Page 39 of Say it Ain’t So

I flipped through the contracts, sure I’d made a mistake. I gathered up the files and left the front desk, wandering to the back until I found Van sitting on the floor, surrounded by open bankers boxes and hundreds of files. He had the heels of his palms pressed against his eyes, his head tilted up to face the ceiling.

“Everything okay in here?”

Van groaned, then lowered one of his hands, peaking at me through a narrowed eye. “Just peachy.” He shook his head, blinked, then rubbed at both his eyes. “You okay?”

Stepping into the room, I handed over the files to his outstretched hand. “Is this right?” I squatted down next to him. “This says Zane Maxwell is protecting Mia Sterger, but Weston Abram’s file says the same thing.”

Van smirked at me, not even bothering to look at the files as he handed them back to me. “Mia Sterger is a piece of work.”

“Really?”

“Tell me how a nineteen-year-old college student needs two grown-ass men to babysit her and keep her out of trouble? My dad would have slapped my ass to Jupiter and back if I even tried even one ounce of the shit she pulls every day.”

“So, they came over together? From the other firm?”

Van nodded. “I guess this isn’t the only time they’ve dealt with Mia before.”

“As long as they can handle her and keep bringing in money, I guess that’s good, right?”

“I guess.”

“What’s all this?” I gestured to the mess around him.

“Just digging into old files.”

“What are you looking for?”

“Lunch?” Van chuckled then shrugged. “Nothing really. Lee doesn’t have anything else for me to do right now, so I thought I’d read up on the past.”

“I can see that’s going well. Though I don’t know that I’d be eating anything I found in there.”

Van reached toward me, pushing me over so I rolled off my heels and landed on my ass. “It’s about as interesting as a root canal.”

He sounded so serious, I couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, let me know if you find any other missing employees, but maybe keep anything you deem edible to yourself.”

He smirked again and shook his head before extending his hand out to me. “I’ll do that. Now get. Leave me in peace with my piles of dust and massive headache.”

I gripped his hand and let him pull me up. “Did you want me to get you something for lunch? I can order in or run out and get food if you want.”

He gave me a look that made me feel like I’d done something wrong. “I’m not letting you go out in this cold by yourself to get me lunch, Joss.”

“It’s not a problem.”

“It’s not? With your hand?” He shook his head. “In that case, we can go together. I need to get out of this hell hole and breathe fresh air for a minute.”

“We could do that deli down the street! I’ve been wanting to try that.”

“Sounds like a plan. Go get your shit done, and I’ll try to finish up here. I’ll be out after a bit.”

I slipped out the room and went back to the front desk. After entering Zane Maxwell into the system, I pieced through the next few files, only to realize that Mitch Saunders, Carey MacEvoy, Brendan Stone, and a handful of other people were no longer employed here.

The front door opened just as I was reaching for the final file in the stack, but what I saw there stopped me from looking up.

This couldn’t be right, could it? Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Did the dust Van unsettled in the back room have something in it that was making me see things, or was it the strain of working through these files all morning?

I ran my finger over the name on the green file folder just as two hands slid across the desk and wrapped around the edge of the counter.

Then a familiar voice sounded. A voice I heard every night in my dreams. One that made me shiver in my place, made my knees go weak and my spine turn to jelly.