Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 356(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
“How much do you know about her?”
Now that he thought about it, he knew a lot about MaeBe and should have seen this coming. “I know she works and she loves her kid. She owns a bakery.”
This time MaeBe’s stare felt a wee bit judgey. “Come on, Boom. You know how to do this.”
He did know how to investigate. He just didn’t think he needed to investigate Daphne. “I don’t do a trace on everyone I meet.”
She turned in her chair, flipping the laptop back open. “Well, I do. So I’ve already got the rundown on your friend over there. And don’t get mad at me. You know Big Tag would have me do it in the morning when you tell him you’re bringing a kid in.”
He winced. He’d been planning on going straight to the woman who ran the day care and talking to her. Then he would duck Big Tag all day. Every day. For weeks. “I was kind of hoping he wouldn’t notice.”
Big Tag would have tons of questions. Questions Boomer didn’t want to answer.
“Oh, he’ll notice. And you also know that he’ll go easier on you if he thinks you did your homework, which is precisely why I did it for you,” MaeBe said, her hands flying across the keys.
She hadn’t done it for him. Not exactly. MaeBe was harder than she’d been before, and he couldn’t blame her. She’d had a rough year. She’d been with the company for two years, the first of which had passed in peaceful joy. Sure, she might have thought being behind a desk was boring, but it was better than being out in the field. Then Kyle Hawthorne had swooped in, and she’d fallen immediately, madly in love with the dude who was seriously fucked up, and her last year had been a shitshow.
She’d been kidnapped and had the hell beaten out of her by a crazy business lady’s private army. Then she’d gotten stabbed trying to help a client. And she’d only recently gotten the cast off from her last brush with death, and now Kyle was gone. MaeBe had come out of the experience changed. She was still so angry, but she was also resolute that she was going to move on with her life.
That’s what she said. But her mouth and her actions weren’t in synch. She worked and trained and complained about Kyle every chance she got. She hadn’t moved on at all. She was stuck in a moment, and she snarled and growled at everyone who tried to help her out of it.
Huh. MaeBe was like Sprinkles.
And that meant if he wanted her to open up, he needed to ease her into it.
“Okay. You’re right about Tag wanting a report on Daphne.” Big Tag could be paranoid but then he had his reasons, too. At one point the world really had been out to get him. “So what did you find out? I know she’s a widow.”
“Yes,” MaeBe agreed. “She married Dennis Carlton thirteen years ago and Louisa Marie Carlton was born six months later, so take from that what you will.”
“She was pregnant with Lou when she married him.” Even he could figure that out.
“Yep, and from what I can tell, their wedding was a quiet, hurried affair, which is odd given who the Carltons are.”
“Is this one of those things I should know?”
“Probably not,” MaeBe allowed. “You don’t care about high society.”
“Oh, that’s why she was talking about the debutante thing.” He’d been confused with that part of the discussion. “Isn’t that where a girl has to wear some fancy dress and everyone claps?”
“It’s where a young woman from what my stepmother would call a ‘good family’ is presented to society. But not all of society. In this case, society means wealthy people, and not like Big Tag rich. Old-money rich,” MaeBe explained. “There’s usually a big party. I’m trying to see Lou having any interest at all in that kind of world. I’m reading between the lines here, but Dennis was the younger of two kids. His sister got married three years before he did, and it was a massive ceremony. It was covered by all the papers. Dennis and Daphne got married in a very small ceremony, so I’m thinking they got hitched for the sake of the kid. He was considered a genius in the math world. He got his PhD young and worked with a group that set economic policies. The parents come from old money, but it’s all well-managed trust funds. The dad was the head of the group they both worked for. He was in economics, and there were rumors he was up for a Nobel prize.”
“That’s the one Noelle talks about a lot. It’s a big deal, right?” Noelle Hutchins was married to one of his best friends. She was an incredibly smart lady.