“I’m bleeding!” the thief whimpered. “I’m suing the shooter. Did anyone get his license plate?”
Nick held the man tightly by his jacket. “You gonna shut up or what?”
The thief pushed back. “I’m the victim here. Don’t tell me what to—”
Nick lifted him a foot off the ground. “Quiet!” He then shoved him to the jogger. “Hold on to this twerp. HPD is coming up behind us.” Then he rushed out into the street, squatted, picked up an empty shell case, examined it, and closed it in his hand.
Most people wouldn’t be grinning after someone tried to take them out. He had made people nervous enough to do something stupid. “I can capitalize on this.” Hyped, he dashed across the street back to the tower. Sleeping fell off his radar.
Minutes later, he stormed onto the fiftieth floor. The only light came from one partially closed door. Keaton sat perched in what Nick would still call “Hunter’s chair.” The view alone irritated him. A hard pounding on the door, rattling the hinges, startled Keaton.
“Nick, you almost busted down the door.” Keaton viewed an array of self-portraits lined up across his desk. He picked up one in each hand.
“Would you like me to call maintenance?”
“Who threw you in a sticker bush?” Keaton held up another picture. “Do you think this one is better?” He placed the picture up next to his face.
“I’m thinking about what you’d be doing right now if they hadn’t missed.”
Keaton picked up a two-hundred-dollar pen and wrote “Use this one” on the back of the picture, making it his official company portrait. “Now, what’s your problem, Nick?”
“They missed, Mr. Keaton.”
“The projections?” He smiled. “They were higher than expected.”
“The projection of the bullet.”
“Bullet?” Keaton appeared anxious, avoiding eye contact.
Nick took the shell out of his pocket. Spun it on Keaton’s desk. “Mr. Keaton, you almost had a murder investigation in your lap.”
Keaton stuttered. “Murder?”
“Capital murder.”
Keaton buttoned up his jacket. “I don’t know anything about any murders.”
“Then there were more. You’re pulling your nails off your fingers. You should be afraid of what I’m about to do. It almost scares me.” Nick scooped up the shell, turned, and left.
He speed walked home and slept like a baby.
Chapter forty-one
The far right of the lobby was the executive entrance. Steely had gone that way once before. Nick’s corner office, as she remembered, was down the hall from the CEO’s. Today, she’d have her picture taken for credentials to get past security.
Steely felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey, Steely.” Erin was speaking softly.
“Hi, Erin. Are you feeling OK?”
“Peachy.” Erin flopped down across from Steely. Her hair was mangled. Clothes disheveled. She dropped her designer bag on the floor, scattering an imported hairbrush under her seat. That bag had never touched the floor before. It either got its own seat, like it was a person, or hung on a portable hook the girl carried with her at all times. Erin stretched her legs into the aisle. Her hair mushroomed over her face, splitting across her nose. “I’m ticked.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I had the executive training job wrapped up.”
“There’s only one?”
“Only one left. Some tramp stole it. Mrs. Ray wanted me.”
Ray had been overridden. She wanted Erin. Nick gave her Steely Paupher Hunter with no background check. This was a first. Steely never beat Erin out of anything. Never wanted to. Steely scooted to the edge of her seat, hoping Erin wouldn’t feel the need to yowl when she gave her the news.
“Maybe a tramp didn’t steal it,” Steely whispered.
“Mrs. Ray rescheduled my orientation for today. I didn’t get it. All I needed was some stupid background check.”
“That’s too bad, Erin.” Steely reached for her purse and casually zipped up her employment contract, listing her as a paid executive trainee. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to share.
“Father thinks she found out I got suspended in high school. Wasn’t even my fault. You remember, right?”
“Perfectly.”
“Cricket cheated on my science test,” Erin pouted. “Not my fault she grabbed it off my desk.”
“But Mrs. Koller pegged you as the cheater.”
“Then that witch, Koller, got a promotion. The most unfair person I ever met. Well, at least I wasn’t a snitch.”
Steely nodded. “That’s right, Erin. Cricket got an A, and you got summer school.”
Erin pushed her hair back above her catty eyes. “The same thing is happening now.”
“What?”
“It’s not fair that some piece of trash got preferential treatment by doing vulgar stuff with one of the executives.”
“No, she didn’t!”
“Benita might as well say it.” Erin made air quotes. “An executive decision. Hint, hint.”
Steely leaned in. “Hint, hint—what?”
“A bunch of executive bull. I’m going to find out who did this! I’m furious! There are no more training spots until next year.” She slouched and closed her eyes.
“I need to tell you something.” Steely was going to get it out. Tell Erin sitting right there in the lobby. Let her pitch a fit, holler, roll on the floor, kick her legs up into the air, and get it over with.
“It’s not right,” Erin barked. “Just not right! Misleading someone like that. They deceive you, build your hopes up, and then dump you at the last minute. It’s nothing short of emotional abuse. I’m filing a formal complaint. Maybe I’ll sue!”
Steely shook her head. “Erin, I wouldn’t do that.”
“First, I’m telling that lying Benita Ray what I think about the way she conducts herself. Unprofessional, to say the least.”
“Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way we expect.”
“At least things are going great for Cricket.”
“Cricket?”
“Yeah, Nick Dichiara works here. Remember when you wrecked his car?”
“Scratched.”
“Yeah, well he’s crazy about Cricket. They’re getting married.”
Steely flung forward and slipped off her seat. She scrambled back up, shivering.
Erin continued babbling. “Nick wanted to help me with this absurd background check, but there wasn’t anything he could do. It’s company policy. No way around that.”
Steely gasped for air.
“Nick asked Cricket to stay home instead of going to UT, so she could be with him. Told her she was the most amazing woman he ever met. Said he couldn’t live without her. He wanted to get married immediately, but Cricket’s holding him off until she can get a decent wedding. She practically lives in his condo. Decorated his bedroom. Might as well, since that’s where they spend most of their time.”
Steely muttered, “I don’t believe it.”
“It’s true. I thought Nick was a ‘waiter.’ Guess not. Cricket just got back from a three-week trip, searching for the perfect spot for a destination wedding. Nick got himself in a mess while she was gone. Mr. Qualls threw him in a black hole.”
Steely’s mouth dropped. “Kidnapped him?”
“No, silly. He moved him out of his office into a closet. Mr. Qualls took Nick’s office.”
She scratched her head. “Nick and Cricket?”
“Cricket will get him moved back up. She has some major pull around here.”
“She works here?”
“No. Her mother married one of Mr. Keaton’s best friends. So she can do whatever she wants around here. Nick wouldn’t have a job if Cricket hadn’t stepped in to save him.”
Steely squeezed her eyes together. “Cricket saved Nick?”
“Yeah, and he better keep her happy. Wait…” Erin sat up. “I just had a thought. Maybe
Cricket can talk to Mr. Keaton for me.”
“Nick and Cricket?”
“Oh, and I hate to be the one to tell you, but I got the accounts-payable job. Sorry, girl. Benita called me yesterday. She thinks I’ll be perfect for it.” Erin rested her chin on her folded hands, elbows on the arms of the chair. “I heard there were a few openings in housekeeping. See, Steely, you don’t have my ambition. It’s in my genes. My lineage always rises to the top. You can set us anywhere.” Erin pointed. “We shoot right to the top.”
Steely rolled her lips and said, “Erin, then go ahead and shoot right up.”
“Oh, look,” Erin gleamed. “Here comes my BFF, the Cricket!”
If Steely didn’t need the job, she would have run out the revolving doors.
Cricket bulldozed her way through the crowd toward them. “Erin?” Cricket glared down at the girl crumpled up in the vinyl seat. “Are you drunk?”
“No. I had a nip, but no.” She swooshed her hair back. “I was upset this morning.”
“You look like dookie. You better get it together.”
“Sure, Cricket.” Erin gathered her purse and stood at attention.
“Now, let’s see this cubicle of yours. I had to fight Benita to get you one with three sides.”
“Thanks, Cricket.” Erin smiled. “I couldn’t tolerate an open space.”
Cricket gawked at Steely. “Pauper? What are you doing here?”
Erin chimed in, “She’s working in housekeeping.”
Cricket smirked. “Perfect fit.” Her belittlement was benign compared to what she just heard.
“Her 1950s hair looks better than yours, Erin.” Cricket aimed her profile at Steely. “Nick needs to come to his senses, or he’ll end up in housekeeping like you. But I bet you’d like doing a little housekeeping with Nick. Maybe play house in the broom closet?”
Steely lifted her head. “I’ve been told harassment isn’t tolerated in this office. You need to quit. Or I’m filing a complaint.”
“I don’t work here, dimwit.”
“One day you’re going to say that to the wrong person.”
“Pauper, one day you’re going to learn to keep that sassy mouth shut.” Cricket swung around and walked off. Erin wagged along with her through security.
Cricket whispered, “Don’t tell anyone who she is. I want to be the one who gets Pauper fired.”
Erin shrank back. “Cricket, why don’t you leave her alone? Let her have the housekeeping job. She’s had enough trouble.”
Cricket sternly replied, “I’ll leave her alone. Right after I get her fired. She better not try to mess with Nick either. He’s off-limits to her.”
“Nick’s engaged to you. I don’t think he would cheat, and neither would she.”
Cricket cleared her throat. “She’d be dead if she does!”
Erin abruptly stopped.
Cricket nudged her forward. “It’s just a figure of speech.”
Erin looked back over her shoulder at Steely. Cricket cupped her arm and pushed her on.
Steely was exposed. Nick was marrying Cricket. Things were not going well.
Chapter forty-two
Steely said to herself, “Focus…focus…I have a job; let it roll off my back. I have to stop Nick from making the biggest mistake of his life. How can I stop him? He’s a grown man. It’s his decision. I’m staying out of it.”
“Steely, did you say something?” Nick approached her.
She flew up. “Nick, you can’t do it!”
He looked around. “You know?”
“People make dumb decisions all the time. Sometimes, they realize it before it’s too late. I’ve done it myself. Your personal life is your own business.”
“My personal life?” He looked around, confirming no one was near them.
“How can I stand by and let you destroy your life? You’re too great of a guy—you’re so…” Kind, thoughtful, muscular—engaged to a cuckoo bird. “I just can’t let you do it.”
“Steely, don’t worry.” He leaned down and whispered. “They wouldn’t dare take another shot at me—”
“Somebody shot at you?”
“They missed.”
“That’s a toss-up to marrying Cricket.”
He held up a hand. “Is she still telling people that? I’m not marrying her. We’re not even friends.”
“You’re not?”
“No!”
“I thought you had lost your—who’s shooting at you?”
“Let’s go upstairs and talk.”
Maneuvering through the executive entrance, he directed her with one hand, the other barely on the center of her back. Then they caught an elevator that wasn’t going anywhere until he ran a plastic card across a reader.
The doors closed and then seconds later opened into a maze.
“This way.” He wound her around panels sparkling with miniature lights. At the end of the path was a control box screwed to a wall. He put in a four-digit code, opened the lid, flipped a switch, and continued.
“Are we checking on some sort of electrical problem?” she asked.
“I’ll explain when we get to my office.”
The path narrowed. The tiny lights crawled to the ceiling. After several more turns, they reached the only standard light source on the floor: a small kitchen. Next to it was the fire escape, and adjacent to it was an insignificant door with an insignificant padlock restraining it.
Nick palmed the lock until it dropped open. He pulled on a skinny pine door that opened into cave-like darkness. If this were anyone but Nick, Steely would have tested the mace in her left pocket and run for her life.
What is he doing here?
The light from Nick’s cell was used to locate a string attached to a naked forty-watt bulb. “Steely, this is my new office.” He pulled out his chair and booted up his computer. He pointed to the smaller desk and chair butting up to his. “That’s for you. Give me just a sec…”
Steely instantly sized up the eight-by-six room. No windows, in the hull of the building, behind the elevators. Two discarded desks, two discarded chairs. Each had a decent computer with a monitor. Abandoned by their makers, the cobwebs that had infested the room were harmless and provided no purpose except producing dust, like most everything else there. Boxes stacked at chest level left almost no floor space.
Mounted on the wall, behind Nick, was the head of a deer. The reproduction would have frightened a small child. He creepily watched her every move.
Stinkin’ Erin was right.
“Nick? One question: why are you in a rathole?” This was no metaphor.
Nick jumped up. “Did you see a rat?”
“There are droppings.”
Nick slouched back down. “They’re only here at night, with the bats.” He tapped on his keyboard.
“Do I really have a job?”
He looked up at her. “Yes, you do.”
“The bats are chirping.”
“They’re above us, between the floors.” Six numbers from a fob gained him access to JHI’s most secure intranet site.
Even a first-year trainee could deduce the only logical reason Nick Dichiara was in a closet. Someone wanted him out. And if someone wanted Nick out, the person certainly would want her out.
Nick quit staring at the monitor and looked at her. “Steely, excuse me. I had to check the account balances. They’re up again.”
“You sound like you’re disappointed. Isn’t higher balances a good thing?”
“Please sit down and let me explain.”
Steely dusted off the chair, glanced around the room, and sat.
“Thomas Qualls dumped me down here to intimidate me.”
“Can he just do whatever he wants?”
“Just about.”
“Nick, you’re in trouble.”
“Yes, but it’s good trouble.”
Steely scrunched her face. “That’s an oxymoron.”
“Not in this case.”
“Why are you working
in a utility closet? I smell pine cleaner.”
“Did you sign your employment contract?”
“Yes, I don’t think they can fire me unless I’m convicted of a felony.”
Nick nodded. “Jack didn’t want anyone afraid to speak up.”
“What happened to this company?”
“Keaton hired Qualls right after I got here. Then a short time later, he promoted Qualls to executive vice president of acquisitions and mergers, supposedly for global expansion, which was never gonna happen. Then he talked Jack into appointing Qualls to the board. This was the beginning of the end. Hundreds of millions were then drained out of the company into some phony LLCs. Keaton held the board hostage to force Jack out. After that, the funds were funneled back in. Every day the balances go up.” Nick pointed at the computer. “We have assets flooding our accounts.”
“Jack sold his interest in the company to save it.”
Nick tilted his head, surprised at her understanding. “Yes, the company would have cratered if he hadn’t stepped back and allowed Keaton to fix the mess he created. How do you know this?”
“I’ve been putting bits of pieces together for over a year.”
“I’ve been working for over—Mr. Keaton took total advantage of his position. I want him to know I’m on to him.”
She perked up. “Are you?”
“Yes and no. I haven’t convinced anyone to do anything about it.”
Steely raised a brow. “You have nothing?”
“I have too much. The answers may be in those boxes behind you. They’re filled with bank account statements we didn’t even know existed. The problem is they’re no help. Thousands of transactions passed through those accounts. It’s almost impossible to track them. So I had to get creative. I had to find another way to get their attention.” Nick checked his cell and then adjusted the deer.
Steely stared up at the deer. “Why is he looking at me?”
“Old buck will tell us what goes on when we’re not here.” He held up his cell. “Smile.”
“Deer-head security app?”
“Yes, ma’am. How long do you think it would take to go through those?”
She knocked on a box. “Two years.”
No Offense Page 21
