We walked further down the hall, he opened the door to a small room that was lined with about a dozen lockers, a big, fireproof cabinet with an electronic lock and a kitchenette at the end. No explanation needed for this room and I was glad to know where I could find the coffee.
Then he turned and knocked twice on a door, slid a fob across a pad on the side, a green light went on and he opened the door.
Woo hoo!
Now we were talking.
The nerve center.
We walked into a room with a bank of, like, a gazillion television screens on one wall each with a DVD recorder beneath it, underneath that a console full of buttons and knobs. There were several multi-line phones on the console. Another wall held radios stacked in inset shelves. I could hear the police-band squawking quietly. Two guys were sitting in the room but there were four chairs. Most of the television screens had visual, but a few were blank. Against the wall opposite the screens, there were a couple of desks that were a heck of a lot messier than Lee’s, with folders, papers, empty pop cans and dirty coffee mugs.
Huh.
I had my proof about Dawn.
Both men were sitting with their sides to the door, both men turned when we walked in and both men grinned when they saw me. I had the weird, uncomfortable feeling they both knew what happened in Lee’s office ten minutes ago.
“Indy, this is Monty and Vance, I think you boys know Indy.”
Say what?
“Hey, Indy,” Monty greeted. He had a blond military cut, a well-maintained body with a laid back posture and I was guessing he was about ten years older than Lee. He was still grinning at me and he lifted his hand and pointed a finger at a bank of four screens, all of which had visual on different angles of the inside of Fortnum’s.
Ah-ha.
Now I knew how Lee would think they’d know me.
Then I stopped thinking and watched in horror as Tex banged the portafilter on top of the espresso machine. Monty hit a button and the police band was drowned out by Tex’s voice shouting, “Fucking steam! Give me some more fucking steam, you monster!” Which was followed by Duke shouting, “It only gives as much steam as it gives, man!”
Wonderful.
Now I knew why they were both grinning at me.
I looked away from the current frightening goings-on at Fortnum’s to check out Vance.
Vance was younger than Lee, but I was guessing not by much. He had shiny, straight black hair pulled into ponytail, a lean body and fabulous bone structure and coloring of a Native American.
Oh, and he was seriously hot.
Yep, I was definitely going to have to bring Marianne here, and probably Andrea and more than likely, Tod.
It was like Chippendales but better.
I found myself captured by Vance’s good looks and watched as he and Monty exchanged glances over Tex and Duke’s exchange.
Vance’s lips were twitching. He thought Tex was funny.
Vance looked up to me and caught me staring. I gave him a tilty-head smile and he smiled back, all white teeth against dark skin.
“Hi,” I said to him.
His smile widened.
Mm, yum.
Lee’s hand curled into the waistband of my shorts.
Oopsie.
Monty and Vance turned back to the monitors and I looked at them too. There was an angle of the foyer of Lee’s condo building and his empty parking spot in the condo garage. There was also an angle of the reception area where Dawn was on the phone (likely tearing me apart to one of her girlfriends) and two screens showing the Nightingale Investigation parking spots. I was pretty much praying at that point that one of the blank screens didn’t show a visual on Lee’s office.
There were eight screens showing various things, mostly inside, some had people in them both at home and in offices.
Lee started talking. “We used to do security. Even though it paid well, it was boring as hell. Made employee retention difficult.”
“Won’t have a problem with retention if we keep monitoring your store. It’s like watching a sit com,” Monty said, his voice heavy on the amusement.
Great.
Monty turned to me. “We asked Dawn to do a transcript of your speech about El Salvador, Mom and Pop shops and the American way and we e-mailed it around. Hank isn’t even on the payroll and he was awarded honorary employee of the week for taking duty on you that day. I would have paid to see his face when he walked into that pot farm.”
Double great.
Not only did Dawn do the transcript, I could be sure she made certain to e-mail it to Lee.
Not to mention the fact that I was break in the day entertainment to Lee’s troops.
Lee let go of my shorts and said, “Fortnum’s will be wired for awhile and we need to get a camera on the front door.”
I looked back at him and his eyes were moving along the screens and I got the impression he didn’t miss a trick.
He briefly glanced at me then back to the screens. He was being professional but I also got the feeling he was ticked about something and trying not to let it show in front of the guys.
“Currently, we do mostly investigations, mainly corporate, embezzlement, fraud, theft. We pick up some domestic investigation, only high-income, usually gathering evidence to substantiate adultery or other incontrovertible grounds to get large alimony and settlements.”
“Usually poking the nanny,” Monty put in. “That’s fun to watch.”
“Depending on the nanny,” Vance spoke for the first time, his voice deep and rich, his eyes off the screens and on my legs, saying he wouldn’t mind watching me get poked if I was the nanny. I was also hoping he wasn’t communicating he didn’t mind just watching me get laid by Lee.
Yikes.
Though, you had to admit, he had balls checking me out in front of Lee.
Lee kept talking. “Staff does rotation in here, depending on what assignment they’re on. That way they don’t have to sit in a windowless room very often and can keep sharp doing field work.”
Lee started to move me to the door and I called, “Later, guys.”
Both looked at me, Monty gave a small wave, Vance grinned. I wondered if I would see the guys later, like, say, Lee had a company picnic.
“Do you have cameras in your office?” I asked Lee when he closed the door.
“Nope.”
Thank God.
“Tell me about Monty,” I went on.
“Monty’s an ex-SEAL, knee injury took him out, the only guy who takes five shifts in surveillance a week. He manages the room. He comes in if we have any field operations, most of which he plans because he’s good at it. He’s been married twenty years, has five kids and may look mellow but even with a bum knee, he’s a serious guy you do not want to mess with.”
Yikes.
“Field operations?”
“Sometimes, end work on a corporate investigation. Mostly when we work with the PD or Feds.”
“What do you do with the police and the government?”
Lee didn’t answer.
I didn’t push.
“And Vance?” I asked.
“Vance is the master of multi-tasking. He’s off the rez, a recovering alcoholic, ex-con, grand theft auto. He has quick hands, quiet feet, can make himself invisible, is an excellent tracker and can do anything with cameras and electronics. He usually traces skips but he also does a lot of our wire work. He wired Fortnum’s. I would have given him the new skip but he just bought himself a week in the surveillance room. As for you, if you look at him like that again, I’ll cuff you to the bed and only let you go for bathroom breaks.”
“Jeez, now who’s jealous?”
I said it out loud, but I meant to think it and might I add that this was a habit that was becoming alarming.
My comment was a big mistake.
Without warning, Lee’s hand closed on my upper arm, he opened the locker room door and pulled me inside. He slammed the door shut behind us, shoved me against the lockers and came up on me so there wasn’t room to move.