Page 30 of Fixer
“For me?”He grinned.
“Maybe for the lowdown on what you discovered at the library.”I set my boxes aside and went to him.“Also maybe for you.”
Dustin reeled me close, one big hand gripping my biceps, and kissed me.As I wrapped my arms around him, I realized I’d never had this as an adult— the simple comfort of a hug and kiss at the end of a day from someone I trusted.I kissed him back, then peered over his shoulder.“What are you making?”
“Beef stroganoff.I bought sour cream and you have noodles, but the meat needs to cook a while longer.”
“I could get used to this.Dustin the homemaker.”
He laughed.“More often Dustin the home-wrecker, given what I do as a PI, but for you, I’ll make an effort.Tell me what Miss Kawashima said.”
“I’ll trade for what you found out.”I led the way to the living room and sat on the couch.I’d hoped he might sit next to me, but he chose the armchair so we could see each other’s faces.Probably smart, since if he’d been in reach, I’d have been tempted to do anything but talk.
I went through Mina’s story for him.
“That fits,” Dustin said.“The buildings in these five blocks are all, bar one, owned by one of two men.Harvey Rosswurn, who owns this among others, and Greg Quentin.They’ve been buying property along here for years, whether as general speculation or because they saw this coming, I don’t know.Quentin has his fingers in a lot of pies, and I didn’t have time to figure out where his wealth comes from.Rosswurn married an heiress, and he speculates with her money.”
“Nice work if you can get it,” I commented.
“Yeah.She’s worth millions.So is he by now, I guess, although a lot of it’s tied up in real estate.I found the tax assessments for some of the buildings.Most are valued between three and five hundred thousand.So if they’re going to charge the city a million apiece, that’s a tidy one hundred percent profit per building, even if the mayor’s getting a cut.”
I whistled softly.“That’s a lot of money in play.”
“Tell me about it.Underwood on the planning commission seems to be small potatoes, single, quiet life, no obvious handles.I did a fast run at the mayor’s background.Typical politician, right-wing small-government eat-the-poor variety.Married, two teen kids, lives in a fancy house in the Vickston neighborhood.There are no doubt skeletons in his closet— show me a fat cat pol who has none— but his opponent last election was a pretty savvy operator, and if they couldn’t dredge up anything damning, I’m not likely to in a few days.”
“Why would you want something damning?Isn’t this scheme bad enough?”
“If we can prove it, sure.But I always like a little extra leverage.”Dustin gave me an evil grin.“Sometimes the way to keep a man from doing something bad is to catch him doing something else bad.”
“Okaaay.”That seemed more complicated than necessary, but I wasn’t the Fixer or the private eye.
“The next thing is to get hard evidence of this scheme if we can.I want to see those maps and documents.”
“Me too, but we can’t break into the mayor’s office to look at them.”I hesitated as Dustin’s evil grin got wider.“Can we?”
“I have many useful skills.”
Like burglary?I was reminded how wolf morality ran separately from human laws.Trying to do my part, I suggested, “Mina must have keys, at least to her outer office.Would that help?”
“I never turn down a key.”Dustin nodded.“Why don’t you call Miss Mina and see if we can swing by tonight to borrow the office keys, while I finish off the stroganoff?”
Which was how, instead of another exciting round in bed like I’d been dreaming of all afternoon, ten p.m.found me at Mina’s door.She answered dressed to go out in a minidress and boots, her long black hair held back by a flowered headband.
“Here.”Mina passed me a key ring.“This one will get you into the outer office, this is the conference room, this little one is my filing cabinet, but I know they didn’t put the plans in there.I don’t have keys for the mayor’s personal office.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I told her, putting my faith in Dustin.
“If I’m not home, slip the keys back through the mail slot when you’re done.”She peered toward the curb where Dustin sat in his car.“You be careful, okay?”
“Always am,” I quipped.Then I headed down the walk to join Dustin, so he and I could go burgle the mayor.
Chapter 9
Dustin
I hadn’t meant to bring Wade along with me on this illegal little jaunt.He was supposed to collect the key from Mina, but stay in the car while I did the dirty work.Except he flat-out refused.
“I’m not letting you take all the risks.”The stubborn jut of Wade’s chin was less endearing when he was demanding to endanger himself.
