Read 04 - Shock and Awesome Online

Authors: Camilla Chafer

04 - Shock and Awesome (6 page)

 

 
   
"Helen
Callery
. Good to see you again, John. This is your protégé?" she asked, directing the question to Solomon as she shook his hand.

 

 
   
"Yes.
Lexi
Graves," he replied for me as I blinked at her use of his first name. Except for hearing it from him, and occasionally from me, I don't think I ever heard anyone call him anything but his last name.

 

 
   
Nevertheless, I smiled. Protégé sounded nice. Better than trainee anyway, although I assumed I graduated from that position a couple of solved crimes ago. "Pleased to meet you." I offered my hand and she gave it a firm shake, her eyes quickly running over my dress. Seeming to approve of my attire, she indicated we should sit in the blue upholstered chairs opposite her desk. Closing the door behind her, she moved to sit in her chair. As we made ourselves comfortable, I looked around. The office was sparse, but elegantly appointed. The furniture was nice, slightly more modern than the reception through which we entered, and there were a cluster of framed black and white photographs of happy, smiling couples crowding one wall. "Satisfied customers?" I asked, nodding towards them.

 

 
   
"Yes, indeed." Helen smiled as she ran her eyes over the montage of couples she managed to unite. "Here at Million Matches we do exactly what we say we do. We match wealthy clients with their perfect partners. These are just a few of them, and we've had seventeen marriages in the past two years."

 

 
   
"They're all wealthy?" I asked, my obvious curiosity getting the better of me.

 

 
   
"Oh yes. This is no Sugar Daddy agency. All our ladies and gentlemen are... independently wealthy, shall we say? It's very important for our clients not to feel like... targets." She took a breath at that as Solomon and I exchanged glances. Targets, indeed. Helen obviously had the same thought as we. Clearing her throat, she continued, "Poor choice of words, perhaps now that we suspect one of our male clients is targeting the ladies here. Solomon tells me you'll pose as a client to gain access to our clientele."

 

 
   
"It seems the best way to accomplish it," I agreed, filling the sudden silence as Helen clearly expected me to say something. "A hands-on approach."

 

 
   
"We'll build a profile for
Lexi
, itemizing what makes her the most attractive prospect, based on what has attracted the thief so far. All you have to do is supply those details to your male clients and we'll take it from there," Solomon told her. "There will be minimal involvement from you, and none from your staff. It will be very discreet."

 

 
   
She leaned forwards, placing her hands on the desk, and sighed. "That's very important to us. To me. Like you, I prefer the hands-on approach. Madeleine is my only staff member and I haven't informed her of my suspicions. If word gets out that our clients are being targeted by thieves, our subscription base will disappear. In short, we'll be ruined. No one wants a date with a gold-digging thief."

 

 
   
Everyone, that is, except me. Yippee. Being single never seemed so appealing as right now.

 

 
   
"Are you ready for this, Ms. Graves?"

 

 
   
"You bet."

 

 
   
"
Lexi's
cover story will be ready to go within the next twenty-four hours," Solomon told her. He stood up, extending his hand for a parting handshake. I followed suit. "The thief won't see her coming."

 

 
   
"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," said Helen. "Let's get the ball rolling. You'll see to it that Ms. Graves is suitably briefed about the requirements of the job?"

 

 
   
"Of course." Solomon nodded as he looked towards me. "She's Montgomery's newest, most eligible millionaire, and everything about her will reflect just that."

 

 
   
Everything? Gulp.

 

 
   
~

 
 

 
   
There was only one closet I knew of that was consistently better stocked than mine. Actually, there were probably an awful lot of closets with better clothing than mine, but only one belonged to my sister, Serena. And by one, I mean she had one hell of a closet. Working in my favor was all the baby fat she still had to lose. As I handed Victoria back to my sister, I mentally thanked my baby niece for fattening my sister up. Most of her clothes hung unworn and pristine while Serena sported a shirt that had a suspicious looking glob dried midway down the front. Serena caught my eye, raised one eyebrow the barest fraction, daring me to mention it. I bit the insides of my cheeks, watching as her eyebrow edged upwards a hair's depth before thinking better of it. No point antagonizing the beast, especially when I still had a favor to ask.

 

 
   
"Please can I borrow a really nice dress?" I asked between blowing kissy faces at Victoria. Victoria wriggled in her mother's arms, puffed out her chest, and let rip an enormous belch, then smiled lazily, her cheeks pinking with delight.

 

 
   
"Don't you dare high five her," snipped Serena as my hand began to rise on its own accord. I let it drop. "What do you need a dress for? You have a whole bunch of dresses."

 

 
   
"Yes, but you have really nice dresses and I only have moderately nice." She was also a total clothes horse and had really good taste, but I didn't want that to go to her head. We'd only recently started getting on and I wanted to keep a sense of equality in the relationship somewhere.

 

 
   
Serena nodded as if to agree that was perfectly reasonable, then persisted, "Why?"

 

 
   
"I have to do this undercover thing and I have to dress..."

 

 
   
I searched for the word, but Serena beat me to the punch with "Better?"

 

 
   
I shrugged. "Yup."

 

 
   
"I guess so," Serena agreed, turning and striding from the family room of her big house towards her bedroom. Victoria rested her chin on Serena's shoulder and watched me as I followed them. I blew more kisses and Victoria answered with a raspberry. She was definitely my favorite niece. I couldn't wait until she started speaking. "So what's the undercover thing?" Serena asked, glancing at me over her shoulder.

 

 
   
"It's an, um..." I mumbled, coming to a stop and glancing around the bedroom. Serena was in the process of getting a divorce from Ted Whitman-the-boring-Third and while she got to keep the house, he most definitely had a field day removing all the furniture. Her bedroom looked particularly sparse.

 

 
   
"He's taking the bed too, but he's welcome to it," said Serena, watching me noticing. "I have a new one on order."

 

 
   
"Good?"

 

 
   
"You bet," she replied cheerfully. "And I'm turning the guest bedroom into my office. The business is going well so far. I have clients! Actually, thanks to your suggestion, I'll be able to work from home
and
look after Victoria."

 

 
   
"Good for you! Mom's really pleased that you started the business."

 

 
   
"Thank you." Serena passed Victoria to me, who wriggled around until she found a comfortable space in my arms, settling down as we entered the large walk-in closet. I looked at the glass racks of jewelry suspended on the walls, purchased during Serena's more affluent days. I considered draping them over Victoria. I caught Serena looking. Maybe not. "What's the occasion? Business? Date? Really, who knows what your boss has you cooking up? Did you know he had Antonio doing surveillance dressed as a homeless man for a whole week? He couldn't even shower. Day four, I told him not to come over until the job was in the can."

 

 
   
"I'm definitely allowed to shower." Come to think of it, I probably should smell really nice. I wondered what perfumes Serena might have lying around. "It's for a meeting with a..." I made a noise that sounded like “Burble
Burble
Agency” and hoped it would be left at that.

 

 
   
"At a dating agency?" Serena gaped. "What for? Is this really work? Or are you trying to find a boyfriend? You should, you know. I've never been happier."

 

 
   
"It's for work!"

 

 
   
Serena gave me a suspicious look. "Are you sure?" she asked, pursing her lips like she caught me in a lie.

 

 
   
"Yes!"

 

 
   
"I really don't think you need a dating agency. What about your boss? Solomon?"

 

 
   
While I was fully prepared to accept Serena's assumption, I didn't need a dating agency, was a compliment of sorts, I couldn't help pulling a face at the thought of my boss. Solomon and I always had chemistry, but only recently had that chemistry gotten naked while doing an undercover job, posing as husband and wife. It was a cover Solomon clearly took very seriously and our faux-marriage was most definitely consummated. Even as I thought about it now, my heartbeat sped up and my hands got clammy. Since then? Nada. Zip. Zero. And as for my ex-boyfriend, from whom I was on the rebound when the Solomon thing happened (several times), he was definitely a no-go subject. Nope, I was as single as single could be, and as long as I didn't think about it too much, I felt perfectly fine with that.

 

 
   
"Huh," said Serena. "I'm glad I'm not telepathic. Your face just went through twenty emotions."

 

 
   
I checked my reflection in the floor-length mirror. "And I'm still damn pretty!"

 

 
   
"Bright side. Okay, ‘meeting,’" she said, making skeptical bunny ears, "with a dating agency. How about this... this... and this...?" She pulled out three dresses, one after the other, turning the hanger hooks around and looping them over the rail so I could see them. One was a plain navy shift with a demure cowl neck. The second had a slightly flared skirt with a delicate floral print; and the third was a pale blue shift with matching cropped jacket.

 

 
   
"No to number one, maybe to number two, though I'm not sure it's warm enough yet, and yes to number three if it fits."

 

 
   
"It'll fit. Try them on." Serena held her hands out for Victoria, who gave a tremendous wriggle and pretty much launched herself from my arms. "There's matching shoes, but I don't think they'll fit you. Fortunately bags fit anyone, and they're on the shelf above. I have to feed this one, but call me if you need anything," she said, while Victoria tried to latch on through Serena's shirt.

 

 
   
"Thanks. I really appreciate it."

 

 
   
"Don't mention it. Just dry clean and return everything when you're done." With that, Serena swept from the room, leaving me like a kid in a candy shop in her closet. It was all I could do not to rub my hands together in glee, before throwing all her belts and scarves on the floor and rolling on them.

 

 
   
~

 
 

 
   
Solomon and I stood looking at my VW in the Solomon Agency parking lot. Fortunately, the interior was clean, and all the traces of my last surveillance job were gone. However, the trunk was crammed with borrowed items from Serena's closet. Most were actually job-appropriate, while a couple I just really, really liked, including several purses. There was only a small chance she wouldn't get them back. Okay, a big chance. Eventually, I knew, she would hunt me down and force a return.

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