The Moretti Clause

Chapter five

She got home at eight and opened her apartment door and stopped.

Nico was on her couch. He had her blanket, a bowl of popcorn from her kitchen and was watching something on her TV with the complete comfort of a man in his own home. He looked up when she came in and whatever was on her face made him sit up immediately.

"Oh you're back," he said. "Sit down."

"Nico, how did you get in?"

"You gave me a key."

"I want it back."

"You're not getting it back." He held out the popcorn bowl. "Sit. Talk. How was your day?"

She dropped her bag, took off her shoes and sat on the other end of the couch. She took a handful of popcorn without asking.

"Okay," she said. "So the CEO of the entire Moretti company was at the hotel today."

Nico's eyes went wide. "THE Moretti? As in the name on the building, Moretti?"

"The exact one."

"And?"

"And I had to deliver his lunch."

"AND?"

She ate a piece of popcorn. "I was late because of a situation. And when I explained that to him he told me it wasn't my responsibility and that the delivery should have taken priority."

Nico stared at her. "What situation?"

"A four year old named Luca was sitting on the floor alone crying for his mom so I had to help."

"What did you say?"

"I apologized." She kept her face completely straight. "Very sincerely."

Nico looked at her. Really looked at her. "With what energy Imani."

She ate another piece of popcorn.

"You went sarcastic."

"I don't know what you mean."

"IMANI."

"He asked if it was sarcasm," she said. "I told him no."

"And he believed you?"

She thought about the way he'd looked at her. That one second before he let it go.

"I don't know," she said honestly.

Nico put the popcorn bowl down and turned to face her fully. "Okay but wait. Back up. You said you found out after that he was the actual CEO."

"Josh told me in the elevator after."

"So you were sarcastic to the man whose name is on the building."

"I was professional."

"Sarcastically professional."

"Is there another kind?"

Nico stared at her for a long moment and then he fell back against the couch cushions and laughed. Really laughed, the kind that took over his whole body. She watched him with zero expression and ate more popcorn and waited for him to finish.

"I'm glad you find this funny," she said.

"Baby I find this hilarious." He wiped his eyes. "Only you. Only you in this entire city."

"Are you done?"

"Almost." He took a breath. Settled. Then he looked at her sideways with that look he had. The one that meant he was about to go somewhere she didn't want him to go. "So what did he look like?"

"Who."

"Imani."

"The CEO? I don't know. He looked like a person."

"A person," Nico repeated slowly.

"A person in a suit."

"That's all you got. Person. Suit."

"That's all I got."

Nico looked at her face for a long moment. She looked back at him with complete innocence and ate another piece of popcorn.

"Mmhm," Nico said finally.

"What."

"Nothing." He picked the popcorn bowl back up. "Person in a suit. Sure."

"Sure," she agreed.

The TV filled the silence between them. Nico didn't push further, and she didn't offer anything further and that was that. She was not going to give him that. She was absolutely not giving him that.

She reached for the popcorn again.

"He was ugly right," Nico said casually at the ceiling. "Like really ugly."

"Goodnight Nico."

"That's a no then…"

"GOODNIGHT NICO," She said going to her room

Two days later.

The New York office of Moretti Holdings occupied three floors of a building four blocks from the hotel. Alexi had been using it as his base for the period of this trip, arriving early and leaving late the way he did everywhere because stopping meant thinking and thinking about certain things was not currently on his agenda.

Marcus came in at eleven without knocking because he never knocked and Alexi had stopped expecting him to somewhere around the fifth year of knowing him. He was carrying a folder which he set on the desk without ceremony and stood back with his hands behind his back.

"You asked for this," Marcus said.

Alexi picked up the folder and opened it.

Photos. Taken over the past two days, clean and clear.

A young woman leaving an apartment building on a residential street in the Bronx, curly hair, work bag over one shoulder. The same woman behind the counter of a coffee shop in a green apron. Another one of her outside a diner, laughing at something with a man in a yellow shirt. One more of her walking fast down a midtown sidewalk, head up, moving like she had somewhere to be.

Her name was Imani Guerrero. Twenty seven. Bronx born and raised. No college degree. Currently working three jobs , a diner, a coffee shop and a bar on weekends. Occasional babysitting and other odd work on the side. Picked up the temp position at the Moretti Grand through a coworker connection.

Parents both deceased. Father when she was ten. Mother when she was seventeen. No other family on record. She lived alone.

Alexi turned to the next photo. She was outside what looked like a convenience store, squinting slightly against the sun, saying something to the man in the yellow shirt again. That same man appeared in several of the photos. Friend, Marcus confirmed. Close one by the looks of it.

"That's everything we have so far," Marcus said. "Do you want us to go deeper?"

"No." Alexi closed the folder. "This is enough."

Marcus didn't move. Alexi could feel him standing there in that particular way he had when he had something to say and was deciding whether to say it.

"What," Alexi said without looking up.

"Nothing."

"Marcus."

A pause. "You want to tell me why you needed a full workup on a part time waitress from the Bronx?"

Alexi set the folder to the side of his desk and picked up the document he'd been reviewing before Marcus came in. "No."

"Right." Marcus picked up the empty tray from the edge of the desk. "Is she in some kind of trouble?"

"Not that I know of."

"Did she do something?"

Alexi thought about a woman standing in his suite holding his gaze without flinching. The slight bow at the end. The complete straightness of her face when she said I would never.

"She delivered my lunch," he said.

Marcus looked at him for a moment. "She delivered your lunch," he repeated.

"Late," Alexi added.

"And you needed photos of her daily routine because she delivered your lunch late."

"Is there something else you need, Marcus?"

Marcus looked at him for one more second then turned and headed for the door. "No sir," he said, in the voice he used when he had many things to say and had chosen, for now, to say none of them.

The door closed behind him.

Alexi looked at the folder on the corner of his

desk for a moment.

Then he pulled his document back in front of him and went back to work.