Chapter 12 #2
As we walk into the conference room, three heads swivel towards us. Jester’s the first to greet Sofia, practically bounding over with his hand outstretched. “Hi,” he tells her cheerfully, “I’m Jester. Or Jaxon, if you’d prefer.”
“Jester heads up event security and risk management,” I explain.
Houdini approaches at a more normal pace, but still with a smile on his face. He shakes Sofia’s hand, practically swallowing it with his much larger one. “Sofia. Nice to meet you. I’m Houdini.”
“Nice to meet you,” she replies. “Thanks for going to my apartment. And for bringing some more things back for me.”
He nods at her. “Of course. Happy to.”
“Houdini works primarily with security systems and HAZMAT,” I tell Sofia. “Plus picking locks. But we don’t talk about that part.”
Houdini mimes zipping his lips, then winks at her.
Rounding out the group, Wraith’s the last to head over. As usual, he’s more solemn, but he manages to crack a small smile. “Sofia.” He dips his head. “Nice to meet you. I’m Wraith.”
“Diego,” I add. “He’s our communications guy. And he deals with most of our foreign clients.”
“Because he knows twelve languages,” Knight explains. “I can barely speak one. But this guy…”
“Twelve?” Sofia gives Wraith an admiring look. Which makes me feel irrationally jealous again. “That’s incredible.”
“Well,” I announce, belatedly realizing I just brought my beautiful and available ex-girlfriend to meet my four very single friends.
“Let’s get started.” I gesture with my chin at the conference table.
“I’m thinking we’ll divvy up the case files by year.
I want to pay special attention to the divorce and insurance fraud cases.
But anything that raises a red flag, even if it’s just a gut feeling… ”
Wraith nods. “Got it.” To Sofia, he adds, “We’ll get this figured out for you. We won’t leave until we do.”
Once we’re settled around the conference table, Sofia edges her chair closer to mine.
With her less than two feet away, she’s close enough for me to catch the scent of roses and honey again.
Close enough to see the glints of copper and mahogany in her hair.
Close enough for me to reach for her hand, if I dared.
I won’t. But I want to.
Especially when I notice her hands twisted together beneath the table, trembling slightly.
That’s when it really hits home for me, that, despite Sofia’s insistence that she’s fine, that she’s eager to jump into the investigation, she’s scared and desperately trying not to show it.
Is this too much for her?
Maybe it’s too soon.
Maybe I made a mistake telling Sofia about the cloud storage and her missing files. Maybe I should have looked into them myself first, and then talked to her about any that looked suspicious. If I had gone that route, she’d be back at home, resting.
But if I’d done that, it would have been a lie. A lie of omission, but a lie, just the same. And after discovering the devastation my father’s lies caused, the last thing I want to do is lie to her.
Rather than taking her hand, I reach beneath the table and brush her pinkie with mine. She glances at me with a questioning look, and I ask in a low tone, “Are you okay? If you’ve changed your mind about doing this today, we can put it off. No one will mind.”
Sofia stares at me for a silent moment. “No, I’m fine. I want to do this.”
“Okay,” I reply. “But if you need a break, tell me. We can go to the employee lounge for coffee. Or my office for some quiet time. Anything you need.”
Just as I’m about to move my hand away from hers, she links her pinkie with mine. Then she gifts me with a small smile. “Okay.”
But three hours later, we’re still going, and she hasn’t asked for a break yet. Nor has she taken me up on one any of the times I’ve suggested it. “Not yet,” she keeps saying. “I just want to get through a few more files first.”
I can tell she’s getting frustrated. Strike that. She already is.
And I can’t blame her. I’m frustrated, too.
Over the last three hours, we’ve come up with a bunch of people who might have motive to hurt her, but nothing definitive.
Could the guy she busted last October for cheating on his wife be angry enough about it to kill Sofia?
Or the man who claimed his back was all messed up from a work accident but was actually faking it?
What about the husband who brought his lover home with him while his wife was away on a business trip?
Or the guy she caught skiing when his leg was supposed to be broken?
I’m doing a deep dive into all of their backgrounds, of course—whether they have criminal records, a history of mental instability, recent travel into Manhattan—but we’re not finding the glaring red flag we’d hoped.
What I have discovered during over the last few hours? Sofia’s job is more dangerous than I thought. Staking out hotels in the worst parts of town, waiting to spot a would-be cheater? Following fraudsters intent on stealing from their employer? And doing it all alone?
I don’t like it. At all.
It’s too easy to imagine all the ways things can go wrong—one of her targets spotting her, approaching her car, pulling out a gun… or going right to her office and attacking her there.
Shit, I really don’t like it.
If Sofia were mine, I’d encourage her to find a new job. Something safer.
In fact, she could work here. No, she’s not a veteran, like most of my employees, but for Sofia, I’d make an exception. She’d be an asset to Fox & Falcon with her investigative experience, and she’s always been a hard worker…
I shake my head at myself.
Like Sofia would want to give up her business to work for me?
“Hey, Sofia?” Jester lifts his chin as he looks across the conference table at her. “What about this case from September? With the guy who claimed he slipped in his neighbor’s driveway? In your follow-up notes, it sounds like he was pretty pissed when you busted him. Any thoughts?”
Sofia’s forehead creases as she thinks. “I remember him. He called the office a few times, complaining. But…” She frowns. “He moved to Virginia not long after that. With his pregnant girlfriend. I got the feeling he was trying to move on.”
“Virginia’s not that far from here,” I remind her. “And if he paid someone…”
She turns to me. “I don’t think he had enough money for that, Nico.”
“He could have come into some money,” I retort. “Or stolen it.” To Jester, I add, “Email me his name. I’ll look into his finances. Check for any recent travel to New York. And if there’s anything suspicious, an old Army buddy of mine, Nolan, lives out that way. He could look in on him.”
Sofia lets out a tired sigh. Her shoulders sag. “I should have known this would take a long time. But I guess I was just…”
“Just what?” I ask.
“I was hoping something would jump out at me. Or one of the cases would trigger a memory. Instead, I’m just realizing just how many people could want me dead.”
My heart wrenches at the despair in her eyes. “Soph—”
“I always thought I was doing a good thing,” she continues. “Helping people whose partners were cheating on them, people who were being taken advantage of… But I never thought about someone actually wanting to kill me because of it.”
Wraith lifts his gaze from his laptop. His expression is somber. “There will always be bad people who’ll do anything to keep good from prevailing.”
Sofia stares at him. “I guess you’re right.”
I shoot Wraith a scolding look. Does he really need to remind her of that now?
He raises his eyebrows at me. He doesn’t have to speak for me to know what he’s saying. It’s the truth. And sometimes the truth is the hardest thing to hear.
He’s right. The truth can be unbearably painful at times. Sometimes the truth can be devastating.
“I’ll just keep looking,” Sofia murmurs to herself. “I’ll find something, eventually.”
As she turns her attention back to her laptop, I steal another quick glance at her. Smudges of purplish-blue shadow her eyes. Her forehead is lined with strain. Her face is pale.
She’s tired. Stressed. Working herself more than she should, considering she suffered a concussion only a week ago.
Three hours is more than enough, I decide. She needs to rest. Relax. Take her mind off this shit for a while.
Shutting my laptop, I say, “Okay. I think we’re good for today. We can pick this back up tomorrow.” I pause. “Or the day after.”
Sofia turns to me. Surprise is written all over her face. “What do you mean? We’ve barely gotten started. I haven’t even gotten to my December cases yet.”
“Soph. We’ve been at it for a while. I think it’s time for a break.”
“Nico.” Irritation tinges her voice. “I don’t need a break.”
Knight glances at me from the end of the table. I give him a tiny nod, and he returns it. Then he stands and announces, “You know, I’m starving. I think I’m going to head down the street for a sub. Anyone want to come with?”
Wraith, Houdini, and Jester all leap to their feet. “A sub sounds great,” Jester agrees. “Maybe some cookies, too.”
“I could eat,” Houdini agrees.
Wraith nods. “Same.”
“Want anything from the deli?” Knight asks before he leaves the room. “Rogue? Sofia?”
I make a no thanks gesture. “Thanks, but I think we’ll just head home. Get something to eat there.”
On the heels of Knight, Jester stops and does a double take. “Rogue leaving work early? Are my ears playing tricks on me?”
“No.” I shoot him a quelling look. “I’ll work from home this afternoon.”
Jester holds my gaze for a second. Then he smirks. “Ah. I see.” A beat later, his smile expands. “See you later, Sofia. It was nice to meet you.”
Then it’s just me and Sofia, alone in the conference room. She scowls at her laptop before looking back at me. “Nico. I didn’t need—”
“Soph. You do need a break.” I gently close her laptop. “You’ve already looked at this far too long considering you’re still recovering from a concussion. You don’t want to do more damage, do you?”
She hesitates. Sighs. “I guess not. I just thought I’d find something…”