Page 8 of Private D!ck

“Ok,” Klarov said, not noticing Gracie’s change in mood. “But my concern is that whoever is behind all this is escalating.”

“No, the point is that Huang was right to suspect Chesney. He is involved somehow.”

“Maybe. But that’s secondary right now. I agreed to send you on a job where you spent a week pushing some paper around. But these guys are getting violent.”

Gracie turned to look at Klarov’s impassive face. It sounded like he was worried about her, which was ridiculous. She’d been working for him for two years and been in far more dangerous situations than this.

“So?” Gracie asked, her chin raising defiantly.

“Oh, don’t give me that look,” Klarov said, not looking at her. “If you want to contract out and go work on your own, then that’s your choice. But as long as you work for Klarov Investigators then your safety is my responsibility.”

“Klarov,” Gracie said softly, he looked over at her sharply, his eyes unreadable. “We don’t know that the attack has anything to do with this case. In fact, it might mean that it’s an outside job and the leaks have nothing to do with Chesney at all.”

“Or,” Klarov said, “That Chesney is trying to throw suspicion elsewhere. Perhaps he wasn’t attacked at all. It might just be a ruse. It’s too early to know anything for sure, except that this is more dangerous than I originally thought.”

It was Gracie’s job as a PI to be suspicious, but Klarov was downright paranoid. Gracie’s eyes narrowed. These past years of working for Klarov had taught her a lot about the man sitting next to her and she could read him clearly.

“You’re too worried about this. There’s something else, isn’t there? Something you’re not telling me.”

Klarov’s lips tightened briefly and Gracie knew she was right. Damn him! So much for feeling like they were on the same side. She felt like an idiot for letting her guard down around him. Why had she forgotten what a jerk he was?

He pulled the car over, parking a couple of blocks away from the Attitude offices.

“There’s nothing concrete. It was just a hunch, and then I heard about Chesney. This is more dangerous than I realized. Maybe I should have just taken the job myself.”

Gracie seethed. Surely he wasn’t saying that he was a more capable PI than she was? Klarov was a glorified paper pusher. He rarely worked cases, instead focusing more on the admin side of the agency.

“I want you to take a weapon, just in case.”

“I’m not going to do that. You want me to put a weapon in my purse as I go to work as a PA? That’s ridiculous.”

Klarov leaned towards her, reaching out. Gracie resisted the urge to shrink back into the passenger seat, instead standing her ground firmly. Klarov clicked the glove compartment open, backing away quickly and letting the glove compartment door swing down so that it hit Gracie on the knee.

Inside the large compartment was an assortment of weapons.

“Trust me on this. You’ll need something. Pick one.”

Gracie shook her head, looking at the weapons on display. There was a taser, a can of pepper spray and a gun.

“Jesus, Klarov. I’m not taking your gun! Are you crazy? I could lose my license for carrying around someone else’s gun.”

“Then take something else.”

Gracie sighed, trying to decide what to do. She’d rather not take any weapon, but Klarov and his annoyingly secretive hunch made her uncomfortable. Maybe she should take one of the weapons.

Chapter Four

“What is all this?”Gracie muttered, half turning to the woman next to her in the crowded lobby.

"Are you new here? You picked a bad day to start!" the middle-aged woman chuckled, "Don't worry, this doesn't happen often and once they get set up it's quite fast."

"Set up?" Gracie asked but the woman wasn't listening to her. She was pushing her way forward, forging a path of disgruntled office workers. Gracie followed in her wake until the woman had pushed herself all the way to the front of the crowd.

Gracie saw, with a sinking heart, what was causing the hold-up. It was a security check-point, five uniformed guards were setting up a metal detector. The closest one had a bored expression as he waved at Gracie to come forward.

“Phone and keys in the tub,” he grunted at Gracie, zeroing in on her before she had a chance to walk away.

The woman beside her smiled brightly and gently shoved Gracie forward, sticking close behind her. The two of them were so close that when the alarm went off the security guard wasn’t sure which one of them had set it off. Although, of course, Gracie knew exactly what was causing the problem - it was in her handbag.

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