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. âIâm almost afraid to ask what youâve been doing today.â
Looking up from the pile of mail he was thumbing through, Jay smirked. âTerraine conned my ass into helping him paint my nieceâs nursery.â
Doryâs eyes were wide with delight. âSashaâs havinâ a girl?â
âThatâs what her doctor says.â Jay tucked the mail under his arm and headed toward his office door, locatedbehind Doryâs desk. âLetâs hope they havenât made a mistake.â
Dory twirled around in the swivel chair. âWhyâs that?â
âSashaâll go off.â 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! Sheâd been calling him for three days, and there was no point putting the shit off any longer. They needed to talk. Soon.
âWhereâs Chad?â he said. Chad Hamilton was the firmâs most promising investigator. As a former St. Louis police officer, he was thorough, reminding Jay of himself.
âHeâs in his office,â Dory said, closer than before.
Jay glanced up to find Dory leaning against his door frame.
âI think heâs interviewing another missinâ personâs case,â she added.
Jay frowned. âShit. Thatâs just what we need.â Chad had been reassigned to handle all missing personsâone thing Jay preferred not to do. Most of them were due to broken homes or sexual abuse cases. Things that pulled at his heartstrings.
âIâm on my way out to lunch, you want anything?â 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. Sheâd just given birth to a son and was desperate for a job. Responding to an ad heâd 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 hadnât 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.
âYeah, grab me two cheeseburgers and a large fry.â 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. âYouâre gonna clog your arteries,â she scolded. The health-conscious Dory was planning on picking up a salad for herself.
âYeah, but at least Iâll die happy,â 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 wasnât 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.