“We’ll just work with the retainer for now, and if we require more, Sophia will contact you.” I motioned to Dante. “Come on, let’s get a move on. I want to check in at the office before I go meet Benny.”
We said our goodbyes and headed out.
CHAPTER FIVE
On the way home, Dante asked, “What do you think happened?”
“I’m not sure. Did you get the flier from her?”
“Yeah,” he said, holding it up. “You going to ask Penn to try psychometry on this and Mark’s watch?”
“That’s the plan,” I said. I slowed down as the traffic inched to a crawl. Gridlock in Seattle was rough, although I-405 was worse. There were days when rush hour stretched out from four PM to 7 PM. One time, I’d spent two hours driving across the 520 floating bridge, which normally took about fifteen to twenty minutes.
Overhead the sky darkened with clouds and the air felt alive, crackling around me. We were due for a storm. Unlike the Midwest, we didn’t have spectacular thunderstorms except on rare occasions, but we did get our share of rumbles and lightning strikes. The hairs on my arms were standing up and I shivered.
“Anything wrong?” Dante asked.
“Can’t you feel it? Storm’s coming in,” I said, frowning at the traffic. We were stuck in a line that stretched through what looked like the next three traffic lights, and the line was moving like a slug. “Crap, the traffic is bad today.”
“I think there’s a game downtown,” Dante said. “The Mariners are playing…I don’t know who. I don’t follow baseball, but I do know they’ve got a home game tonight. The next half hour’s going to see traffic double or triple as people head to the stadium.”
“Oh gods, we’ll never get through,” I mumbled. I decided to turn onto the next side street, which was a little less choked up. After a weaving, roundabout route, we were back at the office. I slumped back in the seat. “That was fun. Not.”
“Yeah, which means going home tonight?—”
“Is going to be a nightmare, until the game starts. I’m texting Benny and telling him we’ll have to do this later. I’m not going to try to drive through downtown to go talk to him.” I pulled out my phone and texted him, telling him to either bring his friend to the office tomorrow, or I’d have to meet him on Friday. He texted back that Friday would work, that his friend wasn’t going to leave the house. After changing the appointment in my phone, I slid out of the car, Dante following suit.
“Hey, what are you doing tonight?” I asked him.
“Not much. Why?”
“Why not reschedule Thursday for tonight? There’s a pizza joint nearby—maybe a ten minute walk from the office. We could wait out the traffic by having an early dinner.” I draped my purse over my shoulder and we headed toward the building.
“Sounds good to me, though if you’re ordering pineapple on your pizza, we’re ordering a half and half.” He grinned.
I swatted him, lightly, and we entered the building. I stopped in at Ami’s—she was a selkie who had a nail salon on the first floor, and she did my nails—to see if she could fit me in on Monday evening. She was with another client, but she nodded to her desk.
“Check to see if I have any time open. I leave at eight on Mondays.”
I glanced at her book. “You have a five-thirty slot open. Can I jot my name down?”
“Go ahead. See you then,” she said, smiling and returning her attention to her client.
Dante and I clattered up the stairs to the office. I only took the elevator when I was tired. Running the stairs was good for me and it was usually quicker than the elevator.
Sophia looked up as we entered the reception area. “Welcome back. How did it go?”
I took a moment to email her my notes. “Add those to the file, please. Set up a retainer with her. We’re taking the case, at least for now.”
“Will do, boss.”
Dante emailed her his notes as well, then headed back to his office. I stopped by Sophia’s desk for a moment.
“How was she?” Sophia asked.
“Wendy? Nice. Sad. I’m not sure what’s going on, but I kept feeling a weird energy while I was there. Not from her, but from the case itself. Something’s going on, and I doubt very much that it’s something as simple as an affair or anything like that. Her husband…he’s vulnerable, and someone found a way to exploit that. But why, and where is he? Those are the questions.”
“I’ll have a chat with her when I set up the retainer. Maybe I can catch another glimpse of something for you.” Sophia was an oracle, and she often had flashes and visions. Though she couldn’t order them on command, she could influence them.
