Hailey chuckled in spite of herself. “Thanks for talking me off the ledge, Kayl. It’s going to suck balls, but it makes total sense.”
“So what’s next?”
“I change out of this inspector’s ‘uniform’ and get ready for dinner. What choice do I have?”
“You always have choices, baby girl.”
After they hung up, Hailey sat back and ran through some of those choices. Stay and slog through one miserable day after another. Quit and give up her dream of opening a bookstore.
Kaylee was right, butcouldHailey outlast Cliff? Why couldn’t other people see the snake she saw? He was one of those charmers who knew what to do and what to say to the weak ones—the ones susceptible to his brand of sucking up, who happened to hold the power that helped him along. Before bringing him on board, the higher-ups had practically wet themselves over this “amazing addition” to their team, waxing on about how he was going to “turn the department on its head.” He was turning it on its head all right, but they were too Cliff-struck to see it.
Damn it, she couldn’t let him win. She had a plan to see through. If she kept paying her dues, she’d have enough money banked to reach her goal.
Yeah, her dream was worth the price.
As she got ready to meet him at the tavern, dread tightened like a fist in her stomach. Sitting through dinner with Cliff Meissner was going to tap into parts of her resolve that had lain dormant since her days of shooting the waves.
Chapter 19
Tom Brady’s in the House
Noah held the tavern’sback door open for Chance, and the dog bounded in—actuallybounded—and immediately looked up at Noah as if begging for praise.
Noah unclipped his leash and scratched his ear. “Yeah, you’re a good boy.”
Dixie rounded the corner. “How was the walk this time?”
“He’s getting better. He only got tangled up in the leash a half-dozen times and tripped me once. I’ll take it.”
Noah found himself awed and a little humbled by the dog’s resiliency. Only a few days in, and he was much less skittish. He also seemed to take Noah’s presence in stride and was eager for his company, judging by the active wag of his tail.
The dog stuck his nose in the air and zipped into the pantry where they kept the dry goods before Noah could stop him. “Hey, you can’t go in there! What if an inspector finds dog hair on the floor?” He went to corral the mutt, but Chance’s nose was intent on a space between thefloor and a bottom shelf. Noah gave his collar a tug, but the pup wouldn’t budge.
“What’s so interesting, buddy?”
Dixie materialized beside Noah, and Chance looked up for a beat before returning to his investigation.
“If he sniffs any harder, he’s going to roll up the floor,” she deadpanned.
“Yeah, maybe he lost a toy.” Except this was the first time Chance had been in the off-limits room. “I’ll grab a flashlight and see what’s under there.”
“When I got here this morning, the back door was unlocked.” Dixie jerked her chin toward said door.
Noah’s brows pinched together. “I was the last one out, and I know I locked it because Cha—Lex was tugging at his leash, and I had to tell him to sit.”
He stepped to the door and examined it and the jamb while Dixie peered over his shoulder. “It hasn’t been forced. Is anything missing?”
She shook her head. “Not that I’ve been able to tell so far.”
“Well, let me know if you seeanythingthat looks out of place.”
“Yessir, boss.”
He steered Chance toward the apartment stairs, following him up to get the pooch settled before searching for a flashlight. When he remembered it was downstairs in his office, he closed the door and jogged down the steps, where Dewey stopped him with questions about the inventory.
He detoured to the fridge with Dewey, who pointed at various containers. “Do I give them the heave-ho?”
Why Dewey insisted on this same conversation week after week was beyond Noah. But he didn’t have the bandwidth to argue with the stubborn old coot. With a resigned sigh, he repeated the same tired refrain. “If the containers are dated before today, then yes, they go. Anything with today’s date that doesn’t get used up by the end of the night also goes. No exceptions.”
