Page 112 of Crazy Thing

“Great. I’m in the city as well,” Ross is saying. “Any chance we can meet to finally hash out the details of this waterfall agreement?”

My attention perks up. “Definitely,” I say, already mentally rearranging things in my calendar as the car pulls away from the curb.

Now that my sightseeing plans for Ziggy have fallen through, I just want to get back home to her as soon as humanly possible. But if I can square things away with Ross once and for all while I’m in Chicago, I’ll jump at the opportunity.

As the car cruises back to my hotel, Ross and I negotiate the deal. Our agreement is pretty straightforward. We put our lawyers in touch to collaborate on drawing up the requisite documents.

“Good,” the man says once we’ve figured out the logistics. “I’ll have my assistant send the details to yours.”

But an idea forms in my head. I sense an opportunity to score major points with Ziggy. “Actually, have your assistant communicate with me directly.”

“Perfect. We’ll get this all sorted tomorrow,” he says conclusively.

I end the call with the biggest grin on my face. This is it. This is the opportunity I’ve been waiting for to prove myself to Ziggy. Finally.

The minute I step inside my hotel room, I toe off myshoes and jump into the shower, eager to wash this long, annoying day off of me and call my girl.

But as I hustle out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my waist, I hear my phone ringing with a voice call. A smile zips across my face when I see Ziggy’s name lighting up my screen.

I drop onto the mattress, hitting the green button to accept the call. “Hi beautiful.”

“Hey, there you are.” There’s a smile in her voice, too. It makes my pulse quicken.

We’ve exchanged a few text messages throughout the day but I haven’t gotten to hear her voice since she left in the helicopter.

The whirr and rattle of a printer in the background catches my attention and concern flashes through me.

I ease up onto my elbow. “Why are you still at the office?” I ask her, hating the thought of her alone over there, especially at this time of the night.

She tries to stifle a yawn. “Just packing up to leave now.”

She gives me a rundown of the drama that unfolded at the office today.

“So basically, these building inspectors randomly showed up to review our documents…” I summarize a moment later.

“Yeah, they said that they were there to ensure that all local by-laws are being respected and complied with.” Ziggy pauses. “They claimed it’s all routine procedure. But I won’t lie, something was weird about it.”

“Weird, how?” I question her.

“I don’t know. They were sort of pushy and I just got a weird vibe from the whole thing. I feel like they were fishing for incriminating information. But I did what Frank told me to do.”

“Which was?”

“I showed the inspectors our occupancy permits and invited them to follow up with our lawyer for anything further.” She pauses before blurting out, “I hope you don’t mind but I contacted Rivers. I asked the private investigator to look further into the situation. I can’t shake the feeling that something deeper is going on here.”

She’s right about this. I have a feeling that someone in the town government is trying to sabotage me. I’ll get to the bottom of it once I’m back in Starlight Falls. For now, I’m just grateful that she was able to step in for me today.

“Good thinking. You did good, Ziggy.” I settle back against my pillow, finally relaxing a bit. “You did so good today.”

“Thank you,” she says quietly. “How was your day?”

I smile to myself. “Ross and I have officially struck a deal.”

“You struck a deal for the waterfall?!” Ziggy excitedly interrupts me. “How am I always out of the loop? I’m your assistant, Darius!”

I wince. “Sorry. In all those months when I was struggling to hold down a good assistant, I sort of got used to handling a lot of stuff on my own,” I explain. “Anyway, we had a phone call just a few minutes ago. I will pay the back taxes that he owes to the town of Starlight Falls. Then, once that’s settled, he will sell the property to me. The rich bastard will make a profit off the arrangement, and I’ll own the property. But most importantly, Edison won’t get his hands on the waterfall.”

“And everybody goes home happy.” Ziggy breathes a sigh of relief.

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