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  Chapter Three

  “You’ve got to admit, the place is cleaner,” Riley said when he came into Gabe’s office the next morning to find him scowling at his desk.

  “So clean I can’t find anything.” Gabe shuffled through the papers on his desk. “She stacked things.”

  “That’s a woman for you.” Riley sat down across from him and stretched out his legs. “Look on the bright side. She’s concentrating on the bathroom now. That can only be good.”

  “She’ll find some way to make it ruin my day.”

  “You know, we’re going to have to make her permanent.”

  “Oh, God.” Gabe knew he was right, but he didn’t want to dwell on it. “So what happened yesterday?”

  “I did the Hot Lunch. Gina’s cheating. What a surprise.”

  “Anybody we know?”

  Riley shook his head. “Never saw him before. He was wearing a really ugly tie and looking at Gina like she was the best thing that ever happened to him. If only he knew. She waved and said to give you her best.”

  Gabe shook his head. “And people think detective work is exciting.”

  “What happened at O&D?”

  Gabe told him.

  “Jack’s cheating again?” Riley said. “He never learns.”

  “That’s it, keep an open mind.” Gabe sighed. “I don’t think any of them are guilty. But I do think Trevor lied about the accusations she made. I find it hard to believe that he’s playing around.”

  “True,” Riley said. “It’s not like Trevor to work with his hands.”

  “And I know he lied to me about how she wanted him to get the money to her.” Gabe leaned back. “I think he went to meet her.”

  “And Jack knows?”

  “Maybe. Budge Jenkins called me first. Then I got a follow-up call from Jack that played down the whole thing, told me not to start investigating until we’d talked. And then I got a call from Trevor trying to cancel the meeting.” He shook his head. “You have to wonder what would happen if Budge met a problem he couldn’t tattle on, Jack met one he couldn’t solve with fast talk and charm, and Trevor met one he couldn’t delay out of existence.”

  “So Trevor and Jack are hiding something and they haven’t clued Budge in.” Riley thought about it and grinned. “I’d hate to be Budge right about now.”

  Gabe nodded. “I have this ugly feeling that the way to find out who’s blackmailing the clients is to investigate the clients.”

  “Let me do the easy one,” Riley said, standing up. “I’ll find out if Jack’s cheating.”

  Gabe shook his head. “We’re not going to investigate it. They don’t want us to, and we don’t have the time.”

  “I might do it just for the hell of it,” Riley said.

  “It wouldn’t be just for the hell of it,” Gabe said. “It’d be to nail Jack Dysart. I can’t believe you’re still hostile about that woman after fourteen years.”

  “What woman?” Riley said and went out, passing Nell on her way in.

  “I need your appointment book,” she said to Gabe briskly.

  “Why?” he said, feeling the need to annoy her.

  “Because your appointments are not in the computer, and I need to put them in.”

  “Fine.” Gabe handed over his datebook.

  “Thank you.” She took it and turned back to the door.

  “Mrs. Dysart,” he said, hating what he had to say next.

  “Yes?” she said, patiently.

  “Would you like a permanent job?”

  She surprised him by pausing for a minute. “Would I get to fix your business cards?”

  “No.”

  She sighed. “Yes, I’d like a permanent job.”

  “You’re hired,” he said. “Don’t change anything.”

  She shot him a look that was completely unreadable and left.

  “Yes, she’s going to be a great help,” he said to the empty room and turned back to his neatly stacked desk to get some work done.

  * * *

  An hour later, with both partners gone and the bathroom still to be cleaned, Nell began to enter Gabe’s appointments into the agency’s antique computer system. After typing in his future workload, Nell went back through the book for the past year and realized she’d misjudged him. He might be a controlling fiend, but he was a hardworking controlling fiend. No wonder he hadn’t caught Lynnie embezzling; he’d barely had time to catch his breath. A significant amount of the work he’d done was background checks for Ogilvie and Dysart, and Nell stopped long enough to flip through Riley’s past appointments, too. Even more O&D, close to a quarter of their business.

  The door rattled, and she looked up from her computer screen to see her handsome son come in with a paper bag in one hand and a drink in the other.

  “Lunch,” Jase said, hitting her with the irresistible smile that had been getting him out of trouble for twenty-one years. “Also I wanted to check out your new salt mine.”

  Nell smiled back in spite of herself. He was such an all-American boy, tall and sturdy and open. “You look wonderful.”

  “You have to say that, you’re my mother.” He put the bag and the drink on the desk and kissed her cheek. “Aunt Suze says you’re supposed to eat, so eat. I don’t want her on my case.”

  Nell ignored the bag and picked up the drink. “What’s in here?”

  “Chocolate milkshake. She said to get high-calorie.” He looked around the reception room. “So you’ve been here a day and a half and it still looks like this? What have you been doing with your time?”

  “Getting to know my boss,” Nell said as Jase sat on the couch, the spindly legs creaking under his weight. “He’s tricky. I may have to sneak some things past him.” She opened the bag and tried not to recoil at the smell of the hot grease. You look like hell, she told herself. Eat. She took out a french fry. “So what’s new? How’s Bethany?”

  “I wouldn’t know. Haven’t seen her in a couple of weeks.”

  “Again?” Nell put the french fry back. “Jase, that’s your fourth girl this year.”

  “Hey, you don’t want me getting too serious too young, do you?”

  “No,” Nell said. “But—”

  “Then be grateful I play the field. That way when I’m ready to settle down, I’ll settle down. No cheating.” Jase faltered a little. “I mean, there’s no point in getting serious now, two more years of undergrad to go, and who knows what after that. I don’t even know what I want to be when I grow up.” He smiled at her again, as sunny and as guileless as when he was six.

  “I love you,” Nell said.

  “I know,” Jase said. “You have to. You’re my mom. It’s part of the deal. Now eat something.”

  “I am.” Nell reached in the bag for the french fries. “See?” She chewed a fry, trying not to gag at the taste of the grease. “Although I have to admit I’m not a big french fry fan.”

  “You used to be,” Jase said. “You used to pour vinegar over them like Grandma did, remember? One of the best smells I know is vinegar and hot oil because of you two.”

  “Well, at least I gave you some good memories,” Nell said.

  “You gave me a boatload.” Jase stood up and leaned across the desk to kiss her again. “I have to go. Promise me you’ll eat that.”

  “I’ll give it my best shot,” Nell said.

  When he was gone, she dumped the bag in the trash and went back to the computer and Gabe’s datebook. It really was amazing the amount of work the man did. Imagine what he could accomplish once she’d organized him.

  She began to type again, keying in words while she thought about all the things she could do to fix McKenna Investigations.

  * * *

  On Wednesday, Nell got to the agency at nine sharp, but Gabe wasn’t there. She was surprised to feel vaguely let down, as if she’d braced herself for nothing. It was like pushing hard on a door that opened easily; she felt stupid and clumsy, all at once. She made coffee and poured Riley a cup and took it in