Page 118 of Protecting Love

She stood up and walked closer to London and pulled her in for a hug. “You’re the best.”

The doorbell went off upfront. “That’ll be your intentional, non-robotic man,” London whispered.

“Be nice around him.”

“I’m always nice,” London argued.

Her phone buzzed next, Molly saying it was Fletcher. “He can come to my office,” she said.

London opened the door before Fletcher got there.

He turned the corner, came in in his black suit, crisp white shirt, two buttons undone at the collar, his stride purposeful, his eyes almost relaxed. As if he had the answers she’d been waiting for.

He pulled the chair out and sat across from her. London in a chair next to him.

“Sorry,” he said. “I just got out with West.”

Her jaw dropped. “You told your boss before you told me?”

He lifted one eyebrow. “He caught me when I came in. I’ve been running around this morning and verifying information. It’s not like I’m going to tell him no when he asks to talk to me.”

She didn’t want him to know how annoyed that made her. She wasn’t succeeding by the lifted eyebrow he sent her way. “So, what did you find out?”

“Brad verified it was Debra who dropped the letter off yesterday to be delivered to you.”

“I wonder how she found out where we lived?” London said.

She pursed her lips. “I think I might have mentioned the building before. Just in passing.”

“That’s on you not to do it in the future,” he said.

“Noted. What else?”

“I went back to Chinatown, to the restaurant the rat came from. I asked around again. Showed Debra’s picture.”

“Please tell me they said it was her,” she asked. She wanted the secret of who it was to come out.

“No words were said, but their eyes told another story. I know when to stop pushing. I got what I needed.”

“I don’t understand any of this,” London said.

“Now you’re going to call her,” he said. “And ask her if she can come here to meet with you.”

“What?” she screeched. “Why would I do that? Why would I want to meet with her in person? Can’t I just ask her over the phone why she did it?”

“You’re not going to be alone. I’ll be here. We’ll do it after hours when your staff is gone. When she wouldn’t be at work. My guess she’d want that anyway.”

She was shaking her head. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s about finding out more. If you ask her to come here while she’s working, she might be fearful her employers would think something is going on. After work, on her time, she might be more willing.”

“I don’t care if she’s willing or not. I want to know why she did it. That rat was gross. Without the rat, I think I would have just let it go and moved on.”

“Make the call, Paris. We all know you can stay calm and not let anything out.”

“What am I supposed to say to her? Tell her I know it’s her?”

“Tell her you want to meet after hours at your office. That you had some questions. Allude to the fact you don’t want the owners to know you might have missed something.”