Page 34 of Sizzling Nights

"Right."

"Okay. So go through your documents. I'm going to head over and watch the attorney's office for a little bit."

"Why? If it's new it's not likely to be one of the businesses we need to be watching."

He nodded, "But I have a hunch there's something not right about that place. When Kelsey began working at the Sandbar, remember she had that old ticket she needed help with? She went to that attorney and without even listening to her he barked at her and said he couldn't help her. She came back and asked Jace for a recommendation. My point is, a good attorney would have listened to her and if he or she couldn't help, they'd refer her to someone else in town who could. That attorney doesn't need clients. There's something else going on there and I’d like to take a look for myself. Maybe stop in with an issue I need help with."

Theresa stepped into his body and hugged him. "You'll be careful though, right?"

He chuckled. "I'll be careful. I just want this to end. You to be safe. And leave it to us to see where this is going."

She lay her head against his chest for a moment and squeezed him tightly. "I want it to end too."

He kissed the top of her head and stepped back. "I'll be back in an hour. Don't open the door. Don't go anywhere. Please."

"I won't. I have enough research to do here. I'll be sitting right there in front of my computer." She pointed to the dining room table.

"Perfect."

He pulled a gun from his safe, loaded the magazine into it, and tucked it into his waistband holster. He pulled his ankle holster from the gun safe, strapped it on his right ankle, and slipped another nine-millimeter into it. He closed the safe door and turned to see Theresa staring at him.

His brows rose as he watched her. She chuckled. "Gotta love a man with a gun."

He cocked his head, and her cheeks turned pink. She was adorable. Before he decided to stay, he strode to the door. "Lock this behind me."

She nodded and sauntered to where he stood. He leaned down and kissed her before he slipped out the door and down the hall. He had a gut feeling this attorney was dirty. He hoped he could find out for sure.

22

With Marco gone, Theresa admitted, only to herself, that she felt uneasy. Things were heating up and with the go-ahead to begin publishing her stories, things would surely get more dangerous. Until they couldn't. If that was a thing. Maybe once all was exposed, they'd kill her for exposing them. They wouldn't care about saving her or their reputations, those would be tarnished anyway.

She shook her head to give the negative thoughts a shove out and began to focus on the task at hand. Her phone vibrated and she halted for a moment, then remembered it was the phone Mitch had given her and they didn't have that number.

"Hello."

Marco's husky voice filled her ear. "Hey, there. I'm just checking in to make sure you're okay."

She let out a sigh. "Hi. I'm good. Just thinking the worst."

"Don't do that. You need to keep your head on straight. Stay clear on the task and be aware. Though you're safe there. You have more security than the local jail."

She chuckled. "That's comforting."

He laughed and she closed her eyes to imagine what he looked like laughing. She could see his face. His beautiful smile. She'd watched him at work for six months and regretted how things were. Now they'd moved into a new phase, and she wanted to play this out.

She sat at her computer and pulled open the ledgers she'd scanned in. They used codes for where the money came from. She had a code sheet Mercury had helped her put together. She pulled up her code sheet and started color-coding the ledgers, giving each code its own color.

After an hour, she rotated her neck to relieve the stiffness in it. She stood and stretched then carried her now cold coffee cup to the kitchen. She dumped the cold coffee and rinsed her cup.

She turned to see the coffee pot had turned off. Touching the outside of the pot, she realized it had turned off a while ago.

She took a deep breath, opened the refrigerator, and found bottles of water on the door shelf. She pulled a bottle out and twisted the cap. Taking a long drink she set it on the counter and replaced the cap. Marco had mail sitting at the edge of the counter and she noted his address. What caught her attention was the zip code.

Her heart sped up and she hurried to her computer and looked at the code she and Mercury knew were attorneys working for the Celtics. She scanned the list of attorneys and found one that stopped her heart mid-beat.

She picked up her phone with shaking fingers and tapped on Marco's number.

He answered, "Hey, there, beautiful."

---