Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7)

school room.”
“They listened to him?”
Reggie snorted as he plated himself some muffins. “He told them he had no problem calling you and snitching on them. They skedaddled.”
“Good, but I should get over there. I have some work to do.” I turned to Bridget. “And a new thief to research.”
“What’s the reward?” Bridget asked.
“A million even.”
Reggie whistled.
“I’ll help Tweedle finish up her baking and then I’ll bring her over,” Hattie said. “You kids go beat Donovan on that wager.”

Chapter Three
“Why didn’t you go to Mexico?” I asked Reggie as we climbed the stairs at Headquarters.
“Because I’m as smart as I look,” Reggie said. “Last trip to Mexico, I came back with a nasty rash and a million mosquito bites. If I stay here I get to eat and drink as much as I want and sleep in.”
I entered the passcode to open the war room door. “If Grady comes home with a mysterious rash, he’s sleeping on the couch.” I placed my thumb on the second lock for a fingerprint scan. The panel turned green, and I shook my head at the over-zealous security update Carl installed last week.
Stepping aside, I let Reggie go first, then Bridget. I hadn’t told Reggie about Bridget’s redecorating of the war room, and he tapped his foot in front of him against the 3D mural on the floor where it appeared the floor plunged into a fiery lava pit below.
“Did I just walk inside a video game?” Reggie asked as he walked forward, examining the other 3D murals of robbers and monsters bursting into the room and the weapons mounted to the walls and ceilings. “This is rad.”
“Nobody says rad anymore,” Bridget said. “That died in the ’80s.”
“What would you call it then?”
“Bitchen,” Tech said. Tech stood and walked over to my usual workstation, raising the section so I could stand while I worked. He had made some technology revisions to the stations which now had dual screens mounted to every other segment of the table. He was attempting to transition me to a paperless world, but it was a struggle. “I know you want to start the jewel thief file, but you have three other files to look at first. Two are consulting cases. The third is a potential client.”
I sighed, passing the jewel thief file to Bridget. “Carl, can you help Bridget with any background work she needs?”
“Yes,” Carl said as he hunched in closer to his screen.
I flashed my eyes from Bridget to Carl’s monitors. She stepped behind him so she could see the screens. Her eyes widened when she saw what Carl was doing. “Carl, get out of those files and off their server before I tell Kelsey what agency you are hacking!”
Tech shook his head at Carl, then pointed to one of the file icons on my monitor. “First up, we have a case in Colorado. The county sheriff asked us to give them some feedback and see whether we can point their investigation in a new direction. Next is an FBI consulting case in Nevada. They want your basic profile workup. Donovan also asked for us to review five open stalker cases, but I warned him we’re behind and might not get to them this week.”
“What’s the third file you mentioned then?”
Tech returned to his chair, checking his phone for messages as he answered. “A fifteen-year-old girl disappeared five years ago. Her parents want to hire us to find her.”
“Tech, we’ve talked about the runaway cases.”
“I know,” Tech said, setting his phone down and looking back at me. “Just hear me out. The parents don’t think she ran away.”
“They never do,” Bridget said.
Tech sighed. “I told them it was unlikely we’d take the case, but we’d review the file. They’re willing to pay our hourly rate for your time.”
“Can they afford to pay our rate?”
“I quoted them the amount, and they agreed.”
“But can they really afford it, Tech? You’re talking about desperate parents who would do anything to get their child back.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been too busy to run their background.” He leaned his head back in his chair. “Between being your analyst and secretary, plus watching Carl and vetting everyone for Silver Aces Security, I’m a little behind.”
“We have enough work we can hire some people, but where would we put them? I don’t want our war room to be crammed full of administrators.”
“I’ll figure out the offices,” Bridget said. “I’ll talk to Donovan when he gets back.”
“I know a guy who can do the background checks for the security side and who will work remotely. I’ll talk to Donovan about him.” Tech rubbed a hand across his forehead. “Then we’ll only need a secretary to handle the incoming calls and emails. And the pile of paperwork that goes with it.”
“Talk to Donovan, but I think you need an analyst for the investigation’s side too. They can do the initial backgrounds and case workups, and then you can dive deeper on the cases we actually take.”
“Combine the positions,” Bridget said. “Hire someone who answers the phones and runs the initial backgrounds on the cases. I know someone who’d be perfect for the job.”
“Who?” Tech and I both asked.
“Trainee Kemp. The guy booted from the trainee program for not disclosing that Henderson assaulted me. He’s still in the area and job hunting.”
“I do feel guilty that I hired you after I kicked both of you out of the trainee program.”
“I knew you would.” Bridget winked. “Plus, Kemp has a computer science background.”
“Sold,” Tech said. “Get him in here so I can talk to him about the position.” Tech pointed to my monitor, silently ordering me to get to work, before he rolled his chair back to his own workstation.
I started flipping through the murder case in