Destroyed by a Dangerous Man

by Cleo Peitsche

  I’d lived alone, anyway, so it wasn’t like anyone had been around to notice when I came stumbling home well after midnight, my hair messy, and my makeup—if it was one of those nights when I’d bothered—smeared.

  But when I walked into the main part of the bar, Phoebe and Bev looked over, then quickly turned away. Not quickly enough to hide their amused and scandalized reactions, respectively.

  “God,” I said. “Everyone knows.”

  “They think they know,” Corbin said. He pulled the key fob out of his pocket and handed it to me. “Wait in the truck. I’ll take care of this.”

  I couldn’t even look at the women as I exited the bar.

  The sun had come up while we were inside, but the morning remained fresh and crisp. Overhead, the sky was clear. I leaned back and covered my face in my hands—my hands that smelled like sex.

  What had I been thinking, telling Corbin to fuck me like that? I couldn’t even blame him… I’d begged for it.

  Now that the distracting lust had been banged out of my brain, I was horrified by my actions. Not the fucking in a men’s room part. I’d done that a few times before Corbin. And a few times with him.

  But this was work. Those women would talk, and everyone they told would tell someone else.

  My face blanched; I could feel the blood draining out.

  What if it got back to my dad?

  Too bad I hadn’t thought about that before ordering Corbin to fuck me. That would have been like an icy shower; even now, the image was so horrifying that I wasn’t sure I ever wanted to have sex again.

  Corbin came strolling out.

  “You’re not in the truck.” He swatted my ass.

  “I’m too busy dying of mortification to walk.”

  He made a move as if he was going to pick me up.

  Yeah, that was the last thing I needed: someone seeing him carrying me over his shoulder, caveman style.

  “Kelly got fired for taking a one-minute unscheduled break,” he said.

  “Hm. Sounds kinda harsh.” Or like an excuse to get rid of someone.

  “Agreed. And the second thing is those women now think you had a seizure.”

  I whirled on him. “What?”

  “Yeah. You get them when you have low blood sugar. You’re welcome.” He walked off.

  I stared after him. “I’m not thanking you for that.”

  “Tough boss,” he said. “Let’s hit the road.”

  At home, I showered, then headed to work.

  Rob pulled into the lot as I was walking to the door. I waited for him.

  “Ready to get back to work?” he asked.

  “I was still here yesterday when you left.” No one needed to know about my nap. “Then I did some work late last night and again this morning.”

  He gave me a disbelieving look.

  “Really,” I said. “Made some progress with Critter Chomp. Drove to Ashdale and everything.”

  “Now it’s clear.”

  We were walking past the unmanned receptionist’s desk. Erin wouldn’t arrive for another hour.

  “What’s clear?” I asked.

  “You were hanging out with Veronica last night and calling it work. How is she, by the way?”

  “Didn’t even tell her I was in the area,” I said.

  I left Rob at his office and continued down to mine. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten the photocopied folder with the Critter Chomp information in Corbin’s SUV. I wasn’t even sure where it was—back seat? On the floor?

  I decided to go bother Rob, to see if there was any pressing Stroop Finders work that needed my attention.

  He was on the phone, listening intently while he jotted some notes.

  “A lead on a skip just panned out,” he said as he hung up. “Are you up for it? If not, I’ll wait for Katrina, though she’s been out sick the last few days.”

  “She probably misses me. Does she know I’m back?”

  “Misses you? Or she’s got relationship troubles.”

  I grinned. “Or that. Let’s go.” Now I was finally back home.

  We took Rob’s sports wagon. I drove. “What did I miss these last few weeks?”

  He snorted. “Not much.”

  “How’s Jennifer?”

  Jennifer was involved with some older guy who wouldn’t commit, and she and Rob had some kind of friends-with-benefits thing going on.

  I liked her a lot. She had a background similar to Corbin’s, though I didn’t know if she’d gotten her hands quite as dirty. She was competent and tough, and for that I loved her.

  “Jennifer’s fine. We’ve got a non-date tonight.”

  “I’m sure she finds your messy car very attractive.”

  “I’ve been busy.” He opened the glove box, pulled out a plastic bag, and started filling it with trash. “What’d you find out?”

  “As soon as you stop making that bag crinkle, I have a hypothetical ethical question for you.”

  Rob stuffed in a paper coffee cup and a few stained napkins, then tied it off and tossed it into the back seat. “Finished.”

  “Let’s say a client hired us to figure out if a disgruntled former employee stole and mutilated their mascot.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “It’s hypothetical,” I said, taking my eyes off the road to glance at him. “In case Dad ever asks about it.”

  “Got you.”

  “Let’s say that while you were investigating this particular event, you came across some signs that suggested one or more of the employees might be doing something bad.”

  “How bad?”

  I frowned. “Not sure. Bad enough that they’re doctoring the security video cameras. Maybe theft? A few cases of beer walking out every night?”

  “That would be noticed. Bars and restaurants make their money on alcohol, but the business doesn’t have a high profit margin.”

  “Yeah, I know. Maybe it’s not theft. Maybe it’s…” But I couldn’t come up with a single possibility that made sense.

  “Could it be an illegal knitting circle?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”

  “Ethically? You gotta speak up. Knitting is a gateway crime. Knitters today, organ traffickers tomorrow.”

  “Be serious. What do you think our obligations would be?”

  “Hm.” Rob grew quiet. “I can’t say I’ve ever thought about that before.”

  “It’s been suggested to me that going to the owner and offering to investigate the other matter might be a good idea.”

  “You could just tell them about it. See if they offer. It makes you look less greedy.”

  “I’m not trying to be greedy, but Critter Chomp is receiving the family discount. Because of Veronica.”

  “It wasn’t my idea. Dad offered it to them.”

  “We don’t even have a set private investigation rate,” I said. “So, how does he get to decide what we’ll charge? By the way, he was there last night at the bar with an enormous plate of french fries sitting in front of him. He said the manager just brought it over, but I almost flipped out.”

  “Glad to see you’re nice and mellow after your vacation.”

  I started to accelerate through a yellow light, changed my mind as it went stale, and slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt.

  Rob and I both rocked forward against our seat belts. Luckily no one was behind me.

  “Consider switching to decaf,” he said lightly. “Seriously, are things all right?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  He twisted around to grab the discarded trash bag, then untied it and started filling it with receipts that had been stuffed into the center console. “You tell me.”

  “Because I’m stressing about work?”

  “You called me five days ago acting like you were in the heart of a war zone.” His voice rose to a falsetto. “Rob, drop everything! Tell me what I’ve missed in the last few weeks. Do it in sixty seconds, or the world will explode.”

  “Thanks for reminding me,” I g
rowled. “You called Corbin!”

  Rob held up a finger, lowered it, then resumed rooting through the receipts.

  “Really? Nothing to say in your defense?”

  “He’s a good guy.” He paused. “Well, you know what I mean.”

  “He’s a good guy,” I insisted.

  “Like I said.”

  I shot my brother a dirty look, but he didn’t see it.

  “Audrey, you were standing beside Corbin when he asked me to let everyone in the office know you were off-limits until your return. You nodded and agreed.”

  “Did he pay you?”

  “What? No. I’m insulted that you could even think that.”

  “You don’t sound insulted.”

  “I hide my pain behind laughter,” he said solemnly. “It’s a curse.”

  “It’s the beginning of a movie with a super-villain.”

  “Hey. I like that. The Red-Headed Woodpecker: stripper by night, super-villain by… night. He’s packing a big—”

  “Nope! And don’t try to change the subject. I’m still annoyed. In fact, don’t talk to me for five minutes.”

  He lasted about half that, but by then I was parking.

  We picked up our skip, who came along peacefully enough. After delivering him to the station, we headed back to Stroop Finders.

  I grabbed a stack of new files and holed up in my office.

  Stroop Finders needed money, and I was the fastest worker. Some claimed Martin was actually faster… but they didn’t say it to my face.

  My phone rang at nine thirty. “You have a visitor,” Erin said. Her flirtatious tone gave away who it was.

  “Send him down.”

  A moment later, there was rapping at my door, then it opened and Corbin stepped in.

  For a second I glimpsed how he must look to someone who didn’t know him: tall, ripped body, dark hair. A perfect face—masculine and rugged, perfectly balanced. And those mesmerizing eyes.

  My heart did a confused but happy little dance in my chest. “What are you doing here?” I asked as he walked across the room.

  “I was in the area.”

  It wasn’t a good excuse; we lived “in the area.”

  “Lucky me,” I said, and Corbin leaned down for a kiss.

  It was chaste, but after the way he’d worked me over that morning, he could have been tying his shoe and I would have had dirty thoughts.

  Rob walked in and stopped short. “Hey, Corbin. Are you here because of Kelly Bortik?”

  “No, but I’m pitching in on that.”

  “I don’t think we can afford your day rate, man.” Rob smiled, but beneath his casual behavior, I could tell he was really thinking about it.

  Which was touching, because he knew how I felt about Corbin throwing money into Stroop Finders. It had taken a long time to get my point across, but apparently it had finally registered.

  Or maybe he was just trying to make up for snitching.

  “Like I said, I’m just helping out,” Corbin said. “I’m still in vacation mode.”

  “How was your vacation? I can’t get anything from Audrey.”

  “It was fantastic. Probably the best I’ve ever had.”

  I scoffed, but Corbin slanted a look my way.

  “It was very nice,” I said. “Really. It was lovely. Rob, did you come in here for a reason?”

  “I take back what I said.” Corbin was facing Rob, but I could still feel his attention, laser-focused. “For a month, I didn’t have to worry about anything. No one was trying to track me down. Audrey was with me all day and all night, so I didn’t have to worry about her out at midnight, chasing down some lowlife who might think that stabbing a fugitive recovery agent is preferable to spending a couple of years in prison. No one was shooting at me. So, yeah. Probably the best I’ve ever had.”

  Silence fell over the room. Or, at least I thought it did. Difficult to know for sure, because my face was so hot and red, and my heart was pounding so fast, that everything seemed blurry and muffled.

  Silent or not, it was awkward as hell. Rob looked out the window as if he was weighing the odds of surviving if he tried to escape that way.

  As for me, I stared at the floor.

  Corbin had given me many lectures on work-life balance, but he’d never talked about it like that before.

  There was no question that he’d saved my life. Numerous times.

  And I knew that he worried about me when I was working.

  He worried, but he mostly kept his mouth shut.

  But I’d never really thought about what the constant vigilance might be costing him. He’d insisted that we use an alias in Austria, but I’d thought it was for convenience.

  “Anyway,” Rob said with forced casualness, “I’ve got an address for Kelly, and it’s only about fifteen minutes away.”

  14

  Kelly’s “house” looked like someone had upended a box of popsicle sticks, glued them together with filth, and then hung ratty sheets in the windows.

  “Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked.

  “It’s where his tax refund was mailed to,” Rob said, but he didn’t sound any more certain than I did.

  The door was partially boarded over, as were the windows. To go closer felt like an invitation for a face full of lead, assuming anyone was home.

  “I doubt he’s here.” I jerked my thumb at a patch of dead grass in the shape of a car, the only indication that the place wasn’t abandoned.

  I squared my shoulders and started toward the front door.

  “No, I’ve got this,” Corbin said. “Stay back.”

  My knee-jerk protest died on my lips when Rob said, “If he runs out the back, we’ll be able to grab him.”

  Corbin walked up to the door, then turned around and walked back without knocking. “He’s not here,” he said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I saw inside. Other than the possum family under the porch, no one lives here. Kelly must be using the address for mail. The boards over the door are new, by the way.”

  “Fantastic,” I muttered. I dug out the sheet with the list of names and phone numbers for all the grill’s employees. According to Dad’s notes, Kelly hadn’t answered or returned any calls, so I wasn’t surprised when my call went to voicemail.

  I leaned against the front of Corbin’s truck and tilted my head back to watch a hawk floating in the sky. A trained bird would come in handy. It could fly up to second-story windows and tell me if the fugitive was hiding in the bedroom.

  Better not say that to Corbin. He’d buy me a drone.

  “Can I see that list?” Corbin asked.

  “Be my guest.”

  He studied it, then handed it back.

  “See anything?”

  “No.”

  I pushed away from the vehicle. “Guess we’d better head back. This thing is taking up too much of our time.”

  As we pulled away from the house, I took a final glance back at Kelly’s residence. “He used a PO box when he applied for the job, and a fake address for the government. What does that tell you?”

  “He’s either paranoid or he’s hiding something,” Rob said. He was sprawled across the back seat. He gave me a lazy grin. “This is driving you crazy, isn’t it?”

  “A little,” I admitted. “What’s he been doing the last two years?”

  Rob leaned forward to hang on our seats. “Maybe he’s a criminal informant.”

  “Put your seat belt on,” I said.

  Corbin flicked the dashboard. “He’s wearing it. The computer would tattle if he weren’t.”

  Rob gently boxed my shoulder, and I shrugged him away.

  “I can get a fix on his cell phone,” Corbin offered. “If you think it’s that important.”

  In other words, he was offering to call in a favor. Or worse, to owe a favor to someone.

  No crappy PI case was worth that.

  “No. We’ll find another way.”

  Corbin dropp
ed us off at the office, and Rob and I spent the rest of the morning doing legitimate Stroop Finders work.

  Dad came in around noon, went into his office, and closed the door.

  Which was fine by me.

  Things with Stroop Finders hadn’t been consistently good for months. Many of the reliable small-dollar jobs had vanished overnight. For the first time ever, our viability depended on chasing larger bounties when they came up.

  That kind of work was more exciting, but it was also dangerous. And unpredictable; we weren’t the only ones who chased the big targets, after all, and there was always the possibility of getting sniped at the last minute.

  It was worrisome how quickly things had started going south. We’d brought in a big bounty before Corbin took me to Vienna. It had helped, and had boosted morale. But that was in the past, and bills needed paying in the present. At the moment, we were struggling but surviving. If business didn’t turn around, we’d have to find another way to stay afloat.

  We were all stressed out. I couldn’t blame Dad for wanting to put a time limit on the cases.

  After digging through my bag of souvenirs, I got up, stretched, and wandered down to Dad’s office.

  The door was still closed, so I knocked. I even managed to do it politely.

  “Come in,” he grunted in that I’m busy, so this had better be important way of his.

  I walked in and was surprised to see his normally neat desk covered with pages. “What are you doing?”

  “Working on the Critter Chomp mystery,” he said.

  “For you and Martha.” I handed him two T-shirts, a box of pencils decorated with music notes, a key chain with the palace on it, and a magnet.

  He unfolded one of the shirts. “No kangaroos in Austria,” he read. “Thank you. Very thoughtful.”

  “We went out to talk to Kelly,” I said.

  Dad nodded. “Rob told me. I agree with Corbin, that Kelly doesn’t live there.”

  Of course he agreed with Corbin. And if not Corbin, then with Rob. And if there weren’t any guys around anywhere, then maybe he’d give my theories some weight.

  Even if I didn’t have theories at the moment. But old habits died hard, and while he really did make an effort to do better, some of Dad’s habits were right out of the Middle Ages.