city council arrived.

  He stayed back, away from all the introductions. He wasn’t too concerned while they were inside the store but he wasn’t super excited about being outside on the sidewalk for the ribbon-cutting. His gut told him that the fire alarm during her presentation hadn’t been by chance. That’s what had prompted him to send a quick message to Bobby Bayleaf, who had responded that he was on it.

  Seth was also watching the clock. It was almost ten thirty in Los Angeles. Royce would check in as soon as he knew something and Seth told himself to be patient.

  When it was time to string up the grand opening banner, which doubled as a ribbon, it was Megan holding a giant pair of scissors, with the mayor, the city council members, the chamber of commerce president and the neighborhood association vice president. She was in the middle of the group, her back to the entrance of the boutique, facing the street.