Maddy's Oasis

Chapter Three

He grimaced in response. Her phone rang, and she tucked her earpiece in place. She placed the papers in her briefcase, waved to him, and started out the door as she answered the phone. Duke followed, pushing by her as he trotted down the stairs.

“Ms. Winters, this is Deputy Miguel Fuentes. How are you today?”

“Great,” she responded. “Is this about last night?”

“Yes, ma’am. Jake asked me to give you a call this morning.”

“Thanks. I’ll be by your office in precisely an hour and a half. On what street are you located?”

Call waiting beeped, and Madeleine glanced at the number. It was Dotty.

“Look, I’ll call when I’m in town,” she said, then switched to Dotty's call. "Talk to me, Dotty!"

Duke trotted after her. She opened the door to her rental, and the dog bolted into the car. She looked over her shoulder. Jake was not in sight, and she was late enough as it was without waiting for him to claim his dog. Duke walked around the backseat twice before settling behind the passenger’s seat and rubbing his wet nose around the closed window.

Dotty was already talking. Madeleine tried to pay attention as she rolled down the rear window and started the car.

" … patch the finance department through?" Dotty asked.

"Right now?" Madeleine asked, unable to keep the dismay out of her voice. She waited for the AC to cool off, irritated by the heat. "I don't need worse news."

"Rumor has it your dear ex-fiancé Mark ordered an audit."

"Oh, dear god. I can't find what Alex did with the money—there's no way I can explain it to the finance department!"

"I'll hold them off. You sound beat already. Can you come up with some story for them in an hour or two?" Dotty asked.

"Yeah, I'd appreciate it. I gotta get going. Will take me a while to get to town," she said.

"Take care, Maddy."

She smiled, thankful to have one ally in the office. She wasn't surprised Mark was acting like the cad he was; he'd know just how to make her look bad enough in their boss's eyes to make sure she never moved up in the organization. She watched Eric make his way to Jake and pulled out with another look at the massive dog in the backseat.

* * * * *

“This’ll help my hangover?” Eric frowned.

“Yeah,” Toni responded. “It’ll sweat the alcohol right outta you.”

Half-listening, Jake smiled as he continued to stack the scattered stones into neat piles on top of wooden pallets. He and Toni, among others, had long since stripped down to their jeans and boots under the hot sun. Jake was sweating heavily, but it felt good to get his body moving after a night of drinking.

Eric removed his suit coat and carefully folded it before placing it on a waist-high stack of stones on one of the pallets. He unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt, rolled them, and planted his hands on his hips.

“Great, guys,” he said with some of his previous enthusiasm. “What do I do?”

“You see those rocks?” Jake asked, straightening.

Several pallets of previously stacked stones had been scattered over about a hundred square yards by the vandals. They couldn't move the stones out of the way of the heavy equipment until they were on the pallets.

“Pick ’em up and stack ’em there,” Jake instructed, pointing to the pallets.

Eric slapped his hands together in anticipation and started forward. He hefted the first one while Jake and Toni watched.