Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 1)

  ~

  For the second night in a row, I had a car parked outside my door, and again, Maddox picked me up in the morning. To avoid gossip, I decided to walk in ahead of Maddox, saying my hellos to my colleagues as I made my way towards my desk.

  When Maddox arrived five minutes later, he gathered us all together.

  "You may have noticed that Martin hasn't been at his desk this week," he began, his eyes scanning the small assembly. "I'm sure this will come as a shock to all of you, as it did to me, and there's no easy way to say this. Martin was found dead at his home over the weekend. I'm afraid I don't have anymore details, but I will keep you informed. For now, let's just keep working."

  "Probably a heart attack," said Anne, next to me. "He wasn't exactly a healthy eater."

  "Mmm," I said, noncommittally.

  "Mind you, my first husband was as fit as you like and he had a heart attack too."

  "It could happen to any of us," I replied. Last night, for example, I could have died in a car crash, but I decided not to mention that. On the way in, Maddox told me the SUV was reported stolen and found clean of prints. As the driver left the scene, he was alive, although possibly injured, and definitely pissed off.

  Anne nodded. "Certainly could. I wonder what happens to Green Hand now? Maybe we'll get a new boss, and you know how new bosses are, they always want to shake things up. I'm three years away from retirement. No one will hire me now," she finished, gloomily.

  "Sure they will," I said, trying not to think how many years away from retirement I was and whether that whole time would be filled temping. Perhaps it was time to get my résumé in order.

  "Maybe. I don't think the company was doing that well." Anne turned to walk away and I followed her to her desk. She didn't seem to mind.

  "Why do you think that?" I asked.

  "I think Green Hand were paying out on more policies than they anticipated. I heard Dominic mention to Martin and Vincent that it was unusual." Anne had worked here almost as long as Dean, so they had been on first name terms. I still didn't know what Anne did, and it seemed impolite to ask, especially when she made an effort to look busy, and I’d been here a while and really should have known by now.

  "What was so unusual about that?"

  "Just a lot of the policies that hadn't been open long and were already paying out, especially when it came to damage. The ratio between theft and damage usually stays the same, but over the last quarter, the ratio was skewed."

  "Odd," I said.

  "I know. It's probably just one of those things."

  "Probably," I agreed, returning to my desk. I opened a file, ruffled some papers over my desk and went internet surfing.

  At lunch, Lily stopped by and we walked over to the café where I’d had lunch with Maddox. We bought sandwiches and grabbed a couple of tall stools by the window.

  "Insurance will cover the Mini's damage," she told me. "It got picked up at nine. And I filed a police report this morning. They want your statement too."

  It struck me that I was spending far too much time at or with the Montgomery Police Department lately. "Sure. When do they want me in?"

  "Anytime in the next couple of days," she said. "Are you sure it's okay to use your car? I wouldn't ask, but I have so much stuff to do today, and I'm on the door at eight."

  "Yeah. Just replace whatever gas you use. Maddox is giving me a ride home."

  "Is he staying for dinner?" Lily winked.

  "I don't know. Maybe." I shrugged, taking a bite of my chicken sandwich. "He told everyone Dean was dead."

  "No way. Anyone wig out?"

  "No, but Anne mentioned something odd. She said the ratio between theft and damage was skewed."

  "I don't follow."

  "I don't so much either, but Dominic, Dean's assistant, apparently thought it was odd that there were more claims for damage than usual and the policies hadn't been open long."

  "What kind of damage?"

  "I don't know. This office handles the policies for all kinds of stuff. Not cars though, that's the Boston office."

  Lily sipped her coffee and looked thoughtful. "I guess theft has to have a police report, and damage doesn't."

  I nodded. "It would be easier to file a fake damage claim." Something niggled at me, something was missing, but I couldn't squeeze the thought into fruition.

  "You have any idea which claims were fake and which weren't?"

  "No. And if Maddox does, he hasn't told me." As far as I knew, they were no closer to breaking the case.

  "Maybe you could have a look in the files? See if anything raises a red flag?"

  "I guess. Did I mention Anne said a lot of the newer policies had paid out too? Some policies can run for years without a payout."

  "Sounds like a place to start."

  No one was in the office when I got back, except Vincent, who gave me a cheery wave and offered me a donut. His lips were covered in confectioner’s sugar. I declined and he shrugged as he went back to work. I switched my monitor on and clicked through to the shared server, calling up some of the recent payouts files.

  Using a pen, I scribbled the names, dates, addresses, account numbers and length of policy on the payouts. I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I was interested to see if a pattern emerged. I continued until my hand cramped and made a possibilities list of one hundred policies, all of which had paid out in less than six months of their opening date. I exited the files and called up an internet browser, typing a few of the local addresses into Google Maps, just out of curiosity. Most of the addresses were average family homes or apartment buildings, nothing out of the ordinary.

  I went down the list, ticking off the ones on my way home, and came up with twelve and the crazy idea that I was onto something.