He smirked. “Yeah. Guess they want us inspectors to make an impression when we pull up to an establishment. That way the owners will show appropriate respect. Although I doubt it has much impact without the county decals. Those get put on next week.”
She spluttered. “Dan found a new car in the budget? How is that possible?”When I’ve been asking for one—and getting turned down—for years?
“Budgets can be manipulated in the hands of the right official.” He followed this up with a sly wink.
That was wrong on so many levels she didn’t know where to start. Then again, if she got to drive it a few times a week … “Being the only two inspectors, I assume this SUV will be shared between us?”And sinceIdo the lion’s share, I’ll get the car. This could be a good turn of events.
“I doubt that Dan’s intention, nor would it be very practical. The logistics of swapping vehicles would be a pain in the ass.”
“Are we getting another vehicle?” She knew the answer but had to ask anyway.
“No. Dan had trouble enough wrangling this one.”
By some miracle, she managed to keep her voice even. “I’ve been lobbying for a car since day one.”
“And it would have been yours, princess, but since I’ve more or less taken the lead in the department, Dan thought I should have it. Don’t want to go against the big man, now do we?”
Unable to contain her annoyance, she blurted, “And about you taking the lead—”
“Oh, I couldn’t do it without you, Hailey,” he interrupted. In that greasy way of his, he added, “You’re so efficient, and you work so hard that it frees me up for more important things, like meeting higher-ups. You can understand how pulling up in a POS would give off the wrong vibe.”
Her irritation climbed. “A POS like mine, you mean? What kind ofvibedo you suppose that gives off?”
His gaze strayed to her 4Runner before returning to her. “You have a very generous allowance that more than covers gas, wear and tear, stuff like that. Don’t worry, though. If we need to drive anywhere, we’ll take my car.” His eyebrows bounced. “It might not be a Ferrari, but it has that sexy new car smell.”
He’d utterly slithered away from her question. A headache bloomed behind Hailey’s eyes, the pressure building. A confrontation loomed, and shehatedconfrontation. Tightening her grip on her backpack, she sucked in a breath and repeated her mantra.You can do this.
To her relief—and bemusement—therewere no confrontations. Bruno Keating had passed the duty to his restaurant manager, Elena, the woman with the dark frizzy hair who had watched Hailey like a hawk the last time she’d been here. This time, though, the woman’s attention was lasered in on Cliff. The two joked and enjoyed social time while Hailey did the heavy lifting. Why was Cliff even here? Part of her was annoyed as hell, but the other part was grateful he stayed out of her way while she dug for any and every violation she could find. And as lunchtime stretched into late afternoon, her list was filling up. Some people neverlearned.
She nearly whacked her head on a shelf when a menacing chuckle sounded behind her. “Find anything interesting?”
Whirling, she faced platinum-blond hair, glacial eyes, and the tanned face of Bruno Keating twisted with a sneer.
“You’ll get a full copy of—”
Cliff’s voice boomed. “Mr. Keating!” Hand extended for a shake, he rushed at Miami Vice Thor.
Bruno accepted Cliff’s proffered hand while jabbing a thumb toward Hailey. “Did your girl tell you I saw her at the Miners Tavern last night?”
Cliff’s eyes narrowed. “No, she must’ve forgotten to mention it.”
Hailey straightened, her cheeks burning with anger.Yourgirl? Seriously?Embarrassment, with a pinch of panic, added to the blaze as she braced herself. How was she going to counter Bruno’s description of her tawdry outfit and the fact that she’d been quasi-moonlighting? But it wasn’t moonlighting if you simply volunteered and didn’t take any pay, if you were merely helping out a friend, right? And what you wore off duty wasyourbusiness. So what if she’d looked a bit … hooker-ish?
With another surprising move, Bruno clapped Cliff on the back. “Let’s head to my office.”
What was with the buddy-buddy act? Hailey had little time to ponder it because Elena took up station and trained her beady little eyes on her.
“Back to work, Hailey,” Cliff called over his shoulder. “We don’t want to squander the taxpayers’ money.”
Hailey pressed her lips together and buried herself in the inspection.
Cliff reappeared just asHailey was finishing up a half hour later. Elena wandered off, leaving them alone.
Hailey hissed, “I understand being courteous and polite, but aren’t you a tad friendly with these people?”
He smirked. “Just putting them at ease and loosening their lips. It’s called charm. You should try it sometime.” He pointed at her clipboard. “They passed, right?”
“That depends. There are a number of red flags here, and I—”
