Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“It’s just… I spent two hours today going over financial reports,” I said, laughing at myself. “Your job sounds so much more interesting.”
“Don’t underestimate how nice predictability can be,” he suggested.
The rest of the ride was riddled with little funny stories about cases he’d been on, situations he’d gotten himself into, and how I’d managed to get my career going at such a young age.
Grit and tireless determination, that was how.
“This is the Navesink?” I asked as we neared a bridge over a body of water.
“That’s it,” he confirmed as we passed what looked like the rich suburb he’d mentioned earlier.
I didn’t know what I was expecting with Brock. But I guess, in my mind, I pictured bachelors living in apartments.
Brock, however, pointed toward a suburb as we passed. “I live down there, but I wanted to do the meeting with the team first,” he told me. “They have families to get home to. And we have all night.”
The offices of Sawyer Investigations was an upscale, two-story building with a very masculine decor style—all dark black and grays, nothing soft or frilly around.
“Marg! The one who got away!” Brock greeted the woman at the front desk who looked old enough to be his mother. And, judging by the annoyed, yet affectionate, smile she gave him, that was likely very much the dynamic the two of them shared.
“Oh, you. You still need to get your comeuppance from Terry, you know. She’s asked for you twice already.”
“Marg, the love of my life, not in front of the client!” Brock said dramatically, one hand to his chest, the other gesturing toward me.
“Oh, you must be Miss Coulter,” Marg said. “With the extremely persistent assistant.”
“In his defense, I pay him to be a bit of a pain in the ass,” I told her.
“These guys,” she said, waving to the office. “They pay me to be the same.”
“We pay you because we love you and your time is valuable,” Brock insisted.
“You are putting it on thick today,” Marg told him, rolling her eyes. “You can go on in. He’s free,” she said, waving toward the hallway to the side.
“She’s the office mom, huh?” I asked as we walked.
“She would love to hear you say that,” Brock told me, reaching for a door and opening it without knocking.
“For fuck’s sake, Brock,” a man inside grumbled as he leaned back in his chair. He was tall, handsome, somewhere around the same age as Brock. “Miss Coulter,” he said, tone going a little more professional as he looked at me.
“You must be Sawyer,” I said, moving forward to offer my hand. “I’ve heard next to nothing about you,” I admitted, getting a surprised chuckle out of him.
“That’s no surprise,” another voice said, a deep, booming sort of voice, making me turn to find another man walking in. “He does tend to talk mostly about himself.”
“This is where I might adopt a Rodney Dangerfield voice and grumble about not getting any respect,” Brock said.
Sawyer ignored that.
“How have things been going, Miss Coulter? Is there anything we can do to improve your experience?”
“I mean, on the one hand, I wish this was all over…”
“Understandable,” Sawyer said, nodding.
“But on the other, I have no complaints. Everything has been very thorough.” Including my wholly inappropriate fantasies about my now live-in investigator.
“We promise we will be doing everything in our power to bring about a resolution as soon as possible,” Sawyer assured me. “If necessary, we can also come to the city to do some digging, but I have full confidence in Brock’s skills.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Brock has been keeping us in the loop about the progress on the case. I’m glad you have all the security set up. How did you find Lennon?”
“Intense, but I imagine that is a good thing in his line of work. He is having me do construction on my balcony.”
“I’ll bet he is,” Sawyer said with a smirk. “If there is anything else you would like for us to do…”
“So far, I have no complaints. I’m still alive and not in a psych ward, so that’s good. I won’t keep you any longer,” I said, getting back to my feet. “I just wanted to drop in and introduce myself since we are in town anyway.”
“To get some of my things,” Brock supplied at Sawyer’s puzzled look. “Because I will be staying with the client for the time being. Did I forget to tell you about that?” Brock asked, looking like a mildly apologetic younger brother when caught not giving his big brother the whole truth.
“It must have slipped your mind. But I’m glad to hear it. Especially since we have no leads,” Sawyer said, also getting to his feet, and walking us toward the door.
Brock gestured for me to walk out first, and I got the feeling that Sawyer wanted a word with Brock, so I kept moving out into the lobby, where I found Marg giving me a curious once-over.