Alpha Billionaire’s Bride, Part Four (BWWM Romance Serial) Read Online Free Page A

Grandma
stayed until closing. Did I get everything right, Grandma?”
    “You did.”
    Jada made notes on a pad. Knowing the details she had gotten
from Marina about Sylvia’s meeting with the mystery woman, Jada didn’t want to
forget any of Mrs. Nell’s recollections.
    “You helped with Sylvia’s work, too. Isn’t that correct?”
Ophelia asked Mrs. Nell.
    “That’s right. I felt bad about her little boy, so I covered
for the dear. That way she wouldn’t have so much to make up when she came
back.”
    “Make a note of that and we’ll return to it later,” Ophelia
said, cryptically. “The next morning, Sylvia called and asked to use some leave
time because she had to stay home with her injured son. She said she’d need
Thursday and Friday off. Grandma agreed to come in and work all day Thursday
and Friday.”
    “Yes,” Mrs. Nell said. “I didn’t mind. And anyway, it was
slow, and the girls in the city clerk’s office took turns coming down and
helping me when I got busy.”
    “Have you spoken to any of those helpers about what they
saw?” Jada asked.
    “I did,” Ophelia said. “They weren’t there when it
happened.”
    “When what happened?” Jada asked.
    “From what I can tell, it was business as usual in records
until late Friday afternoon. Grandma was alone in the office when another tall,
thin woman arrived and asked Grandma what she had on Ian Buckley. Grandma
didn’t actually remember Ian’s name when we first discussed this today, but she
remembered it was a man’s name, and all things considered, you’ll see it had to
have been Ian when you hear the rest.”
    Jada and Ian shared a look.
    “Could this woman have been the same one who came on
Wednesday?” Jada asked.
    “Huh,” Mrs. Nell said. “Let me think about that. I don’t
know. Maybe. No, I don’t think so. This woman was loud and rude as anything, so
I probably would have remembered that. Probably. Let me tell you, this skinny
blonde was a real how-do-ya-do. I would have told her to get her nasty self on
out of there, except I try to be a professional.”
    “How was she rude?” Jada asked.
    “The way she said things. ‘Get me this now, I’m in a hurry.’
‘I haven’t got all day you know,’ and so on. She kept asking me to hurry up
when I was printing out what she wanted and tapping her long nails on the
counter clickety-clack, clickety-clack. Had my nerves jumping.”
    Ophelia continued the tale. “So, the woman asked for a
record about Ian Buckley. Grandma searched the computer and got two hits, one
referencing a marriage license with Ian as the groom, and another referencing
Ian as a witness to someone else’s wedding.”
     
     

Chapter Three
     
    JADA’S BROWS SHOT UP. “TWO records?”
    “That’s right,” Ophelia answered. “But Grandma got a little
flustered by the woman’s complaints and—”
    “I wasn’t flustered,” Mrs. Nell interrupted, shooting a
severe look at her granddaughter. “It got stuck in the printer.”
    “It doesn’t matter,” Ophelia said. “The woman only got the
printout for the record that listed Ian as the groom, and never knew a second
one existed.”
    “I didn’t realize it myself,” Mrs. Nell said, “until after
Miss Snooty Pants was gone and I found it in the printer tray. Serves her
right, I say.”
    “How did the woman react when she read the printout you gave
her?” Jada asked.
    “She got excited and even louder and bossier. She wanted me
to get her a copy of the actual marriage license.”
    “The records department is still behind, technology-wise,”
Ophelia explained. “When someone files a document with the department, the first
thing they do is enter the information into the main computer, which makes it
part of the official, searchable database. The actual paperwork is then stored
in a filing cabinet until enough documents build up to send them off for batch
scanning and processing by a contractor. Before those files are sent off for
scanning,