James smiled indulgently as he locked gazes with the comely reporter. She had on her “business” face, but he didn’t miss the curious look she shot in Mandy’s direction. For her part, Mandy was annoyed at James’ endless flirting and sexual harassment jokes while they placed the ad. The ad representative, a pretty blonde named Sarah, didn’t seem thrilled that the advertising twosome was a threesome today. James never encouraged the flirting, but he loved Mandy’s reaction to it.
“Well, I didn’t even know I was going to stop in and see you until my wife informed me of my own intentions,” James explained. “She was right, though. I have to know why that kid did what he did.”
“I’m always right,” Mandy muttered, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Oh, you need to let your anger go, baby,” James chided. “It’s not my fault that women find me irresistible. Sarah was merely reacting to my male pheromones. She couldn’t help herself. They’re just that powerful.”
Mandy made an exaggerated face as she rolled her eyes. “I’m not angry that she was flirting with you. I’m ticked off because you kept telling her that you were going to pay me with a firm spanking and sweat.”
Sophie barked out a laugh, delighted. “Oh, you guys always make me smile,” she said, shaking her head. “Even when I’m knee-deep in sludge – like today – you guys are always funny.”
“We do our best,” James said, sobering. “What do you have?”
“Well, it’s not good,” Sophie replied, sighing as she sank into the chair at the head of the table. “All four gunmen were teenagers. They were all eighteen, so legally adults, but just barely.”
“I don’t understand,” Mandy said, leaning forward, her previous feigned anger evaporating. “Why would teenagers rob a mall?”
“That’s an extremely good question,” Sophie said. “I’ve got names for three of the four kids. We’re still waiting on the fourth because the sheriff’s department claims it hasn’t been able to make notification on him yet. I’m not sure if that’s important or if something else is going on, but I have plenty to get started on.”
“Who were they?”
“Dakota Landers, Matthew Moore, and Nate Graham,” Sophie supplied. “They were all students at Washington Heights High School. That’s one of the ritzy ones out in the suburbs. The kids there are all from financially secure families.”
“What did they have in the bags?” Mandy asked.
“Jewelry and electronics.”
James rubbed his chin as he reclined in his chair. “Those are items they could sell on the secondary market,” he said. “It sounds as if they were trying to come up with money … and fast.”
“But why rob a mall in the manner they did it?” Mandy prodded. “Mall security is much more intense than it used to be to cut down on exactly what they tried to do. It’s not like twenty years ago when they might’ve been able to hit one or two stores and make a clean getaway. They had no shot of getting away because an alarm sounded almost the second they walked through the door and the parking lot was completely covered by cameras.”
“I have no idea on that front,” Sophie said. “I’ve only managed to do cursory searches on the kids so far. They don’t have a record from what I can tell, although you know how that goes. They’re juveniles. I did manage to stumble across a sealed file for Dakota Landers, but I haven’t been able to open it.”
“How did you find that?” Mandy asked, genuinely curious. She previously worked in the circuit court system and knew that juvenile criminal files weren’t readily accessible to reporters.
“I asked Peter to help me,” Sophie admitted, her cheeks coloring. Peter Marconi, Sophie’s adopted father, had his hand in every criminal pot in the area thanks to his mafia connections. “I know it’s not exactly ethical, but with the wedding coming up and the fact that we were involved in all of this … well … I want answers and I don’t have time to go through normal routes.”
“I’m not faulting you,” James offered. “I would’ve done the same thing.”
“I’m faulting myself a little,” Sophie admitted, tugging a strand of her long dark hair behind her ear. “I mostly follow the rules when I’m working. I guess it’s a matter of work pride or something, I don’t know. This time, though … this whole thing stinks to high Heaven.”
“What do you mean?” James was confused. “It sounds to me as if these kids got in over their heads and had no idea how to get out of some conundrum we haven’t yet discovered. I mean, it could be drugs or something as simple as entitlement.”
“What do you mean by that?” Mandy asked.
“Sophie said these kids came from financially stable families,” James explained. “They might’ve asked their parents for money – expecting to get whatever they wanted because history told them that would happen – but instead they were turned down. They might’ve figured they would get whatever they wanted by alternative means.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Mandy pointed out. “I mean, if your parents told you they wouldn’t buy you an iPhone … or expensive shoes … or even a new car, would you resort to taking weapons to the mall to get what you want?”
“No, but I like to think of myself as a mostly ethical person,” James answered. “Other than sexually harassing you all day – and you are going to be paid in sweat and spankings, don’t think you’re getting out of that – I tend to be a rule follower.”
Mandy’s snort caught James off guard.
“I do,” James said, adopting a defensive tone. “When don’t I follow the rules?”
“Whenever I’m in danger,” Mandy replied, unruffled. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but you break rules all of the time. You don’t do it in a manner that’s dangerous to others, though. These kids did. I want to know why.”
“You can join the club on that one,” Sophie said. “I’m dying to know why they did it, too. It doesn’t make sense.”
“What are you going to do about the sealed file?” James asked.
“I’m going to see if Peter can unseal it,” Sophie replied matter-of-factly. “If he can’t, then I’m going to have to figure out another way to approach it.”
“Like?”
Sophie shrugged. “I was hoping Mandy might be able to pay Judge MacIntosh a visit to see if he can unseal the file.”
Mandy balked. She loved her former boss and she wasn’t keen on pressuring him to break the rules. “I’m not stopping for a visit just so he can give me something that he shouldn’t legally be giving me.”
“Fine,” Sophie said, holding up her hands and blowing out a sigh. “I guess we’ll have to prepare ourselves for the fact that we may never know why this happened. That’s really going to ruin my honeymoon, though. Ah, well, what can you do? I mean, you get more than one honeymoon, right? Oh, wait. You don’t, do you?”
Mandy narrowed her eyes into dangerous blue slits. “You’re playing dirty.”
“I’m not asking you to do it yet,” Sophie pointed out. “I’m just saying that down the road … well … I might ask you to do it. The question is: Will you say yes?”
Mandy bit her lip as she darted a conflicted look in James’ direction. He seemed as bothered by the prospect as she was. “I don’t know,” she said finally. “I’ll have to give it some thought.”
“You do that,” Sophie said, unbothered by Mandy’s reticence. “If we’re lucky, Peter will be able to suss out the truth for us. If not, well, we’ll go from there.”
“What’s your next move?” James asked. “It’s not as if school is in session. How are you going to track down students to get information?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that,” Sophie said, pursing her lips. “I always manage to get information if I need it.”
James couldn’t help but smile. She was dogged when in pursuit of a story. It was one of the things he liked best about her. “Well, good luck. I’ll have Maverick start digging on our end. He might be able to find out some stuff, too.”
“That’s good,” Sophie said. “I have a feeling this story is going to get convoluted before we reach the end.”
“What makes you say that?” Mandy asked.
“It’s just a feeling,” Sophie replied, shrugging. “There’s something big here. I can feel it.”
“Well, we’ll do what we can to find out what that is,” James said. “I’m not going to be able to rest until all of the questions are answered.”
“None of us are,” Mandy said, sliding her hand on top of his. “We’ll do this together. We’re a family, after all. That’s the way it should be.”
“Definitely,” James agreed, bobbing his head. “Well, if that’s all, I need to take my assistant back to the office and start the spanking. We’ll be in touch later.”
Mandy was scandalized. “James!”
“Oh, don’t pretend you don’t like it,” James teased. “I’ll do it with a feather and that edible oil you like so much if that will make you feel better.”
Mandy heaved out an exasperated sigh. “You’re such a pig.”
“Oink, oink, baby. As my assistant for the day, I think you’ve earned a profound bonus.”
Surprisingly enough, Mandy found she wasn’t troubled by the prospect. “Fine, but you’d better not get out of hand and making a bunch of noise. I don’t want everyone in the office to know what we’re doing.”
“You’re such a prude.”
“That’s not going to get you what you want.”
“I love you anyway,” James said, smacking a kiss against her lips. “Now, come on, wife. Your boss wants to get bossy.”
6
Six
“Woman, don’t make me wrestle you down and take dictation,” James warned, adopting a growly voice as he chased Mandy into the Hardy Brothers Security office shortly after lunch. For some reason, her aversion to being sexually harassed – even though it was a game they both insisted on playing – lightened the gloom in his heart. She always had that effect on him.
Mandy giggled as she evaded James’ outstretched hand, making a face when she bumped into Grady and he grabbed her shoulders to steady her.
“Oh, that’s not fair,” Mandy complained. “You can’t help him. That’s two against one and I don’t like those odds.”
Grady pressed his lips together, his expression serious. He didn’t release Mandy, which was her first clue that something was definitely off.
“What’s wrong?” James asked, instantly alert.
“James, I want you to meet Dan Graham,” Grady said, his tone even as he moved to the side and allowed James and Mandy to realize they weren’t alone in the office. “His son Nathan … er, Nate … was at the mall yesterday.”
All traces of mirth disappeared from Mandy’s face and she squared her shoulders before sliding a worried look in James’ direction. Instead of panicking, which wasn’t his style, James bobbed his head and extended his hand toward the middle-aged man sitting on the couch.
“I’m James Hardy,” he said. “I’m sorry for the … unprofessional … entry. I didn’t realize you were here.”
Graham stood, his eyes somber and sad, and took James’ hand. “I should’ve called,” he said, his voice low and gravelly. “I was just explaining to your brother that I meant to call … er, that I wasn’t sure if I should even stop by … but the house was so quiet and I couldn’t think about anything else but coming here.”
Graham sucked in a shaky breath as he searched for the energy to continue. “So, here I am,” he said. “I’m here to talk to the man who killed my son.”
Even though she was sympathetic by nature, Mandy found anger replacing empathy in her heart as she regarded Graham. “James didn’t kill him. He … .”
“Baby, it’s okay,” James said, resting his hand on her shoulder. “Mr. Graham is mourning. He has a right to his feelings.”
“I didn’t mean to disrespect your husband, ma’am,” Graham said, offering her a small headshake. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just … the police said Mr. Hardy is the one who killed … er, who stopped … Nate. I have questions.”
“Of course you do,” James said, removing his hand from his wife’s body and gesturing toward his office. “Why don’t you go inside. I just need a minute to converse with my brother and then I will be happy to talk with you.”
“Thank you,” Graham said, his glassy eyes landing on Mandy as he moved to walk past her. “Are you the woman who talked to my son right before he died?”
James stilled. He considered it his responsibility to talk with Graham – mostly because he wanted to get a feeling for the boy who threatened his wife and seemed determined to die – but he wasn’t keen on anyone pressuring Mandy with hard questions regarding her ordeal. He opened his mouth to answer the question for her, but she didn’t allow him to go into protective mode.
“I am,” Mandy confirmed, bobbing her head. “We talked for a few minutes before … it happened.”
“What did he say? I mean … what happened?” Graham gripped his hands together and shuffled from one foot to the other, clearly uncomfortable. “Was he afraid?”
Mandy wasn’t sure how to answer. She glanced at James, conflicted, and then shook her head. “He seemed … resigned,” she answered after considering the question for a moment. “He seemed to know what was going to happen and, if I had to guess, he got the outcome he was looking for.”
Graham’s expression was unreadable. “You think he wanted to die?”
“I think he didn’t want to go to prison,” Mandy replied. “He told me that. He said he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory and not be someone’s … um, plaything … in prison. I think he wanted to ensure a certain outcome once he realized he wasn’t going to be able to escape, although I can’t say that with any certainty because he didn’t come right out and say it.”
Graham nodded as he rubbed his chin, rolling his neck until it cracked before speaking again. “Did he hurt you? Did he threaten you?”
“I didn’t know he was in the store at first,” Mandy supplied. “When the alert came through, the clerk at the dress shop told us we should hide in the dressing room. We were already back there … so that’s what we did.
“My husband saw the coverage on the news and called, and we talked for a few minutes,” she continued. “Then I switched off the phone because I didn’t want anyone else to call and alert the gunmen to our location. We were cut off from information after that.”
“You have to understand something,” James interjected, resting his hand on Mandy’s hip as a form of solidarity. “No one knew exactly what was going on. We had video of four masked individuals entering the mall. They had guns.
“Then we had reports of shots fired and fleeing and injured shoppers,” he continued. “We had no idea they were teenagers. We just knew people were in danger.”
“So … what happened?” Graham asked. “Did he run into the store? Was he fleeing the police? Was he sorry for what he did?” The morose man choked over the last few words, causing Mandy’s sympathy to return with a vengeance.
“I don’t know when he entered the store,” she replied. “I just know that he was there when I crawled out to the main floor. I stayed low because I was hoping to see the police. I wanted to know we were safe. He was already in the store, though.”
“Did he … threaten you?”
Mandy opened her mouth to answer and then snapped it shut, her heart pinching.
“It’s okay, baby,” James prodded. “He wants to know about the last few minutes of his son’s life. You can tell him the truth. He asked.”
“He threatened me a little,” Mandy conceded. “It was a weird threat, though. He just said he wanted to take me out before the cops got to him. He didn’t hit me or anything, though, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“I don’t know what I’m asking,” Graham admitted, exhaling a shaky breath. “I don’t understand how this happened. He was a good boy. He was always a good boy. If he needed he
lp … I don’t know why he did this.”
“Well, we’re hoping to figure that out, too,” James said.
“You are?” Graham’s expression warred between hopeful and suspicious. “Why?”
“Because my wife could’ve been hurt and I’m not happy about ending someone’s life, no matter the circumstances,” James answered. “We want to know exactly why those boys went into that mall and what they were hoping to accomplish.”
“But what will the information give you?”
James shrugged. “Peace of mind, I guess. I can’t ask for more than that. Why don’t you go into my office, though, and I will join you in two minutes. I just need a moment with my wife and brother.”
Graham nodded, offering Mandy a watery smile before trudging toward the office. James waited until he was out of earshot to address Mandy and Grady.
“I’m going to interview him,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Run a quick check on him, Grady, and if you come up with anything interesting shoot me a text.”
Grady nodded. “Okay. Do you think he’s going to have any pertinent information?”
“Probably not,” James conceded. “We need to start somewhere, though.”
“What about me?” Mandy asked. “What do you want me to do?”
“Get prepared to take dictation,” James replied, flashing a heartfelt grin. “Actually, I just want you to relax out here.”
“I can take her home,” Grady offered. “If you don’t want her to stay … .”
James considered the offer before firmly shaking his head. “I want her to stay,” he said. “I … this is going to be difficult. I want her close in case I need her.”
Mandy’s chest filled with warmth at the simple declaration. “I’ll take dictation for you anytime.”
James pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “I know. That’s why I love you. Okay, wish me luck. I have a feeling I’m going to need it.”
MANDY sat on the lobby couch next to Grady, casting the occasional look over his shoulder to see if he found anything during his computer search. The bulk of her attention was firmly planted in James’ office, though.
Deadly Forever (Hardy Brothers Security Book 24) Page 5