The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag by Jennifer L. Hart

Author:Jennifer L. Hart [Hart, Jennifer L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery & Crime
ISBN: 9781936222353
Publisher: Wild Child Publishing
Published: 2010-06-22T07:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Thirteen

“This office is strictly off-limits. What are you doing in here?” Sloan withdrew a walkie-talkie from his guard uniform.

“Um, cleaning?” I gestured to the mountain of supplies just beyond the door.

“Valentino asked you to clean his office?” His gravelly voice was laced with skepticism. I nodded eagerly, praying I could talk my way out of whatever Sloan had in store.

“So why did I see you scrounging through the desk out there on my monitors? And how come you’re in here, with all of your cleaning stuff out there?” He raised one eyebrow and I swallowed. Crap, there must have been a second camera monitoring behind Sierra’s desk. What, Valentino didn’t trust his employees?

“Sierra promised to leave the key with security, but I guess she forgot. So I took a shot that it was still in her desk. And I was figuring out what I need in here. Mr. V was in a hurry this afternoon and I didn’t get a chance to scope out his set up.” Queen of B.S. working her magic.

“I’ll have to verify that with Tom.” Sloan obviously didn’t buy my excuse. “Step outside, hands where I can see ‘em.” It wasn’t a request.

Circling the desk, I moved purposefully out into the reception area and headed to my cart. “I hope this won’t take too long, I promised my partner we’d be done in a half hour.” My nerves prickled like a startled hedge hog.

Sloan spoke into his hand unit. “Yeah, Tom, did Sierra or Mr. Valentino leave instructions for the cleaning service to take care of Mr. Valentino’s office?” I held my breath and accepted a time of reckoning was at hand. Static crackled over the walkie-talkie and the reply came, too low for me to hear.

“You do that then. We’ll wait here.” Sloan stared at me, a self-assured smirk on his face. “Tom’s calling Mr. Valentino at home, just to be sure.”

Not wanting him to see my panic, I bent over and stared at a bottle of Windex.

“Hands where I can see them!” Sloan ordered and I whirled to face the barrel of a gun leveled at my head. I raised my arms above my head, too fearful to feel ridiculous.

“Away from the cart, now.” His eyes cut to Sierra’s desk and I took the hint, stepping out of reach of my stuff.

“This is a simple misunderstanding. Do I look like a corporate spy to you?” I wiped my sweaty palms on my bleach-stained jeans.

“Don’t play games with me, little girl. I know you lied about your identity to get this job. I ran your social security number myself and out popped the Laundry Hag Cleaning Services, much to my surprise. What I don’t know is why you lied, when you could have used me for a reference. I intend to find out.”

The radio squawked and Sloan reached for it with one hand while training the gun on me with the other.

His dark eyes narrowed. “He did. Huh. No, no that’s it for now.

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