Page 33 of Astrid
“I came home, wrote up my report, then I took the phone number Griff had given me, and was able to get two clear prints from the paper. It’s been running since last night, and nothing.”
“Wait a minute.” Ava held up her hand and rifled through some papers on the section of table she always sat at. “I thought Carl said they had records.”
The other women looked at the screen, then Astrid’s fingers flew over the keyboard. It took almost thirty minutes, but she looked at the others. “Bogus stuff, speeding ticket, jaywalking.”
“Seems to me,” Chuck said from the position he’d taken with his hips against the table, and his arms crossed over his chest. “Now I don’t know anything about what you’re doing, but do you think these three might be cops working undercover to try to get to this Neil guy? But, the closest they could get to him was to act like thugs, and be the first line of this Neil guy’s defense?”
The four women stared at him with varying degrees of shock in their expressions. He only shrugged, “If they are the good guys, wouldn’t they, or couldn’t they fake their arrest records?” He pointed to the screen, and shrugged again. “Not very impressive if they’re supposed to be acting like bad guys and getting in good with the boss.”
“Damn,” all four women said, then Astrid looked at Morgan. “If what Chuck says is true, or even a sliver of truth, then their prints wouldn’t be found in any database? Would they?”
“Not that I’m aware of,” Morgan sighed, as studied the screen. “How did you leave it for you getting together with him?”
“I was thinking of taking Joyce and Ava with me, I figured he knows me as Jane, and then Joyce could be Joy, and Ava could be Eve. I threw this by Tom, and he agreed that the three of us should hook up with the three of them. But—” She held up her hand before the others could say anything. “—when should we do it? I was thinking maybe the day before the cabinets were due to be delivered, and with Carl with the guys, then if something happens the night before on our dates, Neil’s men should be left scrambling, and you never know what might be said in the heat of the moment.”
“I like it.” Morgan grinned at her. “We should be having another operative here by then.”
“Who?” The three women asked.
“Gal by the name of Janice Bartlett, she was a medic and scout for her unit.”
“That’ll work,” Astrid said. “I can even still go as Jane, and we can drag her along as another set of eyes and ears.”
“She’s due here on Monday, we’ll have to get her up to speed, then,” Morgan said.
What none of the women, nor Chuck realized that since the beginning of their discussion of what Astrid had gone through the day before was overheard by John. He stood several feet down the tunnel, in the shadows. However, he had been able to see and hear everything that had been discussed. Turning on his heel to go back up to the office, he mentally berated himself that he knew deep in his heart that Astrid would never have cheated on him. Now that he’d seen and heard what he did, he realized he had a lot of apologizing to do in a very short time. Not wanting to interrupt Astrid’s work day, he went into the office, and with his toolbox next to the stack of boxes, he dragged the first one off the pile, opened it, and settled down to put the desk together. Doing so allowed his mind to wander, and he came up with several different ways to say he was sorry to Astrid. Little did he know that she had a different way of extracting an apology from him, and he’d know about it in a few short hours.
CHAPTER15
Hours later,John walked into the house, and immediately sought out Astrid. Seeing her at the kitchen counter, he went over to her, and after washing his hands, he looked over her shoulder and as he dried his hands, he asked, “Need help?” He braced himself against her scathing look, and when she only shrugged, he tried to guess what she was cooking by the ingredients laid out on the counter. It wasn’t until he saw several loaves of Italian bread off to the side, with a bag of cheese, and the garlic container that he realized they were going to have some sort of pasta. Because, the only thing he saw were piles of peppers, onions, and mushrooms that she was slicing.
“Spaghetti?” he asked.
Astrid only nodded, and he got to work slicing the bread, buttering it, and then doctoring it with the garlic and cheese. Once that was ready, he went to the refrigerator and began pulling more vegetables out for a tossed salad. John looked up when Justin joined them at the counter.
“Need any help?”
“Naw,” Astrid said. “It’s just a matter of cooking everything now. Dinner should be ready in thirty.”
“Okay, thanks.” He nodded, then looked at his brother. “Sorry I didn’t make it back in time to help with the desks in the office. Were you able to put any of them together?”
“Yes, I got four of them completely done. I didn’t set them up in any particular place yet, we’ll have to talk to the girls to see where they want them set up.” As he spoke he watched Astrid as she hustled around the kitchen. He shook his head when she ignored him, and he scowled at Justin when he only smirked at him. Before anyone could say anything, someone’s phone rang, and within seconds, Alex came over to them from somewhere down the hall.
“Astrid?”
“Yeah?” She frowned as she looked at the other man.
“Morgan wants to know if there’s enough food for six more people.”
Astrid looked around in a panic, but before she could say anything, John took the phone from his brother and spoke into it.
“Morg, it’s John. We’re having spaghetti. There should be enough, but you might want to bring more bread and noodles if you have it.” He nodded for several seconds, then hung up and handed the phone back to his brother.
“They’ll be here in fifteen minutes.”
“Who are the six people?” Astrid asked as she stirred the burger with the veggies.
“I’m assuming, Morgan, Wyatt, Dillon, April, and the two boys, DJ and Lucas.”
