The Hitman's Guide to Tying the Knot Without Getting Shot - Alice Winters Page 0,2

more fun by chasing, threatening, or harassing the cheaters. Unless the client pays extra—Jackson doesn’t know about that part.

“Yes, she left last week and I’m positive something happened to her. I went to the police but they said that there’s no case to open because there’s nothing to point toward something happening. They keep telling me she just left me.”

“Why do they say that?” I ask.

He bites his lip. “I mean… she did send me a text that she’s going to stay with her sister, but I know her! They barely get along! I can’t imagine she’d just go stay with her and there was nothing bad going on at home. Are you sure you can handle this? I heard the other detective’s been around the longest… my friend recommended him.”

I wave him off. “Yes, I can handle it, I assure you. Can you give me some photographs of her, her sister’s address, the police report, or anything you have that could help?”

“Uh… yeah, of course. Sure,” he says. “Do you know when the other detective will be back?”

“I promise you I can handle it,” I say, wondering why this man is so adamant about Jackson. Only I am allowed to be this obsessed with Jackson. I wonder if he read the review and heard about how handsome he is. “I have like a ninety-nine percent results rate.” I don’t tell him that all of those results aren’t necessarily positive, but I get results.

“I think she might have talked to that Jackson guy before, though. Maybe he recognizes her.”

Hmm… interesting. So maybe she’s not the cheater but he is. “She came here for something?”

“Yeah, maybe… I was going to have him look.”

“Well… we keep our customer’s stuff private, but if I can find what she came here for, it might help us,” I say as I turn to my computer and type in the woman’s name. Her name doesn’t come up, but before I was here, Mason was in charge of keeping stuff filed which means it didn’t get filed at all. “Give me a moment. While I look for that, please compile some photographs and anything else you might know into an email on your phone.”

I head upstairs and over to the filing cabinet that was once upon a time used to store stuff in. Right now, it’s just a fucking mess, but there is a small portion organized that we paid Cassel to do. He did about a quarter of it before disappearing and starting on something he deemed “more fun.” I don’t blame him. Literally anything would be more fun than dealing with a Mason-made mess.

I don’t see her name on any of the organized files, and I’m not about to go wading through the rest before I talk to Jackson, so I decide I’ll look after the man leaves. I start down the stairs but hesitate when I see the girl still in her chair but not the man. She’s staring off to the right, telling me that she’s probably looking at her father, but the only thing off to the right are Jackson’s and Mason’s desks.

I slow my descent so my feet are nearly silent as I make my way down the stairs. When I’m about halfway down, I can see him standing at Jackson’s desk, but I know the laptop is locked.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

He jumps and looks over at me, an expression of guilt on his face. “I was just… looking… I wanted to see what she was here for.”

“Why don’t you go back to your seat and sit down?” I say, tone clearly telling him that I’m not dealing with his shit. Especially when someone thinks they can invade my fiancé’s space. He’s lucky I don’t throw him out on his ass.

He holds up his hands. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just… I know she was here, and I wasn’t cheating on her but maybe this Jackson guy thought I was and that’s what he told her and that’s why she left me.”

I walk up to his chair and stare down at the man, eyes narrowed. “Jackson is the best at what he does and he’s never wrong. No matter what he told or didn’t tell your wife, I can assure you it was correct, got it?”

He nods. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I’m just… I didn’t cheat, okay?”

“Give me the information. I’ll look into it and while I do that, leave before you do something