Deadly Reunion (The Taci Andrews Deadly Series) (7 page)

Jason shook his head. “No, that troublemaker is still around and dating some new gal. I think he dumped her about a week ago, just before she disappeared. As I said, Samantha ran away because she has a hard time dealing with things head on. She probably didn’t want to deal with seeing Drew at school with another girl and took off.”

My spidey senses were tingling again, something wasn’t right. In theory Jason’s story sounded plausible enough but my gut instincts disagreed.

Jason swung his gaze towards Gavyn, giving a nod of his head. “I take it you’re the silent partner type. Do you always let her do the talking during the interviews?”

Gavyn gave a slow smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “I don’t let her
do
anything. Taci’s her own person, she can handle her own interviews. I’m just along for the ride.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed and he cleared his throat in annoyance. “Yes well, you may find it more efficient if you let the men do the talking in the future. Because I know Taci I’m allowing this interview to take place. Don’t presume that I’ll be so accommodating in the future.” My teeth clenched tightly. Arrogant ass.

Pasting a smile on my face I stood from my chair. “Yes well, I know you’re a busy man Jason so we won’t take up any more of your time. I’ll leave my card if you have anything else you can think of that might be helpful.”

A brief flash of relief crossed Jason’s features before he shuttered them again. Taking my card he tossed it onto his desk, walking around the edge to show us out. Holding the door open he said politely, “Any time Taci, I hope I was somewhat helpful. For future reference, if you need any more questions answered contact my attorney Alistair Ebbings, or leave a message with Violet at the desk. We’ll be seeing you.”

For lack of something to say I simply nodded my head, giving a small wave to Violet who was cowering behind her desk. Violet returned the wave, immediately returning to her computer screen when Jason’s gaze swung towards her in displeasure. What a jerk I thought, anger simmering low as I made my way through the waiting room. Three expensively dressed men lounged casually in their chairs, obviously Jason’s next appointment.

Passing the first two I gave them a cursory glance. It was the third man who nearly made me pause; I recognized him as the foreman for the land development project on the highway. It shouldn’t have been strange to see him sitting in Jason’s waiting room, he was probably just touching up on the legal paperwork for the land but the surprise that momentarily crossed his features made me wonder. My curiosity was peaked, but not enough to gain an introduction; the need to get out of Jason’s domineering presence propelled me quickly out of the building and onto the sidewalk.

“I’m impressed,” Gavyn’s amused voice broke my thoughts once outside.

Blinking in surprise I glanced up at him. Not used to having someone tag along I’d almost forgotten he was with me. “Impressed with what?”

“You handled yourself pretty good with the playboy. I got the impression you and he weren’t the best of friends back in school,” he continued. I rolled my eyes, turning to head towards my car. My sandwich was waiting and my stomach was growling. I really wasn’t in the mood for this. On a whim I tucked the development foreman info in the back of my mind, intending to check up on him later. It probably wasn’t anything much but everyone associated with the McAllister’s at least needed to be checked out.

Fishing out my keys I unlocked the car door, turning to glance back at Gavyn. “Jason McAllister may be a playboy but don’t let him fool you. He’s a cold hearted snake who won’t think twice about biting the hand that’s feeding him. Just don’t turn your back on him.”

Gavyn gave me a smart salute, a smile on his face. “Thanks for the tip Ace, I’ll keep that in mind.”

I stifled the urge to laugh; so much for the silent brooding type. I really wanted to be annoyed with Gavyn but he wasn’t exactly making it easy. Not only did he stand me up for our meeting, he intruded on my lunch hour and then had the nerve to do a tag along. That alone should be enough to keep my temper up but his was making it difficult. Instead I gave him my best glare. “You do that. I’ve got a few other errands to run then I’ll be back at the office. If you’re still sticking around by four I’ll drop in and show you a few things.”

Gavyn shrugged, digging his hands into the front pockets on his designer jeans, making me wonder yet again about the paycheck he brought in. Either that or he was living at home with Mommy and Daddy. Somehow I doubted it. “Whatever you say
boss
, I’ll see you around four.”

I opened my mouth for a smart retort but he’d already turned and was making his way back to his beamer. Snapping my mouth shut I jerked open my car door and slumped inside, shutting the door with a resounding bang. Men. Seriously, why was it that the only men I seemed to be surrounded by lately were those that drove my blood pressure up? Turning my eyes heavenward I stuck out my tongue.

By the time I scarfed down my sandwich and arrived back at the paper I was in full indigestion mode and in need of the bottle of Pepto Bismol I kept readily in my desk drawer. Unfortunately my desk had now been taken over by Gavyn the Great, which meant I’d have to risk yet another encounter with him if I wanted that bottle of Pepto. I paused momentarily outside my office door, listening to the clicking of the keyboard coming from inside. Heaving a sigh I passed by my office and headed towards Richard’s. I was fairly certain that Richard had worked himself into an ulcer by now so surely he had some antacids hiding in his desk.

Entering his office, now my office thanks to Bryce, I tossed my purse in an empty chair and headed towards the large desk centered in the room. Opening the middle drawer I nearly did a happy dance at the sight of a pink wrapper with the words chewable pepto tabs on it. Yee haw, Owens was good for something after all I thought cheerfully, snapping them up and tearing open the package. Tossing them in my mouth I crunched happily, my eyes wandering over the office.

Disgustingly enough it was larger than mine but not much better, the not much better being he was a worse housekeeper than I was. Piles of file folders littered the office, along with post it notes and piles of paperwork that made me grimace. Obviously not one for filing I thought with a sigh. This was going to take longer than I thought. Going on a hunch I assumed Owens had stumbled across something big that accounted for his sudden disappearance. Unfortunately whatever that something was was buried in one of the many piles littering the office.

Heaving a sigh I decided to start with the easiest target, the only filing cabinet in the room. Tugging open the top drawer I peered inside, then groaned out loud. Empty. The blasted cabinet was empty. Tugging open the next drawer and then the next I found more of the same. Slapping my hands on my hips I turned to survey the office once again. Every damn drawer was empty. Jeez, didn’t anyone ever teach the man what a filing cabinet was used for?

Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes, pinching the bridge of my nose. Ok, I can do this. It’s just paperwork, nothing you haven’t gone through before I thought, trying to give my best good pep talk. God did I hate paperwork.

Slowly I opened my eyes to reassess my surroundings. As I peered around I began to notice things that I hadn’t before, like some of the paper piles weren’t stacked neatly as I’d first thought, but rather strewn haphazardly together as though they’d been rifled through quickly. Curiously I continued my search through the rest of the office, finding more of the same effect.

Someone’s been in here I thought uneasily, my stomach churning at the thought.

“Jesus Richard, what did you get yourself in to?” I asked aloud to the silent room.

“Good question. I was hoping you’d be able to find out,” Bryce’s voice spoke from behind me. Giving a squeal I whirled around, placing a hand to my beating heart.

“Damn Bryce, you shouldn’t sneak up on a person like that,” I breathed, willing my racing heart to slow down. I had enough problems to deal with at the moment. Having a heart attack just wasn’t on the agenda.

Bryce sighed. “Sorry Taci, didn’t mean to startle you. I assume you figured out someone went through Richard’s office.”

I nodded, my gaze wandering back around the room. At first glance one would think Richard was just a messy person but on closer inspection it was obvious the files had been moved around. “Do you know when this happened? Were you in here this morning? Who’s on staff for today?”

“I just noticed it about an hour ago so it could have happened at any time. In all likelihood I’m thinking it probably happened sometime during the night. Here’s a list of the people on staff today, you can do a follow up on them if you want but I don’t think you’ll find much,” Bryce said, handing a sheet of paper to me. I did a cursory glance of the sheet before folding it up, shoving it into my pants pocket.

“Well at least that explains the empty filing cabinet and paperwork lying all over. Here I thought Owens was just a bad filer,” I said lightly.

Bryce gave a soft chuckle. “Owens
is
a terrible filer, he’s never even used that filing cabinet I demanded he keep in here. The only reason I noticed things had been moved around is because the piles are usually stacked neatly together versus just piled up.”

I took a deep breath and counted to ten; sometimes I found that gave better results than just blowing up. Ok, so Owens really
was
a slob. Not something that should terribly surprise me. Annoy me, yes as I was going to have to sift through all this mess, but not surprising he would leave it for me. That was just the kind of guy he was.

“Listen Bryce, there’s something more going on here than what we know. Did Richard mention anything to you yesterday on the phone? Did he sound normal to you?” Gee, that was a loaded question. Richard was anything
but
normal in my book.

Bryce shook his head. “I’ve replayed that same thing in my mind a thousand times. He sounded fine, a little excited, but fine. Said he had a hot lead with the McAllister case that was huge and would blow the top off of everything, but that was it.”

I frowned, chewing on my lower lip thoughtfully. Too many unanswered questions just didn’t sit well with me, especially when more people were turning up missing. Turning back towards Bryce I gave him a reassuring smile. “Well whatever it is I’ll turn it up. You know how I can’t resist a good story. And I wouldn’t worry about Owens too much, he’s probably snuck off on one of his mini vacations again and is drunk as a skunk somewhere. I’m sure he’ll turn up.” Yeah, like when they drag the river.

Bryce smiled in relief, nodding his head. “Knew I could count on you, Tace. Call me if you need anything.”

The familiar words ringing in my ears I watched him walk away. Did all men say that to women or did I give off the impression that I was in need of help? With a sigh I turned back towards Richard’s messy office. He’d better hope he was tied up and being held for ransom because I was pretty sure he needed a good ass kicking for leaving me this mess.

CHAPTER FIVE

It was past 5:30 when I opened the door to my apartment and I breathed a sigh of relief at finally being home. It took nearly all afternoon to go through some of Owens mess and it didn’t even look like I’d made any progress. Even more irritating, I had yet to find any files on the McAllister case. Damn pack rat.

Tossing my purse and keys on the counter I walked into the kitchen to check my flashing machine. One message. Either that was a sad reminder of my non existent life or I missed paying a bill and someone wanted to collect. Personally I was opting for the latter; at least then I’d know somebody cared. Pushing the play button I strolled over to the fridge, tugging the door open and snagging a beer from the shelf.

The sound of heavy breathing once again filled the silence of my apartment and I turned, bottle raised halfway to my mouth.

“I enjoyed playing with your partner, Ms Andrews, but was delighted to learn you picked up the McAllister case in his absence. I’ll look forward to playing with you as well,” a distorted voice said before disconnecting.

Tilting the beer to my lips and I took a much needed drink. Shit. What the hell was that all about? This was
not
a good way to start the weekend. My first thought was to call the police. My second, unfortunately, was to call Tony. I did neither. Pressing the eject button I pulled the tape free, replacing it with a blank one. Walking over to the counter I tossed the tape in my purse, zipping it shut before leaning a hip against the counter to take another long drink, killing the bottle. A false sense of courage was better than none, even if it was dulled by liquor. I’m thinking I was going to need more booze. A knock sounded on the front door and I jumped, almost dropping the empty bottle from my hand. Shakily I set it down on the counter, edging slowly towards the front door. Cautiously I peered through the peep hole, breathing a sigh of relief at the site of Annie. I’d forgotten about going out tonight but lord was I glad to see her. Probably shouldn’t tell her about the phone call though; Annie tended to be a bit of a worrier. Opening the door I gave an easy smile. “Wow Annie, you look great. I didn’t know we were going on a date tonight or I’d have dressed nicer.”

Annie stuck out her tongue, wobbling into my apartment on strappy high heels. Her outfit was definitely a Mel classic; black panty hose, black leather skirt, a stretchy low cut top that I’m guessing qualified for a shirt. To top it off Annie’s makeup was done all up and her hair had been teased out to stand a few inches from her head. This was definitely not Annie’s style; I was willing to bet Mel had a hand in this one too.

“Not another word, thank you very much. I had to spend the last hour and a half with Mel teasing my hair and globbing on makeup. I really don’t care to hear anything more about this ‘glamorous’ outfit of mine. And why aren’t you dressed yet? I told you I’d be here at 6:00,” Annie retorted, placing a steadying hand on the kitchen counter. 6:00 Annie time was usually 5:30 normal time. If I’d been thinking more clearly instead of cussing Richard out all afternoon I would have been home and been ready to go.