Gotta Get Next To You (32 page)

“This is it, ma’am. You did punch the button
for the sixth floor,” a man said. He tapped a leather portfolio
against one leg, obviously impatient to go home.

Andrea blinked out of her daze. “Sorry.”

She stepped out. The walls were of oak panel,
stained to make it look dark and rich. Thick ocean blue carpet
cushioned her steps. She went past a series of doors. Smartly
dressed men and women moved at a brisk pace. There was a large
reception area with two sofas upholstered in dark blue and gold
fabric. In the center a petite brunette sat at a desk. She was on
the phone, so Andrea waited until she hung up.

“May I help you?”

“I’m looking for Mr. Mandeville,” Andrea
blurted out.

“He’s expecting you?”

“Yes.” Andrea pressed her lips together.
Another lie in less than fifteen minutes. She froze, afraid the
woman would check with someone.

“Go right down that hall, take a right, and
his secretary will help you.”

“Thanks,” Andrea stammered.

She walked in the direction the woman had
pointed. It was a short distance, yet in seconds Andrea talked
herself into leaving at least three times. Suddenly she turned the
comer and saw Jamal. His back was to her as he talked to the
secretary. Andrea stood rooted to the floor. Now what? The decision
was taken out of her hands when the secretary looked at her.

“Yes, ma’am?”

In the same instant Mandeville swung open one
of the wide double doors. “Come on in, Lee.” His mouth fell open.
“Andrea?”

Jamal spun around, eyes wide with dismay and
shock. “Damn!”

She stared at Jamal, and then looked at her
father. “What is going on here?”

***

“So, you say he’s cool.” Ty’Rance gathered a
handful of peanuts from a can. “You know the guy well enough to
stick up for him?”

Denny licked his dry lips before answering.
He glanced around at the three men. Ty’Rance had called a meeting
at the apartment he sometimes shared with one of his girlfriends.
They all stared at him with dull eyes. Bo leaned against the wall
in Ty’Rance’s shabby living room. Another sat in an old ladder-back
wooden chair. The third stood behind the leather recliner where
Ty’Rance sat. The bass from the music in the next room made the
walls vibrate.

‘Tell her to turn that crap off or I’ll throw
her and the damn CD player out,” Ty’Rance barked.

The man standing behind him turned and
stomped out without speaking. Seconds later the music stopped. He
came back and took his position again.

“Sure, Ty. I wouldn’t have brought him to you
if I didn’t trust him,” Denny said.

“Yeah, but you’re dumb as dirt.” Bo sneered
at him. “How you know he ain’t a cop?”

“Look, I been talking to the guy for months.
He’s South Central all the way.” Denny made a chopping motion with
his left hand. “I know my people.”

“Humph!” was the husky man’s only reply. He
shifted position, but continued to lean against the wall.

“Now, now. Don’t insult my little partner.”
Ty’Rance threw a few nuts in his mouth. He chewed slowly as he
gazed at Denny.

“Guy looked okay to me when we met that time.
Don’t seem like no cop,” the second man in the wooden chair
said.

“That don’t mean nothin’. You ain’t no
smarter than him,” Bo retorted.

“Oh yeah?” The man started to get up from the
chair. He froze at a look from Ty’Rance.

“Sit down, fool.” Ty’Rance scowled at Bo.
“And, you, shut up.”

Denny rubbed his hands together. His eyes
darted around at the hard faces, all frowning except the man
standing behind Ty’Rance. He smiled grimly at the scene, but said
nothing.

“Uh, if y’all wanna forget the whole thing,
it’s okay with me. I mean ...” Denny’s voice faded to a croak when
Ty’Rance turned to him.

“It ain’t okay with me, though.” Ty’Rance
stood and walked to him. “This is what we gone do. You get the
goods and I’ll tell you where to take them. Anything go down, it’s
on you.” He poked Denny’s chest with a thick forefinger.

“Wha-at you mean?” Denny blinked rapidly at
him.

“You know damn well what I mean. If the cops
show up, you better not talk.” Ty’Rance’s voice was matter-
of-fact.

Denny nodded without speaking. Sweat rolled
down the side of his face. Ty’Rance turned his back on him and
talked to the other three men. Denny sank down on the sofa and
listened. He twisted his hands together nervously. The men nodded
while Ty’Rance did most of the talking.

“What you doin’ way over there, li’l
partner?” Ty’Rance barked over his shoulder. “Come over here.”

“Yeah, sure,” Denny stammered. He wiped his
fore-head with one hand and joined them.

Ty’Rance draped his beefy arm around Denny’s
neck. “I think we gonna do all right. What you think?”

Denny’s lips pulled back in a strained smile.
“Right, right. We’ll make lots of money.” He winced when Ty’Rance’s
huge arm closed tighter around his neck.

“I’m counting on it,” Ty’Rance said.

Andrea stared at him. “LeRoyce Matthews.”

“Lee,” he replied.

“What?”

“I’m called Lee. A nickname, sort of.” He
felt unnerved by the cold look in her eyes.

“Who are you really?” Andrea asked the
question softly.

He knew what she wanted to know about him
went beyond a simple identifier. Andrea’s question sought to delve
deeper to the real man beneath the name. Lee in-haled and let out
air slowly. Right now, in front of Mandeville, he could only offer
facts.

“I’m a private investigator out of New
Orleans. L & V Investigations, Inc. Mr. Mandeville hired me on
behalf of the board of directors.” Lee spoke quietly, in the same
voice he’d use to break bad news to the families of crime
victims.

‘To investigate me?” Andrea stood, her body
stiff.

“No, of course not,” Mandeville broke in. “We
suspected serious wrongdoing, maybe even criminal activity
connected to the clinic. We made the decision to hire an
investigator before you were hired.”

“You planted a private investigator in my
clinic with-out telling me. I’d say you didn’t trust me either.”
Andrea spoke to Mandeville but still looked at Lee.

“At the time I didn’t know what was going
on,” Lee said fervently. “I didn’t know you. Now I do. You really
care about that clinic.”

“Thank you so much,” Andrea said, acid
dripping from each word.

“Andrea, sit down and let’s discuss this
rationally.” Mandeville moved to her and put a hand under her
elbow.

“Don’t worry. I won’t turn into a hysterical
female.” Andrea jerked her arm from him and sat down. She glared at
Mandeville.

Lee looked at the two of them. He didn’t see
any re-semblance. Andrea looked like her beautiful mother. Both
women had clear, silky skin. Both moved with grace. Yet the
determined set of Andrea’s jaw did remind him of Mandeville. Or
maybe it was all in his mind now that he knew she was Mandeville’s
daughter. Lee blinked when she looked at him sharply.

“Well?” she said, and pressed her lips
together.

It was obvious she wanted Lee to answer.
“Since I have office skills, we thought my being an employee at the
clinic would be better. I needed to see things from the inside, get
the trust of employees.”

“So you could turn them in,” Andrea
snapped.

“Yes, if they were hurting the clinic and
patients,” Lee replied.

He took a shot at what he knew was important
to her. It was an obvious ploy to appease her. Cheap tactic? Maybe.
But he could not stand to see the contempt in her eyes. The
strategy did not work.

“As if you care about a rural clinic out in
Podunk.” Andrea’s eyes narrowed. “You’re good, Mr. Matthews. I have
to say you’re very good.”

“I started to care a great deal. I got to
know some of the patients. Then it became more than a case of
employee theft,” he said, his brows drawn together. Lee hoped she
could hear the truth in his voice.

Andrea laughed dryly. “Oh, please, Mr.
Matthews. It’s getting really deep in here.”

Lee flinched at the way she called him “Mr.
Matthews.” “I mean it, Andrea. Every word.”

“So many words in the last few weeks. Now I’m
sup-posed to pick through the lies. Which words were true?” she
asked, her face a stiff mask of anger.

“I know you’re upset,” Lee said.

“ ‘Upset’ doesn’t begin to describe how I
feel.” Andrea’s eyes were bright with tears.

For a moment a slight tremor of her bottom
lip betrayed her. She looked away from him at some distant point
through the window of Mandeville’s office as she gathered her
strength. When she gazed at him again she seemed to have gained
control once more. Mandeville glanced from her to Lee and back
again, his expression curious. Lee could tell Mandeville picked up
on the sub-text of their exchange.

“Let’s talk this out. Andrea, we all want the
same thing: to save the clinic. That was the whole point of hiring
Lee. We all know that you’re committed to those poor folks. The
board knows that you’ve done one helluva job, baby.” Mandeville sat
in the chair next to her and patted her arm.

Andrea’s head snapped around. “Don’t
patronize me! I can guess whose idea it was to hire a private
investigator.”

Mandeville cleared his throat. “Well... I did
think we could find out what was going on much faster this way.
Maybe you don’t realize how close the state was to shutting the
place down,” he added defensively. “The inspector general wrote a
scathing report to the secretary of health and hospitals.”

“Of course I know. I read it my first week on
the job.” “I went to a meeting with those folks two weeks before we
hired you. The item on their agenda was closing the Bayou Blue
Clinic.”

“As I said, I know very well just how bad
things were. I’ve been through the files,” Andrea said with an edge
to her tone.

John remained calm in the face of Andrea’s
wrath. “Then you know we had to take action.”

Lee decided it was wise to remain silent for
the time being. Then Andrea turned to him. The passion he’d seen in
her eyes was gone. He wondered how to get it back or if he even
could. She hadn’t heard the worst yet.

Andrea gave a short, scornful laugh. “So you
hired a private detective to go undercover in a little rural
clinic. Overkill, don’t you think?”

“The board agreed that hiring Lee was a good
plan. As you know, equipment is missing. Worse, drugs are missing.”
Mandeville wore a grave expression. “The last thing we need is drug
dealers using the clinic.”

“Oh, please!” Andrea blurted out. “That’s a
stretch even for you two.”

“There is pilfering, Andrea. Face it.” John
gazed at her steadily.

She tapped her foot for several seconds. “All
right, something is wrong. But it could just as well be poor
judgment and lax paperwork.”

“Now who’s stretching it?” John said in a
tolerant tone. “Lee has done an outstanding job of gaining this
Denny Kincaid’s confidence. He’s learned that Denny is a gang
member and—”

“What?” Andrea shot out of her chair.

“Calm down,” John said.

“Lee, what is he talking about?” She stood
with legs apart and hands on hips.

Lee stared back at her. His voice was even
when he spoke. “I suspected Denny within the first two weeks I was
there. He always seemed to be the last one with equipment before it
disappeared. Then I found out he’d volunteered to help the
pharmacist. I checked him out. He’s been hanging out with a
gang.”

“You checked him out.” Andrea’s chest rose
and fell faster with each word he uttered. “Go on.”

“I got to know him and he introduced me to
the gang leader. He has been stealing for them, Andrea.” Lee
sighed. “I’m sorry. I know you really like the kid.”

“Let me see if I understand. You pretended to
be his friend so you could help him get arrested. Is that right?”
Andrea’s brown eyes flashed with fury.

“Just a minute,” John broke in before Lee
could speak. “Denny was only too willing to steal even more when
Lee suggested it. That’s how Lee confirmed his suspicion.”

Andrea seemed to vibrate with barely
controlled rage. She continued to ignore Mandeville. “Only
after

he dangled juicier bait in front of him. You
trapped Denny!”

“Don’t be silly. He didn’t ask the boy to do
anything he wasn’t already willing to do,” Mandeville said.

Lee glanced at him sharply. “Let me handle
this.”

“Yes, give me one of your slick
explanations,” Andrea said.

“Denny was headed down a dead-end road. He’s
in debt to this gang leader, Ty’Rance. Stealing from the clinic is
Denny’s way of paying him back. I can help him.”

“Oh yeah, you’re helping him. Right into a
jail cell,” Andrea shot back.

“He was headed that way without anybody’s
help,” John put in, determined to have a say.

“Keep quiet!” Lee yelled at him in
exasperation. “Honey—”

“Don’t give me that ‘honey, baby’ crap!”
Andrea shouted. “Just tell me the truth for the first time!”

“I’m trying to. You’re not listening with an
open mind. As usual, you’re making snap judgments,” Lee said. His
patience was gone.

“Just because I’m not falling for your famous
charm?” Andrea snapped.

“If you used your head instead of thinking
with your emotions—”

“You’ve got nerve!” Andrea shouted. “My
emotions have nothing to do with it.”

“C’mon. You’re angry because I found out what
you didn’t. Denny pretended to be some helpless kid and you fell
for it,” Lee replied heatedly.

“You’re the most arrogant, deceitful,
two-faced snake I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet. And that
includes

my ex-husband!” Andrea’s voice bounced off
the paneling of Mandeville’s office.