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hadn’t heard about her tires through the office grapevine and insisted upon escorting her. “Have you no sense, woman?”
    Madison merely smiled and craned her neck to once more look for the tow truck she thought would bring her four new tires. How had the culprit managed to find adequate time and privacy to do that much damage? In the five minutes they’d been down here, no fewer than eight cars had passed on their way in or out. This was one of the more popular garages in the city, mostly due to its reasonable rates and excellent location, but there were no security cameras and inadequate, even faulty lighting. Laurence had previously encouraged all his employees to use the lot.
    He squatted for a better look. On the level below, tires squealed like a banshee wail. Gas fumes and the scent of burning oil suffocated him. The sight of Madison’s tires wrapped around his vocal cords and stole the air from his lungs.
    The perpetrator had plunged the weapon into the sidewall, à la Psycho ’s Norman Bates. Not one thrust to expel the air, but again and again, reducing the rubber to mincemeat. The act had taken time, power and a vengeful rage.
    What if Madison had surprised the perpetrator in the act? Laurence’s blood raced in his veins and throbbed through his temples.
    â€œIf you don’t call the police, I will.”
    Madison finally deigned to answer him. “It was just a couple of kids making mischief.”
    â€œThat—” he rose, moved to within a foot of her, then pointed to the tires “—is the work of a maniac.”
    â€œIt doesn’t mean it was directed specifically at me.”
    â€œThen why did they single out your car?” He waved an arm indicating the rest of the packed underground garage. “Of all the cars here.” He folded his arms and waited.
    She looked up at the missing bulbs above her car. “The lights were out?”
    â€œThey could have broken them when they got here.”
    By her hesitant glance, he knew she couldn’t remember the condition of the lights when she’d arrived that morning. He still expected her to argue.
    Then Madison did the most amazing thing. Without even a blithe contradiction to his statement, she gave him a direct answer. “I don’t want to cause trouble for someone I might know.”
    She almost robbed him of his next question. Almost. “You think you know who did this?”
    â€œHarriet isn’t too pleased with any of us. She was the one to discover what happened to my car.”
    A first. In seven years, he’d never heard Madison say anything bad about anyone, not even a hint. “ Our Harriet?”
    She shook her head, her earrings swinging with vehemence. “Of course I don’t think she did it. Nobody I know could be responsible for this.” Laurence didn’t have the same faith she did, but he let her go on uninterrupted. “But you know how Mike and Anthony and Bill make mountains out of molehills where Harriet’s concerned, and if the police ask what they think…” She spread her hands in a draw-your-own-conclusion gesture.
    Mike, Anthony and Bill, the instigators of yesterday’s dress incident, would certainly love an opportunity to bring Harriet down yet another peg. He should fire the lot of them, but while Harriet bemoaned the trio’s existence, she’d also done a bang-up job passing on her expertise to them. They would be difficult to replace.
    Firing them didn’t resolve the immediate issue. “Give the police more credit. They’ll probably look at the ones talking about Harriet. Blaming someone else is always suspicious.”
    Madison’s eyes widened, one not quite as much as the other, another of Madison’s endearing features. “I wasn’t—”
    â€œI didn’t mean you said anything bad about her, Madison.”
    â€œI still don’t want to get the police involved.” She