The smile didn’t change, a little smug, a little cold. “There’s the bad girl I remember,” he said. “And how’s business? Your new man getting involved?”
She let out a laugh that trilled through the octaves, and winced as she heard it. “Never mix business with pleasure. I need a ring and a prenup before that happens.”
“You don’t see him much on the Facebook page. I had to search to get a good look at the man who’s captivated our little Evie. It’s like you’re hiding him.”
Something like that. She looked at the iPhone. “He’s not the best-looking guy behind the bar. I don’t choose what customers post or tag. Look, Lyle, it’s a Saturday night and I’ve got a full house. Did you want something?”
He kept that unreadable dark brown gaze fixed on her. “Have you heard anything from the city about the property behind you?” He looked over his shoulder to indicate the alley and the vacant building behind the apartment.
He had her attention now. The deadline for bids passed the prior … Wednesday? No, Thursday. She’d assumed the city assessor called Caleb with the news, and Caleb, in the middle of a trial, had forgotten to call her. “No.”
“An associate of mine won the auction.” He all but sprawled on her sofa, completely relaxed, at ease. “Told you I was interested in investing in the East Side.”
Her blood turned to ice water in her veins. She’d lost the biggest space standing between Eve and SoMa, between Eye Candy and the rest of the existing East Side businesses and the East Side Business District. With the property in someone else’s name, even if the police caught Lyle the forfeiture laws wouldn’t apply.
The only way for her to get that property was to deal with Lyle.
“Wow,” she managed, and cleared her throat. “Congratulations to him. What does he plan to do with it?”
Lyle smiled. “He’s going to open a welding business. Or a strip club. He’s not sure which.” A laugh, then, “Jesus, Evie. If you could have seen your face. I’m kidding. You bid for it, didn’t you?”
She nodded. “Oh well. I couldn’t really afford it.” She couldn’t afford not to have it either.
“Should have let me help you,” he chastised. “I could see if he’d cut you a deal. He’d make a little money fast and you’d get the lot.”
“Brokering,” she said. “There’s usually a fee involved.”
“Just doing a friend a favor.”
And there it was, the truth Matt had seen before she did. Lyle wanted to own her in every possible way. She let her eyes widen, like he’d just offered her the secret recipe for the hottest drink on the market, and tried not to gabble in fear. “That’d be … that would be great. I’ll pay you back. I can’t now, but I will.”
He gave her a courteous, old-fashioned nod, and stood up. This time he let himself out, back into the bar. Eve paused at the bottom of the stairs and watched him walk through her building, her crowd, her business, like he owned it.
Matt materialized out of the crowd, gripped her upper arm, and all but yanked her into the phone alcove. He was white to his lips, his eyes hard. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“He’s not going to shoot me upstairs in my office with three hundred people in the building,” she pointed out rationally, and jerked her arm loose.
A hand landed on either side of her head as he got right in her face. “There are a dozen other things he could do to you, Eve, starting with taking you out through your apartment door without anyone knowing,” he said.
Her eyes widened. It was the most vivid display of emotion she’d ever seen from him. “I didn’t think of that,” she said.
Matt visibly got himself back under control. “What happened?”
“We can talk about it later,” she said. “Two more parties are coming in.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
After Eye Candy closed, Eve powered down the lights, and found a small task force assembled in her office: Matt, Sorenson, Carlucci, and Hawthorn.
“Murphy approached you?” Hawthorn said without preamble.
“In the middle of the rush,” she said, rubbing her eyes without a care for her mascara. She was so tired. So wired, and she’d gotten them nothing they could use.
Sorenson got her notebook. “What exactly did he say?”
In response, Eve set her iPhone on her desk and opened the voice recorder. She pressed play, and the conversation broadcast into the office.
Matt stood beside her, arms folded, back to brick wall.
“I was listening when we talked at your house,” she said in a low voice.