Saving Face (Mount Faith Series: Book 1) (4 page)

Taj looked into her big, limpid brown eyes and realized something. She was using her sex appeal on him.

She was playing with him. But why?

He decided to play along. "Okay. You got the job. We'll be spending quite a bit of time over at the new Psychiatry Center though. I hope that doesn't interfere with your class schedule."

"No." Natasha shook her head vigorously.

Taj's phone rang and he picked it up. It was Ryan Bancroft's secretary, Sarah Gnomes.

"Dr. Jackson, just calling to confirm your appointment with Dr. Bancroft at nine."

"Oh, yes," Taj said, "tell Dr. Bancroft I will be at his office, promptly at nine."

He hung up the phone and looked over at Natasha.

"Okay Miss Rowe, I guess the job is yours. I have a meeting with Dr. Bancroft tomorrow, which means if we get the official seal of approval we are going to have quite a bit of work laid out for us."

Natasha nodded eagerly. "I am looking forward to it. Are you by any chance related to Dr. Bancroft?" She asked innocently. "It's just that you two resemble quite a bit."

Taj raised his eyebrows and shook his head. "No, we are not. Then again, I am not sure. I was adopted."

"You were?" Natasha asked tempering her excitement at that piece of news.

Taj reclined in his chair. "You are particularly nosy Miss Rowe."

Natasha hung her head. "Sorry Sir."

"It's Taj." Taj looked at her profile. She had a really nice neck. If he were a painter, he'd paint it with pleasure. "Call me Taj. I'll call you Natasha. I see no need for us to stand on ceremony when no one is around."

Natasha looked at him again a small smile playing around her mouth. "Want to go out sometime, maybe have a drink?"

Taj gasped. He had never ever been asked out by a woman before. He could feel the attraction between the two of them, but he had been willing to suppress it. He had thought that he wasn't in the market for romance but that blunt invitation he could see blaring from her eyes was hard to resist.

"You are pretty bold, Natasha. You go from Sir to can we have a drink in the blink of an eye. May I remind you that I am your professor, and now boss?"

Natasha cleared her throat and pretended a brazenness she would never dare in her everyday life. "I am free tomorrow evening."

Taj burst out laughing. "I like this. A woman who knows what she wants and goes after it. Okay tomorrow evening it is. I will call you. Enter your number in my phone." He handed her his phone.

Natasha took it and entered her number. "It will be nice to get to know you better." She smiled at him. "I don't play games."

Taj looked at her hard. "Neither do I. You should check Anne for details on your new student worker post."

Natasha stood up. "Thank you for the position.

Taj nodded and watched as she walked away and headed to the outer office. He hated to admit it, but he was hooked. Whatever was going on here, he was too intrigued not to follow through now.

Chapter Four

When Natasha left Taj's office, she was shaking in her boots. She was shy around men by nature, so the girl who just propositioned Taj Jackson was not her. The guy was seriously good-looking and he had this way of staring at her, as if he could see the thoughts in her head.

At one point she was worried that he would call her bluff about the student job and then he just backed down. Then she had thought he would have laughed her out of the office on her impromptu drink invite, but he had taken it in stride.

She had asked not just because of professional curiosity but because she had genuinely wanted to spend some time with him. Mixing business with pleasure was never a good idea and she knew that, but where her attraction to Taj was concerned, she couldn't help herself.

She had done that once before and then found out that the guy she had been dating and looking forward to marrying was the brainchild of a lottery scam. That had wised her up big time. It had been the impetus that she had needed to become a detective.

She shook her head and stopped at Anne Carter's desk. Mrs. Carter was another person she needed to get close to as well. She had chosen Taj's office because she knew that Anne worked there. She was on Harry's long list of suspects and Natasha was eager to eliminate her. She remembered her as being a lovely Christian woman who had loved children. Anne was always the one that they chose to do the children's story at church and she had known all the children by name. Bless her heart, Natasha thought fondly. There was no rhyme or reason she should have killed Edward Carlisle.

"Hey, Anne." She grinned at Anne who was perusing a document. Anne looked up suddenly, her warm smile creeping over her face.

"Hi, Natasha. You have grown into a fine young woman. I almost didn't recognize you when you came through the door. If you didn't look so much like your mother, I would have missed you altogether."

Natasha grinned. "That's understandable. Last time I saw you I was around six or so, but I could never forget your voice."

Anne laughed. "Have a seat. I guess you are Dr. Jackson's new assistant."

"Yes." Natasha nodded. "He said you would brief me on student pay and all of that."

Anne handed her a sheet of paper. "This is a time sheet. Log the hours that you work for Dr. Jackson and at the end of two weeks take it up to the office of Student Affairs, after Dr. Jackson has signed off. The rate for assisting a professor is on there. And you get paid the day after that."

"That sounds pretty simple." Natasha perused the sheet of paper, her brain running— How could she approach the subject of Edward Carlisle?

Anne snatched the moment out of her hands. "So how is the old place? I haven't been back there since I left."

"It's the same old, same old." Natasha said.  “Nothing really changes in Parottee. My dad died three years ago. And my little sister Leah, well, she got married last year."

Anne gasped. "She was a toddler when I left. I must be getting old. So sorry to hear about your Dad."

Natasha nodded. "And my Mom is still working at Black River market."

Anne's eyes clouded over. "My mother used to work in Black River market too. I remember those days. Life was tough for us. She had seven of us you know, and my Dad went missing at sea. His body was never found."

Natasha nodded. "I remember hearing that story. It happened long before I was born. Fisherman Fowler went missing at sea and only his boat was found washed up on the beach couple miles away, several weeks after."

"It was a terrible time for our family." Anne grimaced. "About seven years after this happened my mother got the opportunity to go overseas. I got married to Daryl and my other siblings scattered all over Jamaica…doing different things. Nobody wanted to have anything to do with the sea."

"Oh you are married to the banker Daryl Carter?" Natasha asked innocently, as if she hadn't thoroughly checked out this information before.

Anne laughed. "Almost twenty three years now."

"You should be living a life of leisure then, not slaving away at secretarial work," Natasha said, seizing the opportunity to talk about her case.

Anne shook her head. "I love being busy. I can't imagine my life without administration. I also live near here. When we were given the option to buy a place on Mount Faith Drive we took it. So, I live near here and work here…it works for me."

"You must feel extremely sad then," Natasha cleared her throat, "how your last boss just suddenly died like that."

Anne sighed. "I can't say I am sad about his passing."

Natasha's eyes widened, she wanted to jump up and down on her chair. She tempered her enthusiasm. "Why not?"

Anne lowered her voice. "Edward Carlisle had serious issues. He had a secret life that was not befitting the president of a Christian school. Outwardly he appeared like he was a gentleman, but the things he used to do were sickening."

Natasha actually jumped when the phone rang. She wanted to yell to Anne not to answer it, but the dratted phone jerked Anne out of her confidential stance.

She threw on the mantle of secretary and started talking into the phone.

She got up after talking on the phone and gave Natasha an apologetic smile. "We'll talk some more Natasha, after all we have all the time in the world to catch up on the old place."

Natasha screamed internally. I don't want to catch up on the old place! I want to catch up on the here and now! Specifically Edward Carlisle and his secret life!

She wished for a minute that she wasn't undercover, but she was certain that Anne wouldn't have shared what she just did had she known she is a detective.

***

Natasha called Harry as soon as she stepped out of the office. Harry was working in the academic affairs office as a part time receptionist.

Natasha had laughed when she heard, because Harry could be so grumpy at times. He was definitely not suited to be a receptionist of any kind.

"Meet me at the student lounge in five minutes," she said in the phone when he answered.

"I get off this shift in an hour," Harry said wearily.

"Okay, an hour." Natasha hung up her phone and tried to assimilate the information she learned today.

What she learned so far was that Taj Jackson was adopted. Annette Fowler, now called Anne Carter, wasn't sorry that her boss was dead, but she said he was living a secret life.

She went to the student lounge and sat in a seat behind some potted palms. She could easily see the doorway to the building but the plants obscured her face. This place had potential as a meeting place to catch up on the case.

She laced her fingers through her hair and closed her eyes. Taj Jackson's chiseled features popped up behind her eyelids.

She was surprised when Harry sat across from her grunting. He sprawled out on the seat. "I hate school, but I have info."

He sat up and leaned towards her, "Anita Parkinson VP of academic affairs, is not a lesbian."

Natasha giggled. "That's the info?"

"That's big info." Harry said conspiratorially. "I walked into her office today. Thought she wasn't there, ready to snoop into her files and caught her lip-locked with a young guy."

Natasha smirked. "She's not old, she's forty years old. Same age as you."

"He's twenty-five," Harry said, "and — drum roll please —he is Ryan Bancroft's nephew…Vanley Bancroft."

Natasha's eyes widened.

"That was my reaction," Harry said looking at her with eyebrows raised. "Then I backed out of the office slowly, without them knowing I was there. I think I am wasted on the Jamaica Constabulary Force. I should go into private investigation."

"So what does this mean for her presidential aspirations?" Natasha asked.

"I think," Harry said confidently, "this means that if she is involved with Vanley Bancroft—who by the way is an intern pastor—then she'll probably be forced to step away from the presidential race, unless she marries him. But think of the horror of a fifteen-year age difference. They are very particular with their choice of president you know."

Natasha shrugged. "Fifteen years is not that bad. Men marry younger women all the time and nobody blinks. Besides, it would be nice to see a woman president around here. The university is too top heavy with testosterone."

"Before you get all ‘women's lib’ on me," Harry said, "her secretary told me that she won't run against Ryan Bancroft because they used to have a thing. They were extremely close at one time."

Natasha gasped.

"And," Harry scratched his chin thoughtfully, "he was once the VP of academic affairs and when he left that post he made sure that he got her the job."

"She's no threat to him then." Natasha hissed, "I am disappointed."

Harry shook his head. "No threat at all. I checked the HR files online. It's true. After Bancroft left she got the job. She was an ordinary Associate Professor but she shot up to the rank of vice president in no time."

"So much for women's lib," Natasha exhaled. "Is she still on the suspects list?"

Harry shrugged. "Motive is looking dimmer and dimmer. She won't get the presidency anyhow. Unless she'd kill for Bancroft…she seems as if she's occupied elsewhere with his nephew. I would put her at the very bottom of the list."

"I learned something about the deceased," Natasha said, "I heard that he had a secret life." She updated Harry.

Harry nodded and listened to her silently. "You have to find out more."

“I will,” Natasha said. “I am also going out with Dr. Jackson, who by the way, is adopted.”

Harry had slouched in his seat and then he sat up straighter. "Natasha, why do I have the very funny feeling that Jackson is Bancroft's son? I would bet my bottom dollar."

"I like your theory, but who would be the mother?" Natasha asked, "and does Bancroft know? Does Taj know?"

"Taj, huh?" Harry looked at her funnily, "You said that too feelingly."

"Okay, so I like him," Natasha said, "there is no crime in that."

"But," Harry held up his finger warningly, "there is a crime and until we know who is our criminal everybody is hands off."

Natasha kissed her teeth. "Too bad, I am going out with him tomorrow evening."

Harry frowned. "Keep it professional and try to find out all you can without swooning at the man's feet."