Free When It Rains... by Angie Daniels

her computer to find her boss standing over her desk wearing a Cardinalsbaseball cap, a tattered T-shirt, and a faded pair of jeans spattered with paint. “I’m almost afraid to ask what you’ve been doing today.”
    Looking up from the pile of mail he was thumbing through, Jay smirked. “Terraine conned my ass into helping him paint my niece’s nursery.”
    Dory’s eyes were wide with delight. “Sasha’s havin’ a girl?”
    â€œThat’s what her doctor says.” Jay tucked the mail under his arm and headed toward his office door, locatedbehind Dory’s desk. “Let’s hope they haven’t made a mistake.”
    Dory twirled around in the swivel chair. “Why’s that?”
    â€œSasha’ll go off.” Jay was shaking with amusement. He knew from experience that once his sister-in-law set her mind to something, it was next to impossible to change it.
    Jay took a seat in his chair and set the mail on the corner of his desk to go through later, then reached for the stack of pink message slips sitting on top of his phone. Kendra had already called twice this morning. Damn! She’d been calling him for three days, and there was no point putting the shit off any longer. They needed to talk. Soon.
    â€œWhere’s Chad?” he said. Chad Hamilton was the firm’s most promising investigator. As a former St. Louis police officer, he was thorough, reminding Jay of himself.
    â€œHe’s in his office,” Dory said, closer than before.
    Jay glanced up to find Dory leaning against his door frame.
    â€œI think he’s interviewing another missin’ person’s case,” she added.
    Jay frowned. “Shit. That’s just what we need.” Chad had been reassigned to handle all missing persons—one thing Jay preferred not to do. Most of them were due to broken homes or sexual abuse cases. Things that pulled at his heartstrings.
    â€œI’m on my way out to lunch, you want anything?” Dory moved toward his desk, carrying a straw purse over her shoulder.
    Looking up at her friendly, light brown eyes, Jay smiled. Dory had been twenty-one when he first met her. She’d just given birth to a son and was desperate for a job. Responding to an ad he’d run in the newspaper, she arrived at his office looking like a straight-up hoochie in a skintight, lime-green dress with white platform shoes. Dory had very limited skills, but was willing to learn. She had pleaded with Jay for a chance. Jay saw something in her that he hadn’t found in any of his other candidates. Determination. He hired her on the spot, and not once had he regretted his decision. Two years later, she stood before him dressed appropriately in a gray turtleneck sweater dress, her jet-black hair pulled back neatly with a hair clip.
    â€œYeah, grab me two cheeseburgers and a large fry.” Jay reached into his pocket, pulled out several bills, and handed them to her.
    Unzipping a side compartment, she slipped the money in her purse. “You’re gonna clog your arteries,” she scolded. The health-conscious Dory was planning on picking up a salad for herself.
    â€œYeah, but at least I’ll die happy,” he joked.
    After Dory departed, Jay laced his fingers behind his head. Rocking in his brown swivel chair, he allowed his eyes to travel across the parade of framed news clippingsand awards that adorned the walls. Fifteen years of accumulation. He sighed as his mind filtered back to thoughts of self-worth. There was proof right in front of his face that his career meant something. The numberof cases his firm had been successful at solving was a phenomenon in itself. Yet it still wasn’t enough.
    He needed something more.
    Jay heard heavy footsteps moving across the floor outside his office. Looking up, he watched a rugged ebony man stroll through his door. He reared back in his chair and propped his feet on the end of his desk.