“I’m sorry, what did you ask?”
“What do you do? You know, as in work. The daily grind?” Adeline rolled her eyes at him and Riley fought back the urge to lean in and kiss her when she least expected it.
“I own RT Land, it’s a development company. In a nutshell, I purchase property and then use it for larger projects. If there is an area in need of a shopping plaza, medical offices, or even homes, then I front the money and build it on my property. When it is close to complete, I start looking for buyers.”
“Impressive.”
Riley didn’t tell her that up until now it wasn’t all that impressive, but after spending just this short time with Adeline he was seriously thinking, how could he use his land to help others and still have a successful career?
Chapter Eight
Loren
Loren raced around the house; she needed to get her head clear before Greg got home. At least fifty times today she’d questioned whether the Iron Ladies had given her the right advice in pawning Greg’s golf clubs.
After settling Noelle into bed for the night, Loren made her way out to the living room and was sitting on the couch reading a book when she heard the garage door open. She pressed the home button on her phone and then turned on audio recording. Sliding the phone next to her so that it was hidden by the chair cushions, she glanced at the clock on the fireplace mantle and sighed. Just a little bit more and this would all be over, she told herself.
Bracing herself for whatever mood Greg was in when he walked in, she took several deep breaths as he opened the door and stepped in. “Hi, Greg, there’s a plate for you in the microwave just press reheat. You’re running late.”
“Yep, was a crazy day so I went and hit a game of golf with a couple of the guys. I got a par three on a par-five hole.”
“Wow, that’s incredible, is that because of your golf clubs?”
“You have no clue what a par three on a par five is, do you Loren? I’m actually very good at golf, which is why I bought those clubs in the first place. They didn’t make me a great player, they only improved my game. I probably could have gone pro if I’d wanted to.”
“Oh sorry, I didn’t know. So those clubs are working out for you.”
“Yes, they’re working out, in fact several of the guys were just admiring them today.”
“That’s nice dear.”
If Greg had been paying attention to anyone but himself, he would have noticed the slight shake in Loren’s voice. She wasn’t hurt, no, those days were gone…she was pissed. He’d stood there and told her a boldface lie. She knew all too well that there was no way he played golf today, or if he did, it wasn’t with his golf clubs. And no one admired them, since patrons at Queen’s Gold were now admiring them.
She felt like an idiot for questioning the ladies; they’d been right. She inwardly smiled, this was just like the milkshake when she was a teenager…totally vindicated.
Chapter Nine
Adeline
“I think I have what all I need. I need to go over to the courthouse and see if I can discover anything about Loren’s property, it’s really bugging me. If he has gotten his hands on it, I want to know how, and I want every single name involved in the transaction. Plus, I want to try to talk with a few of these interns and set a pattern for Greg’s temperament.” Adeline snagged her purse from under her desk and then stacked her papers, but stopped when the elevator dinged and off walked, or rather, bounced, Melanie.
“You must be having a great morning.”
“Oh, I am, and the rest of you are about to as well.” Melanie’s eyes were beaming with excitement as she pulled a manila envelope out of her bag for each of them.
“Someone’s been busy,” Adeline teased.
Everyone opened their envelopes and unfolded the stacks of papers they found inside.
“Highlighted blueprints?” Olivia glanced up just long enough to shoot Melanie a curious look.
“Happy Help employee badges?” Adeline examined the lanyard and tag. “What, we’re maids now?”
“An itinerary? Ohhh, minute by minute.” Sunday was the only one impressed.
“I also have uniforms for all of you. I called in one of our favors. I promised her that we’d be in and out and wouldn’t bother with any office other than Greg’s.”
“When are we doing this?” Adeline looked less than excited.
“Tonight. The cleaning crew goes in at nine and is out by ten. We are responsible for cleaning that one office. There are security guards, so make sure to have your badge on in case they swing though. We have one main key between the four of us, so we’ll stay together. If he’s hiding anything, we will find it.”
“Oh, what a beautiful morning, oh, what a beautiful day. What I wouldn’t give to see the wake-up call coming his way,” Adeline sang.
“You really can be a bitch, Adeline, you know that?”
Adeline nodded at Sunday’s question, not at all offended.
“Oh, and just in case you’re interested . . .” Sunday clicked on another screen and then read. “Riley Thomas, age thirty-four. Never married. Land developer, owner of RT Land, owns a condo in Vista Cay, which he paid cash for. Except for two years at the community college, I couldn’t find any other schooling. He is considered a self-made millionaire and has spent the last ten years building his company. Background checks came back clean. It appears that he’s solid.”
“Not interested.” Adeline winked at Sunday.
“Sure you aren’t. The sparks are electric between you two.”
“You want to know what’s electric? The chair. The one I want to strap his ass to.”
“Good god, would you like me to pass him a note in study hall?” Olivia rolled her eyes. “Let’s get our asses to work. I’m dying to shoot something or break something.” Olivia stood and everyone groaned at her tough-as-nails comment.
At eight thirty, the four women stood in the back of the Iron Ladies office building near a side room that they kept locked at all times. It would open for any one of the four ladies only. If anyone else tried, they wouldn’tt be able to break into operation control, and all they’d get would be lots of alarms. This was their secret headquarters, where all things were kept. This was the one room that let people know they weren’t dealing with just ordinary businesswomen or everyday dicks, which was why no one but the four ladies entered this room.
Adeline placed her hand on the panel, let the scanner do its thing, and grinned when the door clicked. It really was music to her ears. They each grabbed a pair of rubber-soled shoes and thin leather gloves and quickly changed into the uniforms Melanie had provided before snagging their utility belts and confirming that all of the necessary equipment was attached. They ran through everything required for what they liked to call their best behavior: breaking, entering, searching, and data-transfer operations.
“I’ve got new proxies for our IP address set.” Sunday flipped open a small laptop. “I’m already logged into the city’s computer security system. I’ll be able to reroute the camera’s pan and tilt function so that it isn’t sweeping across you.”
“Cameras, mics, and earpieces on.” Adeline gave a thumbs-up and looked to Melanie, Olivia, and Sunday as she waited for each of them to give the signal.
After strapping on her gun under her maid’s uniform, she added a few extra rounds of ammunition in her pockets, just in case. A small bottle of mace and a stun gun that doubled as a flashlight made their way into her purse as well.
They locked up their central command and headed out of their office and to the Porsche Cayenne they used for these kinds of operations. They liked it for speed, but they liked it more because it was black and had the maximum five-percent window tinting allowed. The automated license plate cover that would slide down at the click of a button was an added bonus.
Orlando City Hall was just a few miles away, but it was set back from the road.
“Do you remember when the old city hall blew up?” Adeline was
the oldest of the four by almost five years, and the memory of her dad holding her and watching the fire still thrilled her.
“Umm no. When was this?”
“Ninety-one, I think. Warner Brothers studio paid for the explosion.”
“What the fuck? Why have I never heard this?” Olivia was seated in the front passenger seat while Adeline drove. They all faced her, not wanting to miss a single word.
“It was huge, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover were here, and it was used for the opening of Lethal Weapon three. When the two of them were arguing over the red or blue wire and then they realized that they cut the wrong one, so he says, “Grab the cat,” and they run out as it explodes.”
“Holy shit, I never knew that. We are so going to have to rewatch that movie.”
“Sounds good to me.” Adeline could use some good girl-bonding time.
At nine o’clock on the dot the ladies parked by City Hall, and Sunday scanned the perimeter once more via the small laptop before switching to the screen to her iPad mini. “Okay, let’s go,” Sunday gave the order. “Just act normal.”
Melanie opened the back hatch of their vehicle and handed a plastic basket full of cleaning supplies to Olivia, the vacuum went to Adeline, and the stack of dusters went to Sunday. Melanie propped her own basket of supplies on her hip before she closed the trunk.
A guard was standing at the door, and he barely looked up from his phone long enough to glance at their badges and open the door for them. On the fourth floor, Melanie pulled out the key and unlocked the outer door to Greg’s office, then the four of them quickly moved to the far office on the left. The plaque on the door read: Mayor Greg Delaney. Again, Melanie opened the door and they filed in. What would probably look like a rehearsed dance to an outsider was just good training to the ladies. They set their equipment down, slid on their gloves, and split to opposite ends of the room. Adeline moved to each set of windows and closed the blinds. Sunday pulled out her small laptop from inside her uniform and grabbed several memory sticks. Olivia placed an amplifier that fed into their earpieces at the base of the door so they would hear anyone coming long before they got to the door. Melanie pulled out her lock-picking tools and set about moving from cabinet to drawer, unlocking each one.
Olivia was right there, opening the drawers, pulling files, and snapping pictures of the contents. When Olivia moved to the next cabinet, Adeline stepped in and slid her gloved hands to the back of each drawer and cabinet, feeling for hidden compartments or loose edges. Right then it was all about speed, divide and conquer was their motto.
“Bingo.” Adeline felt like she’d just hit the jackpot.
“What is it?” Olivia asked, but didn’t stop snapping photos of files.
“This drawer has a false back.” Adeline lifted it from the rollers, pressing the locks that held the sliding rail into place, and then set the whole thing on the ground. After pulling her utility knife off her belt, she flipped to her awl tool and slid the pointed tip into the crevice and then dragged it along the seam. The faux-backing gave a satisfying pop that was almost orgasmic to Adeline. Inside lay a stack of papers. Adeline pulled them out and flipped through them, quickly spreading them out and then looking over to get Olivia’s attention, but she was already there, capturing images of each one.
Sunday kept the cameras panning away from the office areas via her laptop and kept downloading information from Greg’s computer while the other three searched.
“Let’s go.” Olivia shoved the stack of files back into Adeline’s hands. “Alphabetical order.” Adeline nodded, making quick work of setting everything back to right. Then Melanie began locking the cabinets and drawers.
“Stop.” Sunday held up her hand. “Fuck. Greg’s here. Hide.” Grabbing the box of cleaning supplies and vacuum, Olivia darted for the door, snagging the amplifier on her way. Sunday closed her laptop, gathered the memory sticks, and picked up the rest of the unused cleaning supplies, hoping to god they’d be forgiven for not getting the office cleaned, and darted out to the main area. Adeline and Melanie finished shoving all the papers back into their correct positions and locking the cabinets.
Adeline jumped when Greg’s door opened once more, but it was Sunday and Olivia standing there.
“Hurry, I think he just got onto the elevator.” Olivia looked behind her.
“Where are the cleaning supplies? Melanie looked around.
“We stashed them out in the main office area.”
Adeline had just closed the last file and put it back into the proper position when they all froze. The sound of voices echoed around them.
“Shit, there’s no time. Come on.” Adeline moved to a large bank of cabinets that sat in a row under Greg’s window. Pulling the door open, she let out a small laugh. “Perfect. Get in.”
“What the fuck?” Melanie was adamantly shaking her head but stopped as the voices grew closer and their places to hide seemed to have been narrowed down to exactly where Adeline had directed.
Olivia, Sunday, and Melanie dove for cabinet doors, each folding their bodies up and crawling inside.
“God, let’s just hope he doesn’t keep condoms in one of these,” Melanie muttered.
“Oh, he doesn’t. He keeps those in his center desk drawer, I saw them.” Adeline replied.
“Will you two shut up?” Sunday snapped, freaked that they were going to get caught.
“Turn your recorder on Sunday.” Adeline instructed.
“I will—” Her words cut off when the office door opened.
Adeline couldn’t miss the telltale sound of the door locking, or the high-pitch laugh of a woman who most definitely wasn’t Loren.
“That’s not Mrs. Chatham,” she whispered, craning her neck as far as she could when no one answered.
Olivia had her small camera up against the crack trying to snap photos, and Melanie and Sunday were both glaring at Adeline for making noise.
Melanie lifted a silent hand and then pointed to the amplifier that was tucked by Olivia’s feet.
Sunday turned the receiver toward the cabinet door, and Greg and his female companion’s voices came through their earpieces.
Adeline was all for watching some porn, but Greg Delaney getting it on while still wearing his shoes and socks was a hard no. Listening to the girl gag as she tried to give him a blowjob had Adeline fighting her every instinct to shout, just fucking breathe through your nose.
His attempt at dirty talk? It was terrible. She was now convinced that helping Loren was more of a mission than an assignment. No woman should be subjected to a lover like that.
Adeline was stiff, she ached, she had no clue how long they’d been crammed into these cabinets and the two of them were still going at it. She moved and her knee popped. Melanie, Olivia, and Sunday jerked their heads and stared at her.
“What?” she mouthed. She always hated it that when she was trying to be quiet, everything she did seemed ten times louder. Like when she was younger and was just starting her rebellious phase, it always seemed that the stairs in your house were suddenly louder than the fucking philharmonic orchestra. She let out a small laugh. Or street lights that you’d never really noticed prior to that night were suddenly shining at five-thousand lumens each. At that thought, Adeline quickly looked around to make sure that no lights could shine into the cabinets.
Adeline blinked and tried to keep the sweat from rolling into her eyes as she crouched and then it hit her: she had to pee. No, she didn’t just have to pee, she had to pee, like she was turning yellow she had to pee so bad, and she couldn’t understand why, because just a few seconds ago, it wasn’t bothering her. She blamed the, venti, half-sweet, non-fat caramel macchiato with an extra shot and whipped cream from Starbucks she drank before they embarked on this shit show.
“Yes, yes, oh, god, oh god.”
The woman’s fake moans were enough to distract Adeline, who had to clamp her hand over her lips to keep from laughing.
Thank god—not Greg, Adeline onl
y had to sit there about ten minutes more until Greg and his latest tart left the office. Sunday gave the all clear, and the four of them crawled out, all of them unable to stand just yet because they had so many aches.
Adeline ran and used Greg’s en-suite bathroom.
Walking out of the office, they gathered their cleaning supplies, Sunday logged into their security system and disarmed the alarms that had been reset since it was way past ten, and they waited for the all-clear before exiting.
“Give the man credit, he has stamina.” Olivia chuckled.
They drove the six miles home.
Chapter Ten
Adeline
“Hello?” Adeline answered the office line.
“Hey, it’s me, who all is there?”
“Everyone. Want me to put you on speaker?”
“Please.”
Adeline placed her hand over the receiver and shouted for Sunday and Melanie to come over. “Olivia is on the phone.” When they’d all pulled up a seat, Adeline pressed speaker. “We’re all here, Livi.”
“Sunday, I just uploaded several hundred photos. You all can take a look, but I hate to say this, I can’t find anything.”
“Except for him sneaking away with Mrs. Chatham,” Melanie replied.
“Well, yeah, except for that. I just don’t see him doing anything else. Are we sure we aren’t on some wild goose chase, and that Loren isn’t just hoping we’ll find something so she can get even more?”
The frustration was bleeding in every word. Olivia had been monitoring Greg Delaney’s every movement and activity for the last few weeks and hadn’t turned up anything they could use.
“He goes to City Hall every morning and stays there all day. I’ve followed him to several lunches, and he actually went on lunches. His affairs are carried on after work hours. I hate to say it, but I can’t find anything else shady. I went through all of the photos from last night and moved anything that was clearly not pertinent to a file, but if it might be the least bit interesting I’ve forwarded it, I also sent photos from the few lunches that I caught on camera. Let me know if you see something that I didn’t.”
Roadster (Iron Ladies Book 1) Page 7
