SEALs of Honor: Taylor Read online

  “Well, the better question is, what are you doing, considering it’s already afternoon, and you appear to still be caught up in your morning.”

  “As you can see, I’m the only one here,” she said. “The work is backed up for days, and, with nobody to help, we’ll be backed up even more.”

  “I passed on your message,” he said, and she nodded, glancing around to see if her boss was around. So far she had seen no further sign of him.

  “Good,” she said. “I’m nearly ready to kill the both of them myself.”

  He nodded grimly. “Just change the wording on that a bit, will you?”

  She winced. “Yeah, sorry.”

  He glanced around. “Will you take time for lunch?” It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse, when he held up a hand and said, “Don’t say no. I get you’re so far behind that you won’t get it cleared up even this week if nobody else shows up. And I get that you’ve had a crazy morning, but you won’t be effective this afternoon if you don’t take a break to catch your breath and to get some food.”

  Just then her boss came storming down the hallway. “She’s not allowed to leave for lunch,” he said stiffly.

  Taylor widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “And why is that?”

  “She was late coming in this morning,” he said. “Her lunchtime will be her chance to work through and make up some time.”

  She didn’t like the sound of that. Nor his bossy attitude. Sure he was her boss, but she also had rights. She’d never been much of a union person. She’d always worked through lunch when needed, but he’d gone too far.

  “Considering that I was late because I had to go to the police to answer more questions and considering I only came in to help out,” she said, “and that I should be enjoying my days off, I will take some break time, which I am duly allowed. And I will get some food, then come back and keep working. You could have hired a temp or brought in somebody to help.” She shook her head and pointed at the phone lines, always lit up to max. “Or you could at least be helping with the calls.”

  He lifted his head and glared at her.

  She nodded. “Of course not. It’s not your job, is it? I’ll be back in an hour,” she snapped, grabbing her jacket and her purse. Then, as she walked out the door, she added, “Unless I choose to quit.”

  She disappeared, but not before she saw the panic cross her boss’s face. She stood outside for a moment, chuckling. “That was mean,” she said with a giggle. “I shouldn’t have given him that impression.”

  “The hell you shouldn’t,” Taylor muttered. “You don’t need to put up with that crap.”

  “Well, if I don’t want to be out of a job, then I do need to put up with that crap,” she said in a neutral tone. “And, until I find another job, I really can’t afford to lose this one.”

  He nodded and kept quiet, which was a really good idea on his part. Because, if anybody would lash out right now at her boss, it would be him. As they drove away, she sighed into the seat and asked, “Any updates?”

  “Nothing. Any idea what happened to your coworkers?”

  “No,” she said. “I was hoping you might know.”

  “I would suggest we drive past their places,” he said, “but considering that you’re on a short lunch break, we probably don’t have time.”

  “Which is all crap in the first place,” she said, “since I was called in yesterday as it was.”

  “Was that because the same two people were missing?”

  She shook her head. “No, because Debbie was out sick.”

  “And she’s still sick?”

  “Apparently,” she said. “Or they all got together and decided they were done working for him.”

  “Is he always like that?”

  “He’s extra-bad today,” she said, trying to be fair. “But then there is just me in the office, and I walked out for an hour.”

  “Well, worst case, he can put a message on the phones and lock the door.”

  “He probably will,” she said. “Or he would if he knew how, I mean.”

  “And I presume he doesn’t?”

  “He rarely handles the phones,” she said. “Definitely not his thing. He panics, which is probably why he’s so grumpy.”

  They walked into a restaurant before she even realized they were in a sandwich shop. She looked up and smiled. “I haven’t been here in a long time.”

  “It’s fresh and good,” he said. He motioned to a table. “Go sit there by the window.”

  “What if you don’t know what I want?”

  “You’re so tired you won’t even care what I order,” he said with a laugh.

  She grinned and nodded. “Isn’t that the truth?” Dropping into the chair at the table he’d pointed out, she put her purse and jacket in the chair beside her and propped her chin on the palms of her hands. She was tired. Sleep had been difficult last night, tossing and turning with thoughts of the three people who had died. All with a connection to her. That she was central to this, she understood, she just didn’t know why. Very quickly she was joined by Taylor, as he sat down in the chair across from her.

  “So what did you order me?” she asked.

  “A clubhouse,” he said.

  Her eyebrows shot up. “That’s one of my favorites, but I rarely eat them because of the extra bread.”

  He shot her a look and growled in a dark voice, “Don’t ever let me hear you talk about dieting.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’ve been blessed to not have to diet. But a lot of bread is in a club.”

  “Carbs are good for you,” he said in response.

  She shrugged and settled back. “I won’t argue the point with you today. Like you said, I’m too damn tired.”

  He nodded in satisfaction. “That’s what I figured.”

  Just then the waitress arrived with two cups of coffee. Midge pulled one toward her, grabbed the cream and poured in a liberal amount.

  “You think that will keep you awake?”

  “No, I’m just hoping it’ll wash down the nasty taste of the coffee my boss made this morning.” Laughing, she continued, “Because that’s another thing he doesn’t do well.”

  “Not a lot of bosses do,” he said, “because, so often, the secretaries do it for them.”

  “That’s definitely the case here.” As she relaxed a bit, she could feel her energy drifting down her toes. “Lord, I wish I didn’t have to go back this afternoon,” she said. “I could go home and go to sleep.” Instantly she froze and then groaned. “But then again, look what I’d be facing.” She raised stricken eyes to him. “Do you think they’ve released my apartment yet?”

  He leaned across and grabbed her hand, pulling it away from the coffee cup as he said, “I don’t know if they have or not. I can ask, but you also have to come to terms with the fact that your bed is ruined, as is your bedding, and your place needs to be thoroughly cleaned, as in professionally.”

  “Oh, God,” she whispered. “I didn’t even consider that. But he was shot in my bed, and all that blood would have soaked through, wouldn’t it?”

  Taylor nodded. “And it probably got into the carpet too. We also don’t know if anything else might have been taken, since we never did get a chance to look that closely.”

  She reached up to rub her temple. “It wasn’t even a very old bed,” she muttered.

  “I highly suggest you get yourself a new one regardless,” he said. “Even if it’s secondhand, I doubt somebody would have been murdered in it.”

  She gave a shudder. “No way,” she said. “Even if it has to be a super cheap one, I’m getting a new one.”

  “Good. You probably just need the mattress and box spring. We can probably use the frame and headboard. But honestly, I don’t know what the blood splatter will look like on the headboard and on the night tables.”

  She swallowed hard, images flashing into her mind. “I don’t even want to think about it.”

  “To get back into your ap
artment,” he said, “not only do you have to think about it, you have to deal with it.”

  She stared at him. When a cough sounded beside them, she looked up to see the waitress, holding two plates. Taylor let go of her hand, and the waitress set down the plates. “Thank you.”

  After the waitress left, he glanced at Midge and said, “When you’re done with work today, I suggest I pick you up, and we’ll go bed shopping.”

  She gave a broken laugh. “First, let’s find out if I can get into the apartment. Because otherwise I can’t arrange anything.”

  “As soon as we can get in,” he said, “I have a couple guys I’m pretty sure will help haul out the bed and whatever else isn’t salvageable, if you’ll trust us on that.” He looked at her with a piercing stare.

  She nodded. “Please, if you can get that out of there before I have to see it again, I would really appreciate it.”

  He nodded and said, “I don’t know about the floor though.”

  “I don’t suppose blood comes out, does it?”

  “It comes out but not very well, and it will soak through the carpet and the padding to the floor underneath.”

  She didn’t know what to think of that. The apartment wasn’t hers after all; she rented it. “I guess we have to talk to the landlord. Though, since it’s base housing, maybe they will take care of it.”

  “That’s another phone call I can make. But I will have to tell them that I live there with you. Otherwise they won’t talk to me.”

  “True,” she said. “That might cause undue complications, considering the circumstances. Just check it out and, if they insist on me calling them, I’ll make the call from work this afternoon.”

  He nodded. “Tuck into that,” he said, motioning to her sandwich. “I want at least two-thirds of that gone before we take you back to work.”

  She stared down at the monster sandwich and said, “If I leave anything, I’m taking it with me.” And, true to her word, she did take the last quarter of it back. It was just too much for her to handle. But she knew she could be hungry again by midafternoon. She walked back into the office, and Taylor left her with a promise to make a bunch of phone calls and to get back to her.

  As she tried to open the door, she found it was locked and laughed. Of course her boss had done exactly what Taylor had suggested. She unlocked it and stepped into the room. It was odd to have the place so empty like this. She really wished the other two employees, Bart and Terri, had called in, or had at least answered her voicemail message so she understood what was going on. They were both normally very reliable, so she didn’t get this issue at all.

  She sat down at her desk, her box with her leftover sandwich sitting off on the side with her purse, as she ran through the phone calls ringing through. With that done, she put the phone on Silent, so she could ignore them for a bit. This was not the time for her to get lost in one million phone calls. Or messages. She’d deal with those later, after she’d gotten some of the highest priority backlog issues resolved. Bringing up her email, she got back to work. About an hour later she stood and walked around, stretching out her arms and her neck.

  She hadn’t seen her boss since she returned and figured he was probably either napping in his office or he’d left as well. In a way that would make the most sense. When the chips were down, he was definitely the kind to take a hike. And maybe that was a good thing because not everybody did well under stress.

  She walked to his office and tapped on the door. There was no answer. She tried the knob, and it was unlocked, so she pushed it open and froze in her tracks. He sat there like always, and, at first, she didn’t understand. He looked the same as he always did, but like he was sleeping. The only thing different was the hole in the center of his forehead.

  *

  Taylor answered the phone, still sitting in the parking lot outside the gym. He had stopped in to talk to Mason, and they’d had a couple minutes of conversation. Then Taylor had made a few phone calls and was just making another one when his phone rang. Thinking it was somebody responding to one of his questions, he answered it.

  “Get back here. Please,” Midge said, her voice terse and on the verge of panic. “He’s dead.”

  Taylor froze and then asked, “Who’s dead?”

  “My boss. He’s dead. Somebody shot him in the forehead.”

  “Have you called the police?” She took several deep and shaky breaths, and he could hear the panic she was desperately trying to hold back. But he was already driving in her direction. “Where are you right now?”

  She gave a strangled laugh. “I’m hiding. In the supply room.”

  “Are you in danger? Is someone else there?”

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Please get here fast.” And, with that, she hung up.

  Swearing softly, he flipped through his contacts and dialed Detective Butler’s number.

  “Now what do you want?” the detective asked in exasperation. “And, if this call is about yet another dead body, I don’t want it.”

  “Neither do I,” Taylor said in a harsh voice. “But apparently Midge just found her boss in his office. Dead.”

  The detective’s voice turned businesslike. “Where?”

  He gave him the address and said, “She’s hiding in the supply room.”

  “Is somebody in there with her?”

  “I don’t know,” Taylor said. “I’m about seven minutes away. I think she’s scared that whoever did this to him might still be there.”

  “I’m on my way,” the detective said.

  Taylor snorted and said, “Doesn’t matter. I’ll be there way ahead of you.” His next call was to Mason, and he brought him up to date. “I don’t know what Colton’s doing,” Taylor said, “but we might need to pull him in to give me a hand on this.”

  “Not a problem,” Mason said in a calm voice. “He’s here with me and heading to your place right now.”

  “Send him to Midge’s office. That’s where we’re going. And, if we can get there before the cops do,” he said, “we’ll have a chance to case the joint first.”

  “Done,” Mason said. “Obviously this is getting worse, not better. I don’t want Midge returning to that office again.”

  “Hell, neither do I,” Taylor snapped. “The whole office needs to be shut down. Two other people didn’t show up for work today either.”

  “Names?”

  Taylor gave him the names. “And the only reason she worked yesterday was because somebody else had called in sick. As far as the department goes, she’s the only one active right now.”

  “If she’s the only one, then she shouldn’t be anywhere near that place.”

  “Give me two minutes,” Taylor said, “and she won’t be.”

  Hanging up the call, he pulled into the same parking spot where he’d dropped her off earlier, then dashed out of the Jeep and ran to the glass doors. Pulling open the door, he stepped inside. He didn’t have a weapon, but he stopped for a second to listen. There was nothing. Not even sounds of her. He walked down the hallway and saw the open door and inside was the boss, just as she described. A beautifully centered hole right in the middle of his forehead. He still couldn’t hear anything. “Midge?” he called out. “I’m here.”

  He opened the next door, and it was the bathroom. He stepped into another room and saw it was the lunchroom. At the end of the lunchroom was a small door. He opened it. As he did so, he heard a half shriek. He looked down to see Midge curled up at the far end of the shelves. When she saw it was him, she scrambled to her feet and hurled herself toward him. He braced himself for the impact, but she was so small and so light, he hardly felt it. He wrapped her up in his arms.

  Picking her up, he carried her back out to her desk, walking past the boss’s office quickly so she didn’t get a second look. But he needn’t have worried since her face was buried against his neck. At her desk, he sat her down and tried to get her to release her hold on him and said, “The police are on the way. I need to know from
you exactly what happened.”

  She shook her head and refused to let go of his neck or to lift her face from his chest.

  He didn’t blame her one bit; she’d been through a lot. He sat down and pulled her into his lap again and just held her. If this was the only thing he could do for her right now, this was what he would do. Her boss was dead, and Taylor highly doubted anybody else remained in the office. Only one person mattered to him right now—her. After a few moments, he rubbed her back and asked, “Can you tell me what happened now?”

  She pulled back and stared at him with haunted eyes. “When I returned from lunch, I sat down and started working on the most critical backlogged email requests. Before I knew it, about an hour had gone by, and I was getting stiff and tense, and even my jaw was clenching. I put the phones on Silent, so I could get some things done rather than just add to the list, but I could still see the flashing lights as calls rang through, trying to get ahold of us. It felt so weird to be alone in the office, and it just hit me how alone I was. I stood and stretched and walked to my boss’s office. I figured maybe he was sleeping. I knocked lightly, then turned the handle and pushed the door open, while in the back of my mind wondering if the sneaky little bugger had gone home and had left me holding the bag.”

  Taylor nodded in understanding. From what he’d seen of her boss, that sounded very likely.

  “Of course the front office door was locked when I came back,” she said, frowning. “Which now makes no sense. And there he was. At first I thought he was asleep. I didn’t understand what I was seeing, and then I couldn’t look away. I dialed you immediately, and then, I don’t know, some sound or something weird scared me.” She was shaking, her voice breaking as she tried to tell him exactly what happened.

  “And I just thought about where I could hide, so I ran to the supply room and curled up in the corner. I called you again because you didn’t answer the first time,” she said and then gave him an accusatory stare, as if he was supposed to be off the phone, waiting for her call at all times.