The Savvy Sistahs

by Brenda Jackson

  “If this person is obsessed, he would do just about anything to find out about your comings and goings, so don’t think a stalker wouldn’t bug this place or put in some type of surveillance camera to watch your every move. I’ve known cases where it has happened and I won’t be comfortable until I know for certain this isn’t one of those times.”

  Brandy nodded. She really thought he was taking things a little bit too far, but then he’d been an FBI agent and certainly knew more about this sort of stuff than she did. She met his gaze. “What about that kiss downstairs? Why did you give my employees the impression that you’re staying here with me instead of in the guest rooms reserved for family members?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. He had no intention of letting Brandy Bennett be difficult. “Because I will.You need a bodyguard until this matter is cleared up, Ms. Bennett, and unless you want your entire staff to know what’s going on then I suggest we do things my way. If word gets out that you have a bodyguard, then business at this hotel will drop drastically. Bad news travels fast and people have a tendency not to want to stay where there might be trouble.”

  Brandy knew what he said was true. “But why couldn’t you have said that you were a family member and used one of the suites on another floor?”

  “Mainly because I promised Alexia and your other cousins that I would watch you like a hawk. And the only way I can do that is to be close to you at all times.”

  Brandy lifted a brow. “At all times?”

  “Within reason. It shouldn’t take me more than a week or so to find out who’s behind this.”

  “You’re that good?”

  “I’d like to think so. The plan is for you to introduce me to everyone as a former boyfriend who’s trying to make a comeback. They will readily accept the idea of the two of us getting cozy and sharing your suite for a while.”

  “And then?”

  “And once I finish my job I will be out of your hair and you can run things, business as usual.”

  Brandy nodded. She hoped things would be that simple. She didn’t like the thought that someone was trying to scare the wits out of her. “All right. I’ll go along with your plan, but we have to decide on sleeping arrangements.”

  “The sofa will be fine. However we need to make sure that your housekeeper doesn’t find out that we aren’t sharing a bed. Until we determine what’s going on, we can’t trust anyone.”

  Brandy nodded. More than anything she wanted this nightmare to be over.

  A couple of hours later, after his luggage had arrived, Grey tried not to look over his shoulder as Brandy, right on his heel, followed him from room to room as he used a device to detect if there was any type of surveillance equipment in her suite. The scent of her, sultry and feminine, was driving him crazy and he tried to concentrate on what he was doing and not on her. And he had been doing a pretty good job of it until he had walked into her bedroom. The large, spacious room was decorated in burgundy and mauve and the furnishings were a whitewashed oak. A king-size bed that was covered in a floral spread sat in the middle of the floor. He tried to erase from his mind thoughts of her, half naked and asleep in that big bed. The mental image was so real he had to swallow a couple of times when his breath literally got caught in his throat.

  “Do you actually think something is in here?”

  She had whispered the words. Her voice, soft and warm, was close to his ear as he leaned down to look under the bed. He hunched his shoulders to let her know at the moment he didn’t know what to think. In fact he was doing a piss-poor job of thinking at all.

  A few minutes later he was satisfied that there were no listening devices, and no hidden cameras. He leaned against her dresser. “We can talk now. You’re clean.”

  Brandy sighed deeply. “Thank goodness for that.”

  Grey stared at her for a moment before asking. “Are you ready to tell me everything now?”

  “Yes.” Her voice was nervous.

  “Then I suggest we go into your kitchen, have a cup of coffee and talk.” He took her hand and led her out of the bedroom.

  Grey looked down at the notes he’d taken while talking to Brandy. He had asked her a series of questions after she had told him about the first note she had found in her office and the second note that had been left in her suite.

  “Do you know the name of the florist shop that delivered the rose?” he asked going back up to the first notation he’d made.

  “Yes. It came from the florist shop here in the hotel. I didn’t ask any questions because I didn’t want to raise anyone suspicions about anything.”

  Grey nodded. So far on the list he had the name of her security person, Perry Hall, as well as anyone else who’d had access to the administrative floor, which included all of her staff managers, including Horace Thurgood, who had resigned when she’d taken over.

  He added her secretary’s name along with that of her housekeeper, although Brandy hadn’t wanted him to do so. The signature of “The Man” hinted that the writer was a male, but Grey wasn’t discounting anything.

  “What about your other employees?”

  “We employ a great number of people to take care of our guests’ needs: people who answer the phones, take reservations, clean the rooms, check in the guests, cook and serve the food, as well as the maintenance guys who perform a number of duties including repairing the air conditioners. So as you can see this is a huge range of people, from manual workers to skilled professionals.”

  She took a sip of her coffee. “And the number of people we employ varies at different times, depending on our needs. During the busy season we have very high occupancies and as a result we need more people working for us.”

  Grey lifted a brow. “So you have high staff fluctuations?”

  “Yes. Because of the number of colleges in town as well as those located in Daytona and Melbourne, we utilize a lot of students in various jobs whenever we can. Most of them work part time. We also hire a lot of minorities and immigrants.”

  “And you take the time to do background checks on everyone?”

  Brandy frowned. “Yes, of course. Our human resource department does a good job of screening our applicants to make sure we hire good employees, employees who can be trusted with our guests’ needs and their possessions. However, since some of the jobs, although important, require very little skill, the pay is low. And just like most other hotels, we have a relatively high turnover rate.”

  Grey paused as he wrote all the information down and paid close attention to the names of her employees. He then glanced back up at her. “Now I want the names of any friends you have, males or females, as well as any boyfriends, past or present.”

  Brandy’s frown deepened. “Is all this necessary, Mr. Masters?”

  “Yes, and it would make things easier if you get used to calling me Grey and I’ll start calling you Brandy, all right?”

  Brandy nodded, frustrated. “That’s fine.” She inhaled gently as she thought of the information he’d just requested of her. “My two closest friends are Carla Osborne and Amber Stuart. I’ve told them about the notes. I was so upset I had to tell somebody so I mentioned it to them while we were at dinner the other night.”

  He nodded. “Give me some info about them so I can have them checked out.”

  Brandy sighed. “There’s no reason to suspect them.”

  Grey gave her a frown of his own. “Until we find out who’s behind this, we will suspect everyone.”

  Brandy angrily stood and walked over to the sink and poured out her coffee. She turned back around and met Grey’s gaze. “I trust them, Grey, and I will continue to trust them. Carla, Amber, and I have a special bond. The three of us have been bitten, and very badly I might add, by dogs.”

  Grey lifted a confused brow. “Bitten by dogs?”

  “Yes, dogs of the most voracious and most heartless kind: the human male.”

  For the longest time Grey didn’t say anything as he looked at her. However, he was t
empted to tell her that being bitten could work both ways. His wife had definitely taken a huge chunk out of him.

  “Besides,” Brandy was saying, “I told them that you were coming when I spoke with them last night, and that you would be acting as my bodyguard.”

  Grey shook his head, wondering why women felt compelled to tell each other everything. “That’s all well and good that the three of you are in some kind of sisterhood club and freely share secrets,” he said curtly. “However, I’m going to have them checked out regardless, and since you trust them so much there shouldn’t be anything for you to worry about.” Grey glanced back down to the paper and penciled in a notation. “Now what about boyfriends?” he asked.

  “I don’t have one.”

  Grey lifted his gaze from his paper. “Are you saying there hasn’t been another man in your life since your divorce?”

  “None that mattered.”

  “Let me be the judge of that. A scorned or jealous lover can cause a lot of problems.”

  Brandy came back to the table and sat down. She then told Grey about her brief affair with Grant Hoffman three years ago while on the rebound, and her one-night stand over two years ago with Thomas Reynolds.

  “And this Thomas Reynolds. You say that he owns the Commodore Restaurant here in town?”

  “Yes, and I consider him a dear friend.” She thought of all the things Thomas had done to pave the way for her to be successful. He had introduced her to the right people and had made sure she was included in the right circles—and all out of friendship. He had never tried to come on to her again since the night she’d told him that the two of them could be nothing more than friends.

  “With as many friends as you have why would anyone need enemies?” Grey said sarcastically. He wondered why after what had happened with her before—being so trusting—she hadn’t been taught a lesson. As far as he was concerned, she trusted too easily. But then, so had he at one time.

  “I resent that statement, Grey.”

  He met her gaze. “You can resent it all you want, but the truth of the matter is that someone is either trying to scare you or hurt you, maybe even both. So in light of that reality, I don’t have time to be convinced that all your friends and associates are trustworthy.”

  He stood. “Is there anyone else, present or past, that you want to tell me that you may suspect?”

  Jolene’s name flashed across Brandy’s mind. She hadn’t heard from her in almost two years. For the longest time after the fiasco at her wedding, the woman she’d considered her best friend had tried contacting her but Brandy had always refused to listen to anything she had to say. She had ranked Jolene right up there with Lorenzo—scum and trash, and the thought of either one of them always left a bad taste in her mouth.

  “There’s my ex-best friend by the name of Jolene Bradford.”

  “Ex-best friend.”

  “Yes. We parted ways when I found out she’d been sleeping with my fiancé.”

  Grey nodded. Evidently Jolene Bradford was the woman who’d found instant fame with that video Quinn had told him about. “Is this the woman who you exposed on the video at your wedding?” he asked although he already knew the answer.

  Brandy raised a brow and started to ask how he knew about that, then figured Quinn must have enlightened him about everything. “Yes, she’s the one.”

  He nodded. “When was the last time you saw or spoke with her?”

  Brandy shrugged. “Almost two years ago. I understand her fiancé broke things off with her immediately after that.” Especially after a few of those videotapes hit the black market, she thought, still not sure how that had happened. The only thing she could figure out was that the guy who’d coordinated her wedding had discovered a way to make a buck and had duplicated the videotape. “Jolene resigned from her position as a biology professor at Howard and I heard that she took a position at another university. But I doubt Jolene is capable of being a stalker.”

  “Why?”

  “Stalkers spend too much time standing up. She gets more enjoyment being on her back.”

  Grey cleared his throat. In a way he guessed Brandy deserved to be spiteful, considering the circumstances. The woman was supposed to have been her best friend. “Is there anyone else you want to mention?”

  “No.”

  Brandy tried to concentrate on the note taking Grey was doing and not on his physique. But she was having a hard time doing so. The man was too overwhelmingly male. His perfectly built body, along with everything else that was going wrong in her life, was frying her nerves.

  She glanced down at the floor to take her eyes off him when she thought of something. She wanted to make sure her words didn’t get stalled in her throat. “There was this incident that happened yesterday evening.”

  “And what incident was that?”

  She lifted her gaze and met his as she tried to recall exactly what happened. “I worked late in my office last night and when I was getting on the elevator to leave, I noticed Wilbur Green was still in his office working.”

  Grey picked up the notepad off the table and scanned the list. “Wilbur Green? He’s your food and beverage director, right?”

  “Yes. And whomever he was talking to had him highly upset. That wouldn’t be suspicious in itself other than the fact that Wilbur seldom stays late at work unless there’s a big function going on and he is usually a very cool and calm man. I just thought it was strange that he was still there, and I don’t think he knew I was in my office since the door was closed. I only heard bits and pieces of his conversation but he kept saying something about the person not getting another penny out of him. It made me think perhaps he was being blackmailed or something.”

  Brandy crossed her arms over her chest. She didn’t like being leery and suspicious of her employees, employees she was just beginning to trust when she’d begun receiving the notes. “And then later that same night when I was walking down one of the vacant halls making sure things were running smoothly, I thought I heard someone following me.”

  “Did you see anyone?”

  “No, at least not at first. But then later I ran into one of the bellmen who’d just come from delivering luggage to a guest room. I think I scared him as much as he scared me. But I’m not sure he was the person I’d actually heard.”

  “Do you have this bellman’s name?”

  “No, but I know he’s one of our college students who only work part-time. I’ve seen him around several times and noticed that he’s a hard worker.”

  Grey nodded. “Have any idea which college he attends?”

  Brandy had to think for a minute. Then she said. “I believe the University of Central Florida. We had a masquerade party last October for Halloween and he came pretty well made up, dressed in a vampire costume. I recall someone saying he was a makeup artist in UCF’s movie and production program.”

  “Have you fired anyone lately?”

  Brandy told him about the two employees who’d worked in housekeeping that had been terminated for taking some of the guests’ belongings.

  Grey sighed and jotted more notations on his pad. “I think everything you’ve told me is worth checking out, some things more than others. And as for the way we intend to present our relationship to everyone, I suggest we do just as I planned. As far as anyone is concerned, except your two friends Carla and Amber since you’ve told them too much already, I am your ex-lover looking for a comeback. I will become your shadow and when the investigation is over and I leave, you can claim that things didn’t work out for us because I was too dom ineering, jealous, and possessive and you couldn’t handle that sort of relationship with me any longer. That should be simple enough.” Brandy breathed in deeply. She had a gut feeling that nothing about her association with Grey Masters would be simple.

  Chapter 8

  Los Angeles

  Good morning, Mr. Devereau.” Jesse Devereau looked up from the newspaper he was reading when he stepped off the elevator. “Good morning, Kit
ty, and how are you this morning?”

  “I’m doing fine, sir. I’ve placed your mail on your desk and Edward Shingles called twice already.”

  Jesse nodded, thinking what else was new? Edward Shingles had been trying to run him down all week, and he had already told the man that further discussion about the matter would be pointless. He was not interested in buying the man’s company, especially after the discovery that the older man had doctored his accounting books to make it appear that Shingles Industries was in better shape financially than it really was.

  “If Mr. Shingles calls back, put him through to me right away. Evidently he needs to hear the words I’m not interested another way.”

  Kitty Perkins tried hiding her smile but failed to do so. She watched as her boss entered his office and closed the door behind him. She had come to work for Jesse Devereau when he’d first started his business over eight years ago and thought he was a wonderful boss.

  In a little over four years, the name Jesse Devereau spiked fear in a vast number of corporations on the west coast. Hailed as something of a corporate marauder, he had built his empire by doing whatever it took to get in on the action, whether by forcing a takeover of some successful firm that caught his eye, or going so far as to do whatever he had to do to get a seat on the board of some particular firm. He did it all and without shame, making him one of the most wealthiest African–American men on the west coast.

  A few years ago, there were those who’d thought he was a gigolo when he had become the constant companion of wealthy California socialite Susan Brady, a woman twenty years his senior. They had accused him of trying to take advantage of Brady for her money since it was a known fact she had terminal cancer. But those same individuals had been shocked right out of their socks when, right before her death, Susan Brady announced publicly that Jesse Devereau was the illegitimate son she had given up for adoption. It seemed that while in college at Harvard some thirty years ago, a young Susan had fallen in love with an African-American law student and their secret affair had resulted in pregnancy. Therefore, no one was surprised at the reading of Susan Brady’s will when it was announced that she had left all her money and worldly possessions to her son.