Maybe he felt like his budding success was a fluke.
He dropped the timber of his voice. “I can’t afford to lose that. The rest we can figure out. Do you feel the chemistry now?”
Frowning, not sure of where he was going with this, she nodded. “Yeah.” Chuckling, she added, “You’re pretty as hell to look at, and that body, well, I won’t lie, it’s nice.”
He smiled ruefully. “Figures. I don’t know what happened at the studio, but I think the best way for us to deal is to spend a little time together. Get to know each other. Decrease the heat with a little familiarity. It’ll all even out. I need you as my manager. The rest, we’ll keep nice and causal. Nothing serious to freak either one of us out.”
She chewed on her lip as she thought. The burning compulsion to strip him down naked right this second made her fingers twitch. But he was also easy to be with. Still taciturn, but somehow open to her. She liked this Samson. It still wasn’t a good idea to mix business and pleasure though. “Samson, I still don’t think—”
He didn’t let her finish. “C’mon, Jess. Be the risk taker I know you are. Just say yes. And look, I promise I won’t lay a hand on you until you ask me to.”
This was a colossally bad idea. Very, very bad. But then, no one had ever accused her of being careful. “Okay. We can try hanging out.”
He frowned, then asked, “Could I ask you to do me one more favor?”
“You know you’re pushing your luck now, right?”
“It’s a small one.”
“What is it?”
“Could you call me Eli instead? It’s my, uh, middle name. Samson is the name that goes on the art, but it isn’t me.”
Chapter 11
Eli strolled into Vince’s office without knocking. “Hey, Vince, I think I have a lead on our forgers.”
Vince dropped the file he was looking at onto his desk. “Now I know how you feel when I barge into your office. Not sure I like it.”
Eli smirked. “This place is a dump.” There were stacks of papers everywhere and several empty coffee mugs. Not to mention one dead ficus plant by the window.
“Whatever.” Vince plopped down in his seat, and the old, tattered roll-along squealed in protest. “Not all of us can have fancy digs, you know. Some of us actually work for a living.”
Elis leaned against the door. “Someone’s cranky today.”
“Yeah, and you'll hear all about it. But you go first. You almost look chipper.”
“So, I was talking to Samson.”
Vince's eyes brightened, then he interrupted. “You know, you still haven’t caught me up on that hot bad girl from the club, but I guess that can wait.”
“Anyway, like I was saying, Samson said we need to check for areas where the paint is thicker, or look for some kind of consistent marking in the canvases. Something like a watermark or something. Maybe something sewn into the canvas as well.”
“I don't get it. What are we looking for?”
“Our signature. Remember how I was saying there has to be something to tie them all together? If it's not the actual crime, then it has to be the paintings. Now, as for the forgeries of the jewelry and sculptures pieces, I still don’t have anywhere to go on those.”
Vince rubbed his jaw. “You want my techs to do the tests, or do you want to do them yourself?” When Eli just raised an eyebrow, Vince chuckled. “Yeah okay, I’ll have someone bring them from evidence to the lab so you can check them out.”
“Okay, your turn. What's causing your personality change today?”
“Nothing like overlooking something to bring the bear out to play.”
“What did we miss?”
“Not we, I. It's something I missed.”
His partner might seem like a happy-go-lucky guy’s guy, but he was too conscientious to miss something by mistake. “What is it?”
Vince whirled around and grabbed a stack of files off his desk. “This stack here is a list of open cases for the last six years or so. Basic con man stuff. The Romeo one—elderly fellow courts and scams poor rich widow. It’s that case I told you about. We’ve never able to catch the guy. He works with an accomplice. He moves to town, courts a string of women, usually keeping only two on his roster. The women learn about each other then start trying to one-up the other to try and keep him.”
Eli snorted. “Are you serious?”
Vince shrugged. “This guy has cars, boats, even a