“No comment.” I didn’t want to talk about Wyatt or how we’d met.
“That means he’s superhot,” the girl with the laptop chimed in.
I narrowed my eyes at her. “Who are you? And shouldn’t you be in school?”
Jemma answered for her. “Theodosia Harris. Her grandparents live in the building.”
“I go by Theo,” the girl added. “And I’m in a blended learning program. Half in-class and half online.”
“I thought you were working.” My statement, aimed at Jemma, came out sounding almost accusatory.
“I had a cancellation.” Jemma snatched the burner phone back from me. “I can’t wait to see this guy.”
“You’re not going to see him,” I grumbled, wishing we could talk about something—anything—else.
“I might when he returns your phone. I’ll ask him to bring it here.”
“I don’t want him knowing where I live!”
“Is he a creeper?” Theo asked, sounding a little too excited by the possibility.
“No, but…”
Jemma waved off my concern. “We can tell him this is my building, if that makes you feel better.”
“Never mind,” I said with a sigh. “Just don’t give him my unit number.”
She tapped out the Mirage’s address and hit theSendbutton. Then she checked the call log. “No missed calls or voicemail messages,” she said with disappointment. “Hoffman hasn’t tried calling the number on the business card.”
“He tossed the card, so I doubt he’ll ever be calling,” I said. I realized now that Wyatt must have picked the card up off the ground. Unless he had a photographic memory, that was the only way he could have known the number for the fake detective agency. “And if Hoff bothers to look for Wyatt Investigations on the Internet,” I added, “he’ll soon find it doesn’t exist, just like he already suspects.”
Jemma let out an annoying buzzer sound. “Wrong! Theo here has been working her magic. She’s a computer whiz. Take a look.”
Jemma grabbed the laptop from Theo’s knees and turned the screen my way.
I leaned in for a closer look at the page on display.
“A fake website for the fake detective agency?”
“Arealwebsite,” Theo corrected me.
“I can’t pay for that.”
“Consider it an early birthday present.” Jemma returned the computer to Theo. “Time to debrief.”
“I’ll take notes,” Theo offered, adjusting the computer on her lap.
“That’s not necessary,” I assured her as I got to my feet, hoping to skip the mission debriefing, at least for the moment.
The look Theo shot me nearly froze my insides. It reminded me of the look I used to get from Mrs. Klein, my fifth-grade teacher, who still featured in my nightmares from time to time. I swallowed any further protestations and sat meekly next to Jemma, ready to recount every painful detail of my trip to the country club. The ones that followed my entrance into the clubhouse, anyway.
Nobody needed to hear about the Rhododendron of Doom.
Chapter
Six
By the time our debriefing session was over, Wyatt still hadn’t responded to Jemma’s text message, so she reluctantly left the Mirage. She’d finished her work as a hairstylist for the day, but she was attending a family dinner at her parents’ place that evening, and her mom wanted her to arrive early to help with the prep work. Jemma invited me and Livy to the dinner, but I declined. Her parents meant well, but I knew they’d ask me about my now nonexistent job, and I didn’t feel up to answering those awkward questions. Maybe that made me a coward, but I was okay with that.
