She kissed him. “Thank you,” she said. She turned and kissed Brad, too. “And thank you. Let me get through the next couple of days and wrap my head around this. Okay?”
Brad caught Ellis’ eye over her shoulder. They both nodded. “Okay,” they said in unison.
Chapter Eighteen
Brad was back in jeans and a T-shirt by early afternoon. Mandaline felt more than a subtle pang of disappointment over that. She rather enjoyed getting a good look at his hunky body, although the sight of the scars on his back made her want to cradle him in her arms and heal him in ways she knew she couldn’t.
She came out from doing a reading for a customer to find Sachi training him on how to make the different drinks they sold.
“You don’t have to do this,” she told him.
He shrugged. “I want to. Besides, I can’t do anything else right now. All my art stuff is back at the house. I like helping.”
“Aw, come on, boss,” Sachi teasingly whined. “Let Tarzan help.”
Mandaline realized Sachi had already settled on nicknames for the guys. Meaning the irascible woman had come to accept them as part of her inner circle.
She wasn’t sure if that comforted or worried her. Yes, she loved them, and yes, she wanted them, but she also didn’t want to make her decision to take things further, when she finally got off her ass and made it, influenced by those around her.
“Okay, fine. Just don’t wear yourself out,” she warned him.
He grinned. “I’m feeling fine. Lots better than I was.”
“I think you should run over and see Doc Smith.”
“I’m sure Ellis will have me at the VA soon enough. Don’t worry about me.”
As the afternoon wore on, Mandaline paid close attention to his interaction with the customers. People seemed drawn to him and everyone who dealt with him left with a smile.
Mandaline was in the office doing paperwork when Sachi leaned in the doorway. “Can we keep him, boss? Huh, huh? Can we?”
Mandaline leaned back in her chair. “He does have a job, you know.”
“Well, yeah, sure, if you want to call it that.” She grinned. “Set him up in the front window. We’ll have every het woman and gay man in Brooksville drooling over him.”
Mandaline felt a tiny, dark stirring in her gut. She didn’t like that idea.
She also didn’t like feeling jealous.
“No. I’m going to take a look at the warehouse and see if we can make a place for him there.”
“Aw, you’re no fun.” But she grinned. “And FYI, the warehouse is even more above my pay grade than laundry.”
“Don’t worry. That’s my albatross, not yours.”
The warehouse was what they called the rest of the upstairs not taken up by the apartment. Julie had used it for storage both personal and business.
Mandaline was looking even less forward to going through it because of the sheer volume of stuff there. Records from past investigations, old family furniture, miscellaneous crap from the store…
Goddess only knew how long it would take her to go through it.
“Hey, are you doing anything tonight?” she asked Sachi.
An eyebrow slowly slid skyward. “Nooo. Whyyyy?”
Mandaline sighed. “I need to go through Julie’s clothes. You and I are about her size. I was putting it off, but now with Ellis and Brad here for the duration, I’m running out of room. I’ll provide the dinner if you’ll provide the water-absorbent shoulder.”
Sachi stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. “Of course I will,” she said, back to serious friend mode. “You all right?”
“I will be once I get through Thursday.”
“You don’t have to go Thursday. I can go do it.”
“No, it’s a sort of closure for me.” She took a deep breath. “I want to see where she died. And there’s one other thing I have to do.”
Mandaline had a client for a Tarot reading that afternoon. Fortunately, the customer was one of her regulars and in a good frame of mind to start with.
She hadn’t been able to bring herself to read for any of Julie’s former clients yet. Sachi or Mina or Makenzie had taken some of them. The ones who specifically asked for Mandaline were being postponed another week.
She hoped when the time came that she’d be able to deal with them. When she finished with that client at two o’clock, Sachi was involved with a client of her own. Mandaline walked out to the front and found Brad talking with a man.
An immediate dark vibe washed over her as she struggled to remember where she’d seen the guy before. Then it hit her.
Brad turned, smiling when he saw Mandaline. “Ah, there she is. Mandaline, this is Peter—”
“Please, you need to leave,” she told the guy. “We’ve already told you all we’re going to say about Julie.”
The reporter, who worked for a Hollywood tabloid website, scowled. “Now, Mandaline, I’m sure we can come to some sort of understanding. This could mean a lot of good press for your business.”
“The only understanding seems to be your inability to grasp the simple concept of ‘no.’”
Brad silently watched, a frown on his face.
“Look, all I want is a few minutes of your time and a statement.”
She felt her hands curling into fists. Where’s Sachi and her gun when I really need her? “We made it abundantly clear to you last week, several times, that we have no comment about what happened. You want any comments, you’ll have to talk to Steven Corey’s family representative. I refuse to discuss this with the media.”
The man closed his notepad. Mandaline felt the shift in his energy to an even darker tone. “Well, if you won’t talk to us, we’ll have to talk to people who will. Which means you lose a chance to give us the accurate story of what happened.”
Mandaline stepped close, letting her anger well up. “All you need to know,” she dangerously muttered, “is that my best friend was killed. She was a good, loving woman. And nothing will change either of those two facts.” She let her angry energy freely pour from her toward the reporter.
He actually took a step back.
“Now get out of my store before I call the sheriff’s department to have a trespass warrant issued against you.”
The man looked from her to Brad, who’d stayed behind her, then back to her. “Fine. Have it your way.” He turned on his heel and left.
Brad tried to say something to Mandaline, but she wheeled around and headed for the stairs. He finally caught up with her at the top of the stairs.
“I’m sorry, Mandaline. I didn’t realize he was a problem.”
“What did you say to him?”
He shook his head. “Nothing. He just got here right before you came out. Maybe two minutes, that’s it. I told him you were busy and he’d have to talk to you.”
“He didn’t ask who you were or anything about Julie?”
“He said he wanted to talk to someone about Julie, but I told him he’d have to wait to talk to you.”
She felt her anger draining and slumped against the wall. All of the other employees had already agreed not to talk to the tabloids about what had happened to Julie. She’d forgotten to warn Brad and Ellis. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I should have told you. I didn’t think any others would come sniffing around.”
“Hey, it’s okay.” When he pulled her in for a hug, she didn’t resist. “You about ready for a break for the day?”
She glanced at the door that led to the warehouse. “Maybe I shouldn’t be around people right now. I’m not exactly in the best mood.” She headed over to it and opened the door. Swiping her hand around inside the doorway, she found the main switch and the overhead lights came to life.