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So far they’d been able to cope well enough with everything by themselves, although it usually meant both worked ten to twelve hours a day, and alternated weekends. Thanks to their contacts with other cops, through necessary business up-dating courses, outside collaborations with the Chicago PD, and luck, they had had the chance to provide protection for a couple NFL players and a rock star, news about the high quality services they offered was fast spreading around the Chicago metropolitan area. The four part-timers they occasionally employed to cover bigger events were quickly becoming insufficient to cope with the heaps of requests that potential clients put forward every day. Johnny and Reece needed more collaborators.
“Have you found the time to check the figures?” Johnny inquired. For several months, they’d talked about expanding their business, but until now, Reece had been too busy with assignments to actually take the time to do that.
“Earlier.”
“And?”
Reece left his chair and walked to the coffee maker. Fixing himself a cup of coffee, he silently asked Johnny if he wanted some. At Johnny’s refusal he returned to his desk. “And as I just said, according to the figures we can employ a part-time assistant for Maddie, and since we’re fully booked for the next six months, and we have a steady flood of requests coming in every week, “ he explained, “we can ask Carl if he wants to become a full-time member of our agency. He has been collaborating with us for almost one year. He has expressed on several occasions the desire to leave the police force to join us. Besides, we know how seriously he takes his job, and we can safely rely on him to fulfill his obligations. If you agree, we can make his dream come true. But we’ll need at least another guy, or better yet a woman.”
“A woman?”
“Yes. The majority of our clients are male, but I believe that if we can add a woman to our staff, and make that known, we might be able to offer a new service, and widen our list of female customers covering a branch of business our competitors have yet to figure out exists.”
“I like that. LeeHanne might skin me alive, but I’ll deal with her in due time. Have you already thought of someone?”
“No. I’m open to suggestions.”
“I’ve got none at the moment. I guess she’ll have to be a cop or have similar training. The only other place I can think of to look for the right candidate is the FBI, but I’ll need some time to check with my contacts there.”
Reece nodded thoughtfully. “No problem. If we take Carl on board now, our work load will decrease, and we’ll be under less pressure.”
“I agree. But do you mean to bring him on as a partner or an employee?”
“Employee. Why? Have you changed your mind?” The incinerating look Reece gave him made Johnny raise both hands in surrender.
“No. I just wanted to make sure you haven’t changed yours.”
Experience had taught them how easily business ventures failed the moment too many heads wanted to make decisions. Pursuing a common goal became hard, if not impossible, due to the many conflicting personalities involved, each with his own way of seeing things, and his own modus operandi. That was why the day Johnny asked Reece to become his business partner, he’d gladly accepted, but only after they’d laid down some ground rules –including the fact that they intended to stay a company of two.
Sitting straighter in his chair, Johnny went on. “Okay. It’s all settled then,” he said, picking up a stack of papers from his desk. “Is this my share?”
“Yep.” Reece nodded. “As usual Maddie split the workload in half for us.”
Johnny gave him a pointed look. “You sure she doesn’t favor you?”
Reece sighed. “She’s married with husband number two, has three kids and a house full of cats. Where would I fit in all that?”
“Inside the closet?”
Reece refused to acknowledge Johnny’s crack, and turned his attention back to the papers in front of him.
“Gosh, today buddy, your sense of humor is darker than an oil pit. Not looking forward to the weekend to begin?”
“Not really, I’m working.”
“Only for a few hours tomorrow morning.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Oh, c’mon, you can’t blame me for trying to expand our business,” Johnny insisted.
“By doing detective work? I thought we’d left all that behind us.”
“Not totally, and you know it, Reece.”
“Yeah, I do. But please try to stick to body guarding. Until we hire more people, we can’t afford to waste too much time on other things. There are many PIs around who can do the job. Why us?”
“This guy comes recommended.”
