Page 44 of Drunk In Love
I’d also be lying if I didn’t say I was thrilled by Max and I together too. We fit perfectly together, literally and figuratively, and part of me wishes it had happened sooner, but everything in its own time.
Thinking about all of what could lay ahead was making me spiral to all of the worst what-ifs. Right now I needed to focus on the job at hand, which was finding out what exactly was going on at the Financial Journal and putting a stop to the crimes they were committing.
Currently at my workstation, I click through what I have gathered so far and who we could try eliminating. Katie Lucas who worked under Zach didn’t seem to be a person of interest. If she was a part of all this, then I doubted she’d worked alone. I also felt Jacob was genuine from the beginning, if not fearful of losing his newly given position. The jury was still out on him. I’d narrowed my own suspect list down to Franco, Zach, Charles, and Harry.
Franco’s and Harry’s motives were the clearest to me, but Zach, notwithstanding his suspicious behavior, made the least sense. What was the motivation? What could make Zach, with a high-earning position and important role at the publication, want to turn on them like that?
“Earth to Kam. We have a meeting in five,” Maxwell says.
I turn in my desk chair and smile up at him. “Sorry, I’ve just been going over my notes here, and this assignment has thrown us for a loop. I’ve even employed an AI algorithm tracker to see if that could help trace the person who sent Harry that email, and I’m still having the hardest time tracking this person, or persons, down. It feels like we’re missing one important puzzle piece.”
Maxwell crouches down so I’m not craning my neck to look up at him. He’s eye level now with my notes on the screen and reading over everything.
“We should present this to everyone in the meeting. Maybe we need more than the two of us.”
It was a good idea. More of us working together could help, but I hated looking incompetent. Like I’d failed. This was the most responsibility I’d been given since I’d started and already I felt like I’d let Brandon and Maxwell down.
Hell, I was letting myself down because I hadn’t been able to crack this case sooner.
“Hey, why are you making that face?” Max asks, placing my chin between his thumb and index finger and tilting my face to peer back up at him. His handsome face made me feel calmer. I shouldn’t feel apprehensive about telling him how I feel, but my perfectionism persists.
“I’m beginning to doubt myself. When Brandon assigned the Financial Journal case to me, I thought for sure I’d be further along by now. I’m just scared I may let everyone down.”
“Listen to me. You have made amazing progress so far. You’ve been braver than I could have ever expected. Approaching potential bad guys, nearly getting arrested at a college protest. Kam, you have amazed me at every turn of all this. Don’t beat yourself up now.”
I could always count on Max to make me feel more confident and see the bigger picture. One of the best parts of our friendship is how we always cheered the other person on. I hoped that wouldn’t change because we’re entering a more romantic relationship.
“You always know what to say,” I reply.
“Charm is what I know best,” Max quips. “Now let’s head over to the conference room before we’re late.”
We make our way down the hall and enter the meeting space, and so far Bree is the only one seated.
“For a second I thought I got the time wrong,” Bree says. “Westin couldn’t make it because he’s on protection detail in LA for the rest of the week.”
Before either Max or I get a chance to respond, the door swings open again, and our boss enters. There’s a woman with him who I’ve never seen before. Possibly a new client scoping us out to hire for protection detail. Occasionally people would want to stop in and meet the team before hiring us.
“Great, everyone is here now,” Brandon says. “Team, this is Harlowe James. She’s recently moved to New York from Atlanta. We met a few years ago at the Executive Protection Institute and kept in contact. I’ve been trying to recruit Harlowe for years now.”
“Just a little harassment on Brandon’s part, but I’ve finally made it to the illustrious Tri-State Security office,” Harlowe says.
Her light Georgia drawl is sweet. We all take turns greeting Harlowe, and afterwards she takes a seat next to Brandon for the meeting to commence. She appears to be early thirties like the rest of the team in office. The engagement ring and wedding band she’s sporting are the largest I’ve ever seen in person. Almost like a celebrity level of jewelry. There was definitely more than meets the eye about our potential new teammate.
“So, what do you all have for today?” Brandon asks.
“I can go first,” Bree says. “I’d like to discuss a potential job with the mayor’s office. A contact of mine at my previous precincts mentioned it to me yesterday.”
Bree speaks for the next ten minutes while I gather my thoughts. Maxwell nudges my elbow to speak up.
“Max? Kam? What have you got?” Brandon asks.
I open my laptop and proceed to review the lists of potential suspects, save one. Zach. I’m not sure how to tell Brandon about his friend potentially being suspicious.
“Um, there is one other person I think we need to look into. Your friend, Zach Stapely.”
Brandon’s and Bree’s eyebrows raise at the same time. Saying Zach’s name out loud felt like ripping a Band-Aid off. The relief was powerful, just getting it over with.
“You think Zach has been the person behind this?” Brandon appeared like I’d given him a blow to the stomach, but Max and I were at a point now where we couldn’t afford to withhold any more info. Even if that affected Brandon.