I shook Nightingale’s hand, he told me to call him Lee, I told him to call me Sadie then I sat in front of his desk and he sat behind it.
Then he’d asked what he could do for me, “Ms. Townsend”, even though I told him to call me Sadie.
My father would read a lot into that and I did too.
Lee was telling me this was a formal arrangement. Very formal.
I hated being called “Ms. Townsend” mainly because my father’s real name was “Tuttle’. It wasn’t a great name but it was real and didn’t sound like some stupid, made up name of a romance hero. But also because I never felt like “Ms. Townsend”. People had been calling me that since I was six (mostly servants, lackeys and henchmen).
I felt like I was Sadie. I had no idea who Sadie was but Sadie sounded, to me, like someone you’d want to know.
Ms. Townsend sounded like someone you wanted to avoid.
“I’d like to hire your agency,” I told Lee, trying to blank out the fact that Hector was still sitting silent on the side of Lee’s desk. He was looking at me, I saw him out of my peripheral vision but I also felt his eyes on me. This might sound stupid but it was true.
“Why do you need the services of a detective agency?” Lee asked.
“I don’t need the services of a detective agency. I need security. I need a bodyguard,” I answered.
The air in the room changed. From the minute I walked in it had been even less welcoming than in the reception area, mainly because Hector was there. Now it went weirdly… electric.
“Why do you need a bodyguard?” Lee asked.
“I’m not safe,” I responded.
“Why aren’t you safe?” Lee persevered.
Oh damn.
If it had just been Lee, I still would have had trouble explaining this. There was no way I could explain it with Hector there too. How did I say it without sounding like I thought I was the end all be all of beauty, grace and all things feminine?
I couldn’t exactly say, “Well, Lee, you know… when a crime lord goes down, unfortunately the crime doesn’t go away. Instead, there’s a war to see who will be the new king. For now, Ricky Balducci won that war. And Ricky Balducci is a lunatic. And now his three brothers and him are intent on acting out their version of a Shakespearean play by doing what they can to tear each other down in order to obtain the throne. Somehow, being the dead king’s princess, I’m caught up in this mess because Ricky isn’t the only Balducci brother who’s a lunatic. They’re all lunatics. And they’ve got it in their head that the one true king has me at his side and they’ll stop at nothing, nothing, to get me by their side. I have no family, I have no friends, I have no one but me to protect me against four insane brothers and I’m absolutely, utterly, completely terrified.”
Instead, I said, “I don’t know how to explain it…” This was true, as you could see, it was hard to explain. “I just don’t feel safe.”
“You’ll have to give me something more to go on, Ms. Townsend,” Lee said to me.
My hands curled into fists in my lap so tight, my nails dug into my palms rather painfully. This was the only reaction I showed to the possibility that this wasn’t going very well. I knew Lee couldn’t see my hands, what I didn’t know was that Hector could.
“I’ll double your fee.” As my father would say, if you meet with resistance, try throwing money at it first.
“Doubling my fee isn’t going to lighten my caseload,” Lee replied.
Oh my.
That was not good news.
Lee was opening a drawer; he sorted through it and took out a card.
“I’m not taking on any new clients right now. If this was an urgent situation, we’d consider it. Since it’s just a feeling, I’m sorry but I’ll have to refer you to Dick Anderson.”
He stood and rounded the desk. I stared at him again concentrating on not hyperventilating.
He couldn’t say no. He was the best in the business. Everyone knew about him and the Nightingale Men. They could keep me safe.
I didn’t know Dick Anderson. Dick Anderson sounded like the name of a TV private eye. I didn’t want a wisecracking TV private eye who wore Hawaiian shirts or forgot to shave. I wanted scary but handsome Nightingale Men who’d put the fear of God into you by just cracking their knuckles.
I stood as Lee made it to my chair.