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He headed for the door, but I pushed past him.
Elena saw us coming and opened the office door, waving us both in, and Cash followed me, sidestepping to keep from running into me when I stopped, surprised by who was in the office. Imani Coleman was Anemone’s very young shark of a lawyer. Ken would not have called her in for anything less than DefCon 4. Liz was seated by Ken’s desk looking almost as gobsmacked as Mac this morning, but I knew hers had nothing to do with sex. It had been good this morning, but business as usual for us. It must have something to do with finding out she was Cleve’s daughter. No small thing.
“What’s up?” Cash asked, and Ken said, “Sit down. We have news.”
Cash sat in the last chair, which was fine by me because I wanted to be next to Liz. I moved behind her chair, and she reached up her hand and I took it. It was cold. I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Whatever it is, we’ll fix it,” and she nodded, but then Ken started to talk so I straightened.
“Workmen at the factory found a box in a wall they were demo-ing,” Ken said. “It was full of papers, so they took it to Liz.”
Cash nodded. “They should have shown it to me first, but, okay, Liz is going through all that stuff, so she’s second choice.”
Yeah, she was always second choice for you, you moron,I thought, but I just held Liz’s hand tighter, and she squeezed back.
“One of the papers was the deed to the factory,” Ken said.
“Great,” Cash said. “I’ve been looking all over for it. Now the sale can go through. Lavender’s papers were a mess—”
Ken cut him off.
“The name on the deed isn’t Lavender’s,” Ken said.
“Cleve owned the factory,” Cash said. “So his name would be on it. When he died, it went to Lavender. As per his will. And now it’s mine.”
Ken shook his head and held up the deed. “No. He transferred it by deed prior to the will being drawn up. It was no longer his property.” He paused. “It’s Liz’s.”
Cash went white for a moment, and then he lunged over the desk, grabbing for the deed, as Ken rolled his chair back, keeping the paper away from him. “No,” he said. “I’ve had Elena make a copy for you, but you can’t have the original.”
Cash stood up, vibrating, and I moved around Liz to stand between them in intercept mode if it got to that. I was really hoping he’d come for her.
“This is bullshit,” Cash said, his voice low and vicious. “That ismy factory.” He turned on Liz. “Did you do this? Fake a deed so—”
He stopped because Imani Coleman started talking in very low, calm tones, taking Cash to town, her crisp, smooth voice cutting through everything to tell him that the deed was clearly legal, the factory was Ms. Danger-Blue’s, he had no recourse, and if he continued to slander Ms. Danger-Blue, there would be legal repercussions.
“Danger-Blue?” Cash said, taken aback.
Liz stirred beside me. “It looks like I’m Cleve’s oldest daughter.”
He stared at her for a moment, stunned for the second time. He’d married the wrong Blue daughter if he wanted the factory. In fact, he’d married the wrong Blue daughter for a lot more reasons than that, but he was a petty kind of guy. When his eyes narrowed and he began to smile, I knew he was reverting to the sleazeball I’d always known him to be. A snake in a suit.
“No,” I said to him, and he looked up and met my eyes and knew what I meant.
“All’s fair in love and war, buddy,” he said, back in control again, looking at me like I was a small-town cop living in a beat-up diner with no money to speak of. All of which was true. The switch in moods was ominous.
“What?” Liz said.
“He thinks he’s going to get you back,” I said. “He does want you, but he wants the factory even more.”
“No,” Liz said to him. “I’m with Vince now and forever. I have no interest in ever seeing you again.”
“Gonna be pretty hard with your job at the factory,” Cash said, smiling that easy smile at her.
“It’s her factory,” I said. “She’s not the one who’s out of a job. Get your guys out of there.”
Cash’s face changed once more, since it was obvious he hadn’t quite computed what “the factory belongs to Liz” meant. “Hey, I’ve put a lot of money in there clearing it out,” he began, but Imani cut in.
“Without the factory owner’s permission,” she said. “In fact, your work could be considered vandalizing since Ms. Danger-Blue did not give you permission to enter the building. However, if you submit receipts for all the work done, and Ms. Danger-Blue approves of the work you ordered, she will consider reimbursing you. But I will definitely need to see receipts first. And Jason Leotta will have to check the quality of the work that has been done. Ms. Danger-Blue will have final approval.” Cash started to speak and she overrode him. “We can take the issue to court and keep it tied up there for years without you getting any reimbursement since you didn’t have the original deed before you started working. You are clearly in the wrong here.”
“Liz,” Cash said, looking at her.
