Councilor: Book Six of The Channel Riders

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lled to meet with her first thing in the morning. It was a quicker turnaround than she liked, but Elena smiled nodded and got back to work, reminding herself to take the back

eeded to leave the small office space if she wanted to keep her sanity and h

er desk reemerged, her calendar filled up dramatically. In the process of sorting through things, she made several calls to answer questions

or guessed, there were few immediate concerns. Most simply wanted to touch ba

for her morning meeting with James. To the stack she added the still sealed agenda for the Council meeting aboard the Lorenzo she needed to attend at the end of the week. She figured that could wait until the end of the day. After checking in she woul

e more of an escape if I shredded the paperwork instead of taking it with me, " she decided as she placed the stack in the passenger's seat. Elena drove ho

if they did, few bags actually made it to the DF. As Jennifer had never been out of sight of the DF, except to practice

didn't get soggy in the salt air mere moments after being opened, and wouldn't crumble to bits if someone sat on it. Elena thought they had a relatively long shelf lif

the short walk to the stores, pleased to no longer be stuck in the office. Being able to walk on a sidewalk in

e, what would happen to those who worked for her? All of her employees were good people and hard workers and she knew that they would have little problem finding new jobs if she had to close. But would th

d people did a little local shopping before heading home for the night. Elena decided to stop into Calabrese Imports first. The bell over the door jingled

just thrilled to run into her if her gregarious greeting was anything to judge by. Elena scrolled through her mental database trying

lena's brain clicked. "She's one of the designers from Mara-Lee Designs, " she recalled even though the woman

for air. "So with the boutique hotel you will want different items for each room so everyone is uniqu

ng her purse to Emily behind the counter as they walked by. Elena decided it was as good a way

ded up as merchandise. Elena made a mental note to have Victor send any paperwork that could link her merchandise

ral pieces for purchase, including a rather large sculpture to use as a point of interest piece for the lobby. Elena kept her

ack into the pond, " Ma

she replied. "So d

tle to do with her and most of which was amusing. Elena quickly learned of several local love affairs, and some not so secret crushes. She

As Elena went over the reports in the office, she was familiar and able to add, clear up and settle all of the issues Susan brought up. Sus

o know and not as comfortable with her as the imports store staff. She thought that if anyone were to be taken in for questioning it would be the staff of the imports store rather than that of Nibbles. The others in the

only a few off world pieces while Nibbles is almost e

me sorts of things she just covered with Susan. Again there were no surprises and she was able to deal with his conce

blinked in surprise wondering where Andre could have gone. She knew he hadn't shippe

" she

you to look at as well, you know the back to school, Halloween and holiday ones. I think he had stacks dealing with everything from Thanksgiving to New

orks out, " she said thinking of Peter. Victor had no love of Andre and in fact only mentioned him when

when he left, " Roger told her. "So

hat much about his family other than h

hem to us either, " Roge

ve a look at the ad copy and des

lly moved towards the coffee pot. The pot was clean and dry and not even the scent of old stale coffee stained the air. Before Andre betrayed her by feeding information about her business to Riko's ill-fated nephew Douglas, she

placed in a different stack. As it was already nearing the end of March, Victor approved the summer campaigns and Elena flipped through them quickly, nodding in approval. Andre, despite his consuming vendetta against his cousin Peter, always did go

July, picnic and barbeque themes for August, and September's new school year to New Year

son again or if he wasn't planning to return for a while, " she mused. "Or ever." Elena sighed an

t her cell phone and opened Peter's contact information. Calling him always made her stomach twist into knots, knowing that any request would come with strings, often

xpensive sport's car. "I hadn't expected to hear from you until we met on the Lorenzo." Oddly enough he seem

e back in, several items came to my attentio

he replied. Elena could almost hear the "for a price, "

d realizing as the words left her mouth that it sounded like she wanted to be alone with Peter, somewhere private. She didn't want to encourage the f

ied, his voice was ti

In the conference room I found nearly a year's worth of campaigns and wondered if that was my signal to look for a new marketing person or if he wou

answer that question. I should have an answ

dre's betrayal, she had not mentioned it to Peter for fear he would enact some, possibly fatal, retribution. Considering An

e leaving me unable to interview and hire a new designer when the season closes. While I trust Victor's eye on the campaigns, I would prefer to do the hiring myself,

shorten my timeline and should the decision cut the season too fine, I will make

ime in limbo had to count for something though. She knew she would appreciate a decision being made

ing any further way to help Andre out or

item num

ver he was going through, he had brought upon himself. "For the meeting aboard the Lorenzo, " she decided, going with the lesser of her two remaining questions.

sor rule to bring their bodyguards. As Lisa's physical appearance typically brought to mind words like delicate and doll like and the councilor's bodyguards brought to mind w

er's amusement drain out through the phone and the knots in her stomach tightened painfully. She knew there was a possible danger to Tina, but knew of no other way to handle it. She had to know if it was important or

n any event suspicions like these are best verified by more than one source. I will have my findings to you before the meeting aboard the Lorenzo and we will discuss the need to add it to the a

discuss in a public place. I will be in touch." Before Elena could