Chapter 25
“I’m in!” Emily replied, smiling with anticipation. “When do you want to go?”
There was a growl behind her and everyone turned to find Hendrix standing with his back against the wall. He didn’t look happy and he glared angrily at Emily. “You’re not visiting that ass in jail.”
Emily chuckled and stood up from her office chair. “Who’s going to stop me?” she demanded, obviously enjoying taunting the big guy.
Ann glanced at Tazim, startled by the sizzling currents filling the air between the two combatants. Had she been oblivious to a romance brewing between Emily and Hendrix?
No! Ann thought back to their interactions. Emily didn’t exactly hate Hendrix, but the club manager and Ann’s friend definitely would have told Ann, and Maggie, if she’d been even slightly interested in the big guy.
In the end, Hendrix couldn’t stop the club manager and they both knew it. “I’m coming with you then.”
Emily rolled her eyes. “Right, like Ann and I are going to get a weaselly creep like Howell to spill his hidey hole when a brute of a man like you is glaring at him?” She snorted, the sound incongruous with her elegant appearance. “I don’t think so.” She patted his arm with a patronizing chuckle. “We’ll be fine on our own.”
“Let’s find out when the jail’s visiting hours start,” Ann suggested, stroking Tazim’s arm, trying to soothe him. He and Hendrix were similar in attitude and Ann was aware of the tension he felt at the thought of her going anywhere near Howell.
Emily had already slipped behind her desk and was typing into her laptop. “Bingo!” she called out. “Visiting hours are from one to four pm today.” She gave Hendrix a triumphant grin, then looked over at Ann. “That gives us several hours to strategize. We need to research, figure out as much as we can about his personality beforehand so that we know how to approach him.”
Hendrix stepped forward, already shaking his head. “I’ll go. I’ll get the information from him!”
Ann laughed and walked over to hug Hendrix. “Thanks for wanting to protect us,” she whispered. “But since Howell hasn’t revealed his information to law enforcement officers, and I’m pretty sure that they’ve interrogated him for hours by now, then I doubt that someone who looks like you,” she said, letting her eyes move over Hendrix’s tall, muscular frame, “will be able to get anything out of him.” She then walked over and stood next to Emily, who was still sitting in her leather chair. “Whereas Emily and I are much less…!”
“Threatening,” Emily finished for Ann. Both women looked at each other, then at the two men standing stiffly on the other side of the room.
Ann laughed, delighted to be back at the club. She, Emily, and Maggie had a system, complete with hand gestures and coded words that allowed the three of them to move around the club while taking in the conversations of the various club members. It was how they knew which CEOs needed a hint from the law enforcement officers or securities and exchange commission investigators for insider trading. She’d missed her friends over the past couple of weeks since the shooting and wished that Maggie could be here for this latest escapade.
“You okay with this?” Hendrix asked of Tazim.
Tazim sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “No. I’m not. However…” he glared at Ann but she smiled right back at him. “They have a point.” Tazim gestured towards Hendrix. “You would definitely intimidate Howell.”
Hendrix grunted, which no one could translate accurately. But Emily and Ann simply laughed. “Let’s get some information on this guy.”
Over the next two hours, Emily and Ann, plus the entire club security team and Tazim’s security team, scoured the internet for details. Hendrix called his contacts on the police force and spoke to the lead investigator, gleaning new information about the most recent interrogations with Howell.
By the time visiting hours came around, Emily and Ann were ready!