For Just Cause

“I’m not so ready to wash my hands of Mary-Francis,” Claudia said, abruptly returning to business. “I’m going to talk to Angie. If she’s in contact with her supposedly dead father—”

“Whoa, wait, Claudia. You probably shouldn’t confront her. She could be dangerous.”

Claudia seemed insulted. “I know how to deal with addicts, even violent ones. I’ve had clients come at me with knives, try to choke me with drapery cords—”

“In a clinical situation, where I’m guessing you have a panic button, or people waiting in the next room who’ll come running if you scream.” Jeez, and he thought his job was dangerous.

“I know a little something about dangerous people,” she said. “I wouldn’t be dumb enough to confront her in an unsafe environment.”

“I’ll go with you,” he said, surprised at how happy it made him to have an excuse to spend more time with Claudia. Now that he knew for sure she couldn’t see inside his head as though it was a fishbowl, he wouldn’t be so irritated if he caught her studying him again. In fact, he might not be irritated at all. Did she always wear lacy slips? What was that about?

“I’m sure you have better things—”

“Once Daniel makes up his mind to check out a potential client, he wants it done right. It’s my job to run around interviewing people connected with the case. It’s what I’m being paid to do.”

“I’m on a hefty retainer,” Claudia reminded him.

“Then we’ll confront Angie together,” he said, settling the matter.

* * *

“GOOD MORNING, CELESTE,” Claudia said as she entered the Project Justice lobby the next morning. “I’m here to meet Billy Cantu.”

Celeste Boggs, Project Justice’s office manager and self-proclaimed head of security, looked up from her Soldier of Fortune magazine with a stern expression and pointed to a clipboard. “Sign in there, please.”

“Oh, but I’m not—”

Celeste tapped the clipboard with one impatient finger and glared, daring Claudia to complete her argument.

Claudia signed in. It was hard to defy Celeste. Though the former Houston cop was in her seventies, she was one scary mama who claimed to know fourteen ways to kill someone with her bare hands. Celeste dressed as if she were auditioning for the role of World’s Most Eccentric Senior Citizen, but Claudia wasn’t fooled by the flamboyant red, ostrich-feather-trimmed shirt or the huge earrings made from shotgun shells.

Celeste meant business, and no one got past her into the rest of the building unless she let them.

“Billy,” Celeste said into the phone, “your date is here. I hope you bought a corsage for her.”

Is that how Claudia appeared to Celeste? she wondered with some alarm. Like a high-school girl all primped for a date with the quarterback? She’d opted for a more casual look today, a pale peach linen sundress with a wide brass belt. The skirt was one of her shorter ones…had she subconsciously dressed provocatively for Billy’s sake?

The possibility was troubling.

A loud clanging of metal and a snort coming from the vicinity of Celeste’s feet interrupted Claudia’s uncomfortable musing. “What’s that noise?”

“Oh, that’s just Buster.”

“You have a dog down there?”

“No, not a dog.” Celeste tried and failed to hide a mischievous smile. “Want to see him? He’s a beauty.” She leaned down and grabbed on to something that turned out to be a metal cage. As she hefted it up, Claudia saw that inside the cage was a large, furry, fierce-looking…pig? It was excitedly trying to dig its way through the steel bars with sharp, cloven hooves.

Claudia took an instinctive step back. “Oh, my God, what in the hell is that thing?”

“It’s a javelina! Haven’t you ever seen one before?”

“In a zoo, maybe. What’s it doing here?”

“It was in my backyard, and it kept digging up my vegetables. I caught it. My grandson’s school mascot is a javelina and their previous one died—or maybe they ate it. So I’m donating this one to the school.”

“You’re donating a vicious wild animal to a school?” That did not sound like a wise plan.

“He’s not vicious. I’ve been taming him down. Watch, he’ll let me pet him now.”

“Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Claudia took a few more steps back.

Celeste opened the cage door. “Don’t worry, he’s really rather sweet. Aren’t you, Buster?” Celeste petted the animal on the head, then scratched it behind one ear.

The beast didn’t look as if it enjoyed the attention. In fact, it was frozen in a classic defense posture designed to make it invisible. Its next move would be to bolt for freedom. Freeze, fight or flight.

A frosted glass partition separated the lobby from the rest of the building. Just as Celeste withdrew her hand and was about to close the cage, Billy burst through the glass door like a freight train.

“Good morning, Claudia!”

The wild animal bolted out of the cage at the speed of light, sliding across the polished surface of the reception desk, plopping to the floor and wiggling right past Billy’s feet and through the door before it closed.

Claudia screamed just from the sheer surprise, and Billy backed up against a wall, his right hand automatically reaching under his jacket for a weapon.

“Holy crap, what was that thing?”

Celeste was the only one who didn’t look perturbed. “A javelina, what did it look like?” She calmly picked up the phone and pushed the intercom button. “Attention, all staff. Please be advised there is a small, hairy, piglike animal loose in the building. If you see it, would you mind calling the front desk so I can catch it?”

“You brought a live javelina to work?” Billy asked, as if wanting to be sure he’d heard right.

“It would have been fine if you hadn’t scared it.”

Billy looked at Claudia. “Now would be a good time to leave.”

“Sign out! Both of you.”

Once they were out the door and heading for Claudia’s car, they burst out laughing.

“What the hell was that about?” Billy asked. “Celeste’s new pet?”

“She caught it in her yard,” Claudia said, “and she’s donating it to her grandson’s school because they need a mascot.”

“Her grandson? Celeste doesn’t have any children. She never married. You must mean her great-nephew.”

“She said grandson. I’m sure of it.”

Billy shrugged one muscular shoulder. “She must have misspoken, then.”

Elderly ladies didn’t normally speak of grandchildren they didn’t have. How odd.