Kim nodded, reaching for the phone. Lauren smiled at Wrath and led him through the archway to a larger room. Lauren spotted John T at one of the computer stations and approached him.

“If you’ll just take a seat here, I’ll be right with you, Mr. Williams.” Lauren directed Wrath to take a chair close to where John T worked.

Wrath sat and Lauren focused on her coworker whom she knew spent time with Brent. They liked to go barhopping together and she figured he might be her best bet at locating the missing monster Wrath hunted.

“Good morning, John. I got a call last night from Mel to show one of Brent’s properties. The buyer is really interested but he had some questions I couldn’t answer. Do you know where Brent is? The buyer wants the warehouse but he wasn’t thrilled seeing huge cargo containers on the property. I don’t know if the owner plans to remove them or if it’s an ‘as is’ deal.”

“He got a call yesterday after work and took off out of here like a bat out of hell.” John shrugged, still typing. “I haven’t heard from him since. He was supposed to show up at the Bugle last night.”

“What’s that?”

He grinned. “It’s our favorite strip bar. We go there a few times a week.”

She tried to appear nonchalant. “Oh. Well, if you can reach him, will you have him call me?”

“Sure.” He reached for his cell, picked it up, and turned in his chair. He spotted Wrath, appeared startled, and dropped his phone on the desk. He fumbled, grabbed it and spun to face the screen again. “I’ll call him now.”

Lauren turned, smiling at Wrath. “This way, Mr. Williams. I’ll pull up those condo listings.”

“Lauren!”

Lauren jumped, turning. Mel stood in her office, staring at Wrath with an odd expression on her face.

“Hi, Mel. This is Mr. Williams. He’s interested in condos.”

Mel smiled but it looked forced. “May I speak to you for a moment?”

Lauren nodded and motioned Wrath toward an open door near the front by the reception area just around the corner. “This is my office. Go on in and I’ll be back in a second.” She moved toward her boss, wondering if she was in trouble for trying to argue the night before over showing the property. “What is it, Mel?”

Mel waited until Lauren was inside her office before she spoke. “Who is he?” She kept her voice down.

“That’s Mr. Williams. He was just stationed in this area and plans to stay a while.”

Mel chewed on her bottom lip for a few seconds then frowned. “He called you and set an appointment?”

Lauren nodded and hoped her boss wasn’t planning to screw her over by trying to steal a client. It wouldn’t be the first time. Of course Mel didn’t realize Wrath wasn’t a real client and she worried what would happen if her boss wanted to show him listings instead.

“How did the showing go last night?” Mel changed the subject.

Lauren managed to hide her relief. “Good. Mr. Herbert is interested in buying the property but there are these large cargo containers left inside the warehouse that he wasn’t interested in. He asked me about them but it’s not my listing. I didn’t know if they stay or if they’ll be removed. He wanted to talk to Brent.”

“I’ll pass that along.” Mel studied Lauren. “Okay. Go ahead and deal with Mr. Williams but I called a meeting in half an hour. You can set him up with some coffee while he waits for you. It won’t take long.” She glanced at her watch. “My office in half an hour and it’s mandatory. You can go show him the properties he’s interested in right after the meeting.”

“Is everything okay? We usually don’t hold meetings when clients are here.”

A smile curved Mel’s mouth. “Everything is fine, Lauren. We had some parking issues come up with the landlord and I swore I’d talk to all the employees. The man is a pain in the ass but we don’t want to lose our lease. It won’t take more than a few minutes. I just want to address everyone at once so no one feels singled out but we both know who the two worst offenders are. Both John T and John B know better than to use the alley. The other tenants complained.”

“Okay.” She left Mel, returned to her office and smiled at Wrath. She sat down at her desk and glanced at the open doorway, lowering her voice. “We’ll be here for at least half an hour. My boss called a meeting and she said it was mandatory. That should mean that he has to show up for it too. He could walk in at any time.”

“Did you hear that?” He seemed to be listening to his earpiece and gave Lauren a slight nod, keeping his voice low too. “They heard.”

“I’ll pull up listings while we wait. We’ll just pretend to look at them to pass the time.”

Lauren had him scoot his chair closer so both of them could view her computer screen. “While we look at condos, we can watch who walks in the door. I never get tired of looking at these. Some of them are kind of cool.”

“I like the curved stairs and the big bathtub.” He pointed at the computer monitor but his other hand brushed her thigh and rubbed before he leaned back in his chair.

They had viewed several listings when Lauren’s phone rang about fifteen minutes later and she answered. “Lauren Henderson.”

“Hello, Lauren. It’s Brent.”

Her gaze flew to Wrath. “Hello, Brent.”

Wrath tensed in his seat and leaned closer. Lauren tilted the phone, hoping he could hear both sides of the conversation.