Snoops in the City (A Romantic Comedy) (19 page)

"I'll show you.” Grady lifted the nearly weightless carrier onto a nearby desk. He talked in soothing tones as he bent down and reached inside for his new pet. "It's okay, girl. There's nothing to be afraid of."

When Gordo was free of the carrier, she blinked a few times and looked nervously around at her new surroundings. Grady picked up the little cat with one hand and held her out to his sister.

"Lorelei, meet Gordo," he said.

Lorelei made a soft noise, her expression turned tender and the confrontation went out of her stance.

"You are so cute, I could just die," Lorelei told the cat, taking her from Grady and gathering her close. "Except what kind of name is Gordo for a cutie like you?"

"You really think she's cute?" Grady asked.

"Of course." Lorelei stared into the cat's aggressively homely face as she petted her. "Don't you dare let any man tell you differently. Do you hear me, Gordo?"

Grady figured he better ask his favor while the asking was good. "Then you'll take care of her for me today?"

Lorelei's head snapped up. "For you? You mean this is your cat? Since when do you have a cat?"

"Since this morning."

"I thought you weren't home enough to justify getting a pet. And why a cat? With all those Westerns you watch, why not a little dogie?"

"Ha, ha," Grady said.

"I thought it was funny," Lorelei said. "So what gives?"

"Tori can't keep Gordo because her lease has a no-pets clause."

"Ahhh.” Lorelei drew out the syllable. "Tori. The plot thickens. Tell me more."

He shrugged. "Not much more to tell. I've got to keep Gordo because taking her back to the pound would be a death sentence. Nobody else would adopt a cat that looks like her."

An indentation appeared between Lorelei's eyebrows as she attempted to cover Gordo's ears.

"Don't say things like that in front of her, especially because they're not true. I'd adopt her in a second if Mandy wasn't allergic to cats," she said, referring to one of her three roommates. "But I wasn't asking about Gordo. I want to know more about you and Tori."

"Like what?"

"Men." Lorelei made a tsking sound. "You don't date anybody for like a year and then you ask a question like that. Does she ring your bell? How serious is it? Will I see her across the dinner table at Thanksgiving? Details, big brother, I want details."

No way would he tell Lorelei exactly how loudly Tori rang his bell or how much he looked forward to having her ring it again. She’d never shut up if he didn't say something, though.

"We're seeing each other," he said flatly. Hoping to stop his sister from asking more questions, he zigzagged over the linoleum floor and around cubicles to his office.

"Well, duh." Lorelei's voice came loud and clear from behind him. "I figured that out myself. Is she your girlfriend or what?"

Grady would have dismissed the notion as ludicrous as recently as a few days ago. That had been before Tuesday night.

"I hope so," Grady said.

Lorelei beamed. "Oh, goody. I like her. I mean, the woman works in a department store. How cool is that? Will you ask her if she can get me a discount?"

Grady laid down his briefcase and came across his desk to open it. The papers jammed inside reminded him that the more successful his company became, the busier he got.

"No," he said.

"If you're going to be that way about it, I'll ask her myself," Lorelei said. "She has to be softie if she came home from the pound with this cute, little kitty."

"Which you'll keep an eye out for so I can get some work done." He nodded encouragingly toward the door as he took a seat behind his desk.

"Let's go and get you set up, sweetie," she said to Gordo, bringing the cat's scrunched-up face close to hers. To Grady, she said, "I'll need the keys to your SUV."

"For what?"

"To get her litter box, water bowl and cat food. You’ve got those things in the SUV, right?”

He grimaced, thinking he'd probably left those supplies behind when he slipped out of Tori's apartment at dawn. “I’m not used to cats.”

"Obviously.” She marched over to his desk and held out her right hand palm up. He dug out his wallet and counted out a couple bills.

"What? You don't want me to buy her
nice
things?" Lorelei asked, her hand still extended. He added more money.

He thought he'd finally gotten rid of Lorelei but then she paused at the mouth to his office. "By the way, you already had a call this morning. A Larry Schlichter."

His body went still. This was most likely the call he'd been waiting for since Pete Aiken had claimed somebody else at City Hall wanted in on the action.

It made sense that somebody would be Schlichter, who was Seahaven's Director of Planning.

Aiken, the City Clerk, could only peripherally affect which construction company got the community-center contract. Aiken had taken money to open the sealed bids that came to his office, thus making sure Grady submitted the low one.

However, a low bid didn't guarantee a winner. Schlichter headed a committee that would review the bids and make a recommendation to City Council at next week's regularly scheduled meeting.

Grady kept his voice casual. "Did Schlichter say what he wanted?"

"Nope. He didn't leave a number where he could be reached, either. He said you shouldn't call him, that he'd call you."

It seemed a lot to ask, especially because Grady's patience with Operation Citygate had worn thin. At the meeting with the FBI agent that morning, he'd argued he should approach city officials rather than vice versa.

The agent hadn't gone for it, asking Grady to wait for city employees to solicit the bribes themselves so the FBI could build a stronger case.

If Grady amassed evidence against Schlichter, he'd be one step further up a ladder that would hopefully lead to the mayor. Then he could get his life back.

A life he hoped would contain Tori.

"I don't understand." Tori failed to keep the thick film of disappointment from coating her voice. "What am I doing here if the job has already been filled?"

Mayor Honoria Black leaned back in her sumptuous leather chair, which was inside a lavishly decorated office that must have dearly cost the Seahaven taxpayers. The carpeting was plush, the furniture mahogany and the artwork on the walls originals.

"There will be other openings," the mayor said. "It never hurts to get that preliminary interview out of the way."

"When I called yesterday, you gave the impression the job was mine for the asking," Tori reminded her.

"You must have heard me wrong," Mayor Black said smoothly. "Applicants must undergo a rigorous process before they can be considered for a city opening. You've only started it."

Tori fought disappointment, feeling silly for having believed her employment at City Hall was both a done deal and the answer to her problems. Not only would she have been in prime position to prove Grady's integrity, she would have been employed, no small feat.

"What exactly does the process entail?" she asked.

"Filling out an application and submitting a resume by the closing date of the job posting, to begin with. Secretarial positions, such as the one we just filled, require a typing test. And of course we ask for references and check them thoroughly."

"I see," Tori said, but she didn't.

If there weren't a job opening at City Hall, why was she here? With the standardized hiring process, she doubted this interview would suffice if a position became available.

"When do you forsee there being an opening?" Tori smoothed the skirt of the chocolate-colored business suit that had seen her through too many unsuccessful job interviews.

"It's hard to say," Mayor Black said, "but then I might get it into my mind to create one. That's the beauty of being the mayor. I can do anything I want."

"What would make you want to create a new position?" Tori asked.

"Let's just say I like to surround myself with good, loyal people." Honoria rocked in her chair. "That's why I'm glad for this chance to get better acquainted. All I really know about you is that you followed Grady around the golf course to get him to notice you."

Tori frowned, not liking the way that depiction made her sound. "That's not exactly the way it was."

"I knew it. I knew that story was bogus. So how exactly did you meet our young Mr. Palmer? A man as forceful as that must have been the one to approach you.”

Tori thought about Grady knocking on the window of her car, all but demanding she talk to him. "He did," she said. "He can be very persuasive when he wants something."

Mayor Black tilted her head. By no means could she be called a beauty, but Tori had to hand it to her hairdresser. A beautician with considerable skill had cut the mayor's short, dark hair to make the most of her coarse features.

"Isn't it funny you should say that?" the mayor said. "I've often wondered that about Grady. I know he's a go-getter, but how far will he go to get what he wants?"

"I couldn't say," Tori said. "I don't know him well enough yet."

"When you do," Mayor Black said, leaning forward and lowering her voice, "you be sure to let me know."

Thirty minutes later, when the strange meeting with Honoria Black was history, Tori had a nagging feeling the mayor had invited her into her office to pump her about Grady.

Except that was ridiculous, given Tori's tenuous connection to the man. She felt her face flush when she thought back two nights ago to the way their bodies fit perfectly together.

Tenuous could be the wrong word, especially because she would have happily connected with him again if he'd been free last night.

She smiled as she replayed yesterday afternoon's telephone conversation in her head.

"I've barely been able to keep my mind on work thinking about what we did last night," Grady had claimed in a soft, low voice.

"Then come over tonight so we can do it again," she'd whispered, shocking herself but not him.

"I can't." Regret had been thick in his voice. "I have to work late on a bid package."

"Can't it wait?"

"Not with the deadline coming up fast. I'll finish it up tonight and we can see each other tomorrow. Believe me, I don't want to spend any more nights away from you than I have to."

She not only believed him, she believed
in
him. More than ever, she thought Grady one of those good men that were purportedly so hard to find.

She'd failed in her mission to infiltrate City Hall, thus blowing her chance to prove it.

She stopped walking and gazed around at the interior of the grand old building as it occurred to her that wasn't necessarily true.

She stood inside City Hall at this very minute, with an excellent excuse for being there. She needed to make the most of this opportunity, but how?

Ms. M had asked her to investigate Grady's dealings with city officials and she'd intended to start with Pete Aiken. Except she couldn't very well sidle up to somebody who knew the city clerk and say, "How 'bout that Pete Aiken?"

Or could she?

She lurked outside the City Clerk's office, trying to get up her nerve. Five minutes ticked by while she loitered in the hall, rejecting one opening line after another.

She still hadn't moved when a small, round-faced woman with frizzy dark hair stepped out of the office and gave her a curious look.

"Hi," Tori said brightly.

The woman looked her up and down. "Can I help you with something?"

"Yes.” Tori belatedly realized the folly of her plan. She couldn't start firing questions at a woman who already seemed suspicious of her. What legitimate reason could she give for skulking in the hall? "You can. . . tell me where the break room is. I'm. . . really thirsty."

"You work here?"

Tori shook her head. "Not yet. I was interviewing."

The tension seemed to leave the woman's body, and she smiled at Tori. "So you got the dry mouth?"

"Excuse me?"

"From nerves. Job interviews do that to me, too. I'm due a break now. You can come with me.” The woman led her a short distance to a small, empty room with tables and vending machines. "I'm Ann Dreher. I’m an administrative assistant in the City Clerk's office.”

"Tori Whitley, wannabe administrative assistant in anybody's office," Tori said.

Ann laughed and dispensed a jar of orange juice from one of the machines. Tori smiled to herself as she fished some coins from the bottom of her purse and fed them into a soda machine. This PI business wasn't so hard after all.

She joined Ann at a circular table, trying to remember the chapter in
So, You Want to be a PI
dealing with interrogation.

Ah, yes. When trying to bleed information from an unsuspecting party, the book suggested the conversation should flow seamlessly.