“You’ve only made it worse for yourself now, Terry. You won’t be any use to your cats while you’re languishing behind bars. Take him away, Ryley.” Reuben scratched frantically at his hand before pointing at the door with unquestionable authority.
Terry glowered over his shoulder at Reuben. “I won’t forget this. You should watch your back, Reuben Jackson.”
Reuben appeared unconcerned by the threat. “Have a nice life, Terry.”
Ryley marched the man away as Prosperity and Reuben each applied another coat of hand-cream.
“Well that explains why the itching is worse during the day. Every time we washed our hands we were only compounding the issue.” Prosperity tossed the now empty tube into the trash can. “I can’t believe he came back just to do that. I never took Terry to be so vindictive.”
“Takes all kinds of people to make up a world. Speaking of all kinds, I must say I like the variety that’s about to make its lovely way into your office.”
Prosperity looked up to see Meghan Meghasson draped over the door frame, wearing an entirely inappropriate short red skirt, a lace-front top, and staggeringly high heels. She batted her eyes at Reuben who seemed more than happy to stand where he was, gawking at her.
“Why, hello,” she purred.
“Drop it, Meghan,” Prosperity said sharply. “I’m not putting up with any of your shenanigans around here.”
Meghan pouted and wiggled her way into the office, but not without flashing another come-hither smile in Reuben’s awed direction. “You told me to come by to see you today.”
Prosperity was already regretting her offer. She waved her hand to attempt to recapture Reuben’s attention, which was still focused intently on Meghan as she arranged herself seductively on the visitor’s chair.
“Ruby, Meghan is, I mean she was, one of my classmates. She’s looking for a job. I thought we could set her up with some admin work. Or something.”
“I’m very versatile,” Meghan said, her eyes devouring Reuben with the intensity of a cobra about to strike. “Flexible. Willing to do anything.”
She slowly Sharon-Stoned her legs for her willing male audience.
“Meghan!” Prosperity’s tone was sharper than she intended but she decided she didn’t care. “Can you listen to me?”
“Sorry, Prosperity. What were you saying? I’m happy to do whatever you need me to do.” Meghan was instantly contrite and Prosperity caught sight of the pure desperation in her eyes.
“Can you type?” Prosperity asked dubiously. She couldn’t remember seeing Meghan use a laptop in any of their classes but to be fair, she hadn’t seen Meghan do anything in class except suck up to Professor Leigh. Meghan’s idea of a laptop was entirely different to the generally held consensus of what the term meant.
“I can type. As I said, I’m very versatile.” Prosperity noticed that Meghan couldn’t help darting another glance at Reuben as she made her statement.
“What do you think, Ruby?” Prosperity wished she could snatch her question back as soon as she asked it. There was no way in the world she wanted to know what Reuben was thinking right now. “I mean, do you think there’s a vacancy for Meghan at the P.D.?”
“I’m sure there are plenty of vacancies for Meghan. In fact, I’m more than willing to create a vacancy for her myself.”
Meghan giggled and fiddled with the lace that hugged her cleavage. “Thank you. I sure do appreciate it and I swear you won’t regret it.”
Reuben cleared his throat and adjusted his belt buckle. Prosperity had had enough. She stood up quickly to signify the end of the meeting. “Thanks, Meghan. I guess we’ll see you on Monday.”
“Prosperity, you’re awesome! I knew you wouldn’t let me down.” Meghan looked as if she was ready to hug them both and Reuben in particular, and Prosperity hurriedly led the way to the door before things got messy.
“Watch your step in those heels, Meghan. It might pay to wear something more sensible when you come in for work on Monday. The P.D. is a health conscious workplace and we don’t want any twisted ankles or craned necks. Bye!” She shut the door with a click and leaned back against it to address her co-worker. “Ruby, she doesn’t need any encouragement.”
He pulled out an innocent face from somewhere unknown and slipped behind a cherubic choirboy mask that Prosperity was sure he’d made use of in the past. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Prosperity.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Prosperity rubbed at her temples as she walked back to her desk. “Why do I feel as though I’ve just made a huge mistake?”
“You should be more like me. I never make the same mistakes twice. I always make them four or five times just to be sure.”
Prosperity sat in her chair and twirled herself around in a circle. “It’s a good feeling to have solved a case.”
“Don’t get too complacent. There’s always more where that came from.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. It would be nice to have some breathing space before that happens.”
“Breathing space is for kids. You’re working with the big boys now.”
“I wanted to tell you how impressed I was with the way you handled the interview with Lance Kruger. I’d like to think I learned from it. Picked up some of your tips.”
His eyes darkened. “You can pick up my tip anytime you want. Just give me the word.”
“Get out of here. Too much of Meghan has obviously rubbed off on you already.”
Reuben laughed. He tossed his keys in the air and deftly caught them again with one hand.
“Guess it’s time to make like an airplane and take off. Laters, Prosperity.”
After Reuben left, Prosperity walked thoughtfully over to the window to look out over the lawn and parking lot. The past few weeks had been frenetic and taxing but she wouldn’t have swapped them for all the tea in China. Not that she drank tea, but the thought was there all the same. In a few short weeks, she would graduate and start working full time for the P.D. After the chaos of her life over the last couple of years, she had finally found her sweet spot, a place where the major dramas belonged to other people and all she had to do was find the solutions without the trauma of personal involvement. Even better, she was being paid to do it.
She jumped in fright as Reuben burst back through the door in a flurry of controlled excitement.
“Prosperity, we have an emergency. Seems a volunteer firefighter jumped off the Jaws Bridge with a group of his friends and never resurfaced. We’ll take my car.”
The End
Afterword
Prosperity is back! I just love what Cherie has done with this character. It has been said by some that I don’t do a great job of writing strong women and I’m so glad to team up with someone who was able to take what I started and really run with it.
I hope you love Prosperity’s style and the fun, quirky adventures she gets into (and out of). There are sure to be many more Prosperity Spartanburg Files, so if you don’t want to miss anything…
A Note From Cherie:
Cherie Mitchell is an all-genres author based in the South Island of New Zealand, where she lives on a tiny spit of land between a tidal estuary and the Pacific
Ocean. Cherie has won a number of awards and accolades for her writing including a listing in The Prose’s 50 Writers to Watch, and the prize of a trip to the US in March 2019 after placing in Litnet’s Small Towns, Big Stories Contest.
She is currently working on the tongue-in-cheek zombie horror series The Nothing Room and the Victorian-era serial killer series The Cinder Chronicles.
Concurrently, she is collaborating with a detective friend on a fact-based fraud novel and looking to add to her historical fiction series The Knowing.
It was an absolute pleasure and a lot of fun to work with David Berens on The
Prosperity Spartanburg Files and explore Prosperity’s growth as a character, especially given the idyllic and historic location of Martha’s Vineyard as the series’ setting.
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RAISING PROSPERITY
The Prosperity Spartanburg Files
All Rights Reserved © 2019 by David F. Berens
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher.
Tropical Thriller Press 2019
Printed in The United States of America
Contact the Author at:
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Raising Prosperity Page 17