Deadly Honeymoon (Hardy Brothers Security Book 7) (6 page)

“Oh, you look so great,” Heidi squealed, stepping into Mandy’s office and fixing her friend with a delighted smile.

Mandy lifted her head from the papers she was perusing, returning the smile with a welcoming one of her own. “You, too.”

Heidi waved off Mandy’s compliment as she flounced into the office. “I look exactly the same. You have a glow.”

“I think it’s just a tan,” Mandy said, laughing.

“No, it’s happiness,” Heidi said. “You’re happy.”

“I am happy.”

“It must be such a bummer to come back to work,” Heidi said after a minute. “You spent two weeks in Bermuda, and then you have to come back to … rapists and bank robbers and murderers.”

“I don’t know,” Mandy said. “The honeymoon was great, but there was a murder there, too.”

Heidi’s eyes widened. “There was?”

Mandy told her the story.

“Oh, that’s horrible,” Heidi said when she was done.

“It was a downer,” Mandy admitted. “It was the last day, though. It just made us excited to come home.”

“Wait, don’t get too far ahead,” Heidi said. “Tell me about the good stuff.”

“What good stuff?”

“The good honeymoon stuff,” Heidi said. “How was the wedding night?”

Mandy smirked. “It was good.”

“Oh, you have to give me more than that,” Heidi whined.

“No, I don’t.”

“I’m dying here.”

A knock at the open office door drew both Heidi and Mandy’s attention to the man standing in the hallway. “Judge MacIntosh,” Mandy said, getting to her feet and rushing to give her boss a hug. “I’m so glad to see you.”

“And I’m glad to see you,” MacIntosh replied. “You look incredibly tan.”

“She has a glow,” Heidi agreed.

Mandy moved back behind her desk. “That’s what happens when you go to a tropical island.”

“No, it’s love,” Heidi teased.

Mandy rolled her eyes.

“I think Heidi might be right,” the judge said, settling in the open chair next to his court stenographer. “So, tell me, how was the honeymoon?”

“Oh, don’t bother, she won’t share any of the sex details,” Heidi grumbled.

MacIntosh’s face colored. “I’m fairly certain I didn’t want any of those.”

Mandy swallowed her upper lip with her bottom to keep from laughing. “Well, James rented a beautiful house,” she said. “It was two stories, and it was built into a bluff, so the bottom floor opened up right on the beach. We had a terrace off the main bedroom, and we could leave the door open so we could hear the ocean at night.”

“Oh, that’s so romantic,” Heidi said, clutching the spot on her chest right above her heart.

“We spent most of our time at the house,” Mandy admitted.

“Did you swim in the ocean?”

“James did. I kind of sat in the ocean.”

“Why didn’t you swim?” MacIntosh asked.

“Oh, I forgot,” Heidi said. “You’re afraid of sharks.”

“I’m not afraid of them,” Mandy replied. “I just believe they deserve their space.”

MacIntosh broke into a wide grin. “I thought you were obsessed with sharks.”

“I am.”

“But … .”

“I can be obsessed with them and still scared of them,” Mandy said. “I’m obsessed with horror movies, too, but I don’t want to hang out with Jason Voorhees.”

“Who is Jason Voorhees?”

“He’s … it doesn’t matter. Anyway, James kept trying to get me to go out in the ocean, but it never happened.”

“Did you do anything else?” Heidi asked.

“Well, we went to two festivals. I bought you a skirt from one of them, by the way, and there were some fireworks,” Mandy said. “We had some great dinners, and we even got seafood for the first time since the food-poisoning incident.”

“And you didn’t get sick?”

“Nope. Oh, and the best thing was that James surprised me with a shark tour,” Mandy said.

“What’s a shark tour?”

“They take you out on a boat and then they throw chum in the water to attract a bunch of sharks,” she explained.

“That sounds gross,” Heidi said, wrinkling her nose.

“No, it was so cool,” Mandy said. “We saw like fifty sharks. It was amazing.”

“It sounds like a remarkable time,” MacIntosh said, getting to his feet.

“It was.”

“Well, I don’t think today is going to have the same sense of whimsy,” he said, slipping a file onto Mandy’s desk and pushing it in the direction of his court clerk.

Mandy took it, her face bland. “What’s this?”

“That’s today’s docket.”

Mandy flipped open the file. “Wow.”

“Yup.”

“Three wife beaters?”

“Unfortunately.”

“Two armed robbers?”

“Apparently.”

“Oh, I kind of like this guy,” Mandy said.

“The one who blew up his wife’s car because he was convinced she was cheating on him?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait until you hear the details,” MacIntosh said, shuffling to the door. “It turns out she was actually planning him a surprise birthday party.”

“Ah, well, it’s good to be back to work.”

“WELL,
well, well, look who remembered he has a job.”

Grady Hardy strode into his brother’s office, his grin mischievous as he met James’ studied gaze.

“You’re up to something,” James said. He was sitting behind his desk looking over invoices from the past two weeks. It seemed his brothers and Jake had been busy at Hardy Brothers Security during his absence.

“I’m not up to anything,” Grady said, tucking his shoulder-length brown hair behind his ear. “Why would you naturally assume that I’m up to something?”

“I’ve met you.”

Grady settled into one of the office chairs. “Wow, for a guy who just had sex for two straight weeks, you’re awfully grumpy.”

“I’m not grumpy,” James replied. “I’m just marveling at how much you guys have done.”

“Yeah, it’s amazing what you can do when you’re not distracted by crazy men with guns stalking your family,” Grady agreed.

James stilled, his eyes sober as they met his brother’s stare. “How did all of that turn out?”

“It’s okay,” Grady said.

“Meaning?”

“I got my gun back and the investigation has been closed,” Grady said. “It was ruled a rightful shooting.”

“I was never worried about that,” James said, his mind travelling back in time to the day before the wedding. “Tony Anderson was going to kill Mandy. He was going to shoot her right in front of me. You saved her life, and mine, that day. You didn’t have a choice.”

“Then what were you worried about?”

James rubbed his jaw, considering. “What … who picked up his body?”

Grady pursed his lips. “No one.”

“What about his parents?”

“Well, once the news stories hit – it’s nice that you missed those, by the way – everyone and their brother knew that Anderson blamed you for the death of his lover. The fact that his lover was another man, well, that just ratcheted things up to ridiculous proportions.”

“I never considered that.”

“His parents kind of … washed their hands of the situation,” Grady said. “They instructed the county to bury him in a pauper’s grave.”

Tony Anderson may have been deranged. He may have been bent on revenge. At one time, though, he had also been James’ friend. The idea of his friend being interred in a pauper’s grave was disgusting to him. “I see.”

“I took the body,” Grady said.

James’ eyebrows shot up. “What?”

“Well, I didn’t take it, but I made arrangements for him to be cremated, and then I called Jeff Pace’s parents in Missouri,” Grady said. “They were very nice people. They knew their son was gay, and while they didn’t agree with what Anderson did, they were open to the idea of him being laid to rest next to their son. They thought the two of them would be happy next to each other.

“So, I had the cremains sent to Missouri, and I bought the plot next to Pace,” Grady continued. “I arranged for a grave marker that said ‘beloved friend’ and the Paces made sure that everything was settled at the cemetery. I hope … he’s at peace.”

James visibly relaxed. “You’re a good guy.”

“I just … it was my responsibility.”

“No, it was my responsibility,” James countered. “You made it your responsibility.”

“It’s taken care of.”

The serious moment was too much for both brothers, so they were thankful when their younger brother, Finn, made an appearance.

“Hey, married man,” Finn said. “How was the honeymoon?”

“It was good,” James said, forcing the melancholy from a moment before out of his mind. “We had a great time.”

“How great?”

“Don’t be crude.”

“Who was being crude?”

“I know you.”

Finn made a face.

“Actually, I do have one funny story,” James conceded.

“Is it dirty?”

“Pretty much,” James said. “So, I woke up one morning and she wasn’t in bed. I found her out on the beach making a sand castle.”

“This sounds like a really lame story,” Finn said.

James ignored him. “So, one thing led to another, and we kind of did it on the castle.”

“This story is getting better.”

“When we were done, we realized there were three surfers watching us from a few feet away,” James said. “They applauded.”

Grady barked out a hoarse laugh. “How did Mandy take it?”

“Not well.”

“Oh, are you talking about Mandy finding the body?” Jake asked, stepping into the office with a file in his hand.

Confusion washed over Finn’s face. “Mandy found a body? When were you going to get to that?”

“I thought that’s what you were talking about,” Jake said, shooting an apologetic look in James’ direction. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to take over the conversation.”

“It’s not a big deal,” James said. “I wasn’t keeping it a secret.”

“What were you talking about?” Jake asked.

“James and Mandy putting on a sex show for local surfers,” Finn teased.

“Oh, yeah, Ally told me about that,” Jake said. “I don’t think Mandy found that funny.”

“Ally told you about that?” James asked. “How does she even know?”

“They were on the phone for like an hour last night,” Jake said.

“When?”

Jake shrugged. “How should I know? Ally is always on the phone.”

“Yeah, but … Mandy was busy all day yesterday.”

“Busy doing what?” Grady prodded.

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” James shot back.

“Women talk, man,” Finn said. “They were apart for two weeks. What did you expect?”

“I just don’t understand when she did it.”

Grady rolled his neck, seeing a downturn in the conversation in their future. “So, let’s talk about work,” he said, changing the subject. “What do you think about the six jobs we cleared while you were gone?”

“Impressive,” James said. “You guys did a good job.”

“Thank you.”

“What do we have pending this week?”

“We’ve got two chauffeur gigs,” Finn said. “The first is Saturday. Martin Henderson is coming to town to attend a wedding, and he wants us to handle his security.”

“And who is Martin Henderson?”

“He owns some big tech company out in Seattle,” Finn answered. “He seems to think that people are out to kidnap him because they want his mind. Apparently, it’s beautiful.”

James snorted. “So, easy gig?”

“Yeah. I’m taking it. Emma has some fashion show out in Novi anyway, so it’s no hardship for me.”

“Okay,” James said. “What’s the other one?”

“That’s Charles Baker,” Jake said. “He’s some banker from London. He’s going to be carrying a briefcase full of diamonds to sell to a local jeweler. I’m picking him up at the airport and transporting him to Birmingham. After the sale, then I’m taking him right back to the airport. He’s just worried about the diamonds being in Detroit.”

“You’ve got to love people who watch
Beverly Hills Cop
and think Detroit is all thugs and stolen cigarette trucks,” James mused.

“Pretty much.”

“What else have we got?”

“We’re installing a new security system at Peter’s house,” Grady said. “He hired us for an upgrade.”

“Peter who?”

Grady ran his tongue over his teeth. “Peter Marconi.”

“Sophie’s mobster foster father?” James asked, referring to Grady’s girlfriend and her dubious attachment to the reputed organized crime figure.

“That would be him.”

“Is there a reason he came to us?”