“Wade gave me all the basic contact info for employees just in case I had questions,” I explained, not going into too much detail about the fact that I had way more than just a few basic stats.
The look on his face told me I was losing my opportunity quickly, so I took a chance and played one of my big cards.
“I just came from the gym,” I said, pausing for a moment. “I was going to take the class Tammy told me you taught, and the reason you had to cut back on your hours at the pub. When I got there, the man at the desk informed me you were out sick today on account of some bug you picked up from working all those extra shifts at the pub.”
I knew the moment he realized I’d caught his lie.
He’d played both Tammy and the gym manager and just hoped that neither would ever talk to each other to figure it out.
He stared at me intensely. His face was neutral, but his eyes showed his internal debate of “do I trust him, or do I not trust him.” I knew he knew me from the bar, but he and I didn’t do small talk, so he didn’t really know me from Adam.
The door opened wider, and he threw his hand out in a sweeping motion. “Come on in.”
I stepped into his place and noted the clean white walls with no frames or artwork anywhere. He lived here, but it wasn’t lived in.
He closed and locked the door behind me and then quickly moved to the living room and scooped up several manila folders and scattered papers.
“Have a seat,” he said as he gathered everything up and moved it to a small table on the other side of the room.
I took a seat on his couch where he had pointed and waited for him to join me.
“Why don’t you tell me why you’re really here?” Corey asked.
“I’m trying to figure out if the break-in at the pub is related in any way to your job at the gym.” I hedged my bets and went full bore, shrugging like I was just shootin’ the shit with a friend. “I don’t mean you teaching classes… I mean you working behind the scenes.”
This man was good. The only tell he gave was the flinch in his jaw at my last guess. It didn’t mean I was correct, but it meant I was close.
I knew if I wanted him to share, I needed to give him something in return.
“You know I was in the Army,” I said, and he gave a quick jerk of his head in response. “I worked a long time in counterterrorism, and my specialty was infiltration. So, let’s just say I know good spy material when I see it.”
He stared silently for a few moments before leaning forward, elbows on his knees and hands clasped together. “I don’t know anything about the break-in at the pub—truly.”
With Corey, there was more than meets the eye, but in more of a mysterious way than a bad way.
“This doesn’t leave this room, but I was hired by Archer and Vince to investigate the break-in.”
“So, you and Tammy aren’t really a thing?” he asked, quirking an eyebrow.
“Technically, both,” I replied, and his eyebrows now furrowed, showing a clear dislike of my possibly playing games with Tammy.
I held up my hand in rebuke. “It started as something all on its own, but it’s become a little more complicated now that I’minvestigating the place she works. She’s not a suspect, and she knows what I was hired to do. Weareseeing each other, but let’s just say that what you see at the bar is ramped up a bit for show to some of the people who are at the pub.”
He gave a terse nod, and I could tell he wasn’t exactly thrilled with my answer. “This, too, does not leave this room,” he said, his voice brooking no room for argument.
I tipped my head in understanding since I had just asked the same of him.
“I work undercover—and that’s all you’ll get. I was sent in to investigate the gym because we believe the owner is using it to launder drug money.”
Whathe was investigating surprised me a little, but not thewho.
I’dfigured something was up at the gym because the owner never bothered to offer me another class or even to buy a day pass with Corey’s class canceled. He seemed more than thrilled to have me leave.
We discussed a few different options and I even told him who I’d suspected for the break-in.
“If you have any ideas or info on my person of interest, I’ll gladly take it,” I told him. “And I’ve got some contacts I can reach out to about your gym owner if you want me to.”
“I can put out some feelers,” he replied. “And yeah, if you think you can do it quietly, I’ll take anything your resources can give. Been working on this case for two years. I’d love for it to end—in a good way.”
