Page 14

Chapter 14

Jay

“ L et’s check out the Chinese restaurant while we’re here,” I suggested while forcing myself not to react to Maxwell’s warm hand on my stomach. Even through my t-shirt, it sent a zing to all the wrong places. It didn’t help that her tight jeans showed off her perfect ass and her low-cut t-shirt did nothing to hide her impressive cleavage. Her shirt was almost the same shade of blue as her eyes, and accented her fiery red hair. She’d replaced her usual strict bun with a high ponytail that bounced as she walked.

It practically begged me to wrap it around my hands and pull her head back. Nope. Not going there. Maxwell might be hot, but she’d probably lecture me on my kissing form or some other stupid shit, killing any and all desire.

“Okay. Thank you again for all your help, Adam. I really appreciate it,” Maxwell said .

“My pleasure. I’ll see you in a few hours,” Adam said while smiling at ‘my wife’ and ignoring me. His actions shouldn’t have invoked anger or jealousy.

But they did.

We left and walked to the restaurant in silence. I played my part and put my hand on the small of her back. She played her part and didn’t threaten to break the offending appendage. Judging from the tension in her muscles and the clench in her jaw, she wanted to break more than my hand.

I smiled, wondering how far I could go before she hit me again.

Don’t be stupid, Sheppard.

Not wanting to push my luck, risk losing my job, or disappointing my family, I dropped my hand before opening the door.

The restaurant looked more upscale than I’d expected. The interior was dimly lit; there were colorful murals on the walls, and dark wood chairs surrounding tables covered in contrasting white tablecloths.

“How many?” the hostess asked.

“Two, please,” I answered. “A corner booth, if that’s okay.” I nodded to the far side of the restaurant.

She nodded as she grabbed two menus. “This way.”

We sat close to each other on the curved bench, giving us both an unimpeded view of the restaurant.

“I hope you like Chinese,” Maxwell said.

Did I detect a note of teasing?

“I’ll eat just about anything.” It wasn’t a lie, and I was always hungry .

After we ordered an appetizer platter, lo mein with chicken for Maxwell, and a Kung Pao Chicken for me, Maxwell got up to use the restroom. On her way back, she took her time looking over the ads and notices on the bulletin board.

“What caught your eye?” I asked after she sat back down.

“Another restaurant to try,” she answered as she showed me the image.

The business card she’d snapped a photo of was odd in it’s ambiguity, but the image reminded me of a flyer I saw in the Quick Wash. I pulled up the photo I’d snapped.

“What do you think they’re hiding?” she whispered, her eyes darting between the two images. Our server brought our appetizers, so we put our phones away and played at being a married couple who still needed to unpack while we ate. I thought the egg rolls were good, not Michelin Star good, but better than average. Maxwell disagreed.

After polishing off more than my fair share of the appetizers, at Maxwell’s insistence, I visited the men’s room, stopping to examine the bulletin board on my way out.

I paid cash for lunch so we didn’t leave a paper trail, and carried our leftovers as we walked back to my truck.

Deciding we ‘needed’ gum, we ducked into the liquor store to see what we could see.

A flyer, like the one in the cleaners, was taped to the window.

Back in the truck, I asked, “Do you think they’re all involved in something shady? Or are they just being neighborly by hanging the flyers?”

“That’s one of the questions we need to answer,” she said .

“Why the attitude?”

“What attitude? All I did was answer your question.”

“As condescendingly as possible.”

“Christ, Jaden, get over yourself,” she huffed. “I don’t know the answer and was thinking out loud. Not attacking you.”

“You could have said that.”

“Shall I preface every comment with whether or not I’m trying to insult you?”

“Fucking smart ass,” I mumbled.

“Better than being a dumb ass.” She turned, and cleared her throat to get my attention. I instantly regretted it when I made eye contact. The glint in her eye and the wicked smile on her lips was terrifying. “That was a general statement, a typical response to being called a smart ass, not a direct statement directed at you.”

“Thank you,” I said, hating that I couldn’t think of a snappy comeback. Much to my surprise, my bland thank you took the wind from her sails.

“Can you drive around back?” Maxwell asked.

Just like that we were back to business.

“Yeah. Was it just me, or did the interior of the laundromat seem too short?”

“I noticed, too, but didn’t see any doors. Did you?”

“No. I wish I could have seen more inside the office, but my line of sight wasn’t good.”

“Neither was mine,” she said.

Around the back, we spotted several cameras pointing at the back door of the cleaners .

“A back door with no door handle, surrounded by cameras.” I pondered out loud. “Nothing to see here, folks.”

Maxwell held her phone to her ear like she was on a call, but in reality, she was filming as we drove by.

“That was interesting,” I said, pulling out of the parking lot.

Maxwell finished typing before answering. “Very.”

“Do we need to work locally so we can pick up the clothes?”

“No, I’ll call later with an excuse and tell Adam I’ll pick them up tomorrow. I want go back to the office.”

“Your wish is my command, Wife.” I laughed.

“Sorry about dropping that on you. I know we agreed on being friends for the op,” she said. “Thanks for rolling with it.”

Why wouldn’t I? We had our differences, but we were still a team. At least for this assignment.

“No worries. I’m adaptable.” After a short pause, I asked, “Why’d you change it?”

“Parker gave me the creeps and I wanted to see how he’d react when I called you my husband.”

“He did his best to pretend I didn’t exist.”

“That he did,” she said. “We’ll use it to our advantage.”

I had no intention of letting Maxwell return alone to see Adam, a guy who gave off serious creepy stalker vibes. She might not like it, but I wouldn’t budge and risk something happening to her.

“You okay with me recording while we hash out what we saw? It’s faster and easier than typing. ”

“That’s fine.” I made a mental note to be on my best behavior.

After setting her phone between us, she asked, “What’s your gut telling you? Start with the big picture.”

I organized my thoughts before answering. “The laundromat is a front for whatever business they’re running from the back.” Succinct.

“Agreed.” She tapped her finger on her leg. “The cleaners is too short for the space. Did you notice anything that hinted at a hidden room?”

“No, there was no disruption in the paint along the back wall and the random posters weren’t big enough to hide a door.”

“And the back door is suspicious,” she added. “Too many cameras for a half empty plaza, add in a door without a handle and it’s-”

I cut her off, “Hinky.”

“I was going to say suspicious.”

“Tomato, Tomahto. Regardless of what we call it, it can’t be a good thing, right?” I asked as a joke.

“No, probably not.”

Returning to work mode, I said, “There isn’t room for more than a small office back there.”

“No, but if they’re laundering money or acting as a loan shark, they wouldn’t need more than a small desk and a chair.”

“True. We have a laundry list of things to do.” I grinned when she made eye contact and shook her head at my stupid pun. At least she smiled . “What do we tackle first? ”

Maxwell fired off the list. “We need to find the last tenants for the two spaces next to the laundry, and find out who’s currently leasing them. I want to talk to Darling again, find out his connection to the Quick Wash, if there is one. Run facial recognition on the guy in the picture. Check out the end businesses to see if anything stands out. Oh,” she turned to me, “we should buy cheap wedding rings. I saw Adam check out our hands.”

I covered my flinch at the words ‘wedding rings’ with a cough.

I’d shopped for an engagement ring not so long ago. Luckily for me, Sara drove the stake through my heart before I dropped the three grand I’d saved up.

The memory still stung enough that the thought of shopping for wedding bands, even fake ones, made me want to hit something. Or someone.

Two someones, actually.

I forced myself back to the topic at hand, asking, “You think he doubts the cover?”

“No, that alone wouldn’t be enough. We’re still unpacking, after all.” She smiled at me.

“I’ll buy you the ring, but I’m not getting on one knee.”

“Thank God for that.” This time, she laughed. “And your father will buy the rings. Get used to expensing things, Sheppard.”

Her phone rang. “It’s Doug.” She accepted the call. “You’re on speaker.”

“It was buried deep, but I found the owner of the Quick Wash. ”

“You going to tell us or do we have to guess?” I asked, not bothering to mask my impatience at his long pause.

“Sorry, we’ll fill you in when you get here. What’s your ETA?” Doug asked.

“We’re ten out.”

“John said to meet us in the conference room when you get here.”

“Copy that,” Maxwell answered as the call disconnected.

“Well, that can’t be good,” I said.

“No.” She was already emailing the photos and videos she’d taken.

I pulled my phone from my pocket. “Can you send the ones I took, too?” I typed in the pass code and handed it to her.

“Sure.”