She looked at the curvaceous black woman in front of her. Her ebony skin, short Halle Berry cut hair style, and vivacious almond shaped eyes made her look exotic—like a model. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll take your daughter from you because of this?”
She shook her head no. “You see I’ve never actually been charged. They hold me here for a couple hours; the detective who brought me in lets me leave with the understanding that I will give him a freebie in the men’s bathroom before I go. I hate it, but I do what I have to do. They were going to take Liza Jane away from me before—when the bank was threatening foreclosure…they haven’t come back since I caught up on my payments. I don’t walk the streets or anything like that…” she shook her head. “I…well generally I do the online ad sites and post my ad like it’s a date. I do oral sex, not vaginal, but getting paid makes it the same thing when you’re arrested. I thought the ads were a good idea, but…well, not so much. That’s how I got caught the first time. I went, told him how much it would cost and he flashed me his badge. This last time was sheer bad luck. He was working a case at the hotel where I was meeting my next client…well, let’s just say I didn’t get paid, but I got arrested…he let the guy go so I knew he wouldn’t actually book me…but next time...”
Thena shook her head. The cops at this station were all wacky, crazy, two fries short of a happy meal, nut cases. “Listen,” she went to sit beside her. “I’m not a call girl, so I can’t hook you up with a madam. But do you have any other office skills or anything like that? I mean, what did you do before?”
“I used to be a photographer.” She sighed. “Seems like a lifetime ago. But it wasn’t. And I was damn good too…but with the economy going bust the small company I worked for had to cut back and well…they weren’t exactly going to cut their family members. Some of them weren’t even good. I mean, they cut off building tops, people’s heads…everything, and because they were the son or daughter of a distant cousin they let them keep their job while I lost mine.”
She shook her head. “Well, if you’re interested, I might have a job for you. Something to get you out of this profession. And it’s a laid back atmosphere so if you need to bring your daughter with you that’s fine.”
“I’d clean toilets to get out of this. If anybody would hire me.”
“Well it’s not cleaning toilets,” she smiled warmly. “I’m an architect…well, actually I’m a contractor. I took over my father’s business when he died, but I also wanted to still have my dream of being an architectural designer. I could use somebody with a good pair of eyes to maybe do photos of my work for marketing. But I’d also want your help in the office. It’s the only way I’d be able to have you working for more than a couple weeks a month. If you need to bring your daughter…”
“Oh no, my mother watches her. She’s on a limited income—Social Security; and I know she doesn’t know what I’m doing, but she watches Liza whenever I have to…work.”
She smiled. “Okay, then stop by my office on Monday and we’ll get the paper work done and you can start same day.” She told her where her office was located. It wasn’t as if she could just hand the woman her business card. She didn’t even have her purse. “Can you remember that?”
“Of course.”
“Great. So, Monday, anytime before noon is good. If you’re really interested in staying on I’ll get you aquamated with the contracting side and maybe you can come out on jobs with me from time to time…or meet with clients with me.” She had an assistant already, but that assistant was part time and never went in the field with her. She could afford one more employee…especially if she could manage to grow that employee into another area. It would be a win-win for both of them.
“I can’t believe my luck,” she laughed. “Who knew I’d find a job in a place like this.”
Thena laughed. “Yeah, not exactly what one would expect. Of course I never expected to land on this side of the bars.”
“Yeah, what’s up with that?”
She shrugged, and then she told her about her mother, finding the body, the cops losing the body and the stupid captain throwing her in jail because of his mistake.
“Oh, Lord honey I’m sorry. I couldn’t imagine losing my mom that young and then finding her like that.”
“Yeah…it wasn’t easy on us. I guess in a way I’m glad my dad isn’t alive to see this. I think we always knew she was dead…but some part of us just hoped she was still alive. You know I crafted this idea that maybe some desert sheik wanted her for a wife and one of these days some Special Forces military man would find her and bring her home. As a child it was how I got by. As an adult…I guess I never really believed it would happen, but wouldn’t it have been nice if this ended differently? Wouldn’t it have been nice if she were still alive?”
“Yes it would have. I imagine finding her is like grieving her all over again.”
She brushed a fallen tear off her cheek. “Yeah,” she didn’t know why, but talking to Candy D was so therapeutic. She frowned. “Since you’re working for me now I have to ask. Is Candy D even close to your real name?”
She laughed. “Yes and no. My middle name is Deanne, my first name is Jane. The D is for my middle name and I picked Candy because I thought it seemed sexier than Jane…plus it’s not like I wanted people to know who I really was.”
She shook her head with understanding.
“I actually go by Deanne, so if you don’t mind, when I start working for you, could you call me Deanne, or something like it? I hate going by Jane. It seems so…plain.”
Thena laughed. “Yeah, I get it. And my name really is Thena.” She felt the need to be sure Deanne understood she hadn’t given her an alias too. “Not Athena, just Thena. Thena Davis.” She hadn’t told Deanne her last name in the first round of introductions.
She laughed too. “I got it. Should I call you Mrs. Davis?”
“Miss,” she supplied. “And no. We’re all really informal. You can call me Thena; everybody else does.”
The burly officer with the oversized gut, balding head, and permanent scowl unlocked the door. “You’re out of here, Davis.” Thena jumped up so fast her head almost started spinning. “You too Candy D…I think Detective Manus wants to see you before you go,” he chuckled. That alone told Thena he knew exactly what Detective Manus wanted.
She kept Deanne by her side as she made her way over to Thomas. “Thanks,” she smiled up at him. Relief flickered through her the moment she saw him standing there, but the moment she looked in his eyes she could see he was angry—very angry.
Detective Manus approached. “I’ll give you a ride home Candy D,” he snickered.
“Actually,” Thena chimed in. “Thomas and I are going to give her a ride to my office. It’s on our way. And since she’s going to be working for my office now I might as well get her started on the paperwork.” She noted the hesitation on the detective’s face. “It is very noble of you to want to help her, but she’ll be safe with us. Plus I’d love for her to meet my attorney. He’s a partner in Magnum and Cleason, You may have heard of it; they win so many cases a year…criminal and business.” She smiled, knowing the detective was sitting on edge now. “Good guys,” she added. “Dependable and honest,” she stressed the word honest.”
“I see,” he croaked out.
“Say good bye to Candy D, detective. She won’t be back here.”
He nodded his understanding. As if she was really in the position to make threats…well, it wasn’t a treat really. What he was doing was wrong. Although she was sure if it came down to it Deanne wouldn’t aptly press charges because she’d risk it being public record that she sold sexual services to pay her mortgage and put food on the table.
Thomas took hold of her arm and guided her out the door and to his car. Deanne sat quietly in the back as they drove. Thena could see Thomas gripping the steering wheel. She was sure he was ready to lecture her, but holding it back because of their silent passenger. She wondered how long his te
mper would hold. She didn’t have to wonder for long because before he even got a block from the station he let loose.
“What were you thinking? First you go off and nearly get yourself killed yesterday.”
“I hardly think they were going to kill me.” Although had they caught her they might have. She just wanted a look around the building to see if her mother’s body really had been taken to their facility. The cops had told Thomas as much…something about not having real proof, but that they thought it probably had been the O’Shea family. They didn’t seem in a hurry to find real proof so she just thought she would help them out.
He cut her a terse look that told her she needed to stop talking now. “Then you pull this stunt. Has it ever occurred to you that one of those cops might be your enemy?”
She shook her head. “I know they’re not my friends, or even good cops,” she noted, “but that doesn’t mean anything…wait, you think they had something to do with my mother’s death?” She asked incredulously.
“No, what I’m saying is dead bodies don’t just get up and walk away, Thena. Somebody carted it out of there and they couldn’t have done that without some inside help. Then you go down there, get yourself thrown in the slammer…”
She giggled.
“You think this funny!”
“Slammer…I thought they only said that in the movies.”
He growled.
“I’m sorry, Thomas I was just trying to help.”
“You don’t help. When are you going to get that through your thick head? You stay out of this and let me do the job you hired me to do.”
“I hired you to find out what happened to my mother nearly twenty years ago, not to find out where the cops have stashed her body. I thought I could help…I’m sorry I tried.”
He blew out an exasperated breath. “You could drive a saint to cursing,” he snapped.
“You haven’t cursed.”
“Not verbally,” he mumbled. That alone told her he was cursing up a storm mentally.
She tried to switch tactics. “I’m sorry, Thomas. I won’t let it happen again. But on the bright side, I met Deanne and she’s going to come work for me, so you see, some good came out of everything.”
He mumbled something under his breath. She could tell he didn’t quite believe her optimism.
“Right, Deanne?” She needed an ally.
“I’m not sure I should be getting in the middle of this,” she said. “Your guy seems to have your best interest at heart. And from what I can tell, and I hope this doesn’t get me fired before I officially start, but from what you’ve told me it seems he has good cause to be worried.”
“Thanks,” he chimed in.
She sighed. “I wouldn’t fire you for voicing your opinion,” she shook her head. “Although I do wish you hadn’t sided with him. He’s winning all the arguments and I haven’t won one.” She didn’t think that was right at all. She understood Thomas’ reasoning. She had, after all, hired him, but at the same time she couldn’t just sit back and do nothing. This was—well gosh, this was her mother for crying out loud. She didn’t want to see this swept under the metaphorical rug…not again. She didn’t remember much about the investigation the first time around, her father had been sure to try to keep most of it from her, but she had heard him talking to a friend one night and he told him the cops had already shelved the case. It had only been a month and they had shelved the case! She was sure they should have kept working on it for longer, but they hadn’t. She didn’t want to see that happen this time. That was her mother’s body, and if they weren’t going to find out what happened to her they could have at least returned the body so Thena could burry her mother next to her father.
“And he’s not my guy,” she added. Even though she wanted him to be, he wasn’t. “He’s a private investigator I hired to help me sort this all out.” Had she been thinking clearly earlier she could have just called Kyle to come get her. Had she called Kyle, Thomas would never know she was in lockup because she had done exactly what he didn’t want her to do.
Deanne chuckled. “Then I’d suggest you let him sort things out, honey, or you might find yourself in a wooden box.”
She really hated when everybody was right and she was wrong. But admitting that she was wrong wasn’t beneath her. “Yeah, I screwed up. Thomas, please forgive me?”
He mumbled something else before stopping the car outside her office. He turned to look at her. “It seems the only way I’m going to keep you out of trouble is to watch you like a hawk.” She started to protest and he cut her off. “I have some research to do. I’ll pick you up at six. Try to stay out of trouble until then.”
Try to stay out of trouble! What happened wasn’t her fault—well, not entirely anyway. And just what did he mean, watch her like a hawk? Was he planning to spend another night in her guest room? She hoped not. Having the man sleeping just down the hall from her had been extremely difficult last night. She couldn’t begin to count how many times she had dreamed about leaving her bedroom for his. In fact, every time she woke up and rolled over she had been tempted to see if any of those dreams would become reality if she did go to him.
Chapter Six
Thena loved the steam room she had designed for her home. She didn’t have a chance to use it nearly as often as she wanted to, but after a long, hard, stressing day, the steam room worked magic on her body and her mood. After the day she had just had…she needed her steam room. Maybe she needed to take up drinking too…nah, she’d just settle for the steam.
The stupid captain at the stupid police station had locked her up in the stupid jail with the stupid guard…she couldn’t count how many times she had thought of how many things had been stupid about the situation. In fact, at one point she had called it the stupid car that took her to the stupid crime scene. Then there was the stupid front desk sergeant that sent her to the wrong department. She exhaled sharply. “Stupid cops,” she snapped.
She took a series of slow breaths trying to calm herself back down. The steam room only helped if she let it. It wouldn’t help if she kept thinking about the stupid captain at the stupid police station with the stupid jail…”get a grip, Thena,” she sighed. So they lost a body…it could have been worse. She wasn’t sure how, but it could have been. After she thought about it for a second she knew how it could have been worse. They could have lost her body. That would have sucked—big time.
And now, she was stuck with Thomas McGregor. Just great! Being stuck with the man was going to drive her mad. She liked him—a lot more than she should. She had just met the man—almost literally, and here she was tripping over herself around him. And he, he just wanted to keep things professional. If he wanted professional then he shouldn’t have shown up at her office with his suitcase on the back seat of his car. He shouldn’t have insisted he move in with her for a while. He shouldn’t have even thought it…and she shouldn’t have agreed to it.
Thena had gone into the confines of the room she used to escape the stress of her more hectic days, trying desperately to escape the stress of this day. She didn’t think she would have a visitor inside her oasis, but Thomas had proved otherwise. Apparently he wasn’t content with just being the PI; he was now her self-appointed bodyguard. She wondered if he pulled extra duty for all his clients…or did he make a special exception for clients who did severely stupid things? That was just great; he probably thought she was stupid. She hadn’t exactly done too many things since meeting him that would tilt his opinion of her in any other direction. She needed him to work her mother’s case, not babysit her. How was he going to find out who had killed her mother if he was dead set on protecting her at every turn?
“I don’t need a bodyguard in here,” she said with her eyes closed and her head lulled back against the wall. “I’m really not so stupid that I can’t sit down without screwing things up, you know?”
“I never thought you were stupid. As for the bodyguard part…well, I beg to differ.” His voice was l
ow, seductive even. The tone was arousing and disarming at the same time. He was the one who said he wanted to keep things professional. He was the one who assured her there could never be anything more than a business relationship with them. It wasn’t fair for him to arouse her with just one look, one word. He didn’t have the right to make her want him when he had no intentions of ever giving himself, his heart, to her.
“I thought I’d join you.”
She opened her eyes and took in his splendid body. All six foot four inches of him. Solid was an understatement because the man was built like a stone fortress. His hardened abs, his muscular arms, even his thick legs screamed sexy. He wasn’t overtly muscular like Arnold in his early days, but he was more muscular than the type of man she normally went for. In fact, he wasn’t her type at all. She normally went for guys who did PhDs in mathematics, science, astronomy. She didn’t know why. Maybe because they were so far from who she was. Sure, she was a genius when it came to architecture, but math had been her near downfall in every grade. How she managed to design structures with her math skills was beyond her. How she managed to run her fathers…no it was hers now…contracting company was another big question mark. Of course she knew she ran it well because she worked with her father from the time he thought she was old enough to tag along, throughout her college education, and on down to his death. She knew the men respected her because of who she was and what she did. They all knew of her house flipping on the side; she had been doing that since she met Kyle in college. While she had learned many things from her father, she had learned a lot from Kyle; including the ins and outs of installing a new bathroom. He never treated her like a fragile woman and he never offered to do a job that she hadn’t asked for help on. He treated her like one of the guys when they were working and she appreciated that. Her father didn’t handhold her, but there were some things he wouldn’t let her do. Thena on the roof helping the roofers was not something her father allowed. He taught her what he could about working, but was more concerned about teaching her what she needed to know to be a top-notch contractor.
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