Shay O'Hanlon Caper 04 - Chip Off the Ice Block Murder by Jessie Chandler. Page B

talents encompassed much more than simple player reward systems. If the government wasn’t careful, Coop could hack into their systems so fast they’d have no idea what hit them. He had the ability to seriously mess with any mainframe’s inner workings. It was a very bright idea to keep Coop on your good side.
    Lisa leaned against the back counter again and crossed her arms. “What are you finding in your research?”
    Coop smirked. “It’s confidential, and they might kill me for sharing, but the one thing I can tell you is that they need to dial back their expectations.”
    “Pshaw.” Disgust colored Eddy’s tone. “Those yahoos. Why should I—a geezerly taxpayer who has nothing to do with football, help fund a ridiculous roofless stadium—in Minnesota, of all places, when they have a perfectly good one now? Well,” she added, “as long as the roof don’t cave in again. ’Sides, those millionaire owners could stand to drop a wad of their own dough for their cause. The state shouldn’t have anything to do with how businesses run their affairs, ’specially when it’s all about dopey football.”
    “Let’s not get her started or we’ll be here all night,” I said.
    Eddy ignored me. “Lisa, can you go with Shay tomorrow? I’d feel a lot better if someone were with her. She’s got a bit of a temper—”
    “I do not,” I interrupted indignantly.
    Coop whacked me. “Yeah, you do.”
    I made a face at him.
    Eddy gave us her patented settle-your-asses-down-before-I-whup-’em evil eye. That look worked as well now as it did back when we were knee-high like the corn in July.
    “See what I mean about her temper?” she said to Lisa.
    Lisa laughed. I wondered if she thought we were all whackadoodles. But honestly, I didn’t need to wonder; we were all whacka-
doodles.
    “I’m doing an internship at the Walker Art Center,” Lisa said. “I’m on vacation for another week. I certainly can help out tomorrow if you like.” She drilled me with an intense look. “But only if Shay doesn’t mind.”
    There was something disturbing yet mesmerizing in those eyes. If she did come along tomorrow, we were definitely going to have to have a heart-to-heart. I needed to make damn sure she was clear on the fact that I was completely and thoroughly attached. I mentally smacked myself. I didn’t even know for sure the woman was gay, and here I was jumping to some probably very wrong conclusions.
    I mentally heaved a peevish sigh and rearranged my expression into something a little more inviting. “Whoever would like to accompany me on tomorrow’s fact-finding mission, meet me at the Rabbit Hole at ten a.m.”

    It was almost midnight when Lisa and I finished up at the Lep. Coop left to take Eddy home, and Lisa restocked the bar while I tried to tie out the day’s receipts. In all, the weekend had been a good one for my father. He was damn lucky we’d all been around to help him.
    My fury at his bailing out on such a huge weekend was tempered by the knowledge that something else very unseemly was going on. There was no other explanation. Maybe this cluster was all tied into one massive booze orgy. His track record was full of them, so there was no discounting the possibility.
    After some fits and starts, I managed to bumble through the maze of paperwork and prepare the deposit. Luckily, like the safe combination, nothing had changed since he opened the place.
    I shut off the light to the office and pulled the door closed. I double-checked the front door to make sure it was locked and killed the lights in the front of the bar.
    My phone vibrated with an incoming message. A quick check showed that JT was on her way home. One beautiful, bright spot to end my evening.
    In the kitchen Lisa was tucking away the last of the dishes, her back facing me.
    “Hey,” I said.
    Lisa let out a startled yip and spun, hand to chest. “Oh my god. You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
    “Sorry about that.” It wasn’t good