“Jarek!” she yelled, but when she turned, she was smiling.
* * *
“Jarek, there’s a young lady here to see you.” Annette’s voice cut through the pain of my headache as I was staring at the financials again.
Even though we were working on a case, the business still had to be run, and I’d put Skye on the task of trying to find out who had cloned Rita’s phone.
“Does she have an appointment?” I asked her, wondering why Annette hadn’t gotten Johanna involved. And then an idea struck. “Wait, does she have blonde hair?”
“Well, as a matter of fact, yes. What is it with you and blondes? Want me to send her packing?”
“No, I’ll meet her in the conference room,” I said, turning off the intercom on the phone and standing to walk to the door.
If Sasha was back, there had to be a reason. I actually wouldn’t mind seeing her again for purely physical release and the fun we shared, but I doubted that’s what she was calling about. Especially before lunch time. Maybe she wanted a letter of recommendation or introduction? I could do that. That was what normal people did, right?
I hurried and passed Jo coming out of IT. She was giving me a strange look, but she didn’t say anything.
I walked into the conference room. “Sasha…” I started to say, but stopped short. It wasn’t the impossibly tall Sasha, but Rita.
She was in another summer dress, sitting comfortably in one of the overstuffed leather chairs. Her eyes met mine and she smiled, holding up a green mug. “GIS” was proudly displayed across one side in big letters, superseding the Detroit skyline. I had thought they were pretentious, but my father had ordered them anyways when he was alive, and now that he wasn’t, it seemed a shame to get rid of them because I once didn’t like them.
“Sorry, I’m not Sasha,” Rita said, pointing.
There was another steaming mug. I could smell the hazelnut from here. Of all the infuriating things that Annette has done to me over the years, this one small act of kindness kind of blew me away. The old biddy knew what my favorite coffee was, and I could tell by the smell she’d made it to perfection. I sat down warily and held it up, smelling it. It had to be a trap.
“Annette made this, didn’t she?” I asked her in way of greeting.
“The receptionist? Yeah. She made two cups before showing me in here. Less than a minute later, here you are. This place is huge!”
“GIS is only the first floor,” I told her, confused as to the reason she was there. “I’m up on two, and the rest of the building is rented out as apartments,” I finished.
“Wow, the owner of this place must be loaded.”
I grimaced. I hated this part. “Yeah, just a little bit,” I said. “But it’s all about good financial planning and knowing who to listen to when it comes to investments.”
“Well, I remembered you had said GIS, and I was in the market across the street. I must have passed by this building a hundred times and I thought, you know, there was this cute but strange man I met yesterday while seeing if my brother-in-law was going to get his fingers sewed back on—”
“Wait, he lost his fingers?” I interrupted.
She nodded. “Skillsaw. Was building an addition and wasn’t paying attention, and zip,” she said, making a quick cutting motion across her left hand.
“Is he ok then?”
“Yes, though he’s got to stay there for another day to make sure the fingers get blood flow and everything. Anyways, I feel bad dropping in on you like this. I don’t want to get you in trouble with your boss. I just wanted to see if you really worked here. I mean, the hospital thing was a little weird, and it isn’t every day you meet somebody who knows who Mephistopheles is, outside of comic book nerds and fans.”
“You won’t get me in any trouble with my boss,” I told her, smiling. “And the Devil has many names.”
Somebody knocked twice at the door, and Johanna walked in. She smiled without breaking stride and sat down next to me.
“Johanna?” Rita asked, struggling for the memory.
“Yes, good memory. You’re Rita, right?”
“Yeah, sorry to just drop in like this. I didn’t know you worked with Jarek too. I don’t want to get you two in trouble with the boss. I really should be going,” Rita said, taking a long pull of the hazelnut brew and standing up.
“No, no. Not at all. You mean Jarek didn’t tell you?” Jo asked, making a motion with her hands that I assumed meant to convey to Rita to sit back down.
“Tell me what?” Rita asked.
“He’s the boss. He can’t get in trouble. He owns the company here.”
“Oh, OH!” she said, her mouth forming an O of surprise. “No wonder you weren’t worried. It’s just that yesterday you seemed so quiet…I didn’t realize…wait…”
“Yeah, I work for Jarek,” Jo said. “But we’ve known each other since we were ten, so we’re close.”
I looked at her when she said close. Was she being possessive? She knew the angle I was going to try to play. I was confused.
“Close huh?” Rita asked, her voice falling.
“Not close like that. We’re friends. He can’t drive, so I help him out. Take him to the club to meet the ladies…you know.”
“Oh, OH! I’m so sorry. I thought when you said you were close that you meant—”
“Oh God, no,” Jo said, holding a hand up to stop her.
“Oh, sorry, it’s just that…he was nice and sweet, but he was kind of strange. Guys nowadays are all weird, like, ‘hey baby, you wanna come over to my place and…’ you know?” Her voice went low as she mimicked a man’s tone.
That struck me as amusing, and I smiled, listening to them talk as if I wasn’t right there. I thought about waving for a second, but discarded that idea.
“I try to be a nice guy,” I told her.
“It must be so nice to have a female friend who isn’t into guys,” Rita said, and Jo sputtered. “Especially if you’re as shy as you pretend to be.”
I didn’t correct her, but Jo was giving me a look, so I expected…ouch. A kick.
“She’s taught me a lot, and she’s here to help me when the world gets overwhelming. I just process things differently, though my therapist assures me that I’m as normal as the next guy in regards to emotional processes, it’s just my own anxieties and insecurities—”
“Jarek, you’re babbling,” Jo said.
“No, it’s nice. He isn’t worried about what he says. Are you?” she asked me.
“I try to be aware of what I say and who I say it to, but I often find that I’m brutally honest, often times to my own detriment,” I admitted.
“Really? So you don’t lie?”
“I try not to.”
“Ok, I’ll come clean,” Rita said. “I was nervous about meeting you, but I talked to Skye last night. She and I have been talking. See, I’m new to the city. I came out here for work, and things fell through, so I’ve been staying with my sister. It’s just hard to make new friends…and…I don’t want to come off sounding creepy.”
“That’s not creepy,” I told her.
“That’s creepy,” Jo said.
We both looked at each other and she flipped me off. That must have looked comical to Rita, because she busted up laughing. We were almost dressed alike in our business attire, except Jo favored blouses instead of starched button-ups and ties.
“No, brutal honesty is what I’m all about. Stairmaster?” I asked Jo.
“Shut up, Jarek,” Jo snarled.
“Oh my God. If I hadn’t figured it out, I might have pegged you two as a couple!” Rita said, smiling. “I really should be going though. I just wanted to say hi and of course—”
“Hey, I broke my phone last night,” I lied. “Is there a good spot around here to get it fixed?”
“Well…there’s the wireless place three blocks up. They did my touchscreen.”
“You have the address?” I asked her, but Rita shook her head no. “I think I
may know where it is. The Toys…something store?”
“Yeah, that’s the one,” Rita said.
“Great, thanks. Hey, would you like to go to lunch with me?” I asked her suddenly.
Jo gave me half a grin, one side of her cheek pulling up into a smile.
“Sure, where do you want to go?” Rita asked me.
“He doesn’t drive, so pick a place and I’ll get him there,” Jo said.
“Oh, I can drive him. Wait…I forgot, Skye did tell me…”
I suddenly understood the half smile, the grin. Skye and Jo were trying to set me up on a date so I could get to know Rita better. For an easier look at the phone. I felt dumb for not understanding at first. Of course, Rita was beautiful, but in an easygoing manner that wasn’t intimidating. She had a look that I usually would pursue, but maybe it was being sore and overwhelmed from yesterday that made me miss it at first.
“Yeah, he only let her drive him around once.”
“The two of us could always head upstairs. My housekeeper has chicken cordon bleu on the menu for tonight. She won’t mind if I eat it a little earlier,” I told her, knowing I could have Skye get in wirelessly with the tools I had in IT.
“Upstairs? You mean your apartment?” Rita asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow at me.
“He’s got the whole floor. It’s not like he’s going to creep on you. He’s got a proper dining room and everything,” Johanna said. “And I can join you if you’d like, sir.” Jo gave me a lighter kick under the table.
That still hurt.
“Well, sure you can, if you want,” I told Jo.
“That isn’t weird?” she asked. “Wait, you said the whole floor?”
“Millionaire, playboy, stud muffin.” Jo pointed at me, laughing.
“Um…I do understand the concept of millionaire playboy because of watching Iron Man with you a thousand times, but what is a stud muffin? Is it some kind that has more fiber than the regular ones? Because I must say, muffins aren’t the usual thing I like to—”
“Oh gawd! You two!” Rita said, giggling. “You’re just like Skye said!”
That shut up Jo, at least.
“I’ll head up there and get the food going. What do you like to drink?” I asked her.
“Um…pop?” she said.
“I’ll bring her up in a second. I think I’ll pop my head into IT and see what Skye has to say.”
“Oh, will she be joining us?” Rita said, smiling.
Was this woman happy to be meeting new friends, having an extended lunch date with me? Or was there something else going on that I couldn’t figure out? I gave up on trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together and rose.
“I’ll give her the invite on my way up. You want to show her around before you come up?” I asked Johanna.
“Sure. She’s already met the mean old bat, I assume?”
“Annette? She’s the sweetest lady ever!” Rita said, holding her cup up.
“Sweet as old shoe leather tastes,” Jo groused. I gave them a small wave and backed out of the door.
Now I just had to figure out how to get her phone and make sure Skye was on board and ready when I opened the device up for her.
* * *
“Hey boss, I just heard from Susan,” Skye told me, a frown on her face.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“They’re charging my brother with possession with intent to distribute. He had enough there for it to be bad, really bad. Charges are pending on my sister-in-law when they figure out if she’s dead or not…” Skye said. “And then he went into convulsions this morning. The hospital just called me.”
A fat tear rolled down the side of her face. I wanted to wipe it away, but I stayed rooted to where I’d entered IT.
“I’m sorry to hear that. Is he ok? Did they recover any weapons, discover some form of motive?”
“Yeah,” Skye said. “They found a knife by the tote under the bed with the same blood on it. As far as the shakes, I guess they said he’s in really bad shape. Withdrawals and stuff. I missed out on so much of his life, and when he comes to me for help, he’s already so messed up…”
She sniffed, on the verge of sobs.
“Rita is here. She’s heading upstairs soon for lunch and asked to see if you’d like to join us,” I told her in a rush to prevent the waterworks from turning on.
“Oh, I um…I sorta talked to her yesterday. She was new in town and sounded like she needed a friend. I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t. I think it was a brilliant idea. I’ll unlock her phone, and you go in through the tablet using the open network.”
“Hey, that’s a good idea. We can figure out when the phone was jailbroke that way.”
“Exactly, then we can follow up on the wireless store that replaced her LCD screen to see if the timing matches up.”
“And get Mephisto—”
“Has he contacted you again?” I asked her pointedly.
She looked at her feet and nodded. “I couldn’t trace the email back.”
“What did he want?” I asked.
“Me to work on a project with them. They’re trying to hack into the GOP’s debate schedule for this winter. Then something to do with voting machines.”
I looked up sharply. Of all the things, that was one thing I wasn’t expecting. I knew he wanted her botnet and zombie servers, but I didn’t take into consideration what he wanted to use them on. A presidential race…could be…really bad news.
“There’s no way we can do that,” I told her. “The secret service, the FBI, and Homeland Security would be—”
“I know, I know. Let’s go get some lunch.”
9
“You sure you don’t mind that I called and talked to her?” Skye asked as we waited for the short elevator ride to end.
“No, not at all. Like I said, I think it was a great idea. With her here on our network, I may not even need her phone. Brilliant planning,” I admitted to her.
She grinned and looked at her shoes.
“I actually didn’t plan that out, it’s just…I don’t know. She seemed nice, and I don’t make many friends outside of work or the computer, and she didn’t think it was weird I called her. She’s actually pretty cool. I’m surprised she came over so quickly though.”
“Oh, why is that?” I asked her as the elevator opened and we both stepped out.
“They’re already up here?” she asked me.
“Should be. I think Rosalie had a few portions made up for dinner. I sort of hinted that the three of us have been hanging out more, and since you both are starting to join me in the gym more, I’d like to start entertaining. You know, try to be normal.”
“You should just be you. The Jarek who hired me is a pretty good guy, so please don’t change that.”
That made me smile. She wasn’t joking. Her words sounded literal, and she’d made eye contact, all signs that she was trying to be sincere.
“Thanks,” I mumbled as I got the door open.
I stopped and stared. Johanna and Rita were standing just off to the side in the gym. Rita was looking around, wide-eyed. I guess for somebody who hadn’t been up here before, it could seem like a lot of space. I was used to it, but it was about the most space outside of the building I spent my time in. Sure, I went to public schools, but I’d spent the rest of my childhood and adulthood within these walls.
My apartment was an open floor plan with the exception of the bedrooms and a dividing wall for the gym. Sure, it was probably luxurious to some, but it was home to me, and it’s how I grew up, so it always seemed to surprise people who came up here for the first time. Usually the women.
Any second now, Rita was going to turn and—
“What the what?” she asked.
“Dining area is over this way,” I said, taking my jacket off and hanging it before walking towards the open kitchen.
It was not something I myself used personally, but I’d had a couple of improvements done since my fath
er died. One of them was based on a suggestion Rosalie had made about a new oven and cooktop. Since she cooked here two days a week, she’d indicated it’d make things easier. As it was, I had stainless Sub-Zero appliances put in. It went well with the granite tops. My favorite spot was the built-in wet bar, and that’s where I headed first.
“Drinks?” I asked.
“Working,” Skye said.
“On the job,” Jo said.
“Pop?” Rita said.
“It’s a Saturday. I’m not that much of a slave driver, am I?” I asked the ladies.
Skye and Jo looked at each other and then busted up laughing.
“You don’t want to know,” Jo said, smiling.
“Really?” I asked Skye, who was holding back a laugh. She nodded.
“Is he a hard boss to work for?” Rita asked, taking a seat across from me.
Since I knew that Jo and Skye liked Sprite, I scooped ice and poured a tumbler full of each from the fancy bar thing with the automatic nozzle. Something else that had a name I’d have to learn, if I even cared to figure out.
“It isn’t that he’s difficult to work for, it’s just that he’s hard to keep up with,” Skye said.
I was about to ask Rita what she wanted, but Skye’s words stopped me dead.
“What do you mean?” I asked her.
“I think your schedule would run most people into the ground. I mean, I’m not around you as much as Jo is, and it’s inspiring being around you…but there are some days where I just want to binge-watch Netflix and nap.”
“What do you mean?” I repeated.
“Jarek,” Jo said. “It isn’t anything bad. It’s just that you are driven. You work six and a half days a week. You wake up at 6 a.m., you work out until 8 a.m., then work often until seven or eight o’clock at night. Your schedule almost never varies. It’s fun, but it’s sometimes a little tiring trying to keep up with you.”
I poured a Dr. Pepper for Rita and handed it to her, not even asking if that’s what she wanted. Then I reached for a bottle of Woodford Reserve and poured about an inch before adding a single ice cube. The silence stretched, so I took a sip while I thought about what they said and got the food out of the fridge. The instructions that Rosalie had written on the top told me to unwrap it, put it in the microwave for 6 minutes, and let it cool for three. This was going to take way too long.
Framed: A Jarek Grayson Private Detective Novel (Grayson Investigative Services Book 2) Page 11