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“What about?” I asked, without the irritation I felt.
“She didn’t say, but she’s real antsy.”
I didn’t know how to interpretreal antsy, but before she left, Grace had mentioned that Sarah-Sue had been a raging ball of emotion for several months.
“I’ll stop in later.” Maybe I wouldn’t be able to avoid dealing with an emotional female today, but I didn’t need to accelerate the encounter.
After hanging up, I decided what I needed most was a walk and a hot cup of coffee. The combination always relaxed me.
I was a block away when I spotted her outside Lake Java and slowed my pace. Angela had been pretty in high school, but my assessment that she’d grown up to be a beautiful woman was spot on. Even from this distance, she was drop-dead gorgeous. I loved how the glasses made her look the opposite of a dumb blonde.
Fuck me.
I swiped that thought away. It wasn’t appropriate where she was concerned. But it was just an observation. Being aware of the people in one’s surroundings was a wise practice, Dad liked to say.
When that fuckwit Devlin Pollock exited the shop, I stopped where I was. No interaction with him was ever a good one.
He was a prime example of how the apple never fell far from the tree. His daddy, Chief Pollock, was as mean-spirited as they came. Devlin was only slightly behind him in that department.
A second later, Devlin stopped at Angela’s table.
She smiled up at him, and they talked while I stopped and shifted toward the candle shop storefront.
What was that all about? She obviously knew him. Smiling and rehashing old times? Recalling how they’d fucked me over and cost me my big chance, no doubt.
My blood boiled. Clenching my fists by my sides, I reversed course back to the hardware store. I didn’t need a cup of coffee badly enough to want to be anywhere near either of them, much less both.
They probably deserved each other. It didn’t bother me one bit that she was friendly with a Pollock, not one fucking bit. I clenched and released my fists several times, willing myself to calm down as I walked. She wasn’t worth my time. I repeated that to myself as I went.
* * *
Angela
He answeredon my third call after lunch. “This is Mueller.”
“Hi, Mr. Mueller. This is Angela Lerner with DarkLord Triple-Six Services.” When he didn’t say anything, I continued. “I’m calling about our payment for the Cleveland project.”
“Lerner?” The sound of keys being tapped came through the line.
“Yes.” I started the word vomit to get it all out before he cut me off. “There seems to be a problem with the payment. It was canceled yesterday, and I wanted to understand why and get it reinstated. I completed the project on time—early, actually. Jeremy in your logistics department confirmed that everything was in order and said the payment would be coming, and it looks like you made the payment, then canceled the transaction and pulled it back. I need that money.” I shut up, realizing that last bit was too much.
He paused before answering, and I thought maybe I’d said too much. “We followed your instructions exactly. I don’t want to point fingers here, but you should have given us the changed routing earlier.”
“What changed routing?” I demanded, maybe a little louder than I should have.
“To the alternate account you insisted we use instead. The one that ends with A-D-E-R at gmail dot com.”
I couldn’t breathe when I realized those were the last four characters of Kevin’s last name. If Kevin was here right now, I’d be looking for a knife to use in cutting off his balls.
I blinked back my rage to address Mueller calmly. “That’s an error. I need the money to go back to the first account we specified, not that new one.” To me I sounded rational. I hadn’t yelled a single word or used any of the profanity I felt like unleashing.
Kevin was endangering my whole plan with this shithead move, and I was the one who’d done the work, not him. I’d earned the fee, not him. It was my money, not his.
“Sorry, Angela. It says here you don’t have the authority.”
“What?” I croaked. Tears pricked my eyes.
“It says you are a technical contact, but you’re not listed under billing and administrative. You’ll need to talk to your boss, Kevin Bader.”
