Piper Patter

SNEAK PEEK

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Lauren juggled her laptop bag and her purse, and a superbig fountain drink from the convenience store, while unlocking the front door of Saucy Secrets. Hard to accomplish, what with her sunglasses, and Rockies ball cap pulled low. She managed to get inside without dropping anything, and set her load item-by-item on the counter, then removed the hat and glasses. Now where were the light switches? On second thought, she’d wait a bit to turn on the lights. It was only 11:30, and she needed time to get the cash register powered up.

She peeked into the back room, where she did need to turn on the lights. Tilda’s usual jumble of unpacked orders, returns, and overstock appeared normal. Hard to tell whether the agents had tossed the place looking for evidence.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She screeched and whirled, ready for hand-to-hand mortal combat. Only…that mile-wide chest in front of her would be tough to fight. “Er. Agent Galloway.”

“Yes. Ms. Rivers. Now that we’ve refreshed our memories…”

Her memory hadn’t needed refreshed. She’d sort of thought of that chest and those very green eyes several times throughout the night. He was definitely a hunka law enforcement. Which was not how she should think of the guy trying to put her BFF in the slammer.

He cleared his throat. “I asked what you’re doing here.”

She tossed her hair over her shoulder and gave him a duh smirk. “Preparing to open the shop. What are you doing here?”

He crossed his arms over his chest and glared. Oh, so imposing, Mr. Galloway. “I thought I made it clear that this store is closed until the investigation is complete.”

“Nope. Check your paperwork. The judge ordered Tilda to stay out of her shop. He didn’t say it couldn’t be open.”

The jolly green-eyed giant stared toward a pile of bustiers. He was definitely a big guy. But not freakishly so. Pleasantly large. “Do women go around in those things under their clothes, or are they for sleeping in, or...”

She picked up a hot pink one with black lace trim. “Believe it or not, they’re kind of a thing on their own, like in place of shirts.” Tilda had told her about the Latina clientele snatching them up as fast as she could get them in. She held this one against her front and checked out the effect in the mirror on the back of the door. Dang. Maybe they were onto something. With all those stays, anybody would look stacked. Could be a major discomfort, though. The hot pink may not be her best color. Maybe a red, or emerald. Hm.

Speaking of emerald, Agent Supersize was totally staring at her. Wide-eyed, mouth partly open… With a little turn to each side, she pretended to check out the effect from different angles, but watched in the mirror as his eyes followed her chest area. Gulp. Was that interest, or— Oh, hell. It didn’t matter. He was the enemy.

“Well.” She tossed the bustier back on top of the stack to be priced later. “I better get to work. Guess I’ll see you later.”

His Adam’s apple bobbed. “Uhh.” He gave a little shudder-shake of his head as if to wake up. “No. I’m here to investigate. And you’re going to leave.” He shifted and shoved his hands in his front pockets. If your erection lasts longer than four hours, seek immediate help… Now where had that come from?

Her turn to cross her arms over her chest. “I realize you’re the investigative expert here,” she said. “But don’t you think we’re more likely to catch whoever is trafficking these drugs if the shop is doing business as usual?” Before he could answer, she left the room and turned on the lights in the store. “So here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m going to run my friend’s store. And you can watch for drug dealers outside doing what they’ve been doing, from across the street in a carpet-cleaner’s van with all your surveillance equipment. Unless you’re using an unmarked black sedan.”

He’d opened his mouth to speak, snapped it shut, and glanced out the front window.

A black four-door was parked oh-so-undercoverly halfway down the block. How funny. She made no effort to hold back a smirk.

“So you know, we’ve been watching her for a week. Without being noticed.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “But once the fourth girl was hospitalized, we had to move in before the medical community made connections and got the press involved. If that happens, finding the supplier is almost impossible. Since you’re the person vouching for her, it’s incriminating for you to be in here. For all we know, you could be destroying evidence.”

“Screw you, Galloway.” Destroying evidence. She’d never had so much as a speeding ticket in her life. Not even a parking ticket.

He raised his chin and scowled down at her.

“I’m her only occasional employee.” That was a bit of a stretch. She’d ring things up on the register now and then if she brought in lunch or dinner and Tilda was busy with another customer. And she’d mind the store if Tilda had an afternoon appointment elsewhere. But he didn’t need to know that.

He rubbed his hand across his chin for several seconds. “Alright. I need to go set some things up. But I’ll be back. Soon. And when I come back, I’ll be confiscating the footage from those security cameras.” He pointed to Tilda’s security set-up. “To make sure you remove nothing from the premises and don’t alter any evidence.”

What a tool. Those cameras worked, but Tilda didn’t have them set up with any means of recording. They just fed to a monitor in the back room. She wouldn’t bother telling him, though. “Whatever, big guy. You do your job and I’ll do mine.”