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Chapter 13
Sunday
The next morning, Julia paced the kitchen at Madeline’s, waiting impatiently for Zoe. She’d promised to come by around eleven, and Julia had tons of questions for her. Nico stood off to the side, leaning against a wall with his hands in his pockets. She had no idea how he managed to be so patient. Stay so calm. She was ready to jump out of her skin.
“Hey,” he said, snagging her hand as she passed in front of him for at least the twentieth time. “You’re going to be exhausted by the time this place opens.” He tugged her against him and wrapped his arms around her. “Take some deep breaths. Center yourself. Don’t make yourself crazy. It sounds as if Zoe has a plan. We’ll fix this.”
Julia held herself stiffly, leaving some space between them. She was way too tense, too wired, to calm down. But as Nico drew her closer, he ran a hand slowly up and down her back, and finally she sighed and relaxed into him. “I just want this over,” she whispered.
“I know you do,” he said, his hands kneading the tense muscles between her shoulder blades. “I do, too. Once this issue is resolved, we can focus on what else is going on. Why someone put spyware on your home computer. All those odd things that happened. We’ll figure out what’s going on, babe. And we’ll take care of it.”
“Babe?”she said, leaning away to look up at him. “Really?”
“It slipped out,” he said with a shrug. “Sorry.”
In spite of calling Nico on his babe, Julia’s heart beat a little faster. ‘Babe’ wasn’t a word a bodyguard would use with the woman he was protecting. It implied a closeness, a tenderness, that went beyond strictly business. He’d always been completely professional. But if she were being truthful, Julia would admit that at night, knowing only one thin wall separated them, she’d thought about Nico in a very non-bodyguard way. In the dark of night, the silence of her room, she wondered about making love with Nico.
She was pretty sure he’d put as much focus and attention on a lover as he did in his job. Regretted that she wouldn’t find out. Nico was out of bounds.
She’d been wary when Zoe told her she needed a bodyguard. She was afraid she’d go nuts with someone beside her all the time. But Nico hadn’t been intrusive. He’d fit into her life seamlessly, and now it was hard to imagine running Madeline’s without his steady assistance.
Hard to imagine her life without Nico in it.
She closed her eyes and drank in his fresh air and water scent. Pressed a little closer to him, taking a moment to memorize all the sensual details -- his scent, the feel of his chest against hers, the way his arms banded around her, making her feel protected.
When tires crunched over the rough asphalt in the parking lot, followed by a slammed car door, she reluctantly stepped away from him. “That must be Zoe.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice raspy. Clearing his throat, he said, “I’ll let her in. In case it isn’t Zoe.”
A few moments later, Nico cracked the door open, then opened it wide. “Zoe. Thanks for coming over.”
“My pleasure,” Zoe said, looking beyond him. When Julia saw her, she straightened her spine. Tried to look calm. In control. She didn’t want Zoe to see how edgy she was. How upset.
Clearly she didn’t succeed, because when Zoe spotted her, she brushed past Nico to get to Julia. “Jules.” Zoe grabbed her hands. “If I were you, I’d be freaking out, too. But we’re gonna end this today. Okay?”
When Julia nodded, Zoe let go of her hands. Draping an arm over Julia’s shoulder, Zoe said, “Let’s take a look at your computer.”
After disabling the camera and microphone, as she’d done when she looked at Julia’s personal computer, Zoe’s fingers flew over the keyboard. Fifteen minutes later, she pushed away from Julia’s desk. There was no mistaking the anger in Zoe’s clenched jaw. Her eyes shooting green sparks, she motioned Julia and Nico out of the office and closed the door behind them.
Leading them into the kitchen, she said, “You have spyware on this computer. The same program I found on your home computer. That’s how Carole got your ID for the terminal.”
Julia stared at her, shocked. “Carole is behind all of this?”
“Impossible to say if she’s the one behind it, or if she’s working with someone else. I know you think Andra and Ruth are involved, but they don’t have keys to the restaurant, right?”
“No. None of the servers do,” Julia answered. “Only Delia, Carole and me have keys.”
“Whoever takes over as hostess after you fire Carole shouldn’t have a key,” Nico said. “That’s security 101.”
“Nico’s right,” said Zoe. “Only you and Delia should, and I’d think twice about Delia.”
Staring toward her office and the spyware-infected computer, Julia vowed, “I’ll fire their asses tonight.” Clenching her jaw, she looked down at her hands, curled into fists. Forced herself to relax them. “I’d call them right now and tell them not to come in, but I can’t be short two servers this evening.”
Setting her hand on Julia’s arm, Zoe said, “I want you to change your ID again. Right now, and do it from your computer. I suspect there will be meals missing again tonight. That’s when you fire them. Don’t use that computer until Tuesday, when I’ll remove the spyware.”
“I can’t afford to lose that much money again,” Julia said. “God knows how long this has been going on. It has to stop tonight.”
“It will,” Zoe assured her. “You’ll know exactly how much is missing. You make them give it to you. They’ll probably refuse and claim they have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s when you call the police. Or better yet, call the police before you talk to them. Have them waiting in front of the restaurant.”
