Chapter One

Chloe heaved a sigh as she leaned into the mirror with lipstick in hand. She’d been summoned to Marcus’ office. She assumed he’d taken objection to the report she’d submitted the day before. He’d expected her to close the case by now and she had. She’d met the deadline, but not the expectations.  She just hadn’t come up with the evidence he expected, or possibly even needed. 

It was a tough case that left her feeling depleted and disappointed.  She didn’t like falling short on the expectations placed upon her. It rarely happened; which was a good thing, since she beat herself up so much for her own failures, there was no need for Marcus to utter a word.  He would, of course.  In fact, she was certain he’d utter a slew of words before he was done.

She smoothed the lipstick she’d applied with her fingertips and placed the cap back on the tube.  Shoving it into her cosmetic case and then the case into her handbag, she squared her shoulders. She grabbed a wide tooth comb from a pocket inside of her handbag and dragged it through her thick, waist length locks before returning it to its proper place.  Taking one last look at her appearance, she filled her lungs with fortifying air, exhaled slowly, and exited the ladies room.

“Whoa there,” her coworker, Jim, said when she practically collided with him.  He grabbed her upper arms to steady her.  “Where’s the fire?”

“I’ve been summoned,” she replied as she peered around his tall, dreamy frame as best she could toward Marcus’ closed door.

“Good or bad?” he asked.

“I came up empty handed with the Lewis case,” she mumbled.

“So, bad,” he said with a nod.  Brushing a stray hair from her temple in an absent-minded gesture that gave her chills of delight, he lightly patted her shoulder and stepped aside for her to continue. “Stay strong.”

“Take a good look,” she said as she walked passed him with her shapely hips swaying in an exaggerated manner, while doing her best to camouflage her reaction to his touch.  “I might not have much of this ass left when he’s done chewing on it.”

She clung to Jim’s light-hearted chuckle as she gave a light tap on the office door with her knuckles.

Marcus’ rich voice didn’t keep her waiting as it beckoned her to enter.

“Before you say anything,” she said as she boldly strode to the chair opposite his desk and sat down, “I swear that I turned over every stone I could with this case.  The man is clean.  His wife’s just paranoid.”

“She’s threatening to withhold our fee,” Marcus grumbled from somewhere near his Adam’s Apple.

“She can’t do that,” Chloe bellowed.  “I worked my ass off for weeks on this case.”

Her boss waved his hand in a silencing gesture as he leaned back into his executive office chair.  The movement accentuated the overly large stomach he’d acquired on his once fit -and rather sexy- physique, since he’d taken to sitting behind his desk instead of actively working in the field.  His thick black brows knitted together over his rich hazel, deep-set eyes and his thin, perfectly straight lips pursed beneath his well-trimmed salt and pepper -mostly pepper- mustache.  “I’ll get her to pay up once she calms down and regains her dignity.   She was made to feel silly by your report.  That’s not why you’re here.”

“Really?” Chloe said with obvious surprise.

Marcus Drury reached into the chaos on his desk and produced a manila envelope. His generous gut pressed against the edge of the desk as he leaned forward with his arm outstretched.  Chloe took the envelope and pulled out its contents.

“A new case?” she said with surprise and delight.

Marcus sat back again.  “You’re here to work, aren’t you?”

“I thought for sure you’d send me on my way after I came up empty,” she murmured as she scanned the papers in her hand.

“You can’t make a man into a cheater just because his wife wants it to be so,” Marcus said. “At least, we can’t.  We’re not that kind of agency.”

“I don’t understand why she even accused the man. From what I observed, Anthony Lewis is damn near a saint,” Chloe said with a snicker.

“I did a little investigating myself,” he admitted. When Chloe looked startled, he added, “Not much.  Just enough to get the gist of her motive.”

“Which is?” she asked with genuine curiosity, since it never occurred to her to even look for the client’s motive for investigating her husband, other than the fact that she thought he was cheating on her.

“The woman’s got a lover and is looking for an excuse to divorce,” he said with amusement. “I guess she can’t believe anyone could be faithful, since it’s not in her makeup.  This is her third husband.  Each marriage ended with her divorcing the guy on grounds of infidelity and making off with a tidy settlement.”

“Do you think they were actually cheating?” Chloe asked with interest. “I mean, this husband wasn’t.  Do you think she set them up?”

“Possibly,” Marcus replied thoughtfully.  “I didn’t dig that deep.” He reached for his pipe and packed it with the aromatic tobacco that he pulled out of a bag he had sitting amongst the debris on his desk and lit it.  Chloe savored the aroma of the cherry flavored tobacco as smoke billowed around his face. “I’ve got enough to force her to pay up. That’s all I care about.”

Suddenly satisfied that she’d done her best and no longer needed to feel guilty for failing, she turned her attention to the new case being presented to her.

“This is a missing person’s case,” she said with surprise. “Isn’t that Jim’s department?”

“This case requires a female’s touch and Jim looks like shit in a skirt,” Marcus said with look and tone so serious, it belied the humor in his remark.

“I’m not following you,” Chloe said, choosing not to expound on the skirt comment.

“You may have to step outside the box on this one and get close to the guy,” he said with a flat, but commanding tone.

“How close?” Chloe asked warily.

“Close,” he said flatly.

“I’m not a hooker,” she spat with disgust as she slammed the files onto the desktop and stood up.

“Don’t get your panties in a twist,” Marcus said with raised hands. “No one’s asking you to hop into bed with the guy.  Just get close enough to get him to open up to you.”

“I’ve only observed from a distance so far,” she said warily. “I’m not a skilled conversationalist.”

“Are you kidding me? Are you sure you’re a girl?    In my entire forty-eight years on this earth, I’ve never encountered a woman at a loss for words,” he said with frustration.  “Okay. I’m assigning Jim to the case as well,” Marcus sighed as he motioned for her to leave with his hands. “He can coach you on conversing.”

The last thing she heard as she closed the office door behind her was, “With double the detectives on the case, I expect it to be completed in half the time.”