the jaded look in G’s eyes, I’d say she was in her sixties, but judging from everything else, she looked twenty-eight. G was beautiful in a Venus flytrap kind of way. Admire her from afar, but don’t mess with her. “And the answer is yes. I’ve got a new Client here in Seattle and, gauging from what she told me on the phone, this Errand is your bread-and-butter variety.”
“My bread and butter?” I repeated. “Aren’t all of our Errands rich, cheating bastards?”
“They are,” G replied, “but some are bigger bastards than the rest. And you, my girl, have a special gift when it comes to the big bastards of the world.”
Was that a skill set I could list on my resume? It felt as much like a compliment as it felt like an insult. “When and where am I meeting the Client of this biggest bastard of the bunch?”
“Tomorrow morning, nine o’clock, at the Pike Street Gym. Ask for Mrs. Hendrik at the front desk.”
Ah, a gym. How refreshing. I didn’t think I could take another spa.
“Once you complete this Errand, I’m moving you. Don’t get too comfortable.” I never did. I moved every few weeks, so getting comfortable wasn’t an option. “Yet another little fact Mrs. Callahan forgot to mention was that she lives in their Seattle home, but Mr. Callahan spends most of his time at their beach home outside of San Francisco.”
I caught myself smiling. If any state had felt like home for the past five years, it was the Golden State. Lots of rich, cheating bastards in California. “Consider me on the first plane out of Seattle after I close the Hendrik Errand.” I was already eager to get started. The sooner I finished up, the sooner I got to work on the Errand I wanted to be working.
“Good.” G rose and adjusted her suit jacket. Business was done; she was out. G’s job and mine were different, but we followed the same rules. “If you need anything for the Callahan Errand, you let me know. I’ll be checking in more often than normal, so be expecting it.”
I nodded as I stood too.
“This one’s going to be hard. Impossibly difficult,” she said, inspecting me like she was determining whether or not I was up to the task. I’d never been so up to the task. “From the looks of it, we don’t have any dirt on Mr. Callahan. Nothing. You’re going to have your work cut out for you.”
Oh, there was plenty of dirt on Mr. Callahan. I had first-hand experience with that dirt. “There’s dirt on every Target, G,” I said, walking her to the door. “Sometimes it just takes a little more digging to find it.”
G’s face shadowed. Just barely, but I didn’t miss it. “Maybe. But if I’ve ever seen a Target who was dirt free, it would be this one. Dig fast. Dig hard. And if you don’t find any . . .”—G lifted a shoulder—“then we might have to create some.”
My eyebrows came together. G had trained me in all aspects of the business, but creating scandal when there wasn’t any was new to me.
“We’ll cross that bridge when and if we get there,” she said, pulling a plastic bag containing a couple of phones from her purse. “These are for the Hendrik Errand. I’ll have the Callahan phones waiting for you in the condo when you arrive.”
The crease between my eyebrows couldn’t seem to iron out. “Condo?” Eves did hotels. We didn’t do condos, apartments, or houses.
“You’re not going to finish the Callahan Errand in a couple of weeks. This one’s going to take months, if not years. I thought you’d be more comfortable in a condo.” G opened the door and glanced back at me over her shoulder. “Especially a beach front one.”
I COULD FEEL the calories being burned as soon as I entered the gym. After checking in at the front desk, I was told Mrs. Hendrik was in the middle of a private spinning class and to head on up. From the other side of the door to the spin room, I heard the whir of the spinning machine.
Burn, baby, burn.
I gave the door
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