More toe-tapping.
“I said, excuse me.”
I rolled my chin over my shoulder, pinning her with a hardened stare. Her wrinkled face blanched, and she swallowed so hard her throat muscles shook. “I heard you the first time.”
Nobody said shit for the next three floors.
Finally arriving at the tenth floor, I stepped into the expansive lobby. It was just as I remembered—beige, bland, and boring. My heels clicked against the tile, announcing my presence as I approached the front desk. A familiar perky blonde sat behind it, trailing her freakishly large blue eyes from the top of my head down to my newly acquired heels. I stood half-amused and half-irritated while I waited to see if she deemed me friend or foe.
Women were funny creatures. We were much more powerful united, yet there was an innate instinct inside all of us to tear each other down. It was the reason men thought we were the weaker gender. If only we’d get over petty competitive bullshit, women could rule the world.
How unfortunate.
Her gaze traveled back to my face, and she broke out into a huge grin. I knew she didn’t recognize me—I wasn’t that sloppy. I simply didn’t know whether to feel honored or insulted she’d decided so quickly I wasn’t a threat.
Case in point. Women were strange.
I wanted to tell her to fuck off, but she possessed way more power here than me. Murder and annihilation were a far cry from mergers and acquisitions. Unfortunately, I had to play nice. I knew just enough about the fair city’s former assistant DA to be dangerous but not enough to be deadly. From what I remembered about our mutual friend here, she’d be more than willing to fill me in on all I needed to know to tip the scales in my favor.
After all, I took the role of femme fatale quite literally.
The perky blonde leaped out of her chair. “How can I help you?”
“I’m here to see the assistant district attorney.”
Her smile faded as she fiddled with her laptop. “Do you have an appointment? She’s extremely busy today.”
I didn’t have time for this, and I sure as hell didn’t need her scanning some calendar for a nonexistent appointment. “No, I don’t, but I’m an old friend of his, and I’m sure if you ask…” I paused, feigning shock. “Wait, did you say, she?”
“Yes, Charlotte Kimbrell. I’m her secretary, Nancy Malone.” She tapped her nameplate as if I cared.
“What happened to Brody Harcourt?”
Her eyebrows pulled together, little lines darting across her forehead. “Didn’t you say you’re a friend of Mr. Harcourt’s? Surely, you know about the…” She leaned over the desk and lowered her voice, “…scandal.”
“I’ve been out of the country.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie.
“Well, I really shouldn’t gossip. Mr. Harcourt was my boss for years, you know.”
Of course, I knew, and I didn’t give a shit. However, I dutifully nodded my head because that was what she wanted.
“It’s not my place to repeat his personal tragedies.”
But you will.
“But since you’re his close friend and all…” Pausing, Nancy raised a perfectly penciled-in eyebrow as if waiting for approval. Of course, it probably didn’t matter one way or the other. Nancy was a natural leak. The wind could blow the wrong way, and she’d take it as a sign to blab.
“Of course.” I smiled. “We go way back.”
That was all she needed. Nancy’s mouth opened, and everything I’d missed in the last year came spewing out like a geyser. “You know he had an estranged sister, right?” Obviously, it was a rhetorical question, because she barely took a breath before answering for me. “Well, about six months ago, she came back into town. Not long after that he started missing court dates and got into some seriously deep shit…I mean hot water with the Carreras.”
I gasped. “The cartel?”
“Shocking, right?” Nancy said, waving her hands around like a lunatic. “Unfortunately, one thing led to another, and she died, and then his mother got arrested.”
I had to refrain from poking holes in her story. Nancy’s version was like staring at a jigsaw puzzle when half the pieces were missing. “So, this is the scandal you were talking about?” I asked, shifting her back on topic. “The DA’s office forced Brody out?”
Nancy shrugged and lowered herself back into her seat. “No, Mr. Harcourt resigned first. After he lost his family, something snapped up here.” Tapping her finger against her temple, she sighed, the corners of her mouth turning down as her excitement faded. “Such a shame too. He was one of the good ones.”
I wanted to laugh in her face. The Brody Harcourt she knew was a façade. A skin he stepped into the minute he walked into this office and took off the minute he walked out. His palms were just as greasy as his mother’s, and his loyalty was twice as thin. I wanted to take that heroic image she’d created in her mind and twist it until it was nothing but useless dust.
But I didn’t.
As sickening as it was, devotion like Nancy’s could be a useful tool. Besides, I still needed one more thing from her. Luckily, emotional manipulation had always been one of my finer talents.
I shot her a pleading look. “Do you have any idea where I can find him?”
“All I know is he bought that cantina from one of the Carrera wives.” She glanced up at the ceiling, snapping her fingers as if it held the answer. “Crap, what’s its name?”
“Caliente,” I muttered, more to myself than her.
“Yes! That’s it—Caliente. He bought it to make it respectable and give back to the community.” She beamed with pride, and I wanted to punch her face. “Although I’m not sure he’ll be there.”
She might not be sure, but I was.
The only thing sure in life was that history repeated itself. This whole thing started when I walked into that damn cantina, and it’d end the same way.
“Thanks.” Widening the distance between us, I turned to leave when she grabbed my arm.
“This is going to sound crazy, but do I know you? You seem so familiar.”
So close.
A year and a half ago, Brody Harcourt was an overly ambitious politician tucked into Valentin Carrera’s pocket. I spent many days shadowing and interacting with him, and he never knew it. But Nosy Nancy apparently had a mind like a steel trap.
“I don’t think so.” Each word carried an implied message, spoken with a cold darkness that sent goose bumps scattering up Nancy’s arms. Blood pulsed in my ears and every muscle in my body stiffened. Nancy’s breathing quickened, those bug eyes growing impossibly wide and filling with unshed tears.
Let it go, Nancy. For your sake.
“Oh, well, maybe you just have one of those faces,” she whispered, her skin growing pale.
We both knew I didn’t. However, it seemed Nancy had a brain as big as her mouth. She knew she’d screwed up. She also knew she’d screw up even worse by saying a word.
Call it women’s intuition. We understood each other.
Maybe there was hope for our gender.
I didn’t offer a goodbye and neither did she. I walked out of the district attorney’s office on a mission. Nancy could think whatever she wanted, but Brody Harcourt wasn’t just a bar owner. Every fall from grace came with loose ends. If I tugged hard enough on one thread, the whole tapestry would unravel.