Page 190
There was a pause.
“It’s some skank with red hair.”
The doorbell rang again.
Mateo heard Xena bark.
“Make your dog shut up before I slit its throat,” the man said.
“Get rid of the bitch at the door,” the woman said. Mateo assumed that was Amanda.
“If you hurt my dog, I won’t go to the office tomorrow and get your money.”
“Lainey! I can hear you talking in there,” A woman yelled through Lainey’s door.
“It’s Janice,” Lainey said. “She won’t go away until I talk to her.”
“Don’t do anything funny, or I will let Ivan kill your dog,” Amanda said. “And don’t open it up all the way, keep the security chain on.”
What in the hell is Janice doing at Lainey’s door? They hate one another.
“Janice, you know I’m sick. You shouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, sure. That’s why you have company, too.”
“It’s a doctor. She’s making a house call.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Mateo saw Kostya shaking his head at Lainey’s pathetic lie.
“Oh really? And who’s the man that I heard? Is he helping her give you the collagen lip injection? I have to tell you; they’re doing a shit job of it.”
What the fuck is she talking about?
“Janice, why are you here?”
“I’ve been talking to Arnie since you’ve been sick. I showed him all the mistakes you’ve made.”
“What? What mistakes?”
“Oh, you poor thing. Someone had to go into your user account while you were out sick to make sure everything was handled. So I took care of that.”
“How did you get into my account?”
“I told you, Arnie likes cleavage.”
“What did you do?”
“I changed a lot of the past transactions you processed. It turns out you broke seven different laws because of the way you processed those accounts. Arnie was furious.”
“You can check your email. Arnie’s probably also left a message. You’re fired. And do you want to hear the best news? I’m the new bank management trainee.”
“Kostya, we’ve got to move. They’re going to kill her now!”
“Why don’t you come inside now that Miss Simpson is worthless to us?” Mateo heard the man ask as he and Kostya bolted out of his truck.
Then they were across the street, through the lobby, and pushing through the door for the stairs.
Before Mateo could start up the stairs, Kostya grabbed his arm.
