“Sorry, it’s…” But the pub being sold would be another reason to scrap plans for the band.
“Yeah, something came up, right?” Lourey said. “You’re supposed to be putting in more effort here, remember?”
“Who was that woman you were talking to?” Suzy said. “I’ve definitely seen her before.”
I said, “I need to go get my guitar upstairs, but I’m here, okay?Don’tleave. I’ll be right back.”
As I walked down the hall, I heard footsteps behind me and glanced back. Quin, heading toward the men’s john.
But then he was past that door and spinning me by my elbow into Alex’s office.
“Hey,” was all I managed but I was already doing the calculus women had to do all the time: how firm his hand on my arm, how loud the TVs, the angle on the open doorway for escape.
“I need to talk to you,” he said.
“Get your hand off me,” I said.
Some bit of my panic must have shown on my face. “Oh… wow.” He dropped his hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—”
“Who are you?”
“I told you. My name is Quin—”
“Who are you to think you get totouchme?” I demanded.
He nodded. “Right, right. I see your point. I’m so— Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you—”
“You’re making me mad. And you’re still standing between me and the door.”
“Right, of course. Sorry.” He stepped out of the way.
“Getout,” I said. “You’re not supposed to be back here.”
Back out in the hall, he held his hands up in surrender. “Can we start over?”
I could see Alex from where I stood, but I was still rattled. “You can try. What do you want?”
“I wanted to talk with you about your friend,” he said. “That woman at the bar.”
“She’s no friend of mine.”
“That’s probably for the best. I have a friend who works, ah, high up in a federal organization I’d rather not name—”
“I didn’task.”
“—and he says Edith Maxwell is bad news.”
I snatched at the sleeve of Quin’s professor jacket and pulled him back into the office.
“Hey!” he said.
“What kind of bad news?”
He shook himself loose from me. “The kind of bad news where maybe you’re meeting with questionable people, people who might be under surveillance? So suddenlyyou’reunder surveillance? Some of her real estate clients are overpaying for properties. By a lot.”
“Okay?”
“Some of herclients,” he said, “are sinking a lot of money intoproperties, putting up some condos or doing renovations, say, and then claiming a lot of money for construction costs. And they don’t mind so much if no one moves in. Do you see what I’m saying?”
