When she rolled her eyes darkly in his direction, he kissed her cheek.
“What else can I say? It’s also the job.”
“I hate that part.” She held out her glass. “Top this off.”
“Happy to. I might have a name or two for you.”
“Yeah?”
“Starting at the end was the way. So, a couple names. Younger, brought in for questioning a time or two, but slipped out of the nick. I haven’t dipped into their finances as yet. No violence showing on either, so it’s difficult for me to see the cosh that ended Nathan Barrister.”
“Where are they based?”
“They roam. The one uses the front of a freelance blogger—has a blog as well. It’s not bad at all. Travel blog. The other? She’s a security consultant, has her own business and does well enough with it. Both travel, and neither show travel to New York within the last month.”
“But they wouldn’t.”
“Not if they had a brain in their heads, no. A job like this? The client orbroker would arrange a private shuttle. You’d have another set of identification.
“The basic moves match well enough. Jam security, slip in a window or door, take what’s been commissioned and only that. But the cosh, Eve. It doesn’t fit.”
“I need to look at them anyway.”
“I’ll send them to you. I need to look at their financials. If they’re smart, and they appear to be, any payments for this would be well buried.”
“Then you’ll dig them up. But not tonight. We’re watching a vid tonight.”
“Are we?”
“With popcorn. I guess we have to have some sort of dinner first.” She dropped her head on his shoulder. “The leaves on that tree we planted are going sort of red, sort of.”
“They are a bit. It should be a nice little show when it goes fully red.”
“Then they’ll all drop off so it stands there naked. It’s the opposite.”
“Of what?”
“People put on more clothes when it gets cold, trees go naked. It’ll stand there naked through the winter, then it’ll start the whole cycle again.”
“We’ll enjoy that, you and I, sitting here, watching it through its cycles.”
“Yeah. It’s kind of weird, sitting here, watching a tree get naked, then dressed again. But yeah, we like it.”
He sat a moment, in wonder that this fascinating, often frustrating, equally flabbergasting woman had come to be his.
“I love you, beyond reason.”
Her lips curved as she turned them up to his. “We’ve got reasons.”
She settled back, studying the tree. “Like I wouldn’t have thought of the blanket, so I’d be sitting here with a wet ass. There’s a reason. Sinceit’s not wet, let’s sit here a little while longer. Then we’ll go back. I’ll tag Peabody, you set things up with the lawyer.
“Then.” She sipped more wine. “We’ll feed the cat, unless he’s sticking with Summerset. We’ll eat something before popcorn and a vid.”
She tipped her head up to him. “How about something with aliens that threaten the survival of the human race, but we kick their slimy asses?”
He brushed a finger down the dent in her chin. “I have just the thing.”
Chapter Twelve
