Relinquish

Chapter Nineteen

Lola

The next afternoon, I wait on the sofa outside of Mr. Truman’s office. His one o’clock meeting has now lasted until 2:15 p.m. Mr. Truman’s administrative assistant, Natalie Simms, had offered me a glass of ice water an hour ago. It’s sitting on the coffee table, half-consumed with pencil-eraser-sized ice cubes floating at the top. I’ve leafed through and discarded the only magazine that held my interest–a review of the upcoming football season. It’s several weeks old, but I love football, and it’s exciting to think about following a new team. The team’s quarterback, Gunner Sinclair, sounds like he’s the real deal.

As I sift through the rest of the magazines, I wrinkle my nose–hunting, men’s health, military gear, and car mechanics. The military magazine did have an advertisement for a good deal on a pair of night vision glasses. Those could come in handy.

“Have you run out of things to look at?” Natalie tucks her ink pen into the bun on top of her head. “I don’t think he’ll be much longer.” She’s a quiet, mid-thirties, divorced mother of two who’s known for her efficiency in keeping the entire operation running smoothly. Not quite a drill sergeant, but precariously close.

“Mr. Truman needs to come up with some personal interest or entertainment magazines for people who’re waiting. I shouldn’t have come up so early.” I frown. He’s been gone for close to a week, and his backlog is likely enormous.

After my phone call with Randall, I’d spent half the night making travel plans and considering different strategies to catch whoever is responsible for the robbery/theft ring. Waiting until the middle of the afternoon to discuss my plans has been torture.

I grab the men’s health magazine and flip through the pages. Once I’d gotten to Mr. Truman’s office, Natalie had taken pity on me and buzzed in to see when he’d have time to meet with me. He’s supposed to squeeze me in during a short break around 2:00 p.m., but the clock is inching precariously close to 2:30 p.m.

“I keep telling him he needs to order some different topics, but so far, he hasn’t.” She digs into her purse, drags out a thin paperback book, and waves it in my direction.

“It’s a word search puzzle. I have these for my kids. Do you want to borrow it?”

“I appreciate it, but I would hate to get paid to waste time.” What in the hell do you think you’ve been doing for the last hour? Heat flows over my face. “Can you call me when he gets a break?”

“Sure, no problem.” She glances down. “Speaking of the devil. Looks like he was listening.” She snatches the phone receiver up and lays it next to her ear. “Yes, Mr. Truman?”

After listening for a few moments, she replies, “Yes, Sir. Ms. Sutherland is waiting. I’ll send her in.” She hangs up. “He’ll see you now.”

I close the magazine and lay it back on the table. “Thank you for keeping me entertained. What should I do with the glass?”

“Just leave it. I’ll put it up in a bit.”

“Thank you.” I walk to Truman’s private entrance, and the door swings open. Cade. So, this is where he’s been hiding all day. He’s wearing a tight-fitting polo shirt that shows off his solid upper body and a pair of khaki pants. He’s a walking temptation. All I need is a can of spray-whipped topping and a couple of minutes alone with him. Yep, I’m adding Reddi-Wip to my grocery list.

“Hey, Lola.” Cade steps to the side and motions me inside. “Come on in.”

Mr. Truman stands behind his desk and motions me toward one of the chairs opposite him. “Have a seat. I’m sorry we kept you waiting so long.”

I tear my gaze away from Cade, settle into the seat, and wait as Mr. Truman eases back into the chair, relaxing against the back. He’s dressed like Cade, which is the standard wear for many men in the company. Business casual is much more common than expensive suits. His face and forearms possess a deep glow.

“I didn’t realize you were waiting, or I wouldn’t have taken up so much of his time.” Cade shuts the door and lowers into the other open chair next to mine.

“I’m sure you had a lot of catching up to do. I didn’t realize you were here today.” God, did that sound pouty? I’d expected him to stop by my cubicle this morning to discuss our upcoming date, but he’d never shown up. When he didn’t, I rang his office, but he didn’t answer.

Cade cringes. “I was running late this morning. Stella’s neighbor’s dog got away from him when he took him out for a walk. They were both out searching the neighborhood and couldn’t locate him. They were afraid he was going to get run over, so Stella phoned me in a panic. The dog is a Pomeranian, so he’s kind of easy to misplace. I didn’t get to work until close to noon.”

“Oh, that’s awful.” I surge forward to the edge of my seat. “Did you find him?” Mr. Truman watches us with a keen eye.

“Yes, we did. He’d chased a cat under another neighbor’s deck and was waiting there with his head stuck between some broken latticework. His behind was the first thing I noticed. Then I saw his bright orange pumpkin sweater. It’s a little early for a Halloween costume, but the glow came in handy. Everyone’s safe at home now.”

“I can see it now.” I giggle. “You’re getting into the habit of rescuing things.”

“Don’t go there.” He glares.

“What did I miss?” Mr. Truman arches an eyebrow.

“Too long of a story to explain. There’s nothing like watching a couple of retired individuals in their housecoats peeking over the neighborhood fences, yelling out, ‘Precious.’ I thought I was on the set of Silence of the Lambs.” He frowns. “And there’s nothing precious about that yappy dog. The cat, who is over twice as big as the dog, didn’t think so either.”

“I’m glad you found him.” It’s ironic how much time he spends helping people when he claims to be a man who doesn’t rescue things.

“Cute.” Mr. Truman leans back in his seat and crosses his arms over his chest. “I’m glad you were able to use your extensive training to locate a lost animal. Obviously, you haven’t lost your edge. We could use those skills in the field.”

“You’re going to compare a search of a pet in a subdivision in the same breath as doing an extraction in a hostile territory?” Cade’s jaw is tight, as if he’s disapproving of Mr. Truman’s comments.

He unfolds his arms and raises his palms upward. “I’m sorry. That was out of line. I said I wouldn’t push it, and I won’t.” He turns back to me. “Lola, ignore our bickering.”

What’s that about? My head spins. I never questioned why Cade spends his time in the office doing computer work instead of out in the field. That was a mistake. There’s something more going on.

“What can I help you with?” Mr. Truman rests his hands on the surface of his desk.

“Do you remember the case you gave me to research on the robbery/theft ring?”

“Of course.” He nods.

“I know one of the men–Randall Maitland. I don’t know him well, but I spoke with him last night. I’ve managed to get him, and the other players to agree to attend my father’s fundraiser this weekend. Randall was the hardest to get on the hook, so I’ve set up a meeting with him to chat about investing.”

***

Cade

I choke and almost fall out of my chair. “What did you say?”

She talked to Maitland last night? When? There was plenty of time to tell me her plans. We talked about the case for over thirty minutes. Did she intentionally keep me in the dark? Is that why she made me promise to stay out of her business. Son of a bitch. Was she even going to tell me? I grind my teeth together. For fuck’s sake, she’s a loose cannon.

“I went to college with this woman, Patricia Young.” She turns to me. “You remember we discussed her yesterday?”

I narrow my eyes and nod. Yes, we talked about that, but not calling this dude, meeting him, meeting all of them. What in the hell?

“I fed her this spiel about having a trust fund that I want to invest, and she gave him my number. He called me last night and left a message, so I called him back. There wasn’t time to discuss it with you before making plans. I was going to attend the gala, as usual. Well….” I shrug. “I decided to attend the event after reviewing the file. This is a perfect opportunity to get all of the suspects in one place and shake things up.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.” I jump out of my seat and pace in front of Truman’s desk.

“I was going to tell you this morning, but I didn’t see you. Until now.” She crosses her left leg over her right, and my asshole eyes follow the movement. Down boy. Son of a bitch. I’m pissed at her, and I still want to take her to bed. Or against a wall. “Why didn’t you tell me last night when we were discussing the assignment? You know how I feel about you working in the field.”

“It wasn’t a sure thing, and I wanted to run it by Mr. Truman, which is what I’m trying to do right now.”

I brace my hands on my hips and glare at her. “You can’t contact this man. You don’t know what he’s capable of doing. Or any of them, for that matter. Whoever is responsible for the thefts isn’t going to turn around and offer up their wrists for a pair of handcuffs.”

“Well, it’s a little too late for that. Everything is set up for this weekend.” She turns to Truman. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

Truman, who’s watched our exchange with rapt interest, rests his forearms on the desk with his hands tented together. “Lola, I have no problem with my agents doing legwork before running things past me. Feel free to make those types of decisions.”

Motherfucker.My head feels like it’s going to explode. I draw in a ragged breath and hold it while slowly counting to ten. The vein in my temple pulses as I listen to the rest of her plans.

“He’s going to meet me for a preliminary discussion at my father’s residence. Then, if we hit it off, he’s agreed for us to meet at his house or office, whichever is convenient for him. Wherever we end up, I’m going to think up a distraction and snoop around if I don’t catch the culprit red-handed at the event. The other three were already planning to attend, so it won’t be difficult to maneuver a conversation with them and monitor their activities. If I suspect any one of them is responsible, I’ll figure some way to invite myself to their place to snoop around and opt out of the meeting with Randall.” She pauses. “I’ve researched all of them, but something feels off about Randall. I just can’t put my finger on it.”

Truman cocks his head and taps a pen on the surface of his desk. “Ponzi scheme?”

Lola’s eyes widen. “That’s what I was thinking. What if these investments are a sham? What if he needs quick cash for payments when investors don’t want to re-invest?” She smiles. “It’s perfect. He steals from the rich, they get reimbursed, and he hawks the jewels and pays the original investors.”

“Do you think it’s Maitland?” Truman asks.

“I don’t know. It makes sense, and the other suspects have no motive. Not one I can find–anyway.”

“You can’t let her do this.”

“Cade, calm down. Lola might not be trained at the level you’ve been, but she’s capable of taking care of herself. I’m sure she’ll be cautious. When’s the benefit?”

A fat lot of good you are. I fight the urge to junk-punch him. How can he not see the potential danger? What if Maitland finds out she doesn’t have money to back up her claim? Even worse, what if he catches her at some juvenile attempt to snoop in his house? People have disappeared over a lot less. Or any of these people she’s investigating, for that matter. Whoever it is isn’t going to apologize, hand the jewels over, and march to prison.

“It’s this weekend. I was thinking about getting him out of the room by spilling something or breaking something.”

I gnash my teeth together. “This is ridiculous. You aren’t going to get him out of the room because you made a mess. I’m sure all he has to do is ring for his maid, and she’ll come running.”

She frowns. “You’re right. Someone did answer the phone when I rang. Darn it. That won’t work.”

Truman rises from his seat. “Cade, go with her.”

Her eyes widen, and her face pales. “That’s not a good idea. That would screw everything up. I can do this on my own. If Randall gets suspicious, he might investigate Cade and figure out where he works. If he discovers we work at the same place, he’s going to put two and two together. I don’t think the man is stupid.”

Is that the real reason? Or is she afraid to introduce me to her family? Now that really pisses me off.

Shit. I can’t let her go alone. It’s too dangerous. There are things I can do to lessen the suspicion. It’s what I’m trained in. But am I ready to go into undercover work? Not that covering a high-society event is as dangerous as sitting behind enemy lines waiting for my commanding officer’s signal to complete a mission. The intense heat of the desert would be replaced by the haughtiness of rich people. I’m not exactly comfortable with that either.

Fuck. What if I fail. I can’t risk Lola’s safety like I did my team. I can’t do this. I can’t be responsible for letting someone else down.

“True.” Truman paces behind his desk.

“If I can’t get him out of the room to rummage through things, maybe I could sneak back in at night.”

“Seriously, have you lost your mind?” I turn to Truman. “You can’t have Lola breaking into someone’s house.”

She crosses her arms and glares at me like she wants me dead. “I’ve broken into many home security systems. Besides, I’ve already researched his building permit, and his system is the same as my father’s, which I can circumvent in under sixty seconds.”

Truman clears his throat. “Lola, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I’m not going to support that idea. I’m running a credible business here. Any other thoughts on how to distract him, Cade? You’re the best at planning covert operations.”

I run a hand through my hair and dig my fingertips into my skull. “This is ludicrous. I’m out of here.” I swing my arm down with my palm out. “You two figure out a brilliant plan on your own. I’m not going to be responsible for Lola getting injured, jailed, or worse.”

I stomp to the door as they continue to discuss the upcoming weekend. Visions of Lola getting arrested or bleeding to death dance in my head, making me queasy. When I reach the door, I can’t stop trying one last time to talk some sense into the two of them. “How is he not going to suspect something? Just because you and your father are fighting doesn’t mean Maitland would believe he won’t protect his only daughter from a potentially bad investment.”

She turns toward me. “I’ve explained to him that we aren’t speaking, and we’re not. As soon as I convinced him I depend on fortune cookies, psychics, and tarot cards to make decisions, he completely discounted my intelligence. That combined with being forced to work and my tabloid reputation, he isn’t going to dig too deeply.”

“Why would he think you have money if you’re working and not talking to your father?”

“I explained to him I’m due an inheritance from my maternal grandparent’s estate that’s to be released to me in January. At that point, I’ll no longer have to report to my father on how to invest my assets. I’m a spoiled, rich girl with too much money and not enough brains for business. I don’t think he’ll suspect a thing.”

“It looks like you have it all figured out.” I yank the door open.

“Thanks.” She returns her attention to Truman.

Seriously? She’s going to take that as a compliment. I’ve got to up my sarcasm game.

I slam the door shut, and Natalie’s eyes widen, causing heat to flood my face. “Sorry.” I wave and rush out of the office.