The Cleaner (Professionals 9)

"Got it," I said, nodding.

"And if, while you are there, you can tell me which of the colors out of my swatch book might work best in the space, I would be good with that too."

"How about you just invite me over sometime to help?" I suggested.

"But then how am I going to get a clean house?" she asked, smiling big. "Anyway. Damnit. We got off course."

"I like it off course."

"Yes, well, that is too damn bad," she told me, moving back into the kitchen, looking in the fridge, coming back out with a bottle of soda. "Where were we? Oh, right. I want explanations."

"I don't really have any ones you will like. I wanted to see what she knew."

"About the supposed serial killer," Nia clarified.

"Yeah."

"So it didn't factor in at all that she's pretty?"

"I'm sure it did," I admitted.

"Alright. Well, did you see what she has? And by that, I mean on the serial killer, not under the hood," she said, smile wicked.

"She had two separate cases. Our cases and this trio of girls that didn't fit in."

"Oh my God. You didn't tell her, did you?" she asked, sighing because she already knew the answer. "What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," I confessed.

Nia sucked in a deep breath, letting it out on a sigh. "Alright. Well, the extra girls that didn't fit in there would have been great if they stayed in there. But it's too late for that. Does she know anything else damning? Did you give her any more clues leading her in our direction?"

"No. And she really doesn't have much."

"Doesn't have much by whose standard? Is she like tin-hat crazy, or has she compiled a smart, concise list of commonalities that could be catastrophic for us?"

"There's next to nothing to go on. Not that any cop would look at and see a pattern. Because there is no pattern. And the only commonality is me. Which she doesn't know."

"Right. So while we are on the topic of shady shit, don't you think that thrusting yourself into her life under false pretenses is, you know, shitty? Do I need to sic Bex on you?" she added, smirking.

Bex, Nia's little sister, was a wildcard in our area. She made it her business, along with her group of friends, to make the womankind of Navesink Bank safer. And occasionally take down a fuckboy just for shits and giggles.

"I know it's shitty. I know it can't lead anywhere. I know it's selfish of me..."

"But you can't seem to help yourself," she finished for me. "This crew has a lot of that, don't you think? Always falling for the clients and shit. I am going to take a stand now and tell you this isn't right, what you're doing is shitty. And not only is it shitty, it is stupid and dangerous."

"You're not wrong," I agreed. "Are you telling Quin?" I asked, and I secretly hoped that I would have just enough time to go back and see Poppy one last time before she did, before he reamed me out for what I'd done.

"Me? A narc?" she asked, pressing a hand to her heart. "How dare you. You know there is nothing in this world I love better than fucking with or getting one over on the boss. But, if asked, I am not going to lie for you."

"I would never ask you to."

"I believe that," she agreed. "Alright. Well, I guess, go ahead and keep being an idiot," she said, smiling at me as she made her way toward the door.

"Nia," I called, waiting for her to pop her head back in.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For what? Yelling at you?"

"Yeah, that. And not going to Quin first. And holding me accountable."

"You ever want someone to be a pain in the ass, I'm your girl. So, this house cleaning thing... What's the timeframe on that? Two to six weeks, or... I'm joking," she added with a smirk. "Thanks for the drink. "

And with that, she was gone.

I was pretty sure I'd just bonded more with Nia in five minutes than anyone else on the team had since she joined up. She'd been getting close with Miller there for a while, but then Miller stepped away from work most of the time.

In fact, in a lot of ways, the team was split a bit now between the shacked up and the ones who weren't. We all got together for events, of course, but it made sense that the ones with more in common—like spouses and kids—would hang out with one another more than the rest of the team. Which meant the rest of us—me, Bellamy, Holden, and Nia—were left out somewhat. And since we were all somewhat socially inept in one way or another, it was proving harder for us to connect.

"Oh," Nia said, popping back in. "I forgot," she added, making me realize I was getting lost in my head too much if people were able to sneak back up on me.