Slow Burn (Diamond and Diamond Private Investigators 2)

“I'm not done,” Tessa said, cutting her off. “You're so fucking selfish. I don't need you to bend over backwards, but you could at least try. Sunday, when you woke me at the crack of dawn, I had a man sleeping in my bed. A very wonderful, sexy man. You woke both of us up to ask about photocopies of invitations to a party that was five weeks away. Do you realize how crazy that is? Dad was always the glue that held the family together, and I'm trying really hard to follow in his footsteps. Neither you or Matty give a shit about anything but yourselves. I'm so over it, Mel. I'm done.”

“Tessa. Wait!”

She turned around and marched back to her car. She was already going to be late coming back from lunch, but she really didn't care at this point. She was on a roll today anyway. Why not just tell Marty to fuck off, too. She turned on her car and deliberately ignored her sister's wave as she pulled out of the driveway.

She still hadn't heard back about the second round of interviews at Saint Marks University, but she was hopeful. If she was able to get the undergrad teaching position, she'd be able to go back to school and get her doctorate in molecular biology. Maybe she'd be able to save future families the heartache of watching a loved one die from cancer.

Tessa pulled back into traffic and headed back to the office. Luckily she was only about ten minutes late. Having the time in the car to cool down had probably been a good thing, anyway. She couldn't tell Marty to go fuck himself just yet. She really needed to get the other job first.

Rick looked up from the mail he was delivering and gave her a frown. He mouthed, “Are you okay?”

She gave him a fake smile and nodded. She would talk to him about it later tonight. Or maybe not. He'd mentioned class tonight. She wasn't sure what time it let out.

Between full time class and a full time job, she didn't know how Rick managed it. If the Saint Marks thing came through, she'd be living that reality, though. She might be able to pace herself on the class work at least, though. She'd ask him about that, too.

Eventually Rick made his way toward her desk with an interoffice memo envelope. He handed it to her and said, “Your mail. Sign here, please.”

She took the clipboard from him and perched on the edge of her desk. Biting her lip, she teased, “I've got some expense reports that need to be done when the mail is delivered.”

He shot her a sour look in response, then considered her for a moment. A smirk on his face, he lowered his voice and said, “There's definitely something on this desk that could use doing.”

“True story,” she replied, grinning. “What time are you done with class tonight?”

He opened his mouth to answer and then she heard Marty say, “Rick. Come see me when you're done delivering the mail.”

“Fucking tool,” Rick muttered. “Talk to you later, Tessa.”

She gave him a little wave and smiled as he sauntered away. God, he was built. After their time on the couch and in bed, they'd ended up together in the shower. She'd been able to thoroughly explore all of his muscles and ridges. Despite his injuries, which seemed healed except for the nasty scars, he was in fantastic shape. He was really close to perfect and that was a little scary.

Chapter Seven

Rick ran his hands through his hair. This case was going to be the death of him. He'd been sifting through phone records for hours looking for any connection to incoming or outgoing calls and Armitage. So far, zilch.

Now, more than ever, he refused to believe Tessa could be responsible for the leak. He knew the evidence suggested her, but it was entirely circumstantial. Without her admitting to any wrongdoing or catching her in the act, damned if he'd report her. Fuck.

He ran the last set of numbers through the search app Mike had developed and rubbed his eyes. He was refilling his coffee when he heard a beep. Setting the cup down he hustled back over to his laptop. A beep was different.

When a number came up as highlighted, he saw six calls in total. All outgoing, all for about five minutes or so. He cross referenced the number with the list of phone lines at Armitage and then said, “Bingo!”

Several phone calls from one line at Cynertex to Giana Valenti, VP of Development at Armitage. Now all he needed to do was to find out who's extension the number had been dialed from. It looked familiar, but he couldn't place it. He scanned the directory and breathed a sigh of relief. Not Tessa's line. She wasn't the leak. But Marty Thompson was.

He glanced at the clock. It was nearly eleven. There was no way he could call Wallace with the news right now. He'd have to let him know tomorrow. It wasn't concrete, but it was a hell of a lot more incriminating than a folder with pho

tocopies.

He wondered if it was too late to call Tessa. Christ but he was relieved she wasn't the leak. Once the news broke, he would have to deal with telling her the truth. He imagined she would be pretty upset. Not that he could blame her. Hopefully she'd be able to get past it.

As ridiculous as it sounded so early in the game, he was really starting to have feelings for her. He hoped this wouldn't fuck things up with her. In any case, at least he would sleep easy knowing he wasn't sleeping with the corporate spy he was supposed to be catching.

For good measure, he printed out the call log, highlighting the calls and the extension that had dialed them. He printed out a background check on Marty and Giana Valenti as well. The more information he could provide, the better.

He still couldn't believe the idiot had dialed from work. Why hadn't he just gone outside to use his cell? Or waited until he got home. Yep, that was Marty's fatal flaw. He completely underestimated everyone around him. With any luck, Cynertex would be able to dig up some conclusive proof on the server now that Rick was able to point them in the right direction.

* * *

Rick made a quick call before he headed into the office to Wallace Chase and ended up in voicemail. He ran the report up to his Executive Assistant before his shift started. It would be interesting to see how this all went down. For his own personal reasons, he really hoped he got to be in the room when Marty got fired.

He had made a point to stop by Tessa's desk. She'd been on a conference so he'd written 'Lunch?' on her sticky notes. She had given him a thumbs up before she took herself off mute and started arguing about chemical bonds.