In Love by Design (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod)

by Ellen, Tracy

  Behind me, I heard another flurry of typing as Anna called out in a low voice, “I’m in!”

  “Yay!” I cheered softly.

  Sifting through the small amount of accumulated garbage in the trash can by the desk; I was happy that Mac was right about Diego not changing passwords.

  “How we doing Jaz, Tre?” I asked, skimming through a pile of file folders on top of the credenza against the wall before kneeling to slide open the cabinet’s lower doors.

  Jaz murmured, “Nothing so far in the desk.”

  Tre murmured, “We’re good.”

  The typing stopped suddenly and Anna whispered loudly, “What was that? Did you guys hear that?”

  I turned to the desk, as Jazy asked, “Hear what, Anna?”

  Tre replied, “I don’t hear anything in the hall.”

  “No, it’s a scratching sound,” Anna exclaimed in a high voice, her head cocked at an angle. “There! Did you hear it now?”

  The three of us listened and then shared a shrugging glance before I said to Anna, “Sorry, I don’t hear anything, but let’s just finish and get out of here.”

  Anna’s face twisted anxiously in repugnance and she glared at me accusingly. “Are there mice in here, Junior?”

  I tossed my hands up, trying not to laugh because Anna was deathly afraid of mice. If you ever want to see a genuine tizzy fit enacted, throw a fake fur ball on Anna. My brother tried that once years ago and I don’t think he could walk straight for a week after Anna got finished freaking out on him.

  Whispering back, I lied for the sake of the mission, “Anna, of course not! I personally killed every rodent in Faribault today on the off chance you may visit. Now will you please forget the damn noises and check Diego’s email!”

  Anna called me names and grumbled nervously, but bent over the keyboard. Not that I wanted to run into any furry friends, either, after my experience last night with the potentially cannibalistic rats in Hell’s Kitchen. I turned back to searching the credenza and thought of Dickie. His twenty-four deadline was growing uncomfortably close and I really wanted him to have some good news to report.

  For a few quiet minutes longer, we three diligently searched Diego’s office and computer files, but found nothing incriminating. Flipping up the area rug on the floor, I checked for hidden trapdoors while thinking that something was bugging me, but again, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was. I hated that feeling.

  I’ve got so much going on in my head that I may be approaching information overload and couldn’t concentrate properly. I tried to shake the thought loose by lightly probing with my mind over the obvious issues. Was it about the identity of my murderous enemy, Pam’s situation with Carter, Luke machinations with Carter’s brothers that I’m beginning to suspect involved heavy gambling debts, or Mac’s suspicions of Diego? Whatever it was that was bugging me stayed elusive and I gave up for now.

  Anna interrupted my rambling thoughts by turning off the computer, sitting back in the chair, and stating in a scornful whisper oozing with relief, “Jesus, Diego is one boring dude! Every email is business related or preaching something to a female relative that’s asking for his advice. What is he, some kind of junior Puerto Rican Godfather?”

  Jazy laughed quietly while running her hands underneath the small table and chairs. I admired her dedication, but cringed at what she could be touching.

  She answered Anna in a low voice, “Yeah, Mac is the only cougar I’ve ever known that’s picked an ultra-conservative, religious hottie as her boy toy.”

  I was shushing their sniggers and trying not to giggle when Tre J straightened alertly to her full six feet. She shook her fist in warning and hissed, “Someone’s coming!”

  Somehow, despite all my advanced planning, Team Ninja never talked about what to do if actually caught red-handed in Diego’s office. We all reacted, and it was Keystone Cops for a few seconds while we banged into each other.

  I scooped up the duffle bag and grabbed Jazy’s arm while whispering urgently, “Hide in the closet. Go! Go! Tre get the lights in a sec on my word and grab the towel!”

  Jaz didn’t hesitate, but Anna beat my sister to the closet door. Or maybe Jazy voluntarily let herself get bounced off the door frame by Anna, much as I’d done earlier on Luke’s basement stairs. Either way, it looked painful.

  I was right behind the moaning Jaz, pushing her into the tiny space while reaching into the duffle bag for a flashlight.

  Flashing it on the floor to guide the way, I called softly, “Now, Tre!”

  Tre immediately flipped off the overhead light, snatched up the towel, and ran across the room to jump into the closet.

  Newton’s laws of motion state there is no way the four of us women should fit in that finite closet space without a disastrous result, but luckily I never pay much attention to science. I pushed and flattened Jazy and Anna mercilessly against the back of the closet to make room for our Scandinavian Valkyrie. The closet door wouldn’t shut tight, but Tre was in. Before I switched off the flashlight, I saw she had a hold on the door knob to keep the door closed.

  Anna was making hysterical noises and I issued a low, harsh, “Quiet!”

  We all froze when the office light came on and we saw the strobe show flickering under the gap beneath the closet door. We stood stock-still, packed in the tiny space tighter than sardines in a can, not even daring to breathe.

  Until I heard Anna’s whimper and Jazy’s surprised, but muffled “oomph!” of pain.

  Despite these small noises, the light in the office went off and I relaxed in relief that we had miraculously avoided detection.

  Feeling claustrophobic, I pushed lightly on Tre’s back and whispered, “Clear?”

  Suddenly, I was shoved violently from behind. My outthrust hands propelled forward into Tre J’s lower back, catching us both unprepared. In the dark, the sound of that plastic bucket being kicked around was reverberating loudly. I tried to get off Tre’s back, but we couldn’t stop the forward momentum and she lost her grip on the door knob. We went flying through the opened door and tumbled to the office floor in a heap of pained cries. I landed hard on her back, so I think the pained cries were coming from Tre J.

  From the closet there were crashing, tearing noises. Jazy was cursing fluently in a low, savage tone and I heard the broom and dustpan getting kicked around now, too.

  I swear it was Anna’s voice screaming “There it is! Let me out! Let me out!” before she really let it rip in a bizarre torrent of shouting, shrieking Spanish.

  I didn’t have time for any more thoughts because the office lights went flickering back on, and from my mounted position on Tre’s back, I was staring up at the angry, shocked face of Mia Besosa.

  We blinked in surprise at each other for the second time in one day.

  Grinning widely, I said, “Why, hello there! It’s Mia, right? I believe we met earlier today. What are you doing here in Diego’s office?”

  She glanced quickly at the open closet door and her face paled at the ongoing screaming and shrieking. Stepping into the office, she closed the door behind her.

  Swiveling her head back in my direction, Diego’s beautiful, young employee rudely yelled in perfect, unaccented English, “What the hell is going on in here? I am calling Diego and the police!”

  I rolled off the grunting Tre and hopped to my feet, brushing off my hands and facing the young girl.

  Narrowing my eyes, I said, “Chill, Mia. Nobody is calling anybody.” Holding up a halting finger because Mia was revving up to tell me off, I glanced down at the giant Norse goddess prostrated at my feet. “Hey Tre, have you noticed what’s really odd about this office?”

  Waiting for Tre’s answer, I ignored the shrill voices still shouting and banging behind me in the closet. I also ignored Mia who had angrily stuffed her hands deep into her smock pockets, probably to stop herself from punching me.

  “What are you talking about?” Mia demanded, impatiently.

  Tre laughed while slowly
rising up on her hands and knees, shaking her head and shoulders to loosen up the kinks. “Damn Bel, but I haven’t really had time to look around. I’ve been too busy eating the fucking carpet!”

  “Oh, I’m sorry about that, my little rug muncher, but what’s odd is that this office has no window.” I stared coldly over at Mia with no evidence of my former smile. “So, unless my best friend is now speaking in more tongues than the Tower of Babel, I want to know what’s behind that closet wall, and you better not tell me it’s Narnia.” I stepped closer into Mia’s personal space. I stared into her defiantly glaring brown eyes, letting her see the real blonde in me. “What have you’ve got my brother-in-law involved in, and don’t even think about bullshitting me, little sister!”

  Chapter XVII

  “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” By The Tokens

  Friday, 12/07/12

  8:53 PM

  I was beginning to really like Mia Besosa.

  I barely completed my threat to her when she whipped out a small silver gun from her smock pocket. She motioned with it in the air; as if the gun was a lasso she was going to rope me with, instead of shooting.

  She threatened me in return. “Back off, bitch! You may be Diego’s sister by marriage, but he’s my blood, and I’m not going to let you turn in these women!”

  Ninja Tre chose that moment to cause a distraction by roaring a terrifyingly loud noise from her position on her knees. By the time Mia’s alarmed gaze sprang back to mine, Rita was pressed firmly against the girl’s temple and I’d jerked the small gun from her weak grasp. Mia’s finger hadn’t even been on the trigger.

  Situational awareness.

  Trust and react.

  Luke would be proud of me and I couldn’t wait to tell him.

  Mia was a braver girl than most and didn’t make a peep at the pressure of the Ruger’s cold steel poking her in the head, but her eyes were screwed tightly shut.

  “Bang,” I said sharply and Mia winced, swaying on her feet.

  Finger on the trigger or not, I didn’t appreciate having a gun pulled on me at any time. Tre was instantly up to relieve me of the little pocket pistol to free up my right hand.

  Holding it up, she turned it over in her hands for closer inspection. She said, “Nice engraving. This is a double barrel Derringer.”

  She held it up for me to see and I said admiringly, “Cute. I’m seriously digging that mother-of-pearl inset on the grip.” I mused, “Aren’t these called muff pistols from where women used to carry them?”

  Tre J made a disgusted face at the gun in her hand and changed up her grip, so that it dangled by her two fingers. “Cripes, that’s nasty! I guess it’s small enough to fit in a muff, but no way would I feel comfortable walking around with a gun down there.”

  It took me a stunned second to realize what Tre meant and then I burst out laughing, causing Mia to wince again but she still didn’t open her eyes.

  I repeated in gasping wonder, “Small enough to fit in a muff? Jesus, Tre, you filthy woman, now I’m petrified of your vagina! I didn’t mean that kind of muff, but the one a woman wore in the olden days to keep their hands warm in the winter.”

  “Oh, that muff!” Tre J joined me, her hearty laughter booming out over the shouting sounds in the closet. “My mind went blank when you said that and all I could picture was…well, never mind, it wasn’t pretty!” Tre pocketed Mia’s Derringer and limped over to the closet. “I’ll go see what’s up in Narnia.”

  I pulled the Ruger away from Mia’s head and stepped back. Sitting down behind Diego’s desk, I tucked the pistol safely back in my purse. “Now that we have that settled, open your eyes, Mia, and tell me what’s going on.”

  The girl’s eyelids immediately flew open and she darted a glance at the closet door, but her wringing hands were the only sign of her distress. She noticed my look and stuck her hands into her pockets.

  I was curious why Diego introduced this girl as his employee and not a relative. I thought I’d met most of his relatives. I knocked on the desk to get her attention.

  “Hey, if you’re not lying and are really related to Diego somehow, then we’re connected by family. I would never turn anybody in, anyway.” I mused and then added truthfully, “Unless they are bad seeds and deserved to be turned in.”

  Beauty’s face twisted into an ugly sneer. “Diego and I are second cousins! Why should I trust you?” She spat, “I don’t know you and you have broken into Diego’s office!”

  Mia’s words were tough, but I could see the frightened girl beneath the hardened exterior.

  Sometimes in life you have to give a little to get a little.

  I leaned back in Diego’s uncomfortable office chair. “I know it looks bad, but we’re here on my sister’s behalf. She’s very worried, extremely worried, about Diego because he’s acting so strangely. He’s asked for money when he should have plenty of his own and he’s coming and going at all hours. He won’t confide in her. Mac loves Diego very much,” I stared pointedly at the gorgeous girl listening to me with a proud, haughty tilt to her chin and blazing eyes, “but they’re still newlyweds discovering each other. She’s devastated thinking he’s having an affair with an employee at work.” I raised my brows. “Care to shed any light on that subject, Cousin Besosa?”

  Mia flushed guiltily and looked down, no longer meeting my eyes while she muttered, “Your sister should have more trust in her husband and faith in their love.” Her head snapped up and she passionately cried out, “Diego would never cheat on his marriage vows, but it’s my fault that he’s acting this way to your sister! I had no choice but to ask for his help and he swore to tell nobody. It is life or death for these people, Anabel.”

  “Of course you had no choice, Mia. Sometimes we have to ask for help, no matter what the cost. I get that, and so will my sister once she’s thinking straight.” I cocked an ear to the closet where the yelling and screaming had tapered off to voices chattering in Spanish with the occasional exclamation in English thrown in by Jazy and Tre. Turning back to Mia, my smile was soothing. “Everything’s fine in there. Grab a chair and scoot over by me. We’ll talk like two grown women and not little bitches, because I think you and I have a lot in common. For one thing, we’re both used to navigating our way in a man’s world, aren’t we?” I rolled my eyes. “Believe me; I know men and they are total meatheads to work with. The way they worry and carry on, they can be worse than a bunch of old women.”

  Startled, Mia smiled involuntarily before hurriedly frowning again to show I couldn’t win her trust that easily. I knew she was a smart girl.

  “Diego is an intelligent man and a good man,” Mia stated loyally. “He is no meathead!”

  “Ha! If it worries like a meathead and carries on like a meathead, then chances are it is a meathead. Just ask my sister.”

  Mia fired back, “Diego is very conscientious!”

  “Yes, I agree he has no imagination.”

  Flustered, Mia moved closer to the desk. “I didn’t say that!” She bit her full red lip, and then looked earnestly into my face. “It’s just that he has a moral code and believes very strongly in right and wrong. He sees everything in black and white.”

  “Uh huh, I agree with everything you’re saying. He’s a rigid, unbending, rule-following, sweetie of a prig that can’t handle a little pressure when a girl like you colors outside the lines.” I shrugged my shoulders in exasperation. “That’s why we need to wrap up this little fiasco you’ve got going on here. Otherwise, Diego may pop a vein and Mac will drive me literally crazy.”

  Mia gasped an unbelieving laugh at my irreverent take on Diego and quickly covered her mouth with a hand.

  Tre stuck her head out the closet and I’ve never seen her look so pissed, sad, and happy-- all at one time.

  She flashed me a “five” count with her hand and exclaimed fervently, “You’ve got to help these people, Bel!”

  ‘There goes the schedule of my abducted weekend off work!’

  I was bumming b
ig time that I was never going to get My Turn at this rate, but helping was never a doubt once I heard all those Spanish voices crying out. I may not speak the language, but the sound of five voices babbling in terror, not counting Anna’s, needed no translation.

  Mia interjected on a frustrated cry of anger, “I’ve been trying to help them for the last week, why do you think they’re hiding here in Diego’s office, you huge ignorant woman!” She flicked a hand towards me and demanded contemptuously of Tre, “What can Anabel do that I haven’t? She doesn’t even know what’s going on, but you think your gang can walk right in and take over!”

  Nodding my head towards the thunderously frowning Tre over at the closet, I said lightly, “Mia, meet my friend, Tre J.” I swirled a hand at Tre. “Tre meet my new second cousin, Mia.”

  The white-blonde Viking with blue ice chips for eyes crossed strong arms over her munificent chest and stared down the petite, fiery-eyed Corsair with the curling black hair and hands poised aggressively on her hips.

  This was a sight to behold and I was not quite sure who to root for in this battle of the wills.

  Tre spoke first and her tone was just as snotty. “I don’t know what Bel can do either, you puny little brat, but she will do something and it sure as hell won’t take her a week! She killed a man two weeks ago after he tried to run us off the road, and let me tell you about the time she kicked…”

  A little stunned to hear Tre’s spin on the Hammer’s death, I nevertheless tuned out when she started divulging feats of our gang’s past exploits. I used this opportunity to check my phone, since it had been turned off for over half an hour.

  A missed call had come in ten minutes ago from an unknown number that caused a sinking sensation of dread in my stomach. I debated calling the number back. As a rule, I never call back missing calls or unknown numbers. If this was Dickie calling and he chose not to leave me a voice mail, I decided it was too dangerous to chance calling him back and I needed to trust he knew what he was doing.