Free Brand New Me by Meg Benjamin

spoke much about your family,” he explained quickly. “It seemed to be a sensitive subject.” He had no idea whether that was true, but it sounded like he cared.
    Brandenburg shrugged. “Maybe so.” He stared down at his desk again, his forehead creased in thought.
    Craig wondered what he was supposed to do now, if anything. He wasn’t a private detective, which was what the big man probably needed. He had no idea where else to look. Left to his own devices, he’d just wait for Dee-Dee to limp home on her own once she gave up in defeat. A defeated Dee-Dee would be a lot easier to bring around to his point of view anyway.
    “Konigsburg,” Brandenburg muttered.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Konigsburg.” He glanced up at Craig. “It’s where my fool niece ended up. Running a damn fool bookstore. Married some nobody and got herself a kid. Dee-Dee might head over there. To see her cousin Docia.”
    “Konigsburg?”
    “Hell, yes. Hill Country town. Don’t tell me you never heard of it.”
    Of course, Craig had heard of it. Every Texan had heard of Konigsburg, and most of them had been there at least once. It was blue-hair central. His own grandmother had loved the place. She’d dragged him up there one summer to look for the over-decorated china figurines she collected. That was far from his favorite childhood memory. “Yes sir, I’m familiar with it. It just doesn’t seem like the kind of place Dee-Dee would end up in.”
    “That’s where she is, I’m sure of it.” He brought his fist down on the desktop. “Goddamn it. Reba’s got a house up there. I’ll bet you anything, Dee-Dee’s staying with her or that daughter of hers. She flat out lied to you, boy.”
    Craig studied his employer. The big man seemed a lot more pissed than the situation warranted. But he might be able to use that reaction to his advantage. “I didn’t think she was lying, sir. But I’ve been wrong about women before.” He shrugged, giving him a rueful little smile. Just one more man betrayed by female deviousness.
    “You need to get up there.”
    “To Konigsburg?”
    “Yes to Konigsburg. Get up there now.”
    Craig took a breath, trying to figure out how to be diplomatic. “What do you want me to do up there, sir?”
    Brandenburg waved an impatient hand. “Find Dee-Dee, of course. Track her down. Tell her to stop being an idiot. Get her back here.”
    “And if she doesn’t want to come?”
    Brandenburg’s face darkened. “She will. She’s been out on her own for a while now. You can tell her she’s got a job waiting in Houston. She’ll be good and ready to come back by now.”
    Craig didn’t comment on that. He figured even if Dee-Dee wasn’t quite ready yet, he could always fix things so she would be. With Brandenburg money behind him, he’d find a way to bring her back to her senses. And, of course, back to him.

    Deirdre managed not to groan as she sank into her chair at the back of the Faro. Two days of cleaning had shown her how little her yoga classes had prepared her for real physical labor. Every muscle in her body had its own particular ache. And now she had to go out to the bar and carry trays of beer steins for three or four hours.
    Clem slid a ham sandwich in her direction before flopping down on the other side of the table. “You look like you’ve been dragged through a knothole. Are you sure it’s a good idea to work both shifts and clean that shithole in between?”
    Deirdre sighed. “Probably not. But I need to get the basic cleaning done so I can start painting. The place needs to be in shape before I can bring in equipment.”
    “You should ask Tom for advice on renovating. He brought this place back from the dead.”
    “How long has he owned the Faro?” Deirdre frowned. “I thought he’d been here for a long time.”
    “He’s been here a couple of years. The owner before him ran the place into the ground, more or less. Tom put it back on the map and made it work. It’s doing better now than