Second Time's the Charm

by Knight, Vanessa

  They ordered their breakfast and sipped their coffee. Allison placed her hand on the table and Adam placed his hand on top of hers. An electric current shot down his arm as she wove her fingers through his and smiled. Adam leaned toward her, their eyes focused on one another.

  All outside influences seemed to disappear as he stared into her eyes. Their attention otherwise engaged, they didn’t notice a figure walking toward their table until a cold voice said, “Good morning. Imagine seeing you here.”

  Ben Mooring. A smirk crossed his face as he stared at their intertwined hands. Allison wrenched her hand away and placed it on her lap. The embarrassment crept up her neck to her face.

  A fleeting pain flew across Adam’s heart. Was it so awful for Ben to see them together? They were consenting adults.

  “What would your staff think if they saw you here together?”

  “Good morning, Ben. Did you need something?” Adam saw the questions in Ben’s eyes. It was the last thing he felt like dealing with right now. Okay. Maybe Allison was right to pull away. The man wasn’t exactly the picture of discretion. The rumor of Adam and Allison would be floating around Byrnes and Company, and who knew where else, in hours.

  Adam’s cell phone began to ring. There was no way the rumor mill had moved that fast. He looked at the display, expecting to ignore his mother or brother. Unfortunately, caller ID came up unknown. Unknown. As a cop, unknown usually meant something was going down. It never meant anything good. And since the police station didn’t come up on caller ID, he knew he had to take the call. He looked at Allison, her eyebrows furrowed in concern. “I need to take this. I’ll be right back. Will you be okay?”

  “Sure.” She smiled. “I’ll be here.”

  Adam placed his napkin on the table and walked toward the entrance. He hated leaving her alone with Ben, but if anyone could handle his crap, it was Allison. She had a gift for handling obnoxiously arrogant men… he was sure there was a lesson in that statement, but he refused to acknowledge it.

  “Byrnes.”

  “Morning, Lieutenant Byrnes. This is Detective Perretti from the Chicago Police Department.”

  “Any new information?”

  “Actually, yes. I really need to talk to you, but preferably not on the phone. It’s about your brother.”

  Adam’s head dropped as his heart clenched. “Is he okay? Is he hurt?” His voice rose on the last word.

  “He’s not hurt, but we need to talk. Let’s call it professional courtesy. Do you have time today?”

  “Sure. Give me an hour and I’ll meet you at my office downtown,” Adam said. “Sounds good.”

  Adam headed back to the table, his mind reeling. What could his brother have gotten himself mixed up in now?

  * * *

  Allison watched as Adam walked away. Please don’t go. She’d love to tell him to stay, but the look on his face told her there was something wrong. She plastered a smile on her face and took a drink of her coffee. She attempted to ignore Ben, who still stood next to the table.

  “May I sit down?” he asked.

  “If you must.” What a surprise! He actually asked to sit, instead of just sitting his butt in the chair.

  “Wow, you’re cranky in the morning. So is your bitchiness a turn-on for the frat boy? I could see him enjoying a good tongue-lashing.” He smiled as he sat in the chair across from Allison, and shook his blond hair back. He could be a good- looking guy if he wasn’t such an annoying ass.

  A cocky grin lit up his stupid face. “What do you want, Ben?”

  “Come on.” He leaned back in the chair. “You know I’m just playing with you.

  I can’t help it you get so riled up. You make it much too easy.”

  Her face softened as she played with the silverware on the table, never allowing her eyes to meet his. She really couldn’t argue with that description, she did get worked up when he was around. However, it was never in a good way. He had always just made her angry.

  “So, how long have you and golden boy been doing the humpty-dance?”

  Because of asinine questions like that, Allison glared at him, contemplating how she could get rid of him. Murder was out of the question; she really didn’t think she’d do well in prison. Black and white stripes were terrible for the figure, and she hated sharing a television with anyone.

  Since Brook was the best defense lawyer in the business, Allison was sure her sister could work her magic, maybe get her off with an insanity plea. All the judge had to do was spend five minutes with this idiot, and they’d sympathize with her situation. Ahhh…the joy of fantasies.

  “I’m just curious. I know how much it bothered you last time he skittered away. I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” He actually appeared to be sincere. She wasn’t sure if it was cynicism or just realism, but she couldn’t fathom him actually being concerned. She was waiting for the mocking tone or scornful teasing to follow.

  When it didn’t, she responded, “Thanks for caring, but I’m fine.”

  “Well, since you don’t want to talk about this topic, we need to start discussing the future of Byrnes and Company.”

  Allison stared at him. She tried to open her mouth, but the shock of his words left her speechless. Did he honestly think there was something to discuss? Especially after he stole their design. She only knew about the Kaminski account, but Lord knew what else he’d managed to take.

  She took a clarifying breath, and then spit out between clenched teeth, “What could we possibly have to discuss? Oh, wait, maybe you could tell me why you stole the design for the Kaminski project? That was our property. We designed it. We own it.” She lowered her voice and took another breath. She knew this was neither the time nor the place to start a knockout brawl with Ben, but she really wanted to lay into the man.

  Ben leaned in close as he slammed his fist into the table. “I didn’t steal a damn thing and I don’t like what you’re implying.”

  “I’m not implying. I’m declaring. You’re a thief and we have nothing further to discuss.”

  “You can’t honestly think you’ll be capable of running this company all on your own. I’m sure the golden boys will head back to whatever rocks they climbed out from under. Then what? You’ll get stuck building the company for them, slaving away night and day, and all you’ll end up doing is lining their over- privileged pockets. I’m giving you the chance to work for me. We can completely overtake the Midwest market...”

  She couldn’t believe she was allowing this conversation to continue. She saw his mouth moving, but she could no longer hear anything he was spewing. She could feel her stomach acid churning as disgust flooded her soul. It took every ounce of restraint to keep her voice low. She refused to make a scene.

  “…So, when can we sit down and discuss this?” Ben finally concluded.

  “Are you kidding me?” Allison hissed. “Isn’t it bad enough you’ve been trying to steal Byrnes’ customers? Now you’re beginning to poach our employees as well.”

  “Don’t be so dramatic. Herb knew that business was business. He also knew that work wouldn’t stop just because he’s gone. I’m honoring his memory by upholding his work ethic.”

  Although she agreed that Herb had a fantastic work ethic, she didn’t agree that he’d conduct business so rudely, or practice questionable recruitment practices. It just seemed too tacky to comprehend.

  “Every day you procrastinate, the price I will pay goes down.” He smirked and nodded toward the approaching Adam. “Try to talk the golden boys into selling.”

  With a grateful sigh, Allison watched Adam make his way back to the table. His eyebrows were furled tighter than when he left. Whatever the news, it did not seem to be good.

  “Ben? You’re still here,” Adam said, perplexed. “Just keeping this beautiful lady company for you”

  “Oh. Thanks,” he said distractedly. “Do you mind if we leave? I have something I need to do. I'll make it up to you.”

  “No problem.” She got her
purse while Adam spoke to one of the servers. He pulled out a few bills from his wallet and waited for Allison.

  “Always a pleasure.” She attempted to smile at Ben. “I find that hard to believe.” He grinned at her.

  Allison pivoted on her heels and headed toward Adam, never looking back. Maybe if she had, she would have seen Ben’s brunch date stroll over and sit down.

  Dale Byrnes smiled at Ben and said, “I’m glad you called. Things are right on track.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Adam sat at his desk, shuffling paperwork from one side of it to the other. His mind was running through the multiple scenarios that clouded his concentration. What could Joe Perretti want to tell him?

  Shit. He stood up and walked over to the sideboard in the corner of his office. He poured two fingers of cognac and looked over at the large, L-shaped, walnut desk facing away from the picture windows. He really had come to enjoy working with Allison at that desk. He never thought he would feel so at home at Byrnes, or here in Chicago.

  Yet here he was, enjoying the city. He was enjoying the life he found in the city. For some reason, it just seemed to fit. Allison and the comfort of being home had made him happier than he'd been in a long time.

  He looked around the office. It wasn’t really that different from Allison's—a large room with low cabinets lining the bottom of the large windows. The windows spanned from one wall to the next, letting in an abundance of natural light. He had his desk on one side of the room and on the other side was a seating area with a couch, chair, and coffee table on a Persian rug.

  The office was nothing like his workspace back home. This desk alone would take up the entire shoebox the precinct called his office. His office in Phoenix had no windows, no privacy, but it was his all his. This wasn’t. It was nice, but he couldn’t see devoting himself to this job forever.

  He couldn’t wait to get back to the streets. He missed the excitement and the challenge. He missed solving the mysteries and getting justice for the wronged of the world. This white-collar crap was a nice place to visit, but he sure as hell didn’t want to hang his hat here.

  He missed his real job. He knew himself well enough to know that he could never stop being a cop, but he could be a cop anywhere. Phoenix didn’t have a corner on the crime market. Maybe it was just a reaction to the loss of his father, but for the first time in a long time, he felt like he could make a future here.

  After all, it was great to be so close to his family. He missed his mom while he was away. He also missed...well... Dale was a whole other story. Adam managed to get him off his mind for a few minutes, but if babysitting his younger brother would be a full-time stipulation of living in Chicago, he wasn’t sure he wanted to stay.

  Dale had spent the past twenty years getting into various levels of trouble. The cops had visited the Byrnes house many times over the years. They had brought him home after numerous benders and assorted bouts of illicit behavior. When a cop wanted to discuss his brother, Adam knew Dale had done something wrong. The only question was, how much trouble had Dale found this time?

  Adam took another sip of cognac, hoping the spirit would stop his mind from going in that direction. For all he knew, Joe wanted to talk about one of Dale’s charitable donations. Not that Adam ever knew Dale to be charitable, but he needed to keep his mind away from worrying.

  He stood and stared out the window—the Chicago streets below a flurry of activity. He could actually see himself living here. He just wasn’t sure he was ready to commit to uprooting his life. The only thing he did know was that he didn’t want to think about it. Just one more topic he didn’t want to think about. Damn. No topic seemed to be safe these days. Every topic seemed to make him uncomfortable. He threw the rest of the cognac back, the liquor burning as it slowly slid down the back of his throat.

  He glowered at the clock on the wall. Where the hell was Joe? They’d agreed to meet in one hour. Sitting here alone with his thoughts was dangerous. No one needed to think this much.

  He was relieved that Joe and Shay had been put on this case. From all the research he’d done, they were good cops. Adam had called his precinct back home in Phoenix and got as much information as he could. He had to make sure the cops on his dad’s case were the best, and so far he was impressed.

  He filled his glass again and glared at the seemingly unmoving clock. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a figure hovering in the doorway. Joe sauntered into Adam’s office and extended his hand.

  “Hi, Perretti. Please, sit. ”Adam shook Joe’s hand and motioned for him to sit on the unoccupied couch.

  His guest complied and leaned back. “Nice office.”

  “Thanks. It serves its purpose,” Adam offered as he sat in the chair next to the couch. He wasn’t sure what Joe had come to say, but Adam had a feeling it was nothing good. He figured sitting in the lounge area would keep the conversation casual. He was hoping to avoid the need for a lawyer.

  “How much longer are you planning on being in town?” Joe asked.

  “Depends on what you’ve got to tell me. I was hoping to go back on Tuesday, but I’m not entirely sure I can leave yet. Can I get you a drink, or are you on duty?”

  “I’m technically off duty now, but it’s before noon, so I’ll take water. You might want to switch to water as well.”

  “I know. It’s just that the suspense is killing me,” Adam said, and walked over to his mini-fridge. “It’s funny how I’m surrounded by death every day and I handle it, no problem. I walk people through this all the time. However, now… I don’t know how to get through this.”

  Adam took out two bottles of water, and set one before Joe and the other bottle next to his cognac. Why throw away a perfectly good drink? He would switch to a more respectable beverage later. If things kept going like this, he wouldn’t have time to deal with his family’s problems. He would be dealing with his own alcoholism.

  “So, you wanted to talk to me about my brother. Is this about the condo?” “Not the condo. We’ve set up a meeting with him in forty-five minutes, and thought you might want to be there. You know, professional courtesy.”

  “So it’s about my father. Professional courtesy. Okay. I appreciate that.” Since when is professional courtesy given in a murder investigation?

  “First, I have some questions. While he was abroad, I heard your brother was in Russia.”

  “Among other places.” Adam nodded as awareness crept in. Professional courtesy was another way of saying the interrogation wasn’t over. If this were a simple heart attack, they wouldn’t have any more questions. Shit.

  “Do you know what he was doing over there?”

  “I have no idea. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s where he found his girlfriend, Nadia. Why?”

  “We have reliable information that Dale asked your father for money a few weeks before your father’s death. We also found out that your father denied him a loan or any type of handout.”

  Adam stood up and sighed. He stared out the window and considered the ramifications of what Joe had said. What if Dad had said no to a loan? Would Dale have hurt him? Tried to steal the money? Maybe tried to break into the condo to see what money was there?

  He didn’t want to believe that any of that would have happened, but how would Dale have reacted? Who knew. Definitely not Adam. Even when Dale and he lived in the same house, they were miles apart in action and reaction.

  “So what does this mean?” Adam asked. Did he want the answer? Probably not.

  “It means we’re looking at him as a suspect for the condo break-in, and depending on the toxicology reports, we might be looking at him for your father’s murder.”

  Adam moved back toward the windows. Murder? Sonofa… What the hell had Dale gotten into? What had he done?

  “Look, Adam. I wanted to give you a heads up. This could get ugly for him.”

  Adam took a drink from the glass and rubbed his hand over his face in frustration. Light filtered through the cognac as he s
pun the glass. The reddish brown reminded him of the Maricopa Mountains in the faint light of sunrise. Longing filled his chest to see them again, but first he had to fix this.

  His heart broke at the thought that for the first time, his brother could be in real trouble. And there wasn’t a damn thing Adam could do about it.

  * * *

  Dale whistled as he climbed the stairs to Byrnes and Company. Climbing twenty-seven floors was a small way to keep himself active. He had become spoiled while abroad. He had been able to exercise whenever he wanted. Now, with all the responsibility of the business, he couldn’t seem to make the time to sleep, let alone get into a gym. He found walking, whenever possible, and climbing stairs fair alternatives.

  He headed toward his father’s office—no, his office. He chuckled to himself. He’d never get used to that. His office. Old, boring people had offices. He was way too young to tie himself to an office. He just couldn’t do it when there was so much life to live out in the real world.

  If everything went to plan he wouldn’t be growing stagnant in this city much longer. They’d sell the company and he’d take Nadia on a wildly exotic vacation. He was thinking something in the Caribbean, or maybe a villa in Bora Bora. After the past few weeks, he deserved something tropical with sand and umbrella drinks. Hell, Nadia deserved it as well. This whole family reunion had been hard on her, too. Between the family, work, and money drama, their relationship was suffering. Hell, their marriage was suffering. It was time they started enjoying being newlyweds. Not that he was going to tell his family about the wedding. They

  could only handle so much truth.

  Adam had to see the benefit of selling the company. He just had to. If he couldn’t talk him into it, Ben could. The man had made some pretty convincing arguments…the best argument being the fat check the brothers would walk away with. Adam couldn’t argue with the security a healthy lump of cash could instill.