I looked up to see Copper’s face made of stone.
“Thanks, Millie. When he gets here, make him wait until exactly nine to come into my office,” Copper said. “Since he decided to wait, I’ll go ahead and make a few phone calls.”
“Yes, sir.” Millicent cleared her throat. “I’ll do that.”
Copper got up and strode to his office door, not slamming it closed, but close.
I absently went back to my work, but I was very aware of Copper not calling anyone.
I made two phone calls in the time that the dial finally struck nine.
When nine rolled around, I’d just gotten off the phone with a place in Oregon that wanted a hotshot rig to deliver a car from Oregon to Florida, when the door to Copper’s office opened and a man walked in.
Without knocking, might I add.
Copper didn’t acknowledge the newcomer, continuing to work on his computer for a long moment before he finally looked up and said, “Knock much, Lynch?”
Lynch, an older gentleman with salt and pepper hair and a face that screamed Botox, stiffened. “I’ve been waiting for a solid forty-five minutes.”
“If you’d come in when you were supposed to come in, at eight, then you wouldn’t have been waiting at all. But you tried to pull a power play and make me wait, when my time is valuable.” He paused. “You, however, are not very valuable. Have a seat.”
The way Copper said “have a seat” sounded a lot like, “jump off this cliff.”
Lynch had a seat, and my lips were twitching at the way he looked so uncomfortable.
I was glad that I hadn’t gotten this Copper.
He was quite a bit scarier than the one that’d held my kid all day yesterday.
“Tell me about the money we found out that you were funneling into a shell corporation that disguised itself as a non-profit but was, in fact, just an account for you to buy a yacht with,” he said smoothly.
All the color drained out of Lynch’s face.
“I, uh, don’t know what you are talking about.”
Well, Copper pulled out a stack of papers from his right drawer, then extended them to Lynch.
Lynch took them and shakily sifted through the papers.
He stopped at the second-to-last page and swallowed so hard, his Adam’s apple all but disappeared into his throat before reappearing.
“Uh,” Lynch started.
“I want all of that money back, with interest,” Copper said. “You will have it back in my accounts by the end of the day, or we’re going to have a few problems. And if you even think about purchasing that yacht you’ve been eyeing before I catch you, think again. I’ve already contacted the police, and I’ve had a friend place you on the no-fly list. No one in this country will get you out of here.”
“You can’t prove this was me.” Lynch’s backbone finally reappeared. “I…”
Copper stood up, reaching under his desk as he did.
“What’s red and bad for your teeth?” Copper asked in a deceptively calm voice.
Marcellus Lynch looked at him like he was crazy.
“I don’t know, what?” Lynch asked, blissfully confused.
“A brick.” Copper finished standing up, his hand coming out from under his desk with a real-life brick. “Now shut the fuck up and get out of my office.”
Lynch stood up and backed up several paces, tripping over the chairs as he did before righting himself and hurrying out the door.
