He wanted—yearned for—excitement. The kind he wouldn’t find in Birmingham, Alabama. Chicago was the place to be. And even if Wellsly wasn’t the very top agency in this city, it had been a damn good starting place.
But he’d blown that opportunity by being overzealous.
Who the hell else would give him a shot without any real experience? Listing Wellsly as a previous employer might not be the best way to get his foot in the door someplace else, considering he’d just been fired.
“Morning, Todd.” Anna, the waitress who took his order every Saturday morning, greeted him from behind the counter. “You want the usual this morning?”
He dredged up a friendly smile. “You got it, pretty lady.” He winked and the older woman blushed. She reminded him of his mother. Gray hair tucked into a practical bun. Conservative uniform concealing every inch of her from the knees up and shiny pink lip gloss making her smile sparkle. A genuinely nice lady.
Todd slid onto a bar stool and listened to Anna chatter about late April’s sudden cool snap as she poured him a cup of coffee.
“Winter’s determined to hang on this year,” she said knowingly, then shivered visibly. “It’s almost May, it ought to be warmer than this.” She sat the carafe back onto the warming plate and snagged the nearest newspaper. “Here you go.” She studied him a moment, her expression suddenly serious. “Looks like you could do with something to occupy your mind this morning.”
Yep, just like his mother. A mind reader.
“Thanks.” Todd took the paper and turned the page without even surveying the front headlines. It wasn’t that he didn’t care about current events but he had his own problems today. Such as finding a job and pretending that his ego wasn’t stinging like hell.
His gaze snagged on a large advertisement for this weekend’s job fair. He scanned the staffing agencies and firms participating, his hopes faltering with each name he read. The dead-last one had him sitting up a little straighter.
The Colby Agency.
He steadied his runaway imagination and reminded himself that he’d looked at their requirements once before. Minimum age was twenty-five with at least two years of pertinent experience. And, as good as he was at pretending to be someone or something he wasn’t, lying wasn’t going to work with the premier investigative agency. A firm like the Colby Agency would surely do an extensive background search.
Just when he would have moved on, his eyes encountered three seemingly innocuous words that sent a broad smile stretching across his lips and a burst of adrenaline-driven anticipation through his veins.
No experience necessary.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he muttered. Maybe he’d done something right lately, after all. Whatever had gained him the favor of the gods, he hoped it was enough to see him through the screening process.
“Here you go, son,” Anna announced as she set the plate laden with eggs, bacon and toast in front of him. “Clean your plate, you’ll feel like a new man.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Todd dug in. He would need every ounce of energy he could summon for today’s performance. And that was all any job interview was. The opportunity for a prospective employer to watch candidates perform to whatever music they played.
And no one was better at that dance than Todd. He had every intention of dazzling whoever was in charge. It was what he did best.
He could charm or talk his way out of practically anything, anywhere, anytime.
Well, except for this morning. But then he hadn’t known he was taking pictures of his boss’s daughter. Even he wasn’t that good.
Chapter Three
When the elevator stopped, Todd hesitated before stepping into the lobby of the Colby Agency.
This was definitely the floor on which security had instructed him to alight. But this wasn’t at all what he’d expected.
The furnishings, chairs and tables, including what was clearly the receptionist’s desk, sat in one corner while three men worked quickly to install new carpeting starting at the opposite wall.
“Mr. Thompson?”
Todd’s gaze turned to the woman who’d said his name. “That’s me.” The smile he saved for charming the ladies pushed automatically into place. “And you are?”
The pretty lady’s cheeks turned pink, but she managed a shaky smile of her own. “Elaine. The receptionist.” She glanced around the spacious lobby. “Sorry about the mess. They were supposed to have finished last week, except something went wrong and…” She shrugged. “May I get you a cup of coffee?”
After leaving the job fair, Todd had spent the entire weekend walking the floor of his one-room apartment. The call from Victoria Colby herself this morning had dragged him from the closest thing to sleep he’d gotten since. A quick shower and about a dozen cups of strong black coffee had followed that much anticipated call. He definitely did not need any more caffeine.
“No, thanks.” Somehow he managed to keep his smile in place. The receptionist’s blush deepened and for a moment she seemed completely flustered.
“This way, Mr. Thompson,” she said finally, with a gesture toward the corridor to the left of where her desk likely sat under normal circumstances.
“Call me Todd,” he insisted as he followed Elaine to what he presumed would be Victoria Colby’s office.
His guide took him to the far end of the long corridor and another, smaller lobby. This one had already been dressed in the new, no doubt expensive gold carpeting. He wasn’t that knowledgeable about decor, but even he was impressed with the lush ambience he’d encountered so far. But then, this was the Colby Agency, the very top of the tip top of the private investigations heap. He expected nothing less.
“Mildred, this is Mr. Todd Thompson,” Elaine announced to the older woman behind the desk. “Victoria is expecting him.”
Elaine flashed him a shy smile then headed back to her own domain. Todd watched her for a second longer than he should have, but she had a nice walk. In fact, she was very, very nice. He liked this place already.
“This way, Mr. Thompson.”
The stern tone tugged him back to attention. Though he felt confident the gesture was wasted, he gifted the lady—Mildred Parker, according to the name plate on her desk—with a flash of pearly whites that generally charmed most of her gender. As he suspected, she wasn’t buying it. Despite the firm expression, she had a pleasant face and looked to be well into her fifties. This, he decided, was a woman on whose good side he definitely needed to stay. She might not be the boss, but she was damned close.
“Mrs. Colby-Camp is ready to see you now.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Taking note of the addition tacked onto Victoria Colby’s name, Todd followed the all-business Mildred through a set of double doors and into a lavish office that made him think of royalty.
“Good morning, Mr. Thompson.”
Victoria Colby-Camp stood near a small conference table to the left of her impressive desk. She looked exactly as he had expected, extremely classy and completely unreadable.
“Thank you, Mildred,” she said, her tone soft, polite and yet commanding somehow.
Todd took the hand Victoria offered and shook it firmly. Behind him he heard the door close with Mildred’s exit.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Colby-Camp.” He wondered if she had any idea just how sincere those words were. He wasn’t entirely sure it was possible to relay with a mere sentence how