Veiled Threat (7 page)

eleven

“Yeah, Jimmy? … What?
… Uh, no … I’m sure, but … Yes, but … Giulia, wait.”

Giulia was already on the other side of the door, even as she was dying to eavesdrop.

“Come in and close it, please. Jimmy wants me to put him on speaker.”

She sat in the client chair and had to pretend to adjust her socks to paste a neutral yet interested expression on her face.

Jimmy’s voice on speaker was clear and cheerful. Giulia heard “I’m going to ask you a favor” undertones in it.

Yes. He found out something.

“We got a break, Giulia. The owner of the resort knows about that adoption assistance group. She did a one-eighty from guarded hostility to all cooperation when I explained why I wanted to see her records.”

“Good,” Frank said. “Digital?”

“No. They had a fire last month. Destroyed the back office, phones, computers, but not the hard copies of the records. Get this—she keeps physical copies in a fireproof safe because she’s a pyrophobic.”

Afraid of fire,
Giulia mouthed at Frank.

I figured that,
he mouthed back.

“So they’re still re-keying all the records and she doesn’t want to let them leave the premises,” Jimmy said.

“Are you sending Poole out there?” Frank said.

Jimmy’s snort came through with perfect clarity too. “Only if I could send the camera crew for
America’s Funniest Home Videos
along with him. I had a different idea.”

Frank fidgeted. “Jimmy, I object to this.”

Giulia sat forward in Frank’s client chair.
You were wrong, you were wrong, you were wrong, Frank,
she chanted to herself.

Jimmy’s voice continued, “Objection noted. The resort has a small staff during fall and winter: cross-country ski instructor, masseuse, two child-care people, and the usual chefs, wait staff, and cleaning people. Here’s the thing—” Another line rang on his end, loud enough for Giulia and Frank to jump back. “Just a sec.”

“He wants me to go out there and ask them questions,” Giulia said to Frank.

“Sort of.”

“Sort of? Let me in on the rest, please.”

Click.
“Sorry about that. So here’s my idea. We need the records examined, and I’d like to know if you’re willing to talk to the staff. It’s a female-only resort, and the only female I have here is Carlson—you remember her, Frank?”

“The bulldozer?”

“Yeah. Can you picture her trying to ease into someone’s confidence to get information?”

“Hell, no. The woman makes a pile driver look gentle. What about Zimmerman or Janus?”

“Zimm’s on maternity leave, and Janus left last year for Orlando.” He paused. “So I was wondering if we could borrow you, Giulia?”

Giulia glanced at Frank.
He’s too upset for this to be a plain old interview request. Too bad. This is about Katie.
She chose a disingenuous reply for Jimmy. “To talk to the resort employees? How big a staff is there?”

“I’m hoping you’ll agree to work undercover there for a few days. They can use the help so it won’t be an obvious plant. You’re so nondescript, you’ll fit in without a problem.”

Giulia aimed a crooked smile at Frank. “That is probably the most backhanded compliment I’ve ever received.”

“You’re not nondescript. Jimmy, you know what I’m going to say.” Frank glared at the phone. “You seem to forget that Giulia’s an employee of Driscoll Investigations, not a public servant.”

“I know she doesn’t work for me, Driscoll. You were the one who called me about this yesterday, remember? Said you wanted to help. What with Poole and the department’s scarcity of females, it turns out I could use the help.”

“You know I called you under pressure from Giulia. And let me remind you this business has casework to complete and my employees have their salaries to earn—”

Giulia cut off his last word. “I know you called him to get me to shut up. That doesn’t bother me. You are welcome to dock my pay for the rest of the week. Captain Reilly, I’ll be happy to go undercover at the resort.”
I’ll put off buying that used Saturn for a couple of weeks, but that’s fine. Cars are replaceable. People aren’t.

“Terrific,” Jimmy said. “The resort owner will send a courier over this afternoon—wait, what time is it? One forty already. Damn. Giulia, can you get there by three? I’ll call and have her cancel the courier. She was going to photocopy the relevant information and get you everything you need to know, but she can hand you the packet in person now. She’s mostly in our corner on this. I know you’ll win her over completely. Frank, I owe you one.” His phone rang again. “Dammit, I forgot to make up a name for you. Sorry. I’ll call you if there’s anything else. Thanks again.”

Giulia jumped out of her chair and opened the door.

“Sidney, could you do me a huge favor and call Rent-A-Wreck? I need something small. An Escort or a Cavalier, maybe, and I’ll need it through the end of the week.”

“I’m on it.” Sidney was already typing into a search window.

Giulia closed herself in with Frank again. They stared at each other across the desk.

“What the hell, Giulia?”

“I told you why I needed to help Laurel and Anya. Like I said to Captain Jimmy, I know you agreed to call him just so I’d stop bugging you.” She leaned back against the door, trying to look like she didn’t want to shake him. “I know Sidney’s kind of useless this week because of the wedding, but I also know that none of our current projects are rush jobs.”

“That doesn’t give you the right to bail on me.” His voice was dead level.

Giulia didn’t like that voice. “I am not bailing on you. What are you afraid of—that I’m going to choose to answer phones and paint my nails all day? Or go back to cleaning toilets for a living?” When the corner of his mouth twitched, she pressed her point. “Didn’t you wonder why I insisted we hire a cleaning service for the office? We have a toilet out there, you know.” She relaxed a fraction. “You agreed to help.”

“I did not agree to split this company in half.”

“You agreed to the possibility that Driscoll Investigations resources could be used to help find Katie. This is an assignment for Driscoll Investigations. In which I am your partner.” She kept her voice quiet, persuasive—a counterweight to Frank’s.

He banged his fist against the desk, the staccato thumps falling dead on her ears.
Don’t think of dead. Katie’s not dead. We are going to bring her back.

Wait.

She wrenched her attention away from her “rescue Katie” obsession and onto Frank’s body language.

“Hey.” She pushed away from the door. “What’s really the problem?”

His jaw clenched. She walked around the desk until she was staring down at the top of his head.

“Look at me. Stop pretending you’re angry about me going undercover.” She covered his hand and the noise stopped. She waited.

“You’ll laugh,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

He looked up at that. “You’re right. I’m talking to the born listener.” He nudged her hand off and planted his elbows on the desk, leaning his forehead on his hands. “I’m a victim of youngest-child syndrome.”

Giulia blinked. “What?”

“You’re the oldest. You wouldn’t understand, but I’ve got the sick feeling that I’m about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

She sat on the corner of the desk. “May I have that in words of one syllable, please?’

He grimaced. “Fine. Here goes any kind of respect you’ve gained for me. Driscoll Investigations is finally legit. We’ve got almost too much work to handle. We’re gaining a positive reputation. Word of mouth is bringing in new clients.”

Giulia tilted her head. “And?”

“You’re leaving. Sidney’s leaving. I’m screwed. Who am I going to get on this kind of notice? I’ll have to back out of commissions and trash my company’s reputation with my own hands.”

“But Sidney’s only gone for seven working days. I’ll come in here in the mornings and go out to the resort in the afternoons.”

“It’s going to crash and burn. Just like when Sean got promoted and Michael picked up a fat Christmas bonus for being top salesman.” He slumped in his chair, flopping his head backward off the top.

Giulia stared at his upside-down face. “Those are your brothers, right? Where did all this come from?”

“From two family phone calls and Jimmy’s eagerness to snatch you away.” His frown had the opposite effect with his head in that position. “Could you be any more eager to work for him? Why don’t you just hand in your resignation now? I’m going to have to go live in my parents’ basement again. If you’d bothered to get your gun license I’d ask you to shoot me now and put me out of my misery.”

The laugh burst through Giulia’s mouth despite herself. “That’s why you’ve been giving me grief? What a stereotype you are.” She put her hands on his shoulders. “Listen very carefully because there’ll be a test later. The work will continue to get done. I will pull ridiculous hours at both venues for the duration. I have already lined up a temporary receptionist, remember? He starts Friday morning.”

“Yes, but—”

“Don’t interrupt. We will find Katie; Captain Jimmy will pat us on the back; and come Monday morning I will not, repeat, not be handing in my resignation.”

His inverted face was such a muddle of hope and forlornness that she bent down and kissed him.

“I prefer kissing you right side up. Now sit up, remember what I said, and set an example for your employees. Come drive me to the car rental place, please.”

She escaped to the outer office to regain her composure, rather than react with all-too-typical embarrassment at kissing him in the office.

“Sidney, did you have any luck with the car place?”

“Oh, yes, no problem. They’ve got a 2007 Escort waiting for you.”

“You’re a gem. Thank you.” She stared at Sidney’s ruler-straight brown hair.

“Um, Giulia?” Sidney reached up and patted her hair straighter —an unnecessary movement.

Giulia pulled back her own curly mop into a tight ponytail. “Does this make me look nondescript-er? I mean, unobtrusive?”

This time Sidney blinked. “Um, I guess. Oh, wait. You’re going undercover again. Cool!” She pushed back her chair and stood up in one fluid motion. “Try braiding it. Here, let me.” Sidney’s long fingers separated Giulia’s thick hair into three sections.

“Ouch. You’re yanking it out of my head.”

“Am not. I’m pulling it into a super-tight braid.” She tugged right, then left, then right. “Your hair’s always loose and bouncy. If we plaster it real close to your head, you’re going to look …”

Giulia’s hair flopped against her back as Sidney came around front. “Yes … you look just different enough on real short notice. Ask Mr. D.” She raised her voice. “Mr. D., can you come out and see this?”

Frank’s door opened. “What?”

“Well?” Sidney said.

He looked around. “Well, what?”

Giulia and Sidney rolled their eyes at each other.

“Giulia’s hair, Mr. D. Doesn’t it make her look different?”

Frank’s face blanked. “I guess so. You pulled it back, right?”

Sidney shook her head. “Never mind, Mr. D. Giulia, you look different.”

“Thanks, Sidney. It’ll help me get into character.” She looked down at her blue sweater and jeans. “The clothes are all right, but my shoes aren’t.” She grabbed her gym bag from behind her desk and pulled out her beat-up Reeboks. “Perfect.”

Sidney said, “Perfect for what?”

“Housekeeping.”

“Ew. Cleaning other people’s toilets and getting ignored like you’re part of the furniture. I did it one summer for a hotel chain that I refuse to name. Never again.”

“I could use the time off of my sentence in Purgatory.”

Sidney made a face. “I’ve gotta ask you about that when I come back. Father Pat and I keep butting heads over it.”

“My brain is yours to pick, but right now I really have to go. Frank?”

“I live to serve. Sidney, back in a few.”

_____

Giulia waited till they were in the car to say it.

“Are you reconciled to treating this as a case yet? Are you taking it seriously?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Experience. You have years more of it than I do. You see—frankly—the evil in people first, and that includes potential evil.”

He remained silent until they were almost on top of the car rental place. “Don’t get mad. Sometimes being with you is like waiting in the Confessional.”

Giulia flung herself against the headrest. “You are going to drive me to violence.”

“I know it sounds awful, but what I mean is sometimes what you say reaches inside me like a fishing hook and snags the one thing I’m trying to hide.”

“Great. Thanks. How many other oppressive descriptions of my effect on you can you think up between here and an open parking space?” She slumped in the seat.

“I knew that would come out wrong.” He steered into the nearest available space. “What I mean is you have this thing you do without any warning. It’s like supercharged insight and I saw it when you’d only been working for me a month. It’s one of the reasons I wanted you as my assistant.”

She scooted sideways to see his face better. “That’s complimentary … I think.”

He nodded. “It is. In this particular case what you’ve hooked is the cynical cop part of me.” He turned off the car. “You’re right. In my head I’ve dumped this into your lap. I’ve—to be biblical—washed my hands of it.” His eyebrows met. “That’s from the Bible, right?”

He must know how charming that look is.
“I think you should attend RCIA classes with Sidney. You could stand a refresher.”

“You’re a much more pleasant teacher. Pat and I would just argue in public like we do when we get together at home. That’d be bad for his priestly image.”

“I’ve been called many things as a teacher. ‘Pleasant’ was never one of them.” She checked the dashboard clock. “I’ve got to go.”

“All right.” He pulled her over the gap between seats. “Be careful. Keep it all in your head. Don’t take any notes somebody could find.” He kissed her. “Your hair looks okay. Plain Jane stuff. Jimmy had the right idea.”