The only other option is paying for it online through one of the background-check sites. By comparison, not cheap. At least not for the reputable sites.
Human resources uses one to investigate potential employees, but Bianca doesn’t have access to it anymore. Obtaining a single record isn’t expensive, but it’s not like she has any extra money to throw around. She is an assistant, not a sales rep.
What she does have is access to a company credit card. Bianca makes travel arrangements for the reps, orders their business cards, and restocks supplies for the sales department. Using it for police reports for an employee and his girlfriend would be against the rules. So is having a master key, but the credit card would create a record. A paper trail, as the detective might say. One that could get her fired.
Bianca searches the internet for another option, like a free trial. She finds a site called Who’s Done What, which allows her to see if any police records exist, though not the reports themselves. Starting with Wes, she enters his name and birth date.
The site spits out the results: three records.
Three.
She does the same with Ivy. Her birthday is easy enough to find on social media, and Bianca enters the same year Wes was born.
Same result: three records.
Bianca doesn’t believe in coincidences. In her experience, they don’t exist.
She wants to see the reports, wants to know why Ivy is a problem and why a detective came to see Wes. Bianca starts to enter the credit card number, which she has memorized, but stops halfway through, closes the browser, and returns to her work.
Not worth it. There has to be another way. She thinks about it all morning while searching through her contact list, looking for anyone who works for the police department or down at city hall.
Just before lunch, Tanner stops by to ask about the latest. Bianca gives him the usual rundown, he listens and nods, and when she’s done, he leans in close. Like she did the other day.
“And Wes?” he whispers. “Anything new?”
“Not today. He’s been very quiet.”
“He’s in a bad mood?”
“I don’t know,” she says, eyes wide. “He’s been in his office all morning.”
Tanner sighs and glances over at Wes’s closed door. “Good to know.”
“Does that mean something?” she says. She doesn’t normally ask Tanner questions like that, but today she can’t help herself.
“It might.” He smiles at her and winks before walking away.
Something is happening with Wes, something Tanner is aware of. But he isn’t talking. What she wants to do is ask him about Joey Fisher. Specifically about Wes and Joey. But she doesn’t dare.
As soon as Tanner is back in his office, she orders those police reports and charges them to the company card.
* * *
—
Wes doesn’t really see his computer screen. Nothing registers. While he doesn’t feel as angry as he did last night, he also doesn’t feel good. Or even okay. All his emotions are muted, buried under the one that dominates.
Frustration.
Not the sexual kind, either. That would be easier to deal with. No, this is the kind of frustration that makes him feel like punching the wall to get rid of it. Or at least bring the feeling down a few notches.
Ivy didn’t say a word about the dress before work. They went through the usual motions like robots, talking but not saying anything that wasn’t necessary. Is the coffee done? Where’s my other shoe? Have you seen my keys? At one point, Ivy launched into a story about a coworker that seemed like it was supposed to be funny, but neither one laughed.
The morning ended with a perfunctory kiss at the door before they went their separate ways. This fresh new day hasn’t erased anything; it has only brought more questions:
Why would Ivy wear that dress? Why would she ever want to remind him about the Fine Line? And of that night.
Thinking about it upsets him. Visibly so, apparently, because when Tanner walks into his office, the first thing he says is “What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing. What’s up?”
Tanner takes the seat across from Wes. “Calvin called and wants to push the meeting back.”
“I know, Bianca messaged me about that.” It wasn’t a good sign, either. It was supposed to be a closing meeting.
“You sure you’re okay?” Tanner says.
“I’m fine. Just a little headache.”
Tanner raises his eyebrows. “Trouble with the missus?”
Yes. “No.”
“Sure, sure. Okay, I want to get the team together this evening to talk strategy. Since we’ve got some extra time, I want to make sure everything is on point. If they’re waffling, we have to pull them back in.”
Wes makes a note on his schedule. “Got it. I’ll be there.”
“Bianca’s going to set us up in a private room at White Rabbit, so there will be drinks.”
“Naturally.”
Tanner stands up, like he’s about to leave, but then he snaps his fingers. “Just to be clear, this isn’t a plus-one event,” he says. “Don’t bring Ivy.”
Wes sighs.
“Just trying to help you out. Ivy is . . .” Tanner stops. He leans over Wes’s desk, placing both hands on top of it. “Ivy isn’t good for you.”
He isn’t joking around. Tanner looks at Wes like a disappointed dad.
At least, that’s how it feels. Tanner makes Wes feel like a teenager all over again, sitting in front of his parents. Mom, a stern woman with a long list of draconian rules. The opposite of Ivy, who didn’t have any.
And Dad, always by his mother’s side, supporting her in silence. Together, they were an unyielding force. Wes could never make them understand why a party or a football game was so important, that his entire social life might collapse if he didn’t show up. Eventually, he stopped trying.
Easier to keep his mouth shut and sneak out of the house instead.
He does the same thing now. Doesn’t try to explain anything to Tanner, doesn’t try to make him understand his relationship. Wes stays quiet until Tanner leaves his office, knowing he is still going to see Ivy. Even if it means lying to his boss.
22
One of the best parts of being an assistant is that no one pays attention to you. As long as Bianca gets her work done, Tanner and the others have no interest in what she’s typing or reading, or how many times a day she looks at her phone. No one cares. That lack of interest gives her plenty of time to read the police reports.
Ivy is indeed trouble.
Now Bianca knows why the detective came to the office. The report was filed just last week: Ivy had said she was being stalked and named Wes as a potential suspect. A week ago, Bianca wouldn’t have thought that was possible, but today is different. She isn’t sure she knows Wes at all.
That never happens.
And it’s not going to happen now, either. She isn’t going to be the type who finds out her coworker is some crazy psycho/stalker/murderer and says, “He was the nicest guy. I never had a clue.”
She’s going to find that clue. If it exists.
Bianca flips through the reports, going through them a second time. The newest one is about Ivy’s stalker, someone who had been leaving her presents. The earliest one is from eight years ago, when Wes had accused Ivy of vandalizing his car. He changed his statement later—instead, blaming it on a series of crimes in the neighborhood—and the charges were dropped.