* * * * *

After we broke in his couch, I used his private bathroom while Lee checked his e-mail messages, made some phone calls and once I had all my clothes and hair back in order, we walked out of his office. He was going to give me a tour and he took me down the hall in the opposite direction to reception.

There were several doors and he opened the one next to his office. It was large, held an exercise bike, a treadmill, a set of free weights, a flat screen TV and a big, comfy couch.

“This is a room for downtime, waiting or on call.” This was all he said before he closed the door.

He turned across the hall and opened another door and I peered inside. It was a bathroom, two sinks under two mirrored medicine cabinets. There was a double-front, free-standing cabinet with glass doors showing one side stacked with towels, the other side holding male toiletries like shaving cream and deodorant (okay, that was all the male toiletries, but males don’t have a lot of toiletries and from what I noticed, Lee, nor any of his men, were into primping and putting shitloads of product in their hair) but was mostly taken up with various medical supplies (this I found slightly alarming but I set it aside). There was also a toilet in a stall and a big tiled space with two shower heads, open bays. All of this was pristine clean and new-looking.

He closed the door while saying, “When you’re in the office, you use my private bathroom. This is males only.”

I felt a weird thrill that he gave this instruction, using the word “when”. Maybe the next visit would include me walking down the hall when someone opened the door to the bathroom with open shower bays. Maybe I should bring Marianne here, it might change her life. I was beginning to think Dawn was a very clever girl (even though I still didn’t like her and definitely didn’t trust her).

“What does Dawn use?” I asked.

He gave me a look.

“Don’t know, don’t ask.”

We walked further down the hall, he opened the door to a small room that was lined with about a dozen lockers, a big, fireproof cabinet with an electronic lock and a kitchenette at the end. No explanation needed for this room and I was glad to know where I could find the coffee.

Then he turned and knocked twice on a door, slid a fob across a pad on the side, a green light went on and he opened the door.

Woo hoo!

Now we were talking.

The nerve center.

We walked into a room with a bank of, like, a gazillion television screens on one wall each with a DVD recorder beneath it, underneath that a console full of buttons and knobs. There were several multi-line phones on the console. Another wall held radios stacked in inset shelves. I could hear the police-band squawking quietly. Two guys were sitting in the room but there were four chairs. Most of the television screens had visual, but a few were blank. Against the wall opposite the screens, there were a couple of desks that were a heck of a lot messier than Lee’s, with folders, papers, empty pop cans and dirty coffee mugs.

Huh.

I had my proof about Dawn.

Both men were sitting with their sides to the door, both men turned when we walked in and both men grinned when they saw me. I had the weird, uncomfortable feeling they both knew what happened in Lee’s office ten minutes ago.

“Indy, this is Monty and Vance, I think you boys know Indy.”

Say what?

“Hey, Indy,” Monty greeted. He had a blond military cut, a well-maintained body with a laid back posture and I was guessing he was about ten years older than Lee. He was still grinning at me and he lifted his hand and pointed a finger at a bank of four screens, all of which had visual on different angles of the inside of Fortnum’s.

Ah-ha.

Now I knew how Lee would think they’d know me.

Then I stopped thinking and watched in horror as Tex banged the portafilter on top of the espresso machine. Monty hit a button and the police band was drowned out by Tex’s voice shouting, “Fucking steam! Give me some more f**king steam, you monster!” Which was followed by Duke shouting, “It only gives as much steam as it gives, man!”

Wonderful.

Now I knew why they were both grinning at me.

I looked away from the current frightening goings-on at Fortnum’s to check out Vance.

Vance was younger than Lee, but I was guessing not by much. He had shiny, straight black hair pulled into ponytail, a lean body and fabulous bone structure and coloring of a Native American.

Oh, and he was seriously hot.

Yep, I was definitely going to have to bring Marianne here, and probably Andrea and more than likely, Tod.

It was like Chippendales but better.

I found myself captured by Vance’s good looks and watched as he and Monty exchanged glances over Tex and Duke’s exchange.

Vance’s lips were twitching. He thought Tex was funny.

Vance looked up to me and caught me staring. I gave him a tilty-head smile and he smiled back, all white teeth against dark skin.

“Hi,” I said to him.

His smile widened.

Mm, yum.

Lee’s hand curled into the waistband of my shorts.

Oopsie.

Monty and Vance turned back to the monitors and I looked at them too. There was an angle of the foyer of Lee’s condo building and his empty parking spot in the condo garage. There was also an angle of the reception area where Dawn was on the phone (likely tearing me apart to one of her girlfriends) and two screens showing the Nightingale Investigation parking spots. I was pretty much praying at that point that one of the blank screens didn’t show a visual on Lee’s office.

There were eight screens showing various things, mostly inside, some had people in them both at home and in offices.

Lee started talking. “We used to do security. Even though it paid well, it was boring as hell. Made employee retention difficult.”

“Won’t have a problem with retention if we keep monitoring your store. It’s like watching a sit com,” Monty said, his voice heavy on the amusement.

Great.

Monty turned to me. “We asked Dawn to do a transcript of your speech about El Salvador, Mom and Pop shops and the American way and we e-mailed it around. Hank isn’t even on the payroll and he was awarded honorary employee of the week for taking duty on you that day. I would have paid to see his face when he walked into that pot farm.”

Double great.

Not only did Dawn do the transcript, I could be sure she made certain to e-mail it to Lee.

Not to mention the fact that I was break in the day entertainment to Lee’s troops.

Lee let go of my shorts and said, “Fortnum’s will be wired for awhile and we need to get a camera on the front door.”