I ducked back into Grounds to find the afternoon lull. There were a few college kids in the corner, but it was relatively quiet.
Mo glanced up and when he saw me, he dropped his cleaning rag to come around the counter, concern heavy on his face.
“What the hell happened?” He asked, grabbing my shoulders to peer at my black eye.
I shrugged.
“Got kidnapped by the mafia. Got rescued by the mafia.” I said, trying to make light of it. “Not the same mafia, though. That would be weird.”
Maurice pulled me into a crushing hug.
“Good God, Mal! You’ve got to be careful!” he chided. “This job isn’t worth your life.”
“I know that, Mo,” I shrugged. “I may have got in a bit over my head.”
He gave me an eyebrow.
“Okay,” I acceded. “But it’s over now. And my next case is about stolen jewelry. No mafia involved! Scouts honor.”
I raised my fingers in what I thought I remembered as the Girl Scout’s salute. I wouldn’t know, I was never a Scout. But it looked right from what I’d seen on television.
Maurice wrapped me up in another hug, more gentle this time.
“Maybe it’s a good idea to steer clear of the mafia altogether,” he said.
“Well, that sounds like a good idea,” I replied, thinking about Dom’s offer. “I had a friend in some trouble this time. I had to make sure she was alright.”
“Ever heard about backup?”
“Gee, sounds like a great idea,” I rolled my eyes. “But it’s not like I had warning.” Next time I’ll just tell them to hang on while I call in backup, huh?”
“Well, I’m just glad you’re okay,” he said. “Come on, I’ll make you a cup of coffee and you can tell me more about it.”
I grinned, “that sounds perfect.”
I was feeling a lot more like myself Tuesday morning when I headed out to the office. However, I pulled into the parking lot to find a Sentinel Security van parked outside. The guy inside nodded to me and pointed to my office building. Not again, I thought.
I hurried up the steps and opened the door. The hallway was empty again and I rolled my eyes as I headed to my office door. The lights were on inside and the sound of music rolled out from the door.
“Morning, Mal,” sang Suzy’s voice.
I stared at her in confusion, watching her sway in the receptionist’s chair to music and Michael Bublé explaining how it was a marvelous night for a moondance. She was at the desk with my laptop open in front of her, papers all over. Bills, receipts and files were scattered around. I stood there for a few minutes, just staring when she finally said, “You alright?”
“Yes?” I answered her question with a question. Then blinked out of the haze. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m just helping out,” she replied, smug smile on her face.
“She’s your new bookkeeper,” came Sam’s voice over her speaker phone, propped up on the desk.
“You are, huh?” I asked, recovered enough to cock my head and lean a hip against the desk.
“Yep,” she replied. “You said I could repay you with help.”
“I don’t recall us agreeing on anything,” I said, giving her a half smile.
“Well, you may or may not have been hyped up on morphine. I can’t recall,” she finished, continuing her work. She slid a small glance in my direction.
“Fine,” I acquiesced. “But we’re going to determine an hourly wage and how much is reasonable.”
“Whatever,” she laughed. She knew she had me. I mean really, I never stood a chance.
“How’d you get into my computer?” I asked.
She nodded to the phone, indicating Sam and grinning. “Sam’s a whiz with computers.”
I gave her an eyebrow, “I’m aware.”
I told Suzy that I had someone coming in later today and she waved me off.
“I know. I found your calendar and synced it with mine,” she pulled out a second computer from behind hers. “I’ll be done with yours in a sec, then you can have it back. I can do my work on this one.”
I just shook my head.
“You have two more people scheduled this week. One more this afternoon and another tomorrow morning,” she said. “I called them back this morning and got it lined up. One of them is particularly interesting! A sweet little old lady who says her son has been stealing her fortune. Poor thing, he even took her jewelry!”
“We have to do a little fact checking first to see if he’s really even her son before we start digging,” I let her know.
“I’m on it,” came a disembodied voice over the phone.
I rolled my eyes. My job was never going to be the same again.
I walked into my office as a slow smile spread over my face. I just might be okay with that.
Epilogue
Two weeks later, as I sat at my desk researching buyers for vintage jewelry, a dark shadow stepped in my door. I looked up to see Rhodes standing there, his keys in his hands.
I leaned to the right a bit to peer past him to Suzy, sitting at the desk out front. She hadn’t told me I had a visitor and I had been too focused on my new case to hear the door open. Suzy’s face was radiating with a smile spread from cheek to cheek. She gave me two thumbs up.
I rolled my eyes and straightened back up, looking up at the man. He was wearing a flannel shirt over a t-shirt and he wore it well.
“Hi,” he said. “I was just wondering how you were doing.” His gaze was intense, even though his body language was relaxed.
“I’m doing fine,” I replied, pushing back from the computer to give him my attention. “Feeling great, actually.”
He looked at my face, the bruise faded now to a bit of yellow green around the edge, but not so noticeable. He nodded.
He looked back down at his keys, thoughtful, “would you like to grab a coffee?”
“Have you met me?” I joked, rolling back in my chair. Then more seriously, “That sounds great.”
“You know,” he said, glancing back at me. “You never did tell me your first name.”
I let out a light snort and nodded. “No, I didn’t.” I regarded him, here as a bit of a peace offering.
“It’s Molly,” I said, finally.
He squinted his eyes a bit, considering, then grinned. “Molly Malone? Really? Your parents named you Molly Malone? Like the Irish song, with the prostitute?”
I winced and rolled my eyes, “One and the same. “I shook my head and grinned back. “Alright, now you know why I go by Mal.” I glanced into the other room, where Suzy was chuckling to herself and texting Sam, I guessed.
Rhodes let out a short laugh, his eyes lighting up. I smiled at that. It was something I really liked about him. His ability to just laugh wholeheartedly.
I heard the faint strains of music through Suzy’s phone.
“In Dublin’s fair city, where the girls are so pretty…”
I groaned and stood to grab my leather jacket, though I probably didn’t need it today.
Rhodes just chuckled, glancing back at Suzy.
“You know, you never did tell me the rest of the story with the fire, either. Or what happened with, you know, the kidnapping.” He looked back up at me. “I’d like to hear about all that.”
I smiled up at him, standing. “I’d like that,” I said and grabbed my coat.
Acknowledgements:
Jana and Sarah for proofreading, suggestions, support and input. You ladies rock!
Dutch for proofreading, fire service background, moral support and dinner. Oh, how I love this man! Cait “Rory” for encouragement, silliness and much needed coffee breaks.
My fantastic family and friends for their endless support and love.
This beautiful world and it’s infinite inspiration.
Any mistakes are my own.
Triple love to above.
From the author:
Thank you so much for reading my book! I sincerely hope you
enjoyed it.
If you do, the nicest thing you do is leave me a good review on Amazon.com. Please visit my blog at https://jenschoenbeinwrites.home.blog/ for upcoming books, comments and minor musings.
If not, my name is Hal and I live in Egypt.
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