The Law of Motion (Law Series) (84 page)

             
I rolled my eyes but Paul’s face was full of delight, “I’m impressed Kristen.”

             
Kristen nodded, “Is it true what they say? That a Brioni Vanquish II feels like walking around in a custom fitted orgasm?”

             
“Would you like to find out
personally
, Kristen?” Paul asked giving her his patented devilish grin. The one that could be considered teasing, or lustful all depending on how the person he used it on decided to take it.

             
Kristen’s blushing face went from a pink to a beet red, almost as dumbfounded as the men who fell victim to her chameleon talents. Doc was staring wide eyes with pink cheeks and Tink had a hand over her mouth looking at Kristen’s face.

             
I shook my head, “Paul…”

             
He directed his attention to me completely innocent. “Yes dearest daughter?”

             
“You can’t help yourself can you?”

             
Paul gave me an oh so familiar eye roll, “For heaven’s sake Alyssa, I was merely offering her a chance to find out for herself. My family has been a client of the Fonticoli family since 1954, they don’t normally do female apparel, but they have made a few exceptions for me in the past.” Then he turned back to the Kristen, “If you’d like a suit Kristen I’d me more than happy to arrange it for you.”

             
“Come on.” I demanded shaking my head and leading the way to my office. 

             
Once I let him in I shut the door behind me and he looked around. “This is the first time you’ve let me into your office Alyssa.”

             
“What’s your reason for coming Paul?”

             
He passed the flowers over to me before taking a seat in front of my desk. “These are for you.”

             
“Calla lilies.” I mused smelling them before sitting them on my desk, stuck in my on private memories.

             
He nodded, “Your mother’s favorite.”

             
“I know. I was
there
.” I sighed letting out a deep breath and taking a seat of my own. “Now what can I do for you?”

             
I could tell my comment hurt him, but he composed it pretty well. “I heard, Roman was the reason Tawny lost her son. I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”

             
“I didn’t think you did, Paul. All is as it should be now.”

             
“I just don’t understand why he would do that. He was my right hand for over ten years.” He continued on.             

             
I could explain to him exactly how Roman felt, but he wouldn’t have understood, and I didn’t want to talk about him anymore. In truth, I had let myself grow fond of Roman, and I was mad at myself. I spared him under circumstances that I normally wouldn’t have. “It doesn’t matter.”

             
He let out a breath and a smile shifted into his features, “Praises are in order. I am going to have to work some pretty late nights to keep up with everything you managed to do in five months.”

             
“I didn’t really do much.” I disagreed.

             
He smiled but disagreed, “Tell that to my staff and the N.I stock prices. Now granted, my board wouldn’t be too pleased to have you back.”

             
“Don’t worry, the feeling is mutual.” I groaned. “And I won’t be coming back.”

             
That made Paul’s smile fade. “Which brings me to the other reason I came. I’m going to my lawyer’s office later today, but I wanted to make sure that you were absolutely
sure
that this is what you want. My feelings haven’t changed, Alyssa. I still want it to be yours, even more now.”

             
“No Paul.” I cut him off. I didn’t want the company for as long as I did have it.

             
He nodded troubled getting up from his chair, “Well, a deal is a deal.”

             
“Wait, one more thing.” I had been meaning to ask him since forever but I didn’t have a chance. “When I went into your apartment, there were some pictures of my mom. Pictures that
I
took, how did you get them? Why do you have them?”

             
“The pictures in the study, are those
all
you saw?” He asked, his face sad and for some reason pensive.

             
“Are there
more
than what’s hanging up in your office?” I questioned, my PI senses kicking in.

             
His expression changed back to a happier one, but it was forced. “I have them for two reasons, Alyssa. One, because
you
took them. Second, because they are of your mother.”

             
“
How
did you get them?” I repeated the second half of my questioning.

             
“Is how really important Alyssa?” He deflected with a sigh.

             
“When it pertains to
my
mother, yes it is important.” I demanded, “
How?
”

             
He looked at his watch, and then back at me. “I have an appointment. I’ll see myself out.” Before I could protest, he did just that, “Goodbye Alyssa.”

             
A minute later Dario peeked his head in, “You ok
Giselle?
”

             
“I hate him,” I swore staring at the lilies on my desk, debating on if I should toss them in the trash. I decided not to because they were so damn pretty.

             
Dario didn’t really know what to say to that. “Well, uh. You have a visitor.”

             
“Visitor?” I perked up for a second thinking that some miracle brought Victor back early from Ft. Leavenworth.

             
“Kris Powell, the girls don’t know if I should send him back or not. Mr. Neil usually puts you in a funk when you see him.” He only half teased.

             
I rolled my eyes at him. Yes, Paul did piss me off to no end, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of ruining anything else, we were done in my eyes. “Send him back please Dario.”

             
Kris looked a lot different from the last time I saw him. He looked,
better
. His hair was cut and his clothes were a lot neater. “Hey, Miss Marshall.” He greeted still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

             
“I think that you and I have been through enough that Miss Marshall, doesn’t cut it. Alyssa please.” I requested motioning to a seat in front of my desk while I took my own. “Now, what can I do for you, Kris?”

             
“Well, you said come to you if I ever needed anything.” He started.

             
I tried to ease his nerves with a smile. “It’s ok Kris. You did me a huge service even when you didn’t have to. Tell me what you want and it’s yours.”

             
“I need help finding a job.”

             
It wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it wasn’t an impossible feat. I wanted to see how honest he would actually be with me, so I asked him a few questions. “How old are you Kris?”

             
“Twenty-one Miss M
a
              Alyssa.”

             
I nodded, “Ever been in trouble?” I altered my question, “Other than the obvious.”

             
He shifted uneasy in his chair but nodded, “ Arrested twice when I was younger, lifting cars.”

             
I nodded and continued, “Education?”

             
“I dropped out of high school. I swear I gotta have ADHD or something because it didn’t keep my attention, you know?”

             
“Well, I can see why you’re having trouble finding work.”

             
“Can you help me?”

             
I nodded, “I think I can. Do you have an idea
where
you want to work?”

             
He shifted uneasy in his chair again but answered all the same, “I was hoping here.”

             
“
Here
?” I repeated, “Why here?”

             
He shrugged, “It seems cool.”

             
“Is it the guns and the fact that we’ve killed people, because that isn’t what w
e
”

             
“No, I overheard some of the guys saying that you do security for important people sometimes.” He corrected.

             
I took a deep breath calming myself, “That’s Dario and Adrian’s side of the business. Sometimes they work with senators and stuff but mostly rich people in town for a weekend maybe a few famous people but not many.”

             
“I worked security for a year.” He boasted.

             
“It’s not the same.” I corrected kindly. His face fell and I sighed, “I’ll make you a deal.”

             
“What?”

             
“You get your GED. Stay out trouble long enough for us to actually teach you what it takes to acquire permits and licenses needed, and you can be a P.I.”

             
He looked a little wary but embarrassed at my conditions, “I can stay out of trouble Alyssa…but getting a GED is pretty rough. That was years ago, there is no way I can learn all of that stuff.”

             
“Kris, there is a lot of work that goes into being a private investigator. We do surveillance work, process serving, skip tracing, surveillance counter-measures, and a lot more on the security side.

             
People hire us because they want themselves, or someone else safe. If you can’t pay attention enough to finish school then I can’t trust that you will pay attention when someone’s life is on the line.”

             
I stopped myself and took a deep breath, I was starting to sound like a mother lecturing her child and I was barely six years his senior. “Look Kris, I like you,” I admitted. “But I won’t give you a pass. You have to
show
me that this is what you want.”

             
“School was
really
hard for me Alyssa,” he admitted.

             
His despondent expression told me that this was seriously something that he struggled with and it definitely wasn’t easy for him to admit. With a stiff nod I pushed my chair back from my desk. He watched me walk around and open the door. “Tink, can you come here please?”

             
“What’s up, Boss?” Tink questioned, practically running down the hall on her tip toes.

             
I pulled her inside and turned her to face Kris, planting my hands on her shoulders. “Tink, I need you to do me a favor. Kristopher here, has to pass a GED exam.”

             
“Got it, got it, got it.” She caught on, but kept an oddly composed face. “Well the Kris, looks like I’ll be your tutor.”

             
Kris look from her to me, “You’re serious? You’re going to help me?”

             
“I’m as serious as you are.” I answered.

             
“Then we should get started.” Tink suggested pulling him out of the chair.

             
Once he was up he wrapped his arms around me, practically picking me up. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

             
“Kris…” Tink cautioned, “Rule number one about being around Alyssa, she doesn’t really like being touched.”

             
“Oh… sorry,” He nodded retracting his arms looking down at me for confirmation.

             
I nodded, “Don’t take it personal. I’m that way with a lot of people. Don’t worry, if you want to thank me, just work hard.”

             
“I will,” he pledged. “Staying out of trouble will be easy, and I’ll take that test over and over until I pass.”

             
“That’s a good attitude,” I approved.

             
Tink tsked and rolled her eyes, “No, no, no! That’s a
horrible
attitude. I’m insulted that you think you’ll ever
need
more than one go working with me.”

             
“She’s kind of a genius.” I explained wryly.
              Once again modesty went out the window when it came to the facts with her. “
Kind of?
I finished high school at thirteen, and had two master’s degrees by the time I was your age Kris.”