Page 11 of Rules of Engagement

"Francesca asked me to check something out. She thought her assistant, Keira, was planning to start her own business and probably make off with her clients. I got Lucas to ping her phone and recognized the address from a realtor listing Francesca found. I went over there to check it out and spoke to Keira, herself. You won't believe what was really going on!"

"I will when you tell me."

"Fine. I'll tell you but you have to stop begging. It's so demeaning. Keira had plans to expand the business into Chester, so Francesca could get customers there too. She found the perfect vacant unit, had the plans drawn up, and was working on a business strategy. So, she wasn't trying to steal Francesca’s clients at all! I got her to go talk to Francesca. I think Francesca was pretty close to firing her." My phone chimed and I reached for it. "It's a text from Francesca," I told him. "She says thank you and she saw the plans that Keira wanted to surprise her with. Oh! Francesca loves them and thinks it's a great idea. They're talking about promoting Keira to partner if the new store pays off. Isn't that great?"

"Sounds wonderful," Solomon agreed. "Was that a paying case?"

"No, it was a spur-of-the-moment case, but Francesca did offer to give us a twenty percent discount on our wedding plans."

Solomon nodded approvingly. "Works for me."

"How was your day?" I asked, snuggling against him as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Not as much fun as yours. I did a risk assessment for a bank. The manager is extremely paranoid and the employees are all on edge."

"Why? To the paranoia and the on-edge thing."

"He's convinced the bank has been cased, and he's keeping the employees on their toes by changing security procedures on short notice. I think he's bordering on harassing them too."

"What did you recommend?" I asked.

"A thorough review of all the security procedures, and changing all the alarm codes and ensuring they continue to do so on a regular basis. We'll examine any pertinent footage from the cameras and I'll post an undercover in there to see if there's any truth to the casing idea. Sometimes paranoia pays off."

"Sounds intensive."

"It will be, but it'll be interesting too. If it turns out that there's nothing to worry about, I might recommend he take a vacation and try to unwind. I won't make tomorrow's meeting but I left all the case files in my office so you can grab them."

"Anything I should know?"

"Nothing obviously difficult or overly involved. Fletcher did the initial interviews so he'll have a better idea of what you could be working with."

"Okay."

"I might not be around much over the next week."

"I will try my best to entertain myself."

"I think you've said that before. Call me when you need a rescue."

I mock gasped. "I don't know what you mean! I'm a professional!"

The doorbell rang.

"That is a very fast pizza. I'll get it," said Solomon. He maneuvered out from where I snuggled and I slid down onto the couch rather than sitting upright. Solomon leaned over and kissed me, long and slow. "You know, I'll always come and rescue you," he said.

"I love you," I whispered.

He groaned as he pushed off the couch, padding in his socked feet over to the door. Smiling happily, I pushed upright and leaned over to the coffee table, pushing the plates apart so the pizza box could fit between them. I reached for the remote control and switched on the TV.

"What the hell?" Solomon said loudly.

Pop! Pop!

"Everything okay?" I called.

Silence.

"Solomon?"

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