I think it would be too stressful on her, so I refuse. If it wasn’t for her health issues, she’d be a beautiful example of the breed. Her temperament is perfect.”
“I see you’re a sucker for animals, too.”
“You’ve caught me.”
“I’m just glad my new job and apartment will be friendly for my big old boy and his pet kitten.”
“I like how you’ve already accepted that Lenore is your dog’s kitten rather than yours.”
“I just hope we coexist in the same space without problems. Right now, she’s sleeping on him.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. I’ll pitch the cruise ship idea to my cousin and see what she says. I’ll mention the park and gardens, too. Honestly, she wants some chapel in New York City, but getting the approvals to do everything would be quite the process, and it has to be booked a year or more in advance. She’s already made arrangements for the Pre-Cana should they decide to go the church route.”
My grandfather on my adopted mother’s side of the family was Catholic, and he’d wanted Mat and Amy to go through their Pre-Cana, which they’d agreed to in order to keep peace in the family despite having been married in a non-Catholic church. “Your cousin is Catholic?”
“The church is. Technically, we’re Protestant Anglican, which isn’t Catholic. And I say technically because almost nobody in the family is actually religious. I can’t remember the last time I went to church that wasn’t for a wedding, truth be told. Well, my parents go, but they go to keep peace in the family. I moved to Japan to get out of doing a lot of the family activities, and I only come out of hiding when I absolutely must.”
“That sounds complicated.”
“It really is. In good news, most of the family doesn’t care what I do, so I get to handle my business how I see fit without family drama and politics getting into it. I’m only getting involved with this wedding because my cousin is a good person, and I happen to like her groom. Anyway, I must get Annabel Lee loaded up, as we are going to a car dealership today to pick something, and it’s important I pick a vehicle she likes.”
I laughed at how his dog ruled over his entire life with an iron paw. “Good luck with that. Don’t let her run you around the dealership, Rick.”
“I’ll try not to. I’ll be heading to New York in a few days, so if you want to start thinking about your first real clue, I’d appreciate some form of hint to help keep my weekends and evenings interesting.”
“You got it. I’ll send you a text. Have a good trip to the dealership.” I hung up, set my phone aside, and cracked my knuckles.
No damned hangover was going to stop me from getting through the audit, and come hell or high water, I’d have a good day.
Thirteen
Why does this company have such a huge prostitution problem?
Hell manifested as a set of invoices registering the purchase of adult company under one of the marketer’s accounts, a rather illegal activity in the state of New York. The high water came along in the form of my boss flipping his lid on the hiring company. Within an hour of my unpleasant discovery of the acquisition of prostitutes for clients on the company’s dime, the cops showed up to claim the evidence, and they brought several employees from the company with them. I wasn’t sure why, but I decided against questioning the cops about it.
The invoices, which had been in the unsorted pile from the not-quite-accountants and only a few days old, cleared them of wrongdoing; they hadn’t even had a chance to see the damned things before it’d gotten into my hands. I could do without the cops leering at me, and I bet my entire face would be burned permanently red before I got through the job from hell.
Garret, still fuming to the point I expected smoke to roll out of his ears, paced around my office and made disgruntled noises while waiting for the entourage to finish clearing out.
“Prostitutes!” Garret grunted, flung his hands into the air, and resumed pacing. “And they weren’t even that Meltrew woman’s prostitutes. They were a marketer’s prostitutes. Why does this company have such a huge prostitution problem? How is this even possible?”
A professional remained calm in any situation, but I suspected my boss’s patience had finally snapped due to the unexpected illegalities. Embezzlement and other financial