Page 43 of Caged

“The previous plaza owner filed for bankruptcy after sinking into sudden debt.”

She stopped and looked at me. “Good work.” This time I wasn’t offended by the compliment, but I couldn’t leave well enough alone.

“You don’t sound surprised.”

“Should I be?” She looked me up and down, then looked down at her usual attire, a black pant suit. “Did you bring a change of clothes?”

It didn’t take a fancy degree to know what she had in mind. “Yeah, fancy a trip to Fort Worth, Mrs. Bishop?”

She sighed. “I do.”

I rapped my knuckles on my father’s door.

“Come in.” He looked up from his monitor. “Jay, Maxwell.” He nodded in greeting.

I looked to Maxwell, she was the lead after all, but she nodded, deferring to me. I saw the slightest lift of my father’s left cheek, the start of the lop-sided grin, just like the one I’d inherited from him.

Dad was a pro as schooling his features, and I would have missed it if I hadn’t been looking right at him.

“I, we, have reason to believe Roman is running his gambling ring in the plaza.”

He leaned back and crossed his arms. “How’s it tied to Wendy?”

“Her father owed Roman money, and he sent her to the cleaners to drop off a payment when he was sick,” I answered.

“The timing lines up with her breaking up with her now ex-boyfriend and the appearance of the mysterious Mr. R,” Maxwell picked up where I left off.

“Next steps?” Dad asked.

“We’ll pick up our laundry,” I shrugged. “And while we’re there, I’ll let slip that I want to go to Wynd Star in Dallas to win some money to pay for our money-pit of a new home.”

“Play it cool. Let them come to you,” Dad mused. He’d done his fair share of undercover work when he was a detective with the Parker County Sheriff’s office. He looked at Maxwell and asked, “You think it’ll work?”

“I do, though it may not happen right away. I’ll grab a burner so we can give them a contact number.”

“Good. Let me know if you want back up. I’d be happy to take a break from all this paperwork.”

I laughed. While I occasionally regretted not buying into the business in the beginning, I didn’t envy the stacks of paperwork and bureaucratic bullshit they had to deal with to keep the business running.

“Is that what you’re wearing?” Maxwell asked when I walked back into our office after changing.

“Yeah, what’s wrong with it?”

“You look like a slob.” She wrinkled her nose at me.

“I’ve been working on a money pit, remember?”

She looked at me as it sunk in. I was better dressed for the role than she was. Her leggings and t-shirt looked new.

“Shit. Can we stop by my place before we go?”

I laughed. “Sure.” She’d taken all the fun out of teasing her. “I’m driving. You ready?”

Maxwell hesitated when I asked if she wanted me to wait in the truck. She clearly had reservations about letting me see her apartment, which only made me want to see it more.

“It’s not like you haven’t seen my place,” I said.

“It’s not yours, you live with your brother.”

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