Page 87 of S.O.S. Perk

She caught their attention. Sort of.

“He’s not only going undercover to help smoke out a dangerous cyber-criminal, he recently rescued a girl who the perps had kidnapped.” Sloane was vague on purpose so as not to compromise the investigation.

“Oh?” This came from one of the wives. Steve’s other half if Sloane remembered correctly. The woman had a sour look on her face. “How come it wasn’t in the news?” she asked skeptically.

“It’s an ongoing investigation,” Perk answered evenly while shoveling scrambled eggs into his mouth. “Nothing is being made available to the public yet.”

“Butyouknow about it,” the woman continued, pointing her fork at Sloane. “Are you the secretary at his office?” She laid a proprietary hand on her husband’s arm. “Steve asked if I wanted to answer phones for him, but it sounded like such a bore,of courseI said no.Ienjoy working with my friends to support a few of our local charities,” she boasted.

Sloane translated that vague occupation to mean “ladies who lunch”.

Bitsy, or Buffy, or whatever her name was, clearly wouldn’t know a real job if it smacked her in the face.

Sloane bristled. She’d never had any problem with women who chose to stay at home and pursue their passions, but she doubted if this woman had a true fervor for anything except living large.

“Our jobsdointersect,” was all the answer Sloane gave. Not that it would hurt anything if she were to mention her trueoccupation, but she wanted to see what else these oblivious individuals had to say before she dumped that bit of intel on them.

“So, what do you think, Henry?” His father tamped out his pipe on an ashtray beside his breakfast plate, then dug in to the plethora of food his wife had piled on his plate. “You ready to settle down and take a job with my company?”

It was like Sloane had never even told them about Perk’s current case and how valuable he was.Unbelievable.

“Dad. I’ve told you before. I’m perfectly happy in Boston. I’m with a bunch of great, dedicated people, and we’re really making a difference.”

“Finding dead-beat husbands,” Steve snorted. “Yeah. That sounds like a career.”

“I looked into SOS,” Dirk spoke up, seemingly innocuously.

“You did?” Perk smiled at his sibling, and Sloane’s heart bled. Perk looked excited that at least one of his family had taken an interest in what Perk had been doing. Sloane hoped Dirk didn’t let him down. If he did, she’d have to bring out her big guns.

“Yeah. After I talked to you this summer, you made me think that what you did wasn’t just a time-filler. I was impressed at what I found.” Dirk blinked around at his family as if daring them to rebut him. “It’s the real deal, and your team has a lot of top-notch credentials.”

Yeah. He would have seen all the military and government experience the members brought to the table.

Perk nodded happily. “I was grateful to Del for giving me the opportunity to join them, and I haven’t regretted a single moment. We’re busy all the time, and with such a diversity in cases, I never lack for stimulation.”

“Did you really rescue a kidnap victim?” This came from Dirk’s wife, Alison, who clearly hadn’t joined the “Perk is aloser” club. The woman, who hadn’t been eating, but had been pushing food around on her plate up until this point, sounded encouragingly curious.

“I did.” Perk appeared a bit sheepish, but Sloane urged him with a chin-lift to brag himself up.

“At some danger to himself,” she added, then nudged Perk to continue.

He complied with a crooked smile on his face. “The girl I recovered had poked her nose into something that had the potential to shut down a large money-grabbing operation. The suspects caught on, grabbed her, and held her for several days in a basement. I pretended to be a student at her high school, befriended the boy we suspected of snatching her, and once that was confirmed, I was able to convince him I’d take care of his problem for him.”

“Take care of, as in…? You actually were able to make him believe you’d…kill somebody?” his mother gasped, placing a hand to her breast like some clueless heroine in a Victorian novel.

“I did,” he admitted. “I had to make it look real, or I wouldn’t have been able to save her,” Perk downplayed. “It wasn’t that difficult.”

“But because of you, the girl wasn’t killed,” Sloane reminded him, “and has since been reunited with her family where they’re being hidden until the case is closed and things come to trial.”

“That’s awesome, Perk,” Dirk lauded. “It’s a helluva lot more interesting than beefing up some rich person’s portfolio.”

“Now, Dirk,” Mr. Perkins chastised lightly. “We help a lot of people.”

Dirk gave in, clearly to appease his parent. “I know, Dad. Wedomake life easier for our clients, but rescuing people, breaking up terrorist rings…” He looked at Perk with pride. “Don’t think Ididn’t read about your participation in that sting last year where the extremist cell was taken down in the Maine wilderness.”

Perk sat up a little straighter, and Sloane wanted to cheer. Points to Dirk.

Couldn’t his parents see? All Perk needed was just the slightest bit of validation from his family to make him feel included.

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