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Lost in his thoughts of easily-obtained riches, Kane went on, “You’re like the king of Cincinnati, you know that, Elijah? Look at this. It’s like a commanding view of the whole city. We always dreamed about sitting on top of a city like this.
“And, you know? I’ll bet you and me together could do better than Cincinnati. Picture us sitting in front of a view like this, only it’s Chicago. Or L.A. Even New York. What a blast that would be, the two of us taking on Manhattan…”
Like the bell chiming in to save me, my phone timer went off. Kane turned around, eyeing me curiously. “What’s that?”
Pretending to be disappointed, I shut off the timer and pretended to be studying a message on the phone. “Damn. That’s work. There’s an emergency in the…uh…IT department of the company. Looks like a programming problem that’ll need my attention.” I looked over at him, keeping up my little charade. “Damn, of all the times. I’m sorry, Kane.”
“So what?” he reacted. “You’ve got people to take care of this, haven’t you? Programmers, people who do the heavy lifting — let them handle it. That’s why you’re the boss, right?”
Pocketing my phone again, I replied, “I’m the boss because I know when to be hands-on and when to delegate. This is a hands-on thing. There’s a client who’ll want a status report tomorrow. We have to be on top of this, which meansIhave to be on top of this. I need to go.”
“That sucks, man,” he said, with a last swallow of the Scotch. “I was looking forward to the two of us hanging out today. But, listen, we can still get in some quality time when you’re done with your little emergency, right? How about I just make myself comfortable here ‘til you get back? I could even crash here.”
Just the idea of it made me want to run across the room and make good on that fantasy of shoving him out the window. He’d been pawing at the things in my apartment with his eyes while I watched. I could just see him making free with everything that I owned while I was gone, and I couldn’t bear it. It was time for another lie.
“Uh…no,” I said, shaking my head. “No, that’s a bad idea.”
Coming closer and eyeing the bottles on my bar shelves behind me, Kane wondered, “Why not?”
“Because of…” I scrambled in my head, “Molly.”
Kane stopped in his tracks with a smile that made me queasy. “Molly?Oh-ho-ho…Molly,huh?”
“Yes, Molly,” I lied. “She’s…asleep in the master bedroom now.”
His smile broadened, and my queasy feeling deepened. “Asleep in the master bedroom? Seriously?You mean to tell me you’ve got a chick in your bed, and you’re fully dressed and out here entertaining me instead of buck naked between the sheets with her? Elijah, what did making all this money do to your head, man? Where are your priorities?”
The conversation was threatening to go to some really raunchy places unless I took charge of the narrative. I lied further, “Molly isn’t a woman. She’s…my dog.”
Kane blinked, the train of his dirty thoughts derailed. Jerking his head back in surprise, he repeated, “Yourdog?”
“Yep,” I said, coming out from behind the bar. “White German Shepherd. Gorgeous dog and really protective. You know how guard dogs are. This place and I are her territory. If she wakes up and comes out here now, she’ll go into protective mode. Leaving you here alone with her is a bad idea. There might be nothing left but torn clothes and blood when I got back. So, you can’t be here by yourself; I’m going to have to see you out.”
“Geez, Elijah, you reallyhavechanged since we last saw each other,” said Kane as I took the glass from his hand and set it back on the bar.
“I’m going to have to change to go to the office, Kane, and I don’t even want you out here by yourself while I’m in the bathroom, in case Molly wakes up. Let me see you to the door.” To make it look good for him, I kept glancing over my shoulder in the direction of the bedroom. Meanwhile, I took him by one arm and started to lead him back across the living room.
When we got the door, he said, “It’s too bad we can’t hang out like I wanted. Maybe next time, you can introduce me to Molly. That way, you won’t have to worry about leaving me with her; I can even watch her while you’re gone. In the meantime…do you think you can spot me some cash to get a room for the night?”
I couldn’t believe he actually wanted me to put him up somewhere else, for want of my home. I didn’t know what he was expecting, but I hoped he didn’t think I was going to help him get five-star accommodations or anything. Trying not to frown and tip him off to how disgusted I was, I whipped out my wallet and plucked out a hundred-dollar bill.
I handed him the Benjamin and said, “Here you go. That’ll hold you ‘til the morning.” I glanced back at my dog-free bedroom and said, “Now, you’re really going to have to excuse me. I have to return the message from this programmer and get ready to get out of here.”
Slipping the cash into his pocket, Kane said, “Okay, buddy, and thanks. But once you’ve put out this fire at your company, you and me are gonna do this town up right.”
With a clap on his shoulder to make him think I was looking forward to it as much as he was, I told Kane, “Right, you and me. Thanks for coming over.”
I closed the door behind him and leaned against it, letting out a long sigh of what I feared was only temporary relief.Where do you find a white female German Shepherd guard dog on short notice?I wondered. I needed another glass of that Scotch.
Going to the bar to wash out Kane’s glass and have another drink myself would give Kane plenty of time to get out of the building before I left. After what I’d just been through, I actually did feel like going to the office and working for a while.
CHAPTER8
Corinne. Monday
I was on the second-to-top floor of Bennett-Jacobs Info Tech, tingling all over, excited to be here at last and not quite believing it. I felt as if I were stepping into another world.
I’d stepped off the elevator into a reception area with some chairs along the walls and motivational posters hanging up. Just as I arrived, another elevator across the space opened up, and a sharply-dressed middle-aged woman stepped out, showing me a welcoming smile.