Too dumb meant it was the right answer.
“Let me talk to Brad, and I’ll get back to you.”
“Fine. I’ll be back in an hour.”
1100 hours, Inner-G pool
Gabby left Phil’s room with her head spinning. She was officially too overstimulated to solve any national security crises or get her job back. Every time she thought the answers were coming into focus, the whole board would reset.
It had seemed like Sheridan might be the prime suspect, sending pictures to the press to smear President Simon’s reputation. She had the access to stories. She had opportunity. It would have tied up the case with a bow. But no, her only contact with the outside was her damn cat sitter. Leonard and his poopy tail.
Back five squares.
Genesis—his computer was clean. There was nothing of interest on there, except a lot of bad ideas for more dumb movies. The script forPower Couple 2had circulated around the EOD office, apparently.
Forward two squares and back another five.
Jasmine—all those huge payments were certainly suspicious. Apparently, the answer was dumb and all hinged on Brad, a guy Phil had golfed with three times. Gabby wasn’t holding her breath.
The men in her life were not making this easier. Phil and his jealousy, Markus and his double-crossing. Her mom.
Just thinking of everything, Gabby stalled out so hard that she couldn’t go one step farther. It’s not like she wanted to sit down in the poolside chair. It was more like she wasn’t able to stand any longer. Gabby succumbed to inertia and collapsed by the side of the pool in a chaise lounge. She would just live here now. It was over.
“Would you like a mocktail, ma’am?” a waiter asked.
She gave up. “Can you make it a cocktail? Charge it to my room.” Valentina could buy her a drink at least.
The waiter laughed. “I’ll see what I can do.”
A minute later, he dropped by with an umbrella drink and handed it over with a wink.
“I might as well order the next one now,” she joked. “Keep ’em coming.”
He laughed. “One of those days, huh?”
“Yes.”
Fuck the game. What was the point in playing? She was going to live her best life unconscious by the pool. She pulled her sunhat low over her face and sucked down a pineapple-guava-whatever.
Only halfway into her drink, she heard voices. It was her mom, Phil, and Markus. Gabby pulled the hat lower and sucked harder. What the hell was Markus doing with her mom and Phil? What fresh hell was this?
“When is the wedding?” she heard her mom ask. Gabby’s mercury rose so fast that she tried to get out of the chair, but between standing up too fast, uncontrolled rage, and too much pineapple-guava-whatever, she fell out of her chair.
Markus gave her a shocked look.
“I’m working,” she said from the pool deck. Even to her own ears, it sounded ridiculous. She was day drinking by the pool.
Her mom inhaled sharply. “What time is it? Are you drunk in the morning?” Looking around, Elena said, “Where did you even get the alcohol?”
Gabby wasn’t sure if that was judgment or sincere inquiry.
“What are you doing?” Gabby asked, still hanging on to her glass.
“Just talking,” Phil said.
Gabby narrowed her gaze.
Looking at her mom and Phil, she said, “I need you two to stay out of the way. You both showed up uninvited to interfere in my life and…” Gabby couldn’t say anything else out loud because, even if she was about to be let go, she was still a spy, at least for today.
