Page 14 of Fierce-Zander

“Excuse me?” Zander asked.

“The bum ankle guy,” Betsy said. “Last night I took Rocco to the park again. Not only did I get multiple pictures of him playing basketball, but even got a video!”

Betsy pulled Rocco out of her big bag, set the mutt on the floor, and he went to his bed under Betsy’s desk.

“Good job,” he said. “How come you didn’t tell me last night?”

“Because you never get a break and I wasn’t going to bug you. Who is to say you didn’t have some woman at your place and the last thing you’d want is to get a call about work.”

He snorted. “Can’t tell you the last time I had a woman at my place.”

“Your mother would say that is a good thing since it’s probably not clean.”

He lifted one eyebrow at his assistant. “When did you talk to my mother and how did that topic come up?”

Zander wouldn’t say his apartment was filthy or messy. Maybe just a tiny bit unorganized.

It mainly came from not having the time or being home enough to do more than sleep.

“She called looking for you yesterday. She said it wasn’t important and not to bother you so I left the message on your desk. Haven’t you been in your office yet?”

“No,” he said. “I just walked in the door a minute before you. Coffee was more important.”

Betsy put her bag on her desk, took her jacket off and hung it up behind her chair, then moved over to the little coffee bar where Zander stood. It was there for easy access for the two of them or any clients.

“Here is my phone,” Betsy said. She handed it over after she unlocked it. “Let me know if those pictures work. If not, I’ll try again. I got as close as I could with the video. To me, the pictures show it’s him in the same outfit, then the video.”

Zander was scrolling through the pictures of the idiot who had a bum ankle and complained he could barely walk on it. The dude didn’t even have his brace on and there were pictures of him doing layups and running up and down the court.

When the video played, he just shook his head and laughed.

“Good job,” he said. “Send them to me via email with a summary. I’ll write up the official report and get it to the insurance company. Unless you want to write it all up and let me review it?”

She knew what she was doing and it wouldn’t hurt to let her take over some of those things now, especially since she did the work.

Betsy’s smile filled her face. “I can do that. Can I say I took the pictures and video?” Betsy asked.

He squinted one eye at her. “You know I never say how or where we get that information. They don’t ask and I don’t tell. For all they know, I could pay someone.”

Betsy poured cream into her coffee from the little fridge by the coffee stand while he drank his black. “I know,” she said.

“But we’ll know the truth. And I’ll treat you to lunch today for a job well done.”

“I’ll take it,” Betsy said. He started to walk to his office when Betsy stopped him. “Oh, Garrett Fierce stopped in yesterday afternoon, but you weren’t here. He didn’t leave a message and I’m not sure if it was important. Were you expecting him?”

Zander frowned. “No,” he said. “And if it was business related or building related he would have told you so I’m sure it was more nosiness related.”

“Give it a chance,” Betsy said. “Maybe they’ve got some bimbo without a lot of smarts lined up for you and she’ll only be interested in your body.”

“They need to focus on someone else,” he said. “Hasn’t Bobby been around lately that you’re thinking this is all romantic or something?”

“He’s on the road for another week,” Betsy said. “Then he’ll be back for three weeks. That’s how I was able to get the picture. I have all the time to keep going to the dog park and I figured people would think I was a regular.”

“Are you going to continue to go there?” he asked.

“Sure, why not? Who knows when we need to do more detective work there.”

He laughed and took his coffee into his office.

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