Another Side Of Midnight

“I tried that. Then they asked me to sing.”

“Or a model—”

“I thought about that, too. For maybe a minute.”

“But, no. You have to go around beating up drunks and spying through bedroom windows.”

“Lucky for you and your sense of job security, huh?”

He rested a hip on the edge of her desk. “Oh, please. You’ve been lucky to have me these past three months. How many people did you fire before I came to your rescue?”

“About a dozen,” I mumbled into my coffee mug. “But don’t let it go to your head. You’re the only secretary—”

“Administrative assistant.”

“Whatever. You’re the only one who didn’t complain about the part-time hours, the salary or the amount of work. Speaking of which, shouldn’t you be typing something?”

He made an exaggerated snap with his fingers and stood up. “Thanks for the reminder. I have to finish writing chapter twelve.”

Scowling, I waved my hand at the files on my desk. “I meant something business-related.”

“Oh, right. Because we have so many cases right now. On the other hand, Savannah and Brick are at a critical turning point in their relationship.”

“The trials and tribulations of a Southern belle and her Yankee lover.” He smiled as I affected a drawl with practiced ease. I even managed the Georgia mountain dialect he tries so hard to repress. “How’s the book coming along?”

“They were undressed and fixin’ to fall into bed when you walked in. Let me tell you—”

“Don’t. Just don’t.” I stabbed my index finger in his direction. “I keep you out of my love life. You leave me out of yours.”

“Sweetcakes, you don’t have a love life.”

There’s nothing like the truth to end a conversation. And, besides, I hate it when he calls me “sweetcakes.” I scowled at Jon’s back as he swept out, then propped my boot heels on the desktop. I hadn’t had a serious relationship in over five years, not since Bobby died… I didn’t want to think about him.

And I hadn’t gotten laid in exactly two months, two weeks and four days. But I didn’t want to think about him, either.

Instead, I turned my attention to the files clogging my inbox. Private investigation is the business of information. Your client needs to know something and your job is to find the facts. People love the idea of Sam Spade, Mike Hammer, Thomas Magnum and Charlie’s Angels.

Reality is nowhere near that glamorous.

It’s hours of sheer boredom while you wait and watch and wait some more. It’s days of tedious fact checking and double-checking. And it’s paperwork. Lots and lots of paperwork. I

have a system for it, though you’d swear otherwise. It involves nearly illegible notes on yellow legal pads or scraps of paper shoved into my pockets.

When I’m ready to type up a report, I shuffle the paper around on my desk like an abstract collage until I make some sense of it. Conventional? No. Organized? Hell, no. But I’m not a linear thinker and it’s not pretty when I try to be.

After dropping my feet to the floor, I drained the last of my espresso and grabbed the first folder to draft a status report. Insert client’s name into document template. Briefly recap case. Inform of progress. Advise how to proceed. Save to hard drive. Repeat as necessary.

I’d reduced the stack by half when the intercom buzzed. Jon was on the phone, using his business voice. “A Mrs. Cavanaugh is here to see you.”

Who? I frowned and capped my fountain pen before flipping the page of my calendar. There weren’t any appointments scheduled this morning and I would have been happy to leave it that way. Then I glanced over at the pile of bills. Not enough to bury us, but enough to make me sigh.

Due to the steady increase of infidelity, bad parenting and civil litigation, there’s a greater than ever demand for private investigators. Just not this one. Jon says it’s because we need a Web site.

“Okay, Jon, give me a minute to get professional, then send her back.”

I rummaged through my backpack for a compact. Dab-bing pressed powder onto my eye didn’t help much. Screw it. I pulled my arms out of my T-shirt and turned it around so that the slogan was on the back. Then I yanked the spare navy blazer off the door hook and combed my fingers through my hair. Picking up my legal pad, I tried to project an air of expertise.

Because of my looks, most people think I only have enough brainpower to keep me breathing. While I have no qualms about using their assumptions against them on a case, it works against me when meeting new clients. But as my visitor walked in, I knew my appearance didn’t matter.

Her shoulder-length brown hair had expensive-looking gold highlights. She wore a lavender business suit and matching heels. Diamonds flashed at her ears, neck and wrists. She actually wasn’t much smarter than she looked, but I liked her anyway. Always had.

“Maria DiMarco.” I came from behind the desk to take her hand. “I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“It’s Cavanaugh now. Mrs. Gray Cavanaugh.” Her breathy, childlike voice rushed from between pale pink lips, but her tone had an undercurrent. Something flickered in the back of her eyes. Then she smiled, looking like the girl I remembered, and indicated my shiner. “Still raising hell, huh, Steele?”

I grinned back at her and shrugged. “Somebody’s got to.” At St. John the Evangelist High School, Maria had been the princess of the popular crowd while I’d been in trouble more often than I’d stayed out of it. Our second year, I’d chosen peer tutoring over detention when the principal caught me smoking in the girls’ bathroom.

At first Maria and I had nothing in common except our Italian heritage and American History class. But over time we had become good friends. That lasted until I’d started at UNLV and we lost touch, as people do when they leave childhood behind.

“I didn’t realize your aunt wouldn’t be here when I called. I’m sorry, Steele. I know you two were close.”

Like that, I remembered the last time I’d seen Gloria. She’d needed a hospice, but she’d opted to stay home and go out on her own terms. We’d been sitting on the patio, toasting the sunset with twelve-year-old scotch and a twenty-five-year-old male nurse… That was Gloria. A bad girl to the end.

“Thanks. I miss her.”

Maria looked around, a slight frown pulling her brows together. “So…you’re doing this stuff now? I mean, do you think you’ll be able to help me?”

“I’ll do my best. Why don’t we sit down.”

Maria seemed nervous, in no rush to get started. She was twisting the rings on her left hand. I didn’t have to take a wild guess at the problem. This town provides plenty of work in the marital discord department.

I settled against the couch, wanting to put her at ease. “It’s been a long time. What have you been up to?”

“Daddy finally let me be part of the family business.” Her lips curved, but the feigned emotion didn’t get close to her eyes. “I put in a couple of days a week at the Palazzo Napoli. I’m the events planner for the hotel.”

“That’s great. How is Big Frank?”

“Good. He’s, uh, okay.” She dropped her gaze for a second. “How’s your family, Stella? I hear your brothers are working at Mezzanotte’s now.”

I shifted in my seat. “Just Rafe and his wife. You remember Laura Caporetto? She was a year ahead of us. Anyway, they help run the restaurant side. Joey’s still a cop. He’s doing good.”

Neither of us mentioned Vince.

“And your folks. Are they as cute as I remember them?”

“Yeah, they still can’t keep their hands off each other.”

Maria nodded and kept twisting the big-ass solitaire and matching band. With most investigations, you find out a lot more by shutting up than by asking a lot of questions. So, I nodded too and waited for her to tell me why she was here.