The Misadventures of the Laundry Hag 00 - Swept Under the Rug

out some brilliant excuse. Nothing surfaced and Lucas Sloan was closing in.
    “Well, well, if it isn’t the laundry hag,” he smirked.

Thirteen

    “ T his office is strictly off-limits. What are you doing in here?” Sloan withdrew a walkie-talkie from his guard uniform.
    “Um, cleaning?” I gestured to the mountain of supplies just beyond the door.
    “Valentino asked you to clean his office?” His gravelly voice was laced with skepticism. I nodded eagerly, praying I could talk my way out of whatever Sloan had in store.
    “So why did I see you scrounging through the desk out there on my monitors? And how come you’re in here, with all of your cleaning stuff out there?” He raised one eyebrow and I swallowed. Crap, there must have been a second camera monitoring behind Sierra’s desk. What, Valentino didn’t trust his employees?
    “Sierra promised to leave the key with security, but I guess she forgot. So I took a shot that it was still in her desk. And I was just figuring out what I need in here. Mr. V was in a hurry this afternoon and I didn’t get a chance to scope out his set up.” Queen of B.S. working her magic.
    “I’ll have to verify that with Tom.” Sloan obviously didn’t buy my excuse. “Step outside, hands where I can see ‘em.” It wasn’t a request.
    Circling the desk, I moved purposefully out into the reception area and headed to my cart. “I hope this won’t take too long, I promised my partner we’d be done in a half hour.” My nerves prickled like a startled hedgehog.
    Sloan spoke into his hand unit. “Yeah, Tom, did Sierra or Mr. Valentino leave instructions for the cleaning service to take care of Mr. Valentino’s office?” I held my breath and accepted a time of reckoning was at hand. Static crackled over the walkie-talkie and the reply came, too low for me to hear.
    “You do that then. We’ll just wait here.” Sloan stared at me, a self-assured smirk on his face. “Tom’s calling Mr. Valentino at home, just to be sure.”
    Not wanting him to see my panic, I bent over and stared at a bottle of Windex.
    “Hands where I can see them!” Sloan ordered and I whirled to face the barrel of a gun leveled at my head. I raised my arms above my head, too fearful to feel ridiculous.
    “Away from the cart, now.” His eyes cut to Sierra’s desk and I took the hint, stepping out of reach of my stuff.
    “This is just a simple misunderstanding. Do I look like a corporate spy to you?” I wiped my sweaty palms on my bleach-stained jeans.
    “Don’t play games with me, little girl. I know you lied about your identity to get this job. I ran your social security number myself and out popped the Laundry Hag Cleaning Services, much to my surprise. What I don’t know is why you lied, when you could have used me as a reference. I intended to find out.”
    The radio squawked and Sloan reached for it with one hand while training the gun on me with the other.
    His dark eyes narrowed. “He did. Huh. No, no that’s it for now.” Sloan replaced the unit on his belt and holstered his weapon while I concentrated on not keeling over in relief. Valentino had vouched for me? He must have recognized me then, but the question remained, why?
    “I want some answers.” Sloan crossed his arms and stood with feet planted. The man was huge, bulkier than Neil and maybe an inch shorter he towered, over my five four stature. The thought of my husband gave me an epiphany. Maybe I could still spin this in my favor.
    “My husband and I are having some troubles,” I told him. “Our marriage counselor, Dr. Robert Ludlum, suggested we take a break, to reevaluate our priorities.”
    Something flickered on Sloan’s face at the mention of Dr. Bob. “That sounds like the quack all right. Next thing you know, you’ll be sitting in divorce court, wondering why you listened to the bastard to begin with.”
    Nodding I caught his gaze, hoping to fabricate a little solidarity between Dr. Bob’s hapless victims. “I guess I needed a clean break, you know? Using my maiden name was just a knee-jerk reaction.”
    “Still doesn’t explain why you didn’t list me as a reference.”
    I shrugged, striving for an unsure posture. “You hadn’t paid me yet and I didn’t received any feedback, so how was I to know if you were happy with the results. I couldn’t take the chance; I need this job, especially if I’m headed for divorce court.”
    Sloan scrubbed a hand over his face. “I know what you mean.