Page 90 of Bad Seed

Harley walked out behind him, slid her arms around his waist, and laid her cheek on the middle of his back. He turned. “You’re gonna freeze out here, honey,” he said, and wrapped her up in his arms.

“The fresh air feels good on my face.”

“And you feel good in my arms, but you’re still going back inside.” As soon as he closed the sliders, he noticed her computer was on screensaver.

“Quitting for the day?” he asked.

“Quitting, period. I finished. I’ll need to do a printout tomorrow or just send the files to Ray. I’ll need to call and ask him his preference.”

“Way to go!” Brendan said.

“I’m glad to be finished. And I’m a cheap date. I just want to watch TV tonight, eat junk food, drink pop, and fall asleep in your arms.”

“How’s your head?” he asked.

“Sore, still hurting but not as much. I think—”

Before she could finish, the hotel phone rang. Brendan answered.

“Hello. This is Brendan.”

“Hi, it’s me, Liz. How’s Harley?”

“Some better, why?”

“Because a prospective buyer has just arrived, and Dad had already given him permission to talk to Harley about the financial aspects, but after what happened, I didn’t know how to approach this. It’s just a few questions.”

“Hang on a sec,” he said, and put his hand over the receiver. “It’s Liz. A prospective buyer for the hotel has arrived. They had planned to speak to you a bit before you were shot. Are you up for a couple of questions?”

“Sure,” Harley said. “Bring him up.”

“Liz, did you hear that?” he asked.

“Yes, and thank you. We won’t linger, I promise. See you in a few.”

Wolfgang Outen heard enough of the conversation to know something had changed. “What’s the issue? What do you mean, after what happened? If she’s ill or injured, I don’t want to interfere.”

Liz sighed. “It’s not that. But Harley Banks, our auditor, was shot the day before yesterday. It had something to do with a prior case she’d worked on. She helped take down a human trafficking ring, and they arrested everybody on-site and freed a lot of women and children. But the boss man was never identified, and it seems he’s been picking off the people connected to the takedown ever since.”

Wolf was no stranger to the dark side of corporate crime. “Picking off others…besides Harley?”

“Two so far that I know of. She would have been the third.”

“What happened to the hit man?”

“He got off a shot that grazed her scalp, and as they say in the movies, she took him out.”

“Then there’s more to her than I even knew. I am impressed. I can’t wait to meet her, but you’re sure it’s okay?”

Liz smiled. “Brendan said it was.”

“Brendan Pope?”

“Yes.”

“Then this is my lucky day. Getting to see Brendan again and finally meeting Harley Banks.”

“She’s famous?” Liz asked.

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