Richard opened his mouth, but Vivian placed a hand on his arm, stopping him. “Do you have the incident report we requested?” she asked.

Carson removed three copies and handed them over. He gave them very little time to read through it before scooting his chair back. “If you have any questions or requests from my client, you will need to go through me until this matter is settled.”

“Really, Hudson?” Richard started.

Grace kept a polite smile on her face.

“Thank you for your time,” Carson said before opening the conference room door.

Grace walked in front of him, her heart beating a little too fast.

Evan, Adrian, and Lionel all stood outside of the kitchenette doorway watching as she walked by.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Grace jumped into Dameon’s arms when she returned to her parents’ house. It had taken less than ten minutes to go to the office and make a stand for herself.

“I take it things went well,” Dameon said when he set Grace back down to her feet.

“It was awesome.”

Carson smiled. “Well, now that they know what they’re dealing with, things will get very professional and very quiet.”

Dameon shook Carson’s hand and patted his shoulder. “Thanks for jumping on this.”

“No problem. I’ll be in touch. Grace, remember, if anyone from the office calls or asks anything, they come through me. Even what seem like innocent questions from your friends may not be.”

Evan was the only one she truly thought cared enough to ask. But she didn’t want him getting caught in the crossfire of all this.

“Thank you.”

Carson got back into his car and pulled out of the driveway.

Her mom and dad, who had been standing outside, walked back in the house.

“Did they talk your ear off while we were gone?” Grace asked.

Dameon looked over his shoulder. “I think I won your mom over, but your dad had fifty questions. He really doesn’t like suits.”

She laughed. “He hates ’em. But if he didn’t like you, he wouldn’t have bothered asking questions.”

“He all but asked the name of the girl I lost my virginity to.”

Now Grace was laughing. “Awww, he loves you.”

Dameon shook his head. “I told your mom I’d stay through lunch, but as long as you’re going to be okay, I have to get back to the city.”

“I am now. Thank you, Dameon. I wasn’t thinking yesterday.”

“You’re obviously not alone. I’m glad Carson can help.”

She sighed. “He’s expensive, isn’t he?”

“I don’t want you thinking about that.”

“I’ll pay you back.”

Dameon placed a finger on her lips. “Stop.”

She would figure out a way to make it up to him.

“It’s good to see that smile again,” Dameon said.

She lifted her lips, asking for his kiss.

Dameon dipped his head to oblige.

Her dad’s voice yelled from the front door. “Are you going to molest my daughter on the front lawn or come inside for lunch?”

She broke away and giggled.

“I think he hates me.”

“He’s an ex-cop. If he hated you, he’d tell you to leave at gunpoint.”

Grace had never met a private investigator, and she certainly didn’t picture Michelle Overland when she thought of one.

In her midfifties, Michelle looked more like a PTA mom than someone who investigated anyone or knew anything about what Grace was going through.

Grace welcomed Michelle into her condo and played hostess before they sat down at her dining room table to talk.

“I’ve already spoken to Carson in depth. He e-mailed me your statement and a copy of what the city gave you when they sent you home. I’m going to ask a lot of personal questions, and I’m sorry about that. I need financial information, your banks, loans, debt. Absolutely anything you can tell me about your accuser. I need phone numbers and any online social media you use.”

“Wow. It really sounds like I’m the bad guy.”

Michelle smiled. “I’m looking for anything to prove you did do it so I can prove you didn’t.”

“Sounds backward.”

“Your employer has your work records. They have to audit to obtain anything not work related. So we’ll get a jump on that first. If they want your personal stuff, they have to make a move on the chessboard first.”

“Officially accuse me of taking a bribe.”

“Exactly. If and when that happens, they have to give your lawyer any evidence they found at the office.”

Grace rolled her eyes. “All they are going to find is that I was overworked and did the job of two people.”

“Tell me about Richard. I get the feeling he doesn’t like you.”

Grace shook her head. “Richard may not like me, but he’s not the kind of guy to plant something in my office to prove I did something I didn’t do.”

Michelle looked at Grace as if she was five. “You really never know what someone is capable of. I can tell you plenty of stories.”

“I have only been with this job for five years. For the first two, almost everything I did had to have a second signature on the plans. There are a lot of eyes on nearly everything I do. We work independently on some things, but for a lot of stuff, we work as a team. So if someone put my signature on something I didn’t approve, chances are there had to be a second one there somewhere.”

“Is there anyone in the office who might be taking bribes?”

Grace shook her head. “There are five of us. Richard, who took the senior position six months after I was hired. Before then, he was like the rest of us. Yeah, he’d been there the longest, but he had his own caseload and had to report to the boss. Adrian has been there the longest after Richard. If he’s guilty of anything, it’s overlooking an issue and signing off on it because he wanted to get out of work on time. Lionel is recently divorced, spends his free time watching the games during happy hour for the two-dollar beer. Evan is the next in line as far as seniority. I consider him my friend. We get along the best. He has my back.”

“How so?”

“He just does. He worked the Sokolov property with me. Knew the guy was an ass. He mentioned to Richard more than once that the guy was stalling and wasting our time.”

“So you’re closest to Evan at the office?”

“Yes. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

“So he knows about your relationship with Dameon Locke?”

Grace paused. “He knows I’m interested in Dameon. We might have both talked about how good-looking he is.”

“Oh?”

“Evan is gay. But not open about it. I’m pretty sure the others know, but he hasn’t talked about it at work. He doesn’t want to deal with Richard’s censure.”

Michelle wrote something down on her notepad. Grace hadn’t noticed when the woman pulled it out. “Can you think of anything else about Richard’s character?”

“You know what I think it is with him . . . he’s an unhappy man. He’s old-fashioned and doesn’t see women as equal. He’s on his fourth marriage, and I’m guessing he hasn’t had sex in years.”