her place sat Adam Miles, and that meant something serious had happened. Adam didn’t work for McKay-Taggart anymore and hadn’t for years. He was the head of his own firm. The two companies worked closely together, though, and Adam was always around to help with a crisis.
Just what he needed.
He slid into a chair as the door opened again and MaeBe walked in. Today’s outfit consisted of bright green tights and a black skater dress that went oddly well with her combat boots.
“Good morning, boss. Morning, big boss.” She waved Adam’s way. “Mr. Miles.”
Adam gave her a friendly smile. “It’s Adam, MaeBe. I’m just a guy.”
He was a guy who’d built an insanely successful company that had changed the industry. Adam had gotten used to the techies of the world kind of worshiping him.
“She’s calling you mister because you’re old, not because she respects you,” Big Tag said with a roll of his eyes.
Big Tag and Adam had a weird thing that had been going on for as long as Hutch could remember. They played pranks and gave each other shit more than any of the others.
“I’m not old,” Adam insisted.
“She’s twenty-five. To her you’re old as dirt,” Big Tag explained.
“Uhm, I totally respect you, Mr. Miles. You’re a giant in my world.” MaeBe settled in beside Hutch. She leaned in. “Did I do something wrong?”
He shook his head. MaeBe had only been around for a year and had yet to get a full dose of Big Tag and Adam’s unmistakable chemistry. “Nah, it’s the way they flirt.”
Adam coughed, nearly spitting out the coffee he’d been drinking.
Big Tag simply laughed, proving he was perfectly comfortable with himself.
“We do not flirt,” Adam corrected. “He’s an asshole and I have to defend myself.”
Big Tag gave him a once-over. “If I swung that way, it could happen. He’d be a good sub after some proper training.”
Adam pointed a finger Big Tag’s way. “I am not a sub.”
Big Tag shrugged. “In some weird parallel universe, I would bet you are, and trust me, you wouldn’t be bottoming for Jake. MaeBe, you got any idea why Hutch stalked through the office like Godzilla earlier? He made small children cry.”
“I did not.” He might not be in a good mood, but he wasn’t a monster.
“Yasmin said you didn’t even say hello, and she had her daughter with her, and yes, she did cry,” Big Tag insisted.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” MaeBe replied with wide, innocent eyes. “He seemed perfectly normal to me. And Yasmin’s little girl was crying because she wants a puppy. Like real bad. There’s an adoption drive in my neighborhood this afternoon, but Yasmin doesn’t have any personal days left.”
Big Tag made a gagging sound. “Not only did you cover for your boss, now I have to lose my receptionist for the afternoon so she can pick up some sad-sack dog who will poop on her floor. You’re working reception.”
MaeBe sat up straighter. She never seemed to mind covering the phones. “Absolutely, boss.”
Excellent. Everyone was getting what they wanted except him. “Why am I here?”
He wasn’t sure he wanted to be back at Noelle’s, but he knew he didn’t want to be here. He should go to his place and work from there, but he’d stopped by before he’d come to the office and been struck by how little warmth there was there. Unlike Noelle’s, which was covered in pictures of her family and friends, his house had blank walls and utilitarian furnishings. It felt empty.
Like his life.
Adam nodded Ian’s way. “Yeah, I see what you mean.”
He wasn’t playing around right now. “I have work to do. I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“You’re not going anywhere.” Tag shifted from mildly amused to that blank expression that let Hutch know he meant business. “We’ve had a couple of developments in Noelle LaVigne’s case.”
His gut tightened because whatever Tag was about to tell him wasn’t good, and if Adam was sitting here rather than running his own company, then it was probably bad. “What is it?”
“First of all, I ran a check on the security guard you asked me to look into. He’s definitely DPD,” Tag explained. “Brighton told me he couldn’t work with us on this one, and that tells me we’re caught in something serious.”
“Chris Taylor is a veteran detective who moved onto a major crimes task force six weeks before he took on this second job of his.” Adam rested his hands on the table as