“What happened to your knees?” Nick asked looking at her skinned knees.
“Uh, it’s kind of a long story.”
“Are you okay?” His concern was evident.
“They’re just scraped. I’m fine, but thank you.”
“Today was your last day right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then we need happy hour!”
Nick’s enthusiasm made Jo giggle.
“That would be great! I’ll take a quick shower…”
Nick eyed Jo and shot her his adorable dimpled smile.
“Alone Nick! Sheesh!”
“Hey, I’m always going to try. You know that!” He laughed cheerfully.
“Yeah, I know. You are so good for my ego Nick.”
“Yeah and you are so bad for mine.”
They both laughed and Jo told Nick she’d meet him on the steps in a half hour.
Chapter 4
Wes
Wes sat down at his desk and sifted through the messages Betty had forwarded to him. He answered a few of the more pressing emails, but he couldn’t concentrate, his mind kept wandering to the pretty little blond he’d just met. Finally he gave up and double clicked Google on his favorites bar. First he typed in the name Joe Ross. He didn’t see anything that might pertain to her so he tried B.J. Ross and was rewarded with a few matches.
The first link he clicked on was a write up regarding the award she received for her expose of the Morgis Police Department. There was a picture of her in a cocktail dress standing next to Governor Christie. She was smiling and even though it had been just six months ago she looked younger. Reading further he discovered her full name was Bobby Jo Ross, and when the article was written she'd been twenty- seven years old. He saw that she had been working for the paper since graduating with honors from Rutgers University.
The next link took Wes to her published article. Wes read through
it and was impressed with her investigative skills, and how she had backed up every charge she wrote about with hard evidence. He noted that someone in the precinct had verbally verified her suspicions, but she had never given up that person’s name. Fortunately, what she had been able to uncover was serious enough to warrant the Chief of Police and the Mayor to order an investigation of their own. They used a detective team from another precinct so the entire investigation was above reproach.
The third link he clicked on was a local police blotter from two months ago. It reported that a brick had been thrown through a window at 106B Rose Lane in the nearby town of Summit. The resident, a Ms. B.J. Ross, had been asleep at the time of the incident. There were no reported injuries, and no one had been apprehended. An uncomfortable feeling niggled in the pit of his stomach, and he realized that it was because he didn’t like that her address and her name had been printed for anyone to see.
Next, Wes Googled Jo Ross, adjusting how he spelled Jo, and he got two hits. The first link took him to a video site. When he clicked on the arrow to start the video he saw two Jo’s. They were younger versions of the beautiful woman Wes had just met. One girl was playing the piano and the other was strumming a guitar. Wes read the caption under the video as he listened to the two girls belt out a lively Carol King song. The caption read Bobby Jo and Betty Lou Ross win Sussex Fair Talent Show. Wes returned his attention to the two pretty girls. They had beautiful voices and when the song ended the video’s angle changed to show the crowd giving them a standing ovation. The video clip was from ten years ago. Wes figured they had still been in high school. When the clip ended Wes played it again trying to figure out which one was Jo. He finally gave up and returned to the search engine site.
The next link he clicked on was from a local paper in Sussex, New Jersey taken seven years ago. There was a picture of the same two girls from the video, now dressed in cap and gown, looking a little older, standing side by side, and proudly holding their diplomas. The picture was taken at their college graduation from Rutgers. He was able to ascertain from the small article, that Jo had a twin sister, an identical twin sister. Wes needed the tag under the picture to know which girl was his Jo and which one was her sister. He then realized he had just thought of her as, ‘his Jo.’ Wes slammed the computer top down and stood up. He needed a drink!
Wes texted his two partners and asked if either of them cared to join him at the bar. No need to ask which bar. They owned one and that’s where they usually went. His phone pinged twice; both Jace and Andy replied that they were in.
Inside the bar the three men talked shop. Wes, Jace and Andy owned T.U.F. a private investigating and bodyguard for hire business. T.U.F. stood for the men’s last names, Wes Tobin, Jace Unger and Andy Franco. All three men had served over seas at the same time. They had gone through boot camp together and all three had been selected for special training. Wes specialized in strategic command and hostage negotiations, and was the teams computer guru. Jace was an explosives specialist, and Andy was an expert with weaponry. All three men were deadly with their hands, and held a variety of weapons licenses. They maintained a high fitness level and expected no less from their employees.
They never advertised T.U.F.; they did not have to. They were often called upon to guard high profile celebrities, rock stars, and millionaires. They set up security for events and organized security details. T.U.F. also took on private investigating cases. They found lost persons, reconnoitered claims of adultery, handled kidnappings, and fettered out corporate corruption. Their percentage to close cases successfully was high and they had become the ‘go to’ guys in high risk security details.
T.U.F. had become very successful in the last four years and Wes, Jace and Andy were reaping the financial benefits of all their hard work. Their business came highly recommended and they were paid handsomely. They also had a waiting list of clients. Their staff consisted of men and women, all well-trained, vetted, and mostly ex-military, were paid very well. They followed orders and stayed out of the limelight and out of trouble.
As the three men sat at their favorite corner table in their small sports bar, Jace filled Wes and Andy in on his current case, which involved setting up security for a large corporate party that persons from all over the world would be attending. He had also been hired by a law firm to obtain proof regarding a wife possibly cheating on her husband, whom was the law firm's client. Andy told them about his two cases. One was locating a missing wife and the other was securing evidence regarding insurance fraud. Wes was currently setting up a security detail for Ginger Lola, a movie star that was shooting a scene in the area.
The men had a few drinks and the bar's manager Jill stopped at the table. She was a leggy red head that ran a tight ship. Jace had hired her and he and Andy thought she was awesome. Wes liked how she ran the bar, but he felt like she was always coming on to him. Andy was totally smitten with her and Wes wished she would pay his best friend the same kind of attention that she paid him.