The Maestro (Cold Hollow Mysteries Book 3) Read Online Free PDF Page B

desk. “Did you also inform him that I would be at the home office in a week or so to check on progress?”
    “I sure did.” He paused for a moment and turned to Maurice. “I gotta tell you, boss, your place is bustling. I’m kicking myself in the ass for not getting into the liquor distribution business when I was young.”
    Maurice sat behind his desk and chuckled. “Adam, you are right where you are supposed to be. Do you wish to be wealthier?”
    Adam shrugged his shoulders and looked at the ceiling. “Doesn’t everyone? I have to admit, though, that I am horrible with money. I have dreams, but I don’t have the brains to see them through.”
    “Stick with me, Adam, and you’ll be just fine.”
    Adam smiled. “You got it, boss.”
    Maurice arranged papers on his desk in a particular order and spoke as he continued to move things with peculiar speed. “I require one of your men to go and secure the beach home and lock it down for hurricane season. We leave for New England in three weeks. I have already secured our lodgings there.”
    “New England? Why are we going there?”
    Maurice stopped his motions and glanced up at Adam, grinning. “You are finally going to meet my son, Thomas. He is getting married.”
    Adam leaned forward with bulging eyes and mouth agape. He snapped his mouth shut and asked, “What about Delilah?”
    Maurice sat back and laced his fingers atop his desk. “She is beginning to come around faster than I assumed. She is aware she has three weeks to  recuperate with my assistance of course. Once her scars are healed, we will take her shopping and then to the home office on a daily basis. I will monitor her every move.”
    Adam popped up from his chair and clapped his hands together. “This is great, boss. This is just great! I’ve been away from New England a long time. It’ll be great to meet your son and to smell the apples and maple sugar in the fall.”
    Maurice guffawed. “That’s what you look forward to? Apples and maple sugar?”
    Adam leaned over the desk. “The ladies too. They have some pretty ladies in New England, boss. We may just find the next ‘Lady Gillette.’”
    Maurice winced. “Isn’t that the name of a razor?”
    Adam held his hands out beseechingly. “Who cares, boss? I’m excited!” Maurice laughed as he watched Adam carry his bulk from his office with a skip in his step, mentioning something about getting a haircut and getting some maintenance done on the Cadillac Escalade for the trip. Maurice admired Adam’s hair. He had the thickest black haired mane he had ever seen. It went well with his mocha brown eyes.
    Maurice shook his head and began working in earnest. Running a liquor distribution company was tricky. It was a game to be played, and Maurice always won.
     
    ***
     
    One week passed, and Delilah had made remarkable strides in her recovery. The plastic surgeon had removed her bandages, and the remaining marks only required a daily application of ointment. Her mouth was healed, and she could eat, albeit soft food. She was ambulating and moving about the mansion with ease. When she took her meals in the dining room with Maurice and Adam, they watched over her and made sure she took her medication after breakfast and one pill after lunch. This left one pill for her to take at bedtime. She balked when Maurice insisted on checking her mouth and under her tongue after the pills were swallowed but relented. Now that her exterior was back to normal, Maurice had to work on her mental status; he helped her daily to resist any dark urges she might have.
    On this particular morning, Delilah wished to go out shopping.
    Maurice held his fork before his mouth and asked, “What is it you wish to shop for today?”
    She twirled a long strand of her blond hair around her forefinger. “I want to buy my new nephew a surprise, and I want to get Tommy and Myrna a nice wedding gift.”
    Maurice chewed and swallowed the last of his breakfast and nodded. “We