Hot and Handy: A Small Town Romantic Suspense (Shameless Southern Nights Book 3)

by J. H. Croix

  My boss scoffed. “Yes, so you’ve said. I don’t know why your other employer gets preference on your schedule. You’ve been with me a long time. I’ve been good to you, Sadie. You should remember that.”

  “They don’t get preference, sir. I signed an agreement stipulating—”

  He raised a shaking hand. “You have an agreement with me, too, Ms. Hammel. It can always be terminated.”

  Tired of his empty threats but knowing I had no leverage in this situation, I nodded. “I know. I’m doing my best.”

  Frustration bubbled up in me. I hated feeling helpless, and in both of my jobs, that was exactly what I was. I couldn’t argue, couldn’t make waves, and couldn’t quit. I needed both jobs too badly. Mr. Ray ranted at me, and all I could do was stand there and take it.

  When he stormed off in a huff, I held back tears of frustration. Blinking, I checked my watch. I was already five minutes behind schedule thanks to my boss’s need to vent. If I didn’t hurry, I was going to be late for my cleaning job at the firm.

  I went straight there, exchanging one uniform for another when I reached the small staff bathroom. It was stark and white, making my skin look gaunt as I stood in my gray uniform. I smoothed out my skirt, grabbed my gloves, and left my depressing reflection behind me.

  My cart was fully stocked already. One of my duties was to ensure it was ready for the next shift at the end of each one, so I was always relieved when it was ready for me.

  Nerves started floating from my belly as I pushed the cart toward the corridor with the offices and conference rooms in it. It was my first shift here that I was actively going to be looking for information or clues for Sonny.

  As usual, the place was nearly deserted. My low heels clicked against the tiles in the abandoned lobby area. I pushed through the staff entrance to the firm’s base of operations, relieved to find it about as deserted as the outside.

  Pushing my cart, I slowed when I heard voices filtering out from one of the conference rooms again. I considered going for my phone to record the conversation, but the door was mostly closed, and I doubted a recording would pick up much. I was going to have to eavesdrop and rely on my memory if I heard anything that set alarm bells off.

  Sonny had spent a lot of time telling me what to look and listen for. I was more or less prepared and knew what should set those bells off.

  What I couldn’t do was stand in the middle of the hallway, clearly listening in on the conversation. My gaze slid up and down the corridor, landing on a supply closet one door over and across from the conference room where they were.

  Perfect. I never imagined those could come in handy for hiding and eavesdropping purposes. Tiptoeing despite the thick carpet beneath my feet, I quietly opened the door and pushed my cart in ahead of me. If anyone found me, I could simply say I was restocking on some essentials. I knew my cart was fully stocked, but no one else did.

  Positioning myself so I was in front of the cleaning supplies in case I needed the excuse to have been in here restocking, I made sure the door was cracked open and listened as closely as I could to what was happening in the conference room.

  The voices coming from it were all male. All authoritative, all stern, and sure.

  “He has the money,” someone seethed. “I don’t understand why we can’t get one of our contacts to issue a warrant so we can seize it.”

  “It could’ve been moved by now,” another voice argued. “And you know as well as I do, we can’t get a warrant for that kind of seizure. We don’t even know whose name the account is in. We’ll never get a blanket warrant to search for it.”

  Someone snorted. “We can get whatever the fuck we want.”

  “No,” the other voice said. “It’s too dangerous that way. Do you want to wave a fucking red flag at the GBI with words ‘Here I am, come get me’ printed on it?”

  “They’re idiots,” someone scoffed. “They’ll never catch us.”

  His words sparked an argument about the bounds of the law and how far they could go before the “idiots” caught up to them. I tuned out the legalese and tried to keep up with the gist of the conversation.

  They were arguing about money again and brainstorming the best way of getting it back. Sonny had asked me to listen for any names, but the men didn’t mention any.

  There were sounds of chairs scraping out, and then the voices became louder as they stepped into the hallway. I held my breath, though I knew they wouldn’t be able to hear me breathing. Also, I had a reason to be in here, so even if got caught, I would be able to talk myself out of it.

  Even so, I didn’t want to take any chances. I’d promised Evan I would stay safe and stay under the radar. That was what I intended on doing. If I could avoid the men knowing I was here, it would be a job well done.

  “I don’t care how you do it,” one of the voices said, quietly but with as much force in his voice as if he had yelled. By the hush that fell over the rest of the group, I assumed I wasn’t the only one who experienced the man’s quiet admonishment that way. “Just get it done. I’m tired of telling you this. It’s not that fucking difficult. You have money, connections, and the law behind you. Figure it out.”

  “If only it were that easy,” one of the voices muttered under his breath as he passed my closet. The others walked away as well. Some of the lights out in hallway went off.

  A part of me wanted to break into a victory dance. They were gone, and I’d been able to listen to a conversation without them finding out I was there. A little thrill raced through me.

  Encouraged at my small success, I pushed the door open after waiting a few more minutes to give them time to get far, far away from me. The building was now completely deserted. It looked like all the men who were left had gone after their meeting.

  To be sure, I pushed my cart through the corridors and peeked into offices and conference rooms. None of the main lights were on anymore in any of the offices. They were now lit by only the dim support lights by which I was expected to clean.

  It used to frustrate me, but now I was thankful for the low light. It gave me a little bit more cover in case I needed it. When I first volunteered over a week ago to help Sonny, I started formulating my plan for how I was going to go about cleaning and gathering information at the same time.

  The easiest way of doing it was to keep doing exactly what I did anyway but to study the documents left out on the desks before I left the offices. I would snoop as I went along.

  One man had already caught me in his office, and he’d seemed quite content to forget I was even in the room when he fetched his briefcase after I’d told him I was only the cleaner. I was the low woman on the totem pole to these men.

  A ghost. The invisible girl who made sure their offices were presentable and dust-free when they returned in the morning. Safe in that knowledge, I got to work.

  When I reached the office I thought was Ken’s—since I saw him go into it after he came onto me—I became a little more meticulous. In the other offices, I’d rummaged through the papers on their desks and moved on if I didn’t find anything of interest.

  Since Ken was the main bad guy as far as I knew, I treated his office to what I’d dubbed in my mind as a deep cleanse. After sticking my head out the door to make sure the coast was clear, I closed the office door behind me.

  Rows and rows of files rested on bookshelves that surrounded the office. Every inch of wall space was covered in shelving or photographs of Ken and others at the firm with influential figures. Narrowing my eyes at them, I realized Evan was right.

  This rabbit hole probably went a lot deeper than we thought. With renewed determination to cut the corrupt bastards down to size, I started going through the files.

  It was going to take forever to get through them all, but I had time. I would start slowly and check for more information every night until I was done or until Sonny had everything he needed.

  In one file, I found banking information for overseas accounts. China, Hong Kong, Sout
h Africa, Switzerland, and a whole host of others. I didn’t know what to make of it, but I had a feeling Sonny would want to know about these accounts.

  He had asked me to look for any bank documents, after all. A large photocopier occupied the corner of the office. Its lights blinked green, indicating it was on and working.

  Glancing down at the file in my hands, I wondered if I should make copies. It would be easier, but if the copier had tracking on it, I was done for. It would be so easy for them to trace it back to me.

  No. I couldn’t risk it. Instead, I pulled out my phone and took photos of the pages with the account information on them.

  By the time I left the firm, it was late. I should’ve been bone-tired, but I was buzzing with excitement. The need to tell Evan what I found and overheard consumed me. I didn’t know what time he went to bed, but I was hoping he was still awake.

  On my way home, I made the call.

  “Sadie, I was hoping I would hear from you. How did it go?”

  “It went fantastic,” I practically squealed. Maybe it was years of simply surviving under my father’s thumb, but it felt good to be proactive. “I found files with tons of international bank account details in them. I took pictures of them, but there’s so much more. Oh, and I overheard men having a meeting about money they wanted to get back.”

  “Whoa. Sounds like you had a productive night. Are you okay? Did they see you?”

  I smiled at his protectiveness. “No one saw me.”

  “Okay. Do you want me to come over? You can tell me all about it, and I’ll pass it along to Sonny. You don’t need to be stuck with doing all of that as well.”

  Disappointment stabbed at my gut. I would’ve loved to have seen him. “I can’t. Lori’s babysitting Emery for me. They’re both probably asleep by now, and I don’t want to wake them.”

  “Want to come to my place?” he asked.

  “I’d better get home. I can’t leave Lori with Emery all night, and it’s already late. It’s probably best if I get to sleep anyway.”

  “Okay,” he agreed. “I’ll see you at the diner tomorrow, okay?”

  “Okay.” When I hung up the phone, I wished he could’ve been there when I got home.

  Maybe one day. For now, I was going to have to be content with waiting to see him tomorrow. This sucks.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Evan

  “Another busy day, boss man.” Phoenix grinned when I got to the shop. He stared up at the whiteboard I’d installed to keep track of our work and who was doing what. I thought it would help make us more efficient if it was all right there, but all it did was to stress me out over the amount of work still to be done.

  We were swamped again, but I found it difficult to concentrate on work. I was too anxious about talking to Sadie. I’d been a ball of fucking nerves all night, waiting to hear whether she was or wasn’t safe. I hated knowing she’d been in that bastard’s office without protection. It drove me insane.

  Phoenix snapped his fingers in front of my eyes. “Evan?”

  “Yeah.” I blinked back the memories from last night and my worry over Sadie. “Sorry. Yeah. Busy day.”

  He frowned at me but shrugged and let it go. Good man. “I took a look at Mrs. Jensen’s car when I got here. I think it might be the cambelt. She’s complaining over the noise it makes and says it’s having starting issues. You want me to pencil her in on the board?”

  “Sure, but make it as quick as you can. You don’t want to start the day out behind.”

  He smirked. “Depends on what I’m behind. Mrs. Jensen’s got it going for an older lady.”

  Yanking the rag out of my back pocket, I swatted his shoulder with it. “You’re fucking impossible. Get to work.”

  Laughing, he snapped his fingers to his forehead in a salute. “You got it, boss.”

  Laughter followed him all the way to Mrs. Jensen’s ancient sedan. A couple of the guys looked at him as he passed, but they were used to Phoenix and didn’t let him distract them for long.

  After doing my morning rounds, making some calls to suppliers and handling follow-ups with a few customers, I threw myself into the physical work. I needed to distract myself from thinking about Sadie somehow, and this seemed like one way to do it.

  Around lunchtime, I heard Phoenix call my name. “Yo, Ev. You’ve got company.”

  Lifting my head out of the internal combustion engine I was working on, my heart rate sped up. It was Sadie. It had to be. I carefully set my tools onto the workbench beside me and grabbed my shirt to wipe the sweat off my brow and face.

  I’d taken the shirt off hours ago when it got too hot in the workshop and only realized once I’d wiped my face with it that it was the one I was supposed to be wearing today. I had a clean one somewhere in my office, but I was too eager to see her.

  When I got to the counter, though, I saw Phoenix standing next to it with Beau. He was the visitor, not Sadie. My optimism tanked. Thank God I hadn’t bothered to worry about changing my shirt.

  “You have time for coffee?” Beau asked when he saw me.

  I shook my head. “Nope, but neither do you, and you’re here anyway, so I’ll make us some.”

  My brother said goodbye to Phoenix and followed me to my office. “You’re doing well for yourself here.”

  I looked at him over my shoulder. “Sure am. You sound surprised.”

  “It feels like it’s busier every time I come here,” he commented, preceding me into my office when I stepped back as we got to the door.

  I shut it behind me. What Beau was here to talk about, my staff didn’t need to hear. “Business is picking up. We’re doing well. It’s been busy for a couple of months now. How much you’ll see and hear about it depends on the time of day you come.”

  Beau shrugged. “I guess.”

  Finding clean mugs, I made us each a cup of that dark roast Phoenix made me buy. The stuff was the only reason I could function most days. “You didn’t come here to talk about my business.”

  “Are you allergic to catching up?” He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, blue eyes flashing in annoyance.

  “No, but we’ve been seeing and talking to each other so often, we don’t really need to catch up, do we?” I asked, my voice even.

  Beau rolled his head from side to side. “Fine. I won’t tell you about my kick-ass project starting in Savannah next month then. Here’s a clue, though. It’s going to have a driving range on the roof and a killer fishing spot in the park we’re creating behind it.”

  Laughter ripped from my chest as I watched Beau trying to keep a straight face while he said all of this. “There’s no way you’d withhold a killer fishing spot from me.”

  “Of course I would.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Nah, you’re right. I wouldn’t. So get this.”

  Launching into a detailed explanation of the design he was working on, Beau made it sound like he was redesigning heaven itself. The houses in the development would be out of the price range of most, but the way he talked about it, I believed selling everything I owned to buy a bachelor’s unit would be worth it.

  Beau was like that. People listened when he talked, myself included. He wasn’t a salesman, but he would’ve made a hell of a good one.

  When he was done telling me about it, his expression turned somber. “I got a visit from that Ken Lyons dude. He was waiting for me in the parking lot outside my office one night.”

  “Let me guess, tried to keep his face sort of in the shadows and didn’t say much.”

  Beau pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded. “He came to speak to you too?”

  “He did. How’d you know it was him?”

  “Sonny sent me a picture,” Beau said. “Wanted me to be on the lookout in case I saw him hovering around me. Turns out he was right to be worried about it.”

  “What did he talk to you about?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Not much. Asked a couple of questions. Am I Beau Lovett, do I know where his money i
s, why have I recently tried contacting Dad, and so on and so forth.”

  The same kinds of questions he’d asked me then. I cocked my head. “What did you say?”

  Beau frowned and then laughed humorlessly. “I told him to fuck off and mind his own business. What did you say?”

  “Same,” I told him, handing him his cup of coffee and raising mine so we could drink to both having told off the arrogant asshole. “He knew I’d gone to visit Dad.”

  Beau nodded slowly. “It seems he knows a lot about us.”

  “He’s looking for his money,” I told Beau. “I don’t know how much of the money I transferred for Dad was his, but it’s got to be a decent amount for him to come to us personally.”

  “Agreed,” Beau said. “He’s clearly trying to sniff out where Dad’s money went. I’m assuming they’re the guys who were closing in on it.”

  I nodded. “I thought the same thing. If he knows so much about us, I think it’s safe to say you and I haven’t seen the last of him. He’ll know Dad came into contact with both of us right before the money was moved.”

  Beau rubbed his chin, a serious expression on his features. “True. I think we should talk to Sonny, let him know Ken came to see us both. He probably needs to know that.”

  “It might be time to loop in the others as well. We don’t know if Dad contacted Jer or Tyson when he did us. Even if he didn’t, they could be targets of Ken’s too. It’s becoming too dangerous for them not to be in the know.”

  Beau nodded in agreement. “I’ll talk to Ty about it. I’m the closest to him, so it’ll be easier for me, but he’s going to be so damn pissed when he finds out what’s been going on without him knowing about it.”

  “Good luck with that.” I wasn’t afraid of our eldest brother or anything, but I was glad not to have to be the one to talk to him about it. He was not going to be a happy camper, and Tyson was a champion at making you feel like an insolent child. Always had been.