“De, I’m not interested, all right? I got a lot goin’ on over here, so—”
“I was hoping to make this a very special evening,” De interjected, deciding to reveal her true plans. “Josie Sharp is a friend of mine and she’s interested in meeting you ... again. I told her she was wasting her time, but she really wanted us all to get together and ... well, it’s only dinner, Lex,” she drawled, hoping to underplay just how much she wanted to see her cousin involved with a woman like Josie Sharp.
Of course, Alex was all too aware of DeAndra’s desperation. “I’ll see if I can make it. I’ll get back to you,” he finally sighed, tired of arguing.
DeAndra squealed on the other end of the line. “Oh, thank you, Lex!”
Alex shook his head. “I said I’d get back to you,” he sang before slamming down the phone.
A deafening thud sounded against the heavy cherry-wood door and Alex looked up. An uncharacteristically bright smile crossed his face when he saw his managing editor, Clifton Knowles, wobbling on crutches into the office.
Alex stood and rounded the desk. His chuckles gained volume as he shook hands and hugged his friend/ colleague.
“How were the slopes?” he teased with a straight face.
Clifton grimaced, shaking his head as he set aside the crutches and eased his six-foot frame into a nearby chair. “Save the jokes, brotha, I’ve heard ’em all.”
Alex burst into full-blown laughter. “Aw, I bet I can come up with some new ones.”
“Spare me, please,” Clifton urged, massaging his bearded jaw. “I’d rather talk about this paper. I see it’s still running, even with you in charge.”
“What can I say?” Alex bragged, shrugging at the taunt.
“They sent me every edition while I was out. You did good, man.”
Alex responded with a playful grimace. “Don’t even try pullin’ another week off, ’cause we need you back. Badly.”
“Hmph.” Clifton voiced his disbelief while propping his casted leg atop the edge of the desk. “So ... anything big goin’ on?”
Alex knew that Clifton was referring to his less than reputable “side” business. “Not yet,” he remarked, reclaiming his seat behind the desk, “but there could be a possible takeover going on with the businesses on Briarcliff.”
Clifton propped his elbows against the arm of the chair. “We covering it?” he asked, stroking his beard.
“Right now, we’re just gathering information, but I think this is something we should try keeping out of the paper for now.”
“You involved?” Clifton asked, fixing his friend with a steady, dark brown gaze.
Alex toyed with the open collar of his blackberry shirt and shrugged. “Two friends with businesses on the block asked me to sit in on a meeting. They believe there might be some shady dealings with the takeover and think they may need my ... help.”
Clifton needed no further explanation. “Looks like you might be pretty busy,” he predicted.
Alex rubbed his fingers through his dark curls and squeezed his eyes shut tight. “Clif, I pray with everything in me that won’t be the case.”
Around eleven that morning, Topaz was being escorted into the president’s office at White and Webster Contractors.
“Well, well, well, to what do we owe the honor?” Stan was asking as he pressed a kiss to her temple.
“Let’s move this meeting down to the Cropsy,” Horace suggested, referring to the delicatessen around the corner.
“Guys—”
“How’s business, love?”
“Business is what I came to talk about,” Topaz pointedly replied, sending Horace a stern look.
He and Stan exchanged glances, each one growing concerned.
“What’s goin’ on, love?” Stan asked, as he and his partner frowned into her lovely face.
“Something’s going on with the businesses—the businesses closing on this block,” she began, tossing her purse to Horace’s desk. “I don’t know if you two have noticed anything. Maybe you have and thought nothing of it.”
“What’s up?” Stan asked, perching his stocky frame on the edge of the desk.
“I got a visit from a man a few days ago. He was interested in knowing whether I was interested in selling—it got me to thinking. Why? All of a sudden, all at once, so many businesses gone, just like that?”
Horace looked over at his partner, who offered no response.
“It got me to thinking,” Topaz continued, “I decided to do some digging and I found out that the same company handled the deals for all five sales.”
Stan’s interest was piqued. “You find out what company it was?”
Topaz shook her head. “Nobody would talk about who, but they definitely said they were aware they’d all been approached by the same group.”
“How’d you find out all this?”
Topaz fixed Horace with a sheepish grin. “Just paid some friendly visits to a few people. Told them about the guy who’d approached me and I acted like I’d been thinking of selling, but wanted to find out about the deal they got first.”
