Page 35 of Caged

“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.”

Chapter 15

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