Pretty Dangerous (12 page)

“We’ll be in touch.” Agent Morrison didn’t
wait to observe the effect of her words. She spun around to walk
away.

MiMi beat her to the door and opened it.
“Save our tax dollars and stop chasing the wrong people.”

She shut the door firmly once the woman was
through it. MiMi clicked the locks hard. Then she backed away from
the door, a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. When the
doorbell rang again she jumped. The agents had left only long
enough to come back and take everything she owned. Looking around
in desperation, MiMi tried to think of who she could call. Her
parents would be mortified to take her in under such circumstances.
The phone rang. Roderick’s name displayed.

“Sorry I’m late, but come down and open the
door. We can still make the seven fifteen showing if we hustle,”
Roderick said.

MiMi marched to the front door, phone still
in her hand and pulled open the front door. She glared at him. “I
suppose the delay was because you had a chat with my visitors. How
many times do you plan to get me thrown in prison?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”
Roderick realized he was talking into his cell phone. He frowned
and ended the call.

MiMi grabbed him by the arm and pulled him
inside. “Come in, baby, and explain a few minor details. The damn
movie can wait.”

****

Predictably, Monday came too soon. After a
weekend of jumping at every sound in the house, the last place she
wanted to be was at work. Tyler gazed at MiMi with undisguised
disdain.

“You have to take off early. Again. After
being gone for weeks.”

“I’m leaving an hour early for an
appointment,” MiMi replied shortly. She kept tapping the keys of
her laptop as she talked. “You can get me on my cell phone if
anything urgent comes up. But I’m on top of my assignments.”

“Kerry wants the team to meet on the summer
in-store and window displays. Six of our stores have a deadline set
by the mall managers.”

“Right, they want stores to coordinate themes
to give shoppers a consistent experience, I know. I don’t leave for
another two hours. I’m sending them graphics. Fred and his team did
design suggestions. Harold is ready to help them order display
supplies for the May Day and Cinco De Mayo sales. Mr. Jenkins and
Darcas gave the green light to the ideas we sent. Oh, and we’re
working the Fourth of July display drafts.”

“Kerry has all these I assume?” Tyler tapped
the stylus of his tablet computer against one cheek. “She doesn’t
like being blindsided.”

MiMi stopped typing. She swiveled her chair
and affected as much sincerity as possible in her expression. “I
know how busy she’s been with renovations of the store in
Jacksonville, Florida. Plus she’s got so many other priorities.
These are details I took care of to relieve her.”

“So the answer is no. Once again you went
behind her back to the bosses,” Tyler drawled. He made notes on the
tablet, the stylus moving fast across the smooth surface.

“Unclench your sphincter muscles, Ty-Ty.
Doing my job is not going behind Kerry’s back. Mr. Jenkins always
says we should pull in the same direction.” MiMi smiled at him.

“Kerry is your boss, MiMi. You might want to
stay on her good side,” Tyler warned.

MiMi almost blurted out that the woman had no
good side but swallowed the comeback. Even so, her voice held an
edge. “I’m ahead of the curve on the whole display thing. My
projects are on schedule. Those two facts should be doing wonders
for her good side. Instead she’s...”

Tyler gazed at her anticipation. “She’s
what?”

“She’s worried for no good reason,” MiMi
replied mildly. Whew, that was close. She almost gave the little
snitch ammunition to use against her.

“Yeah, I’ll just bet that’s what you meant to
say,” Tyler mumbled.

“What else?” MiMi blinked at him, a wide-eyed
look of innocence on her face. Then she swiveled back to face her
desk again. She hit a send button. “There, your concerns have just
been addressed. I sent Kerry a link to the cloud with all the
wonderful work the team has done. We’ve put in our best effort, all
due to her leadership.”

“Oh please.” Tyler looked up at the ceiling
and gave a snort.

“You’re not saying her leadership is...
lacking I hope.” MiMi raised an eyebrow at him.

Tyler gasped. “You know that’s not what I
meant.”

“Glad to hear it. By the way, did I mention
Darcas asked for an update on the displays? I have her email from
last week. So in the unlikely event someone says I went behind
Kerry’s back, well I have to respond to head of merchandising.
Right?”

“Clever. Be careful you don’t hurt yourself
being smug,” Tyler said crisply. He strode off.

MiMi’s co-worker, Elle, came into her office
seconds later. The tall strawberry blonde was an ex-model like
Kerry. As usual, she was dressed in what fashion stylists called
“casual elegance”. Her spice orange tunic set off her coloring
perfectly. Brown leggings tucked into distressed brown leather
riding boots finished off the outfit. Many of MiMi’s colleagues
were former models, including the men. MiMi liked to joke that they
all made her feel like a chubby munchkin. Elle looked over her
shoulder in the direction Tyler had gone down the hall.

“Girl, what did you do to put that sour look
on Tyler’s face? I asked him a question and he got snippy.” Elle’s
accent identified her as a “Yat” from New Orleans. She plopped her
five foot eight inch frame in a chair in front of MiMi’s desk.

“I just spoiled his plan to give Kerry dirt
to use against me. Forget him. Thanks for helping me out. I’m sorry
you had to add some of my work to your already crowded plate.”

“Anything that that irritates Tyler gives me
pleasure, baby,” Elle quipped. Her expression turned serious. “Is
there something you need to tell me? You’ve been looking mighty
stressed today.”

“I’m a single mother. Stress is my middle
name,” MiMi replied and gave a dramatic sigh.

“Uh-huh. Kerry has been asking around to see
if you talked to anyone. I’ll bet she has Tyler snooping to find
out. What happens in Vegas don’t always stay in Vegas, ya know?”
Elle’s expertly shaped eyebrows went up to the bangs of her pretty
bob haircut.

“Yeah, except I wasn’t in Vegas,” MiMi
quipped. Still, fear spiked in her chest.

“Vegas, Dominica, you know what I’m talkin’
here,” Elle replied.

“Dominican Republic, Elle. Dominica is a very
different Caribbean Island several hundred miles away.” MiMi
flipped images saved on the Fashion Sense cloud used for staff
collaboration.

Elle hitched her chair closer to the desk and
lowered her voice. “Yeah, yeah, so I got a C in geography. Look,
you don’t have to tell me, okay? I got your back. Hell, you covered
my ass more than a few times. I’ve got a plan.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you...” MiMi
brushed a hand through her hair.

“I understand.” Elle shrugged.

MiMi sighed. Then she got up and closed her
office door. “Roderick bought weed and we both ended up in jail.
Our parents got us lawyers, paid our fines and we got the hell
outta there.”

Elle stared at her, mouth open for a few
seconds. “Wow.”

“Yeah.” MiMi slumped into her chair again.
“Anyway, I don’t think Kerry will find out. We didn’t make the news
down there.”

“Humph, don’t put anything past that devious
hussy. Okay, so about my plan. We’ll spread disinformation.” Elle
nodded to herself.

“What?”

“So Cal in IT and Nadia in HR are the worst
gossips. I’ll tell them some story about how you and the rich
boyfriend had a falling out, he left you stranded and you were too
humiliated to tell the truth.”

MiMi laughed. “C’mon Elle.”

“Yes, you were sick, but it was from the
heartbreak which led to a deep depression. You didn’t want to be
the object of pity, so you kept the truth from everyone. You’ve
been in therapy. But,” Elle cut off another protest from MiMi.
“There’s a happy ending. You two crazy kids finally worked it
out.”

MiMi wiped her eyes with a tissue from the
box on her desk. “No one is going to believe that mess.”

“I’ll tell them you broke down and told me
what happened. The partial truth always makes a lie sound
credible.” Elle nodded.

“So you have a lot of experience telling
lies. I hope you’ve used your powers for good.” MiMi shook a
forefinger at her.

Elle wore a smirk. “Mostly. Anyway, Kerry
makes it obvious you’re on her list.”

“Yeah, but Darcas likes me. A lot. So does
Mr. Jenkins, they kinda think I’m precious.” MiMi patted her hair
and sniffed.

“Bull crap,” Elle said with a snort. “Their
sales have gone up. You do a damn good job figuring out trends and
what fashions customers want each season. But you are cute I have
to admit.”

MiMi started to smile back at her. Then
remembered the grim faced agents on her doorstep. If she could get
her cute power to work on the FBI, life would be awesome. “Yeah,
but they’ll drop kick my butt if those numbers start going in the
wrong direction. So for the next few weeks, I’ll come in early when
possible, even work at home.”

“You can’t keep going at this pace, not
without sacrificing time with your baby. Anyway, if the sales are
good, but you bring bad publicity to the Fashion Sense brand...”
Elle shrugged.

“Yeah, Kerry can’t find out about... what
happened.” MiMi shivered. Not to mention an employee being
investigated by the FBI and tied to a murder.

Elle leaned forward. “My story will keep them
busy, re-direct her energy. She can’t go after an emotionally
fragile single mother. Not only will it make her look bad, but I’ll
remind her that it’s illegal. Remember the Americans with
Disabilities act?”

MiMi gazed at her friend. “I have a new
appreciation for your devious mind, girl.”

That night MiMi put Sage to bed at eight
o’clock. She’d convinced Roderick that they were going to have a
romantic interlude. She set the scene with mood lighting and a
silky wrap blouse over matching lounge pants. Roderick eagerly
agreed to bring dinner. He showed up, bags in hand with a big
smile.

“Am I on time, baby?” He came in and gave
MiMi a peck on the forehead before heading to the kitchen. A
delicious smell of garlic and onions trailed after him.

MiMi closed and locked the back door. “Right
on time. Put the food on the counter. I’m going to heat it up.”

“Yeah, by now it’s room temperature. Baton
Rouge traffic is a pain that never goes away.” Roderick set the
bags down. He faced her. “What’s next, oh gorgeous one?”

“Let’s have a little talk.” MiMi forced a
smile. She pointed to the long counter with three wooden stools.
“Take a seat.”

“Whoa, you sound too serious. This was going
to be another special night like the last two we’ve had.” Roderick
walked to MiMi and put both arms around her waist. He tried to kiss
her, but she turned her face away.

“Sit.” MiMi pushed back from him.

Roderick sat down and leaned one elbow on the
granite surface of the counter. Dressed in a long sleeved brown
shirt and Army green slacks, he looked relaxed. “Okay then. But I
thought we’d hashed out that whole incident in the DR.”

“You left out a few details. Anything you
need to tell me?” MiMi wrestled with the urge to blow up at
him.

Roderick affected a thoughtful expression.
After ten or fifteen seconds he shook his head. “Honestly, babe, I
told you everything. I thought we had built up some trust. Come on
now. Don’t over think it and come up with more questions.”

“Actually, I’m not talking about what
happened on our trip. The FBI paid me a visit about Jack’s death
and his business deals.” MiMi watched him. His short exhale
signaled relief.

“Damn, Jack’s issues won’t die. Sorry, bad
choice of words. Come here, girl. Let me make you forget, at least
for a little while.”

“You might need some comfort yourself. They
mentioned you, too.” MiMi crossed her arms.

He wore a puzzled frown. “Me? I never even
met the guy, much less did business with him.”

“The FBI is looking into your family’s
company. So I started wondering just what exactly haven’t you told
me.”

“I don’t understand. The FBI?” Roderick’s
smooth charmer facade slipped. He blinked rapidly as he pulled a
hand over his face.

“So they haven’t questioned you yet?” MiMi
squinted at him.

“Wh-what exactly did they say? I mean their
exact words.” Roderick got up and started to pace. “Damn, I told
dad and Uncle Harold not to...”

“So you know what they’re talking about,”
MiMi said mildly.

“Look, it’s not that bad. We helped with some
exports to the Caribbean. One of the guys has a criminal record,
but he’s clean now; a totally legitimate businessman.”

“Let me guess. This ‘totally legit’
businessman has his office in the Dominican Republic, specifically
in Santo Domingo. I suppose you being so eager to go there was a
crazy coincidence.” MiMi walked up to Roderick. Luckily he jumped
off the stool and started to pace, because MiMi was about to let go
and slap him.

“The place is beautiful and... look at where
we stayed. I mean it’s a fabulous place to party.” Roderick spoke
to her as he paced. Yet clearly his mind wasn’t on rum punches on
the beach.

“So the fact that we just happened to end up
arrested had nothing to do with your ‘business.’ The FBI mentioning
your name is another crazy coincidence. Yeah, I totally get it.”
MiMi snorted to punctuate her lack of belief.

Roderick raked long fingers through his thick
tight curls. Then he pulled his cell phone from the clip on the
waistband of his pants. “I’m going to call dad so he can get our
lawyer on the phone.”