by S R Nulton
As soon as her car passed his gates, Ethan sagged against the door and ran a shaky hand through his hair.
Who knew being kissed in front of his assistant would make him so nervous!
~
I watched Ethan fall back against the door, looking like he was about to puke, and I ran over to him.
“Are you okay? What was that all about, anyway?”
He rubbed his face. “I have no idea. She kept talking about the divorce and alimony and some sort of money I owed her? It didn’t make much sense, but it got really weird when she tried to seduce me. I’m just glad you guys were there for her threats. It will go easier if I have live witnesses. Tapes are too easy to doctor.”
I nodded and rubbed his back as we walked in. When I glanced back though, Geo had a thoughtful look on his face. As soon as he saw me looking, he smiled and shook his head. I mentally shrugged. He would tell us if he chose to, when he chose to and not a moment sooner. I may not have known him well, but I at least knew that.
Ethan walked into the kitchen and started fixing a sandwich for himself. “Sorry,” he said. “She showed up right when I was about to make lunch.”
“No problem, hun. You eat and then we’ll get you in touch with a lawyer, yeah? Cause that was way beyond psycho.”
He nodded and finished quickly, pulling his phone out and placing the call.
“Hey, Jim? Yeah, it’s Ethan Black. Hey, I have a problem and I’m not sure what to do about it. Well, my ex stopped by today and was acting odd. She was talking a lot about our divorce and the money that was owed her.”
Ethan paused and listened to whatever Jim had to say.
“No, man, I know that but listen, she was seriously unhinged. She kissed me, for one thing. Like threw herself at me after putting on this sexy-cute routine and when I didn’t fall for it she threatened me. Said she’d accuse me of abusing her and raping her and that no one would believe me over her, not with the way the media is right now.”
He listened and shook his head.
“No, I got the whole thing on tape and two witnesses as well. Yeah, I want a restraining order. Next week? Is there any way to get one faster? Yeah, thanks. I know it isn’t your typical type of case, but I really appreciate it. Uh-huh. Got it. Will do. I’ll send them out tonight. Okay, thanks. Bye.”
He hit the end button and looked up at us. “I have to send off the files as soon as I can but Jim says that it will be an open and shut case. He also says that any future accusations will be affected by her words today. At this point, she could have DNA evidence proving I assaulted her and no one would come after me. She’s officially lost all credibility because of this.”
I sighed in relief. “If anyone was crazy enough to do it, JJ would.”
Both men nodded.
“Good call on the mics,” Ethan said as he sat down at the counter.
Geo’s head shot up and he looked at me, clearly intrigued. “What’s that mean?”
“Aggy was the one who thought up adding mics. She said that it might come in handy, seeing as how I rarely leave. If someone wanted to come talk to me and then pretend that they said something different, I would have my bases covered. I just got them installed last week, so this is the first time I’ve needed them.”
I shrugged. “He told me about the cameras when we started working together on all those hidden knife accessories. I just figured it would be helpful if something shady cropped up. I didn’t think it would be something like this though.”
Geo nodded before bursting into laughter. “Man, your face! When we pulled up it looked like you just found out you ate cat crap!” He then contorted his face into an expression of horror and disgust, making Ethan and I crack up.
It was the perfect end to an unusual day.
CHAPTER 9: MOPING LIKE A PRO
THE REST OF the weekend was a whirl of activity, at least for Ethan. I’d rarely seen him so devoted to his work. I mean, he had a great work ethic, but this was entirely different. Honestly, it worried me.
I’d seen people act like that before. Whenever someone decided to bury themselves in work that thoroughly it had turned out poorly for them. Either their health or relationships began to deteriorate, which drove them to work harder so they would avoid the consequences, and that continued until they either imploded or exploded.
It was a bit of a personal trigger for me. My mother was an absolute wreck when my father died. They had been very much in love and she was devastated when she got the news. Things only got worse when we found out that he had forgotten to renew his life insurance policy the previous year. My mom went from working as a paralegal with a brand new law degree and a supportive spouse to a single mother with three children who needed to eat every day. She didn’t really have time to deal with her emotions, so she threw herself into work and spent less and less time around us. It was easier for her to avoid her daughters than it was to keep seeing her deceased husband in our features. When she finally stopped hiding, she realized how much distance had grown between us and it nearly broke her again. To this day she said it was her greatest regret in life.
So when three days passed and I didn’t see Ethan, I decided he’d had enough time to hide. I hadn’t even heard him blasting music for a day-and-a-half, and that wasn’t a good sign. Ethan loved singing along when he was creating, almost as much as he disliked it when others heard him sing.
Whatever was going on with him, it was time to face whatever he was feeling head on. And hopefully make some fantastic art in spite of it. Or possibly because of it.
“Ethan?” I asked, knocking on his office door. When there was no answer, I opened it and walked in. As soon as I saw the room, I knew I was right to come get him. The place was a sty!
My employer wasn’t the neatest person when it came to paperwork, but he was obsessive with anything involved in the actual design and creation of his work. Sketches were usually kept in specifically labeled cubbies, along with supplies that had been allocated for each project. It helped him know when he would need to order more of something. If he was making a pearl necklace, he calculated how many pearls he would need for it, sorted them into a container, popped a lid on it, and put it in the correct box so that he could get started when he was ready. If he was running short of something, he would mark the top of the box with a dry erase marker and send off a request for more from his phone.
Knowing that, you can imagine my confusion when I saw papers strewn across the floor, boxes of gems stacked haphazardly, and the cubical storage tower lying on its side.
“Okay,” I said aloud. “This isn’t good.”
Deciding to leave the mess for him to deal with, I moved toward the door connecting his office and workshop. If he wasn’t in his office, he had to be blowing off steam in the forge.
Except he wasn’t. There was, however, a very angry looking piece of metal that I was pretty sure was supposed to look like a tree but seemed to be strangling a woman. It was oddly compelling, but I didn’t remember a commission from Stephen King, so I was pretty sure that the image wasn’t intentional.
“Where else could he be?” I mused, beyond worried by that point. Then I realized what must have happened. He’d even told me himself a month before!
I turned and headed for the beach. He’d said that the water calmed him. His most gentle and relaxed pieces always involved the sea in some way.
Reaching the sandy shore, I headed for the pier. Sure enough, there sat Ethan, fishing rod in hand and a resigned air about him.
“You’re an idiot,” I told him as I plopped down at his side.
“I know.” He had responded immediately, but seemed to realize what I’d said and reconsidered. “Why am I an idiot?”
I snorted. “Because you ran off and didn’t tell me. I’ve been worried about you for days and genuinely freaked out ever since I tried to find you this afternoon.”
Ethan frowned. “What changed this afternoon?”
I had a few choices on how to respond,
but I decided to use the most expedient of them to express my displeasure. I smacked him upside the head and started yelling.
“Because you idiot, I went to find you and saw a trashed office, a disturbing metal tree in your workshop and couldn’t find you anywhere! How was I to know that you were down at the water? Huh? For all I knew, that psycho you divorced had showed back up with a bunch of goons and abducted you when you wouldn’t tell her your safe’s combination!”
He stared at me, mouth open, as I panted. Then, he did something completely unexpected.
“Thank you.” It was my turn to stare, but he just smiled. “I mean it. Thank you. Thank you for caring enough about me to check on my well-being. Thank you for giving me time to work things out before you came after me. Thank you for reminding me that the psycho is my ex-wife, not my current one. And most of all, thank you for proving that you have a much more vivid imagination than I do. I often worry about that, but even I couldn’t think up JJ, goons, and a safe combination. You may want to lay off the crime shows though.”
I pursed my lips and scowled at him. That only lasted for about a minute before a severe case of the giggles burbled up and I lost control. And he lost control with me. In less than a minute the two of us were laughing like loons at the end of a dock in the middle of nowhere.
“I can’t believe you thanked me for letting my imagination run away with me,” I said as we calmed.
Ethan smirked. “You have no idea what a relief that is. I was constantly bringing home notes from teachers complaining about that very thing. When I became a professional artist, people started praising my creativity and imagination and talking about how they were never half as creative. It’s become one of my many complexes, having an overactive imagination, and it isn’t even the oddest one I have. I’m pretty sure that psychologists could study my family problems for centuries and never quite have grasp on them.”
“Ha! That I can totally believe. But don’t worry. Everyone has something like that, something weird and completely unexpected that they hide from the world. Most of the time it ends up being completely normal.” I glanced at him carefully before continuing. “The rest of the time they become millionaires that achieve their dreams of being the next Da Vinci.”
“So I am as weird as I think. Gee, thanks.” He rolled his eyes before rising to his feet. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to stop pouting and go back to clean up my mess.”
I nodded and accepted his had up. “It really is. But, Ethan? Next time you scare me like that? I’m sending in Rosa.”
A grin crossed my face as he shivered dramatically, but there was genuine worry in his eyes at the thought of his housekeeper’s wrath. Something told me he knew exactly what she’d do to set him straight and he didn’t want to experience it again.
And I had no doubt that he had experienced it before.
Note to self: put Rosa on speed dial.
~
It took Ethan most of the day to put his office to rights. I will admit to taking pity on him and bringing him food so he’d have a break. I will also admit to playing the “Working Song” from “Enchanted” on repeat through the intercom. He managed to find it in all that mess rather quickly after the third time I hit repeat. Oddly enough, he didn’t seem to appreciate my method of encouragement.
“Seriously, that was mean,” Ethan said as he pulled the steaks off the grill.
I snorted. “No, that was nice. Mean would be using the many, many recordings of Barney singing his clean up song.”
“You wouldn’t,” he retorted with narrowed eyes.
“Oh, I will if you ever do that again. It’s fine if life gets away from you, but if you trash your room like a toddler would then I will play music that fits your attitude. If you’re angry and you want to be treated like a grown-up, find a better outlet. Like a punching bag. Or take up knife throwing.” I grinned cheekily and enjoyed his speculative look. I had a feeling he was going to work on a line of throwing knives next, but I had no objection to it. Actually, I was secretly hoping he’d teach me how to use them when Geo burst onto the back patio.
“Good you’re both here. We have a problem.”
Contrary to what my family believes, I can be serious when called upon, although I dearly wanted to use snark to lighten the mood. I was good though and just listened.
“What’s wrong?” Ethan asked as he threw another steak on the grill as well as some veggies we’d cut up earlier.
“We’re losing customers, that’s what’s wrong!” Geo paused dramatically for our cries of outrage, but was met instead with confused stares. “Seriously? You haven’t noticed the severe decline in commissions over the past month-and-a-half?”
Ethan shook his head, but I stopped to think about it.
“Now that you mention it…” I bit my lip and scowled. “It’s harder for me to tell because I wasn’t here last year and I didn’t know if it was normal or not. Plus, we have had a huge surge in demand for hidden weapons during that time frame.”
“She’s right,” Ethan chimed in. “Those special commissions have increased, but I’ve never kept track of when I receive commissions in a way that’s easy to read. It was actually something I was going to ask Aggy to look into, creating a spreadsheet so we could figure out what was in demand and when. I think it will help me speed up the process because we’d be able to buy the supplies we expect to need ahead of time. Every time I’ve tried to do that in the past, though, something comes up. Usually family issues or my assistant quitting to get married and move across the world.”
I rolled my eyes at his overly specific example, but accepted that he probably was hit with issues every time he tried to get more organized. My sisters had the same issue, so I figured it was a part of dealing with a small business. You didn’t need the processes in place until you were too busy to implement them but without them you couldn’t keep up with the pace.
Then something occurred to me. “What made you bring this up Geo? I mean, something about this freaked you out enough to come running instead of just calling to give us a heads up.” I eyed him and noted the clenched teeth on his otherwise relaxed face. Honestly, if I hadn’t been living with Ethan for a few months, I wouldn’t have noticed the subtle tell. Geo was very good at hiding what he was feeling.
“Well, it was brought to my attention in a rather dramatic fashion. E, I was contacted by a few of your clients, your most loyal ones, who had been talking and were a bit concerned. Apparently there are rumors going around–“ He paused as Ethan growled and slammed the food on the table. “And they indicate that you have severe issues.”
“What else is new?” my boss asked, viciously stabbing one of the steaks.
“Yes, well, this time it is issues with your business, not your mental health. They are saying that your quality is shoddy, that you are using cheap materials and pocketing the difference. They are also hinting very strongly that you may be illegally acquiring your gems, specifically your diamonds, and that you have stolen most of your designs from other people.”
I was stunned. “That is quite the smear campaign. Was there any part of his character and business that wasn’t maligned? Is he also a serial puppy killer and known for kicking kittens in a former life?”
Geo’s gaze snapped to me. “This is not something to make light of. These are serious accusations that could potentially ruin him.”
“Don’t be stupid! I know how dangerous this is. I’m just trying to ask for clarification about how extensive the gossip is. Are only his clients being targeted? The art community at large? Have false witnesses been created to substantiate the claims or is it still a country club chatter sort of thing? Do you know if law enforcement has been informed of the supposed smuggling and copyright infringement?”
Both men stared at me incredulously.
“What? I’ve worked in the business world for a while and I was looking into the financial side of art long before I started working here. I was constantly asking my college profess
ors questions about just this sort of situation.”
“And what was their advice?” Ethan asked rather calmly. It seemed my questions had shocked him out of his building rage.
“Well, letting your attorney know immediately is usually the first step. The next is making a list of people who might be spreading the rumors. It will give your lawyer an easier time finding the culprit. It also makes it easier to begin counteracting the slander. Smear campaigns do best if the originator of the claims is hidden, otherwise people begin to suspect a personal grudge is the impetus for the damaging comments. It will be someone who knows you personally, otherwise people wouldn’t take their words as fact.”
Geo nodded. “I know who is talking and it matches up with most of your criteria, but I’m worried he isn’t the real person behind it.”
“Who?” Ethan demanded.
“Cayden.” Ethan and I froze as we absorbed that fact. “I thought it would be JJ when I first heard about it,” Geo continued. “But, your clients were very clear about it. Cayden was dropping hints at the last art show he attended, saying that it was unfortunate your quality had become so iffy and that your latest piece had practically crumbled in his hands when he looked at it. What he didn’t think about was the fact that your clients talk to each other. Most of them are friends, so when the Carters heard the Boyles discussing your pending legal issues and the Delanceys worrying over the idea of you being a thief, well they started talking to each other and put the pieces together. Unfortunately, they said it was the fifth art show he’s attended lately and he’s targeted your client base at every single one.”
Ethan frowned. “That sounds like something Cayden is capable of, but it’s really underhanded for him. He’s never really liked sneak attacks. Well, unless it is an actual attack, like setting an ambush. Other than that, he doesn’t find it sporting.”