Page 55 of Saltwater Memories
She nodded. “A shortcut to snacks while you read. What could be more perfect?”
They peered into the passageway, but Will advised against walking through it.
“I’m not sure how safe it is, we have to get the engineer in there to make sure it’s sound.”
“Ah, I see. Maybe the engineer can disguise it better, too.”
He frowned. “Yeah. I think it blended in better before the shelf bent the hinges. Maybe the books were too heavy.”
Amanda shrieked. “I think I just saw a mouse!”
“Yeah, you probably did.” Will shut the door. “There are some critters that took up residence on the property. There’s a cat, too. I caught a glimpse of her outside, but she ran off. I’m guessing she’s been living off of mice and birds. She basically owns this place.”
“What’s going to happen to her now that you’re invading her kingdom?”
Will smiled. “Nothing. She can keep living here. She’ll be the new landlady. I’ll put it in the brochure.”
They then toured the second and third floors. In one of the master bedrooms, Amanda opened the balcony door and stepped outside, revealing a gorgeous view of the water.
“So he went to jail for tax evasion?”
“Yes,” Will said, joining her on the balcony.
Amanda leaned forward, hanging her hands over the balustrade. “A normal person would be satisfied with all of this. They wouldn’t needmore.”
Will smiled and leaned his back against the railing. “For some people, nothing is enough.”
Amanda spun to face him. “Are a lot of your clients like that? Where nothing is ever enough?”
“No, I wouldn’t say that.” He shrugged. “Some are normal. Some are even nice people. But sure, we have our fair share of people with insatiable greed. It’s kind of unavoidable in the finance world. No one goes into finance to help people.”
Amanda frowned.
Oh no – what had he said? He hurriedly added, “Not everyone, though. One of my clients is a big philanthropist, and he ended up donating a bunch of land for wildlife conservation. And he – ”
“What about…the really bad clients?”
“What do you mean?”
Amanda looked down, then out to the ocean. She was clearly struggling with how to word her thoughts.
“It’s okay, you can say it. You’re not going to offend me.”
She flashed a smile. “You promise?”
“What do you mean, the really bad clients?”
“I…might know one of your clients. I saw him at the ball.”
“Oh really?” That would explain why she got so upset. “Who was it? How do you know them?”
She bit her lip. “It’s complicated. I can’t tell you.”
“Well, who is it? Maybe I can tell you how bad of a person they are. You know, like on a scale of one to ten – one being someone who volunteers to pet bunnies at the animal shelter, and ten being…I don’t know, the guy who designed those automated sinks that only work when you walk away.”
“I can’t tell you who it is. But I can tell you that he’s in the mafia.”
Will felt like she’d just hit him. He wasnotexpecting that. “What? How do you know people in the mafia?”
