Gunning For Angels (Fallen Angels Book 1) (3 page)

Change your life today. Don’t gamble on the future, act now, without delay.

–Simone de Beauvoir

Enid snuck another look at the woman’s amazingly gorgeous legs. Enid glanced down at her own legs and grimaced at her faded denims and battered Converse sneakers.

If I had legs like that…

“Would you like a bottled water?” the receptionist asked. A placard declared she was “Rachel” and Enid was comforted to see that she was also sneaking looks at the woman’s legs.

Leg-woman grinned and patted her huge purse. “You kidding? I don’t go to the mailbox without water.”

“How about you?” Rachel asked Enid.

Enid shook her head. Rachel went back to her computer.

The bus had gotten into Phoenix three hours ago, which had given Enid enough time to wash up in the bus station bathroom, have a fast food meal and walk the thirteen blocks to the Jack Fox Detective Agency. She had loitered another twenty minutes in the lobby of his building, which was old but clean, until she had gathered the courage to get on the elevator.

Leg-woman jumped in the elevator at the last moment. On the third floor, Enid was surprised when the leg-woman also entered the Jack Fox Detective Agency. Enid hesitated and signed in as Ivanna Hamm, since she was still hungry and envisioning a ham sandwich. From the sign-in sheet, Enid divined that leg-woman’s name was “Jeni”, with the ‘i’ in the shape of a heart.

So ninth-grade!

There were only two chairs in the reception room. Enid and Jeni sat next to each other, their elbows almost touching.

Jeni was stacked four inches higher than her actual height of five-foot-eight with the help of chunky red heels. Even to Enid’s untrained eyes, Jeni’s outfit had all the subtlety of a bullhorn in announcing that Jeni had more than a passing acquaintance with poles. 

For twenty minutes, they listened as a series of loud voices and strange “thunks” emanated from behind the door that they were waiting to enter. 

Finally, the door was yanked open and a squall of kids spilled into the reception room. A man trudged out, herding them toward the exit like a worn-out giant trudging after a swarm of alley cats.

Enid’s mouth went dry and her heart pounded to the point of hurt, like when she was a kid and sat on the curb watching the parade and the drum section passed too close. The horrible pounding reverberated through her whole body, leaving her feeling like she wanted to run away. She fixed her eyes on the door, not daring to breathe.

Is that him?

The man who came to the door was in late thirties. His thick brown
hair and hazel eyes in a bronzed face seemed rather average – until he spoke.

“Hello,” he said in a masculine voice that was as smooth as Velveeta. Suddenly, she saw that he
was
handsome. Enid stared at him, looking for any sign of resemblance. 

With no warning, th
e man’s face drained of color and he staggered back. Enid glanced at Jeni, who looked equally surprised at his strange behavior. 

Enid watched the play of emotions on his face. With obvious difficulty, he gathered himself together and gestured for both of them to come into his office.

Jeni hopped up and went into the office. Jack gave Enid an expectant look. In a flash, Enid realized that the man mistakenly thought that she was with Jeni and was waiting for her to come into his office also.

He thinks I’m with her…

Before she could think better of it, Enid jumped up and followed Jeni into the office. She sat in a chair by the door, several feet behind Jeni.

While Jack was walking around his desk and had his back turned toward them, Jeni shot Enid a questioning glance. Enid leaned forward and mouthed, “I’m with him.” She gestured toward the unseeing Jack. 

Jeni smiled politely and turned her attention back to Jack.

Jack sat at his desk and gave Jeni a forced smile.

Enid stared at the man who her mother claimed was her real father. To her surprise, she felt a knot of anger tighten in her stomach. Without warning, she could feel her face contorting into a scowl so deep that it hurt her teeth.

What kind of jerk abandons his daughter?

All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind.

–Aristotle

For one horrible moment, Jack thought that Stella-psycho-Monroe had come back to put the squeeze on him and what little bit of money she hadn’t already drained out of his checking account. Stella Monroe was a sociopath, a full-fledged psycho –
and his first wife
.

Jeni Hargrove was her spitting image – with better legs. Like Stella, everything about Jeni’s appearance was calculated to be the embodiment of a hormonal schoolboy’s fantasy. Unlike Stella, a closer look at Jeni left Jack startled to see an aristocratic beauty cleverly hidden under tight clothing, heavy makeup and a bevy of hardcore daddy issues. He could taste her cloying perfume that teased the space between them.

Jack’s eyes flickered over Jeni’s face, making damn sure it wasn’t Stella.

She ain’t Stella.

Jack looked at the little nutcracker of a girl that sat by the door. She was scowling at him like he’d ridden her mama hard, put her up wet and left her screwed and tattooed by the side of the barn.

The angry girl looked too old to be Jeni’s kid. Jack figured that she was most likely her little sister.

“Join the party.” Jack gestured for Enid to join them.

The girl’s scowl deepened. She got up and sat down in a chair next to Jeni.

Jesus, she looks like she’s trying to pass a bag of antique tacks.

“Do we know each other?” Jeni asked, examining Jack curiously.

“No.” Jack answered too fast to sound honest even to him.

Jack opened his mouth to ask the angry kid her name when Jeni shoved a photograph across the desk.

“I need to find my mother,” Jeni said, her voice quivering. “My real mother.”

He picked up the photo, dismissing any thoughts of the girl.

The photograph showed a smiling woman who was cheesecaking for the camera in a black bikini. Her figure was perfect; her face was not. Jack’s attention was arrested by her dark eyes under slanting eyebrows that were like a raven’s wings that cut upward on a pale winter sky. 

Venus flytrap eyes.

Jack glanced at Jeni, comparing her to the woman in the photo.

Zero resemblance.

“Who took the picture?” Jack said, curious who the “fly” behind the camera was.  

“She hadn’t met my stepfather yet so I don’t think it was him,” Jeni’s voice faltered. “
I thought
she was my mother, but that photo was taken one month before I was born.”

“You were adopted?” Jack asked.

“She says I’m hers.”

Jack turned over the photo, noting the time stamp: July 4, 1988. “She wasn’t pregnant with you and you’re not adopted. Was there a surrogate mother?”

“She keeps saying I’m hers. She’s lying!” Jeni shot Enid an embarrassed look and Enid gave her an encouraging smile. Jeni grabbed a business card from Jack’s desk and started tearing off bits of it, dropping the pieces onto his desk. 

Jack leaned back, studying Jeni’s eyes.

Stella…

Jeni continued tearing at the card. Jack glanced at Enid, who was giving him a look like she caught him raping the family dog.

“Everything okay?” he asked Enid.

She answered with a scowl.

A noise came from behind a door leading into Jack’s private office. They were currently sitting in his “client” office that he only used for business clients. A fleeting shadow darkened the cloudy glass that separated his private office from the client office. A frown bit across Jack’s face. Just as fleetingly, the frown disappeared. He turned politely to Jeni. “Your goal is to find out the identity of your biological mother. Anything else?”

“I w
ant the truth!” Jeni said, grabbing a new business card and tearing off bits. Her cheeks blotched an unattractive red.

Jack waited with a silence calculated to invite more information. 

“I’d rather be crazy on the truth than sane on lies,” Jeni said, her voice breaking.  

“What
do you
think the truth is?” Jack’s eyes gleamed.

Jeni stared at him, confused. She reached for a card but Jack moved the cardholder out of her reach. He smiled apologetically, “Almost out.”

“Cheap bastard,”
Enid hissed under her breath. 

“What?” Jack shot her a look of surprise. 

Enid glared at him. 

Jack frowned and turned his attention to Jeni.

Jeni took a deep breath and said, “I don’t know what the truth is. That’s why I’m here.”

“Fair enough,” Jack said. He pulled a contract out of a drawer, set it on the desk. He decided to run some angles on her, see how she reacted. Jack looked pointedly at her outfit, “What do you do for a living, Jeni?” 

Jeni raised her chin defiantly. “I’m in nursing school. Full scholarship.”

Jack raised his eyebrows.

Jeni shifted uncomfortably.

Here it comes…

Jeni blurted out, “I’ve had some troubles but I got my life together. I want to know who my real mother is – why she gave me up.”

Artsy. Not a direct hit but winding up to make the pitch…

Jeni shifted forward, turning on the sex appeal like she was flipping a well-worn switch. “I was told you could help me. I was told you’re the best.”

Money shot. Just like Stella…

Jack felt his stomach twist with disgust.

Whatever school they learn it at – they must have his mug shot up ‘cause they know me when they see me.

He took his revenge on Stella by leaving Jeni blinking at dead air. He got up, dug through a file cabinet. He turned, held out a different contract, “We updated our contract.” He hit a buzzer. “Rachel will go over my contract and fees with you.”

Jeni’s mouth fell open in astonishment. “I –I don’t have a lot of money. I
am
a student...”

Rachel entered. Jack handed her the contract, nodding at Jeni. “Standard contract, Rachel.”

“Oh, I was hoping…” Jeni said weakly.

Jack smiled coldly, gesturing for Rachel to escort them out.

“She said she’s broke!” Enid jumped up angrily. 

Everyone looked at Enid in surprise.

Jack said, “Red Cross is two blocks over, kid. I’m not running a charity.”

“She’s a
student!”
Enid exploded with vehemence that caught Jack off guard.  “Give her the student discount!”

“Standard fees,” Jack said stubbornly. 

Enid looked pointedly around the room. “Don’t look like you’re rolling in cash to me.”

Why you little…!

Enid said, “If you don’t give her a student discount, we’re walking. We’ll hire some other two-bit jerk who isn’t rude
and doesn’t have a bunch of kids out there he doesn’t even
know
about!”

Jeni’s mouth fell open in astonishment.

Jack turned to Jeni, eyes flashing. “Why don’t you take your little sister home, get her back on her meds.”

Jeni gave Jack a startled look, “I thought she was with you?”

Enid froze, a jackrabbit caught in the crosshairs.

Jack looked from Jeni to Enid, confounded.

In a shot of motion, Enid made a break for the door but Jack sprang from behind the desk and got across the room with surprising speed. He grabbed Enid by the arm, pulled her to a hard stop.

“What the hell…?” Jack growled.

Enid stared up at him in fury and, before Jack realized what was happening, he howled in pain as she sunk her teeth into his forearm. He stumbled back, clutching his arm and staring at her like she was a demon.

Enid jabbed her middle finger in his face, turned and vanished.

Jack looked down at his arm. Blood was seeping through his shirt.

Psycho punk
kids!

Rachel rushed to his side. “Are you okay?”

Jack ran into the hallway as the stairwell door was closing. Jack started to go after her but he stopped himself, breathing hard. What was he going to do once he caught her? Spank her?

“Her name was Ivanna Hamm!” Rachel said, “I thought they were together.”

“Don’t these brats have parents? They need to lock up the nut-job parents who don’t know how to control their kids!” Jack exploded. Grimacing, he examined his bloody arm.

“She told me she
was with you,” Jeni said, “I thought she was an assistant or something.”

Jack shot her an incredulous look. A teenage brat assistant? Jeni Hargrove had great legs but she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.

I got fooled too…

Jack said,
“They should make people pass a test before they have kids!” He gestured for Jeni to return to the office. “Rachel will go over the contract with you.”

“How ‘bout what the kid said – about the student discount?”

Jack gave her a “you gotta be kidding” look but she gave him an angelic smile and he felt himself slipping down into the Venus flytrap power of her eyes.

Maybe that
is her real mother…

He mentally shook himself. No way in hell he was going for another Stella! He walked Jeni into the reception room and handed her off to Rachel. He escaped into his office.

On impulse, he stalked to the door and shouted to Rachel, “Make a sign – no kids allowed! Under penalty of I will kick anyone’s ass who brings in anything that can’t vote, drink or cuss out their mama!

I. Hate. Kids.