by Box Set
“My mother has large feet too—I take after my father’s side of the family,” she added quickly. Before saying more she disappeared out of the room. I took the opportunity to dig into her cosmetics, knowing from my previous encounter that Lolly wouldn’t mind. In fact, I knew she’d insist, and for the first time I wondered where were getting ready to go out to. I packed it on to even out my skin tone and hoped that plenty of eye makeup would detract from the puffiness.
Lolly returned with a really unattractive pair of brown tie up shoes—very sensible. She smiled apologetically. “Sorry, this is the best she has.”
“It’s fine,” I said. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress anyone, anyway. “I assume we’re going somewhere?”
“Marlene’s throwing a party. I promised her I’d come. Won’t she be surprised to see you again!”
“Won’t she!” I said it with a touch of sarcasm. Marlene was probably less than impressed that I “took off” before finishing my shift at the speak easy. Not only was poor Paul Junior left alone to do all the clean up, he was probably freaked out at seeing me disappear into thin air like that.
Lolly handed me a strand of long beads, and I slipped them over my head. She looked at me like I was a project she wasn’t quite finished with but didn’t know what else to do. “Let’s go.”
I followed her exact pattern down the steps to the back door. She opened it and motioned me to go outside. “I’ll be right there,” she whispered. “Stay out of sight.”
“Ma!” she called. “I’m going into town.”
“Lolita! You hold on now!” A moment later her mother’s voice filtered outside again. “You’re not going into town dressed like that!”
“Ma, we’ve been through this a hundred times. This is how young adults dress nowadays.”
“It just makes you look so… cheap. Did you forget that Thomas Burgess is coming for dinner tonight? I need your help to prepare things.”
“Thomas? Again? Ma….”
“Lolita, don’t you lip me!”
“But, Pa promised I could have the car to go into town today.”
“Fine, go if you must, but be home by five o’clock, do you hear? I mean it young lady.”
The door slammed and Lolly scurried past me in a huff. I hurried after her. “Is everything all right?”
“No! We’re not going to be able to stay for Marlene’s party. She’s going be so angry!”
We came to a narrow garage and I recognized the jalopy inside. I climbed into the passenger seat. Once Lolly had backed us out safely, I asked “Who’s Thomas?”
“He’s the farmer’s son next door. Our parents want to join our farms because they think it’s the only way to make the most of the booming economy. The truth is, we bought too many new tractors and machinery with easy money from the bank. They’re more expensive to run and alone we can’t produce fast enough to make the loan payments.”
“What do you mean by join the farms? They want you to marry him?”
“Yes. I’m an only child and a girl. My parents wanted a lot of kids, but…well, they only got me, unfortunately. We have to hire out help, but cash flow isn’t there for that. Thomas is one of ten kids, and the next up eligible to marry.” She let out a long, sad sigh. “He’s a nice enough fellow, but I don’t love him.” She pressed her shoulders back. “I’m not going to marry him. I’m a modern girl!”
Lolly geared down as she came to the intersection at the main road into Boston. “Now, enough about me,” she said with an arched brow. “Why were you crying your eyes out in the middle of my field?”
* * *
Preorder on Amazon!
Paxton Private Investigations
by
Juli Alexander
Copyright
© 2015 Juli Alexander
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights reserved under copyright above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in, or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without proper written permission of the copyright owner and publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, media, brands, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication of these trademarks is associated with or sponsored by the trademark owners.
Book Description
Townsey Paxton loves to solve mysteries. It's in her blood. After her older brother leaves vet school to manage the agency and care for her, his sacrifices start to take their toll. With the aid of her diverse group of friends, Townsey decides to help. When she learns a woman is in danger, she can't look the other way. She risks her safety to do what she knows is right, but things suddenly go terribly wrong
Chapter 1
When my brother's girlfriend rushed right past me without saying hello, I knew something bad was going down. I was sitting right outside his office at the reception desk, and yet she didn't bother to keep her voice down. A better woman would have taken my presence into account. At seventeen, I was Graham's little sis, and he wouldn't want me overhearing.
Megan, apparently, was not a better person. Her rage penetrated the walls and scalded me with its dangerous heat.
“Do you have any idea how badly you've embarrassed me?”
“Megan,” my brother said, in a distracted tone, “this isn't a good time.”
Uh oh. That was sure going to get her going.
“Not a good time? Not a good time! Graham Paxton, I'll have you know that I have had enough!”
“Megan, please, I thought you understood that I can't be interrupted at work.”
“Graham! You stood me up for lunch, or I wouldn't be violating the sanctity of your workplace.” She practically spit out the last words. “We were going to talk... at lunch... about why you canceled dinner last night and why you stayed at your place instead of mine like we'd planned.”
Double uh oh.
“And just this once, you're going to listen to what I have to say even if we are, God help me, in your office, during business hours, discussing a personal matter.”
“Megan, I'm sorry. I lost track of time. You know how much work I have—”
“Graham, please, for the love of all that is holy, shut your mouth and listen for once.”
I could almost hear his mouth snap shut. Or was that my own chin hitting the floor. Megan wasn't messing around this time. She was dumping my poor brother on his derriere.
“I'm breaking up with you,” she said. “Don't talk. Just listen. I’m not willing to wait for you to get far enough down on your list of priorities to make time for me. Especially since it's a long list, and you've made it very clear that I'm way down at the bottom.” Her voice broke. “I know you have a lot on your plate, Graham. I know you do, but if you don't take some time for yourself, you're going to wake up one day and realize you're all alone.”
“Megan, please...”
“I can't do this anymore, Graham. I just can't.” With a loud sob, she dashed back out of his office, running past me to the exit.
I didn't want Graham to know that I'd heard. I started to crawl under the desk so he wouldn't see me as he ran after her. Then it hit me. He wasn't running after her.
What in the world was wrong with him?
I huffed and stood up. Did I have to do everything around here? The man was ten years older than me, and he didn’t have a clue. I walked over to his office door and looked inside.
My brother sat at his desk, his head in his hands in defeat.
“Aren't you going to go after her?” I asked.
“No point,” he muttered. “I don't have time for her. I can't find a way to make time for her. Nothing's going to change.”
“If you ran after her, she'd take you back,” I sai
d with confidence. “She's crazy about you.”
Graham finally raised his head but didn't meet my eyes. “She’d take me back for a month. Maybe two. But then… It's okay, Townsey. This isn't the right time for me to have a relationship.”
“I thought you liked her.”
He smiled, a tiny smile that was almost lost in the dark beard he wore to make him look older. “I did. I thought you didn't like her.”
I didn't. I never liked any of his girlfriends. None of them were good enough for my brother. “She made you laugh,” I said. “The only times I've seen you smile since Dad died were when she came over and you made her dinner.”
He shook his head. “I was laughing because she would have poisoned herself instead of admitting how bad the food was.”
I grinned at that image. “You still laughed.”
“Thank goodness you didn't have any trouble telling me how disgusting it was.”
“I’m not a fan of retching, Graham. I wasn't going to spend hours with my face in a toilet bowl just to spare your feelings.”
“I wouldn’t do it for you either.”
I walked over to the chairs that faced his desk and sat. “Graham, you know I can do more.”
“You’re a junior in high school, Townsey. We worked all of this out with Dad, and I’m sticking to our agreement. You can work up to twenty hours a week doing background checks and computer searches. When you graduate, you can do more.”
“I could take on some of the insurance fraud cases. How hard could it be to snap a few photos?”
He shook his head. “Not hard, but not safe. I’m not putting you in harm’s way.” He sat up straighter and held my gaze. “This discussion is over.”
I raised an eyebrow. He was seriously going to get all imperial on me? I had an urge to tell him he wasn’t the boss of me. But he was. Since Dad died, my brother was my guardian. I just wished Graham didn’t have to sacrifice so much for my sake.
* * *
Later that night, I sat at the kitchen island with two of my best friends, Felicity and Liz. We were chomping on our favorite pizza when my brother came out of his room. We’d moved into the loft above the office to save money, but the space didn’t allow for a lot of privacy.
“Oh my Lord,” Felicity said, dropping her slice of pizza onto her plate. “Graham’s back.”
“He’s been home for an hour,” I said.
“No, I mean, the old Graham is back. You know, the young, fun one that we used to know,” she said.
Graham walked over to us and I looked up at him. He’d shaved. His beard was gone, and she was right. Without his beard, he looked like the fun-loving young Graham, the brother I’d had before my father’s diagnosis. My brother had always been a heart-breaker. I would never admit it to him, but he did look a lot like that guy who played the Arrow on the CW.
“What’s with the clean-shaven look?” I asked.
Graham snagged a slice of pizza from the box. “I have to go undercover at a frat party tonight.” He looked at me. “Can I pass for twenty-one or twenty-two?”
“Yes,” Liz said.
“Of course,” Felicity agreed, her springy twists bouncing as she nodded.
My brother waited patiently for my answer. He didn’t trust my friends’ opinions. He never saw how intelligent and wonderful they were. His mere presence turned them into stammering idiots. Since the sixth grade, Felicity and Liz had been hopelessly in love with him.
“Aren’t they going to notice that you aren’t a member of the frat?” I asked.
“Got that worked out,” he said. “I’ve already established that I’m a member of the frat at the University of Georgia.”
Good plan. “Okay, yes,” I said, examining his chinos and overpriced sweater. “You’ll blend right in.”
“Yeah, you will,” Felicity said in an overly loud voice.
Liz started to giggle.
Graham flinched. “I should get going. I’m taking the Honda.”
We had three cars now. My nondescript blue sedan. The slightly different nondescript black sedan my father had driven, and my brother’s beat-up ten-year-old silver Honda. I never knew which car I’d be driving because my brother switched cars so often. The only bad part was that I couldn’t put any stickers on my car. I desperately wanted one of the Hogwarts Alumnae stickers and the one that said, “I drive like a Cullen.” I directed some of my frustration at the walls of my new room. I wasn’t a fan of the dark brick, especially when I was grieving for my dad. It has taken months, but there wasn’t an inch of brick showing now.
“Do you need a date?” Felicity asked. “You know, to help sell the college boy thing?”
I had to admit that had been almost smooth of her.
Graham frowned. “If I took you to a frat house, your father would have me arrested.” He shook his head and grabbed his keys. “Don’t leave the loft,” he said to me.
My brother wasn’t comfortable around any of my friends. I would have thought that he’d like my guy friend a little better, since Hearst didn’t fawn all over him. But he didn’t like him either. Hearst didn’t exactly try to fit in though.
“Bye, Graham,” Liz said.
Graham waved and went out the door to the stairs.
“I guess he didn’t shave off all the grumpy when he shaved his beard,” Felicity grumbled.
I sighed. “He has a lot on him now.”
Felicity placed a hand over her heart and said fervently, “I would so help ease his burdens.”
I met Liz’s gaze and we both started giggling.
My good-natured friend just grinned at us. “I was being serious.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s what makes it funny.”
She stuck out her tongue at me. “I guess it doesn’t matter anyway since he’s dating Megan.”
“It doesn’t matter anyway because he’s almost ten years older than you,” I said. “As for Megan, she dumped him this afternoon.”
“No!” Liz shouted.
“How could she?” Felicity cried.
“I know,” I said. “His life kind of sucks.”
Felicity looked toward the door. “If I’d known that, I would have given him a big hug before he left.”
“Me too,” Liz agreed.
I rolled my eyes. “You both need to get over it. He thinks you’re still twelve.”
Liz gasped and Felicity glared at me.
“How rude,” Felicity said. “When I marry your brother, I’m not making you a bridesmaid.”
Liz nodded. “When I marry Graham and we have kids, they won’t even call you aunt.”
“And it will be no more than I deserve,” I said, not for the first time.
Felicity narrowed her eyes. “I can’t wait to prove you wrong.”
“Me too,” I said. “In the meantime, let’s figure out how to help my brother.”
“Why did Megan break up with him? Is she crazy?” Liz asked.
“She broke up with him because he kept canceling their dates and he stood her up at lunch today.”
“Oh,” Liz said. “That’s pretty bad.”
“He better learn how to treat a woman before he asks me out,” Felicity said.
I groaned. “Seriously, Felicity. Let it go. I’m worried about Graham.”
“Okay, fine,” she said. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to do more of the work so he can have some free time,” I announced.
“He’s going to let you?” Liz asked, wide-eyed.
“Well, no.”
“So how are you going to do it?” Felicity asked.
“I have access to all of his files.” Dad had given me free rein when I turned fourteen. He and I used to discuss his cases all the time. I loved talking through his investigations with him.
“You can see all the files, but that doesn’t help if Graham won’t let you work on them,” Liz said.
“He won’t know,” I said.
Felicity frowned. “He won’t know unti
l you finish a case. Then he’s going to know.”
Well, crud. “Yeah,” I admitted. “He’s going to know.”
“Once you show him you can do it, will he change his mind?” Liz asked. “Maybe he’ll let you help him then.”
“Not a chance,” I said.
“So how do you manage to do the work without your brother knowing?” Felicity asked.
“Maybe I could get one of the people who does contract work for him to cover for me,” I mused. He hired out some of the cases when he could.
“They aren’t going to go against his wishes,” Liz said. “They’ll lose work if he finds out.”
“What if you were a contract worker?” Felicity asked.
“Well, that would be great, but I’m not,” I said.
“No, I mean, couldn’t you set yourself up so he’d think you were a contract worker?” Felicity asked.
Could I put myself in the system, under a different name of course, and convince Graham to give me cases? Uh, yeah, I could. “That will work!”
Felicity squealed. “It will?”
“It actually will! I can set up an email, a fake profile to show Graham, then tell him they’re vetted through the Coates Agency. He won’t question any of it because he won’t have any reason to.”
Liz raised a brow. “Graham’s a PI. Should it be so easy to fool him?”
“It will only work because he trusts me, Liz. He’s not an idiot. It’s not like somebody else could scam him.”
“Just the adoring sister he gave up his vet school dreams for,” Felicity said.
I glared at her.
“Sorry,” she said. “It didn’t sound that bad in my head.”
“That’s just what I need. More guilt,” I said.
“Enough with feeling guilty, Townsey! Your brother loves you. He doesn’t mind putting off vet school. You’re worth it, and your brother knows you’re worth it,” Liz said. “Now you figured out a way to help him with the PI stuff. So let’s focus on that.”