“It was the topic of a security briefing last night,” Alan said dryly.
“Are you allowed to tell me that?” Bruno wanted to know.
“You’re considered an asset for this one, so I insisted on keeping you in the loop.”
“YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY ASS!” Gil interrupted loudly, returning to the gate.
“Asset,” Bruno groaned. “Go play.”
“WHAT’S AN ASS IT?”
“It’s a boring grown up thing,” Alan said. “Sort of likeresponsibility. Do you want to go see if Jackson will play hide and seek?”
“HE ALWAYS TELEPORTS! IT’S CHEATING.” But Gil was willing to go to where Jackson was being dressed up by Jennifer and Tara, rather than staying to talk about his least favorite words.
“The agency wants to know if you’d be willing to use your…relationship…with Clarice to get some information for us.”
“You want me to snoop for you? Clarice and I don’t really have a relationship yet. It was one date.” Bruno felt unsettled, and he paused to investigate his emotions. “And I don’t feel comfortableusingher.”
“Of course,” Alan said quickly. “We wouldn’t ask you to. But we’re finding that Veronica has some powerful friends. She could definitely be a threat to our secrets, and we’d just…like to know what her next move is going to be.”
“What are we talking about? Planting bugs? Tapping her phone?”
“Nothing so crass,” Alan promised. “We’d need a warrant for anything to be permissible, and we can’t get anything to stick. We just want to know where she’s going. If it comes up in conversation with Clarice, let us know if she has travel plans. That sort of thing. Very low-key. You don’t have to tell us anything she asks you to keep a secret, we’re just asking you to pass on anything that might be significant or seem unusual. Late-night house showings. Unexpected clients. Plane tickets for Spain. That sort of thing.”
Uneasy. Bruno definitely felt uneasy, but he wasn’t sure it was instinct. “I’m not going to grill her,” he said firmly. “And I’m not going to betray her confidence.” He testedthe air, metaphorically, considering outcomes and feeling for any clues from instinct. “But if something comes up in conversation, I’ll pass it on.” That was reasonable. It was logical. It didn’t leave him feeling uncomfortable.
“You’re going to see her again, then?” Alan looked pleased.
“I was going to anyways,” Bruno said. Instinct hummed happily. “It’s been a long time since I clicked with someone like I do with her. Like, maybe ever. I don’t think she’s in cahoots with Veronica, and I bet she’d be willing to help us if we just asked her.”
“We can’t do that,” Alan said swiftly. “You know what’s at stake, how much you’d have to explain to her. You absolutely can’t trust her like that.”
Bruno’s armadillo unexpectedly offered,Yes, we can.
Bruno was not sorry when a small toddler tornado came to distract Alan, and he made a quick goodbye. “I gotta get back to work. Be good, Gil!” Bruno called.
“Ifway ALWAYAY oodalayway!” Gil yelled back incomprehensively.
Bruno left the day care and trudged back to his truck. Logic was on Alan’s side, even if instinct wasn’t. Bruno had to think of Gil, and of all the kids at Tiny Paws and their shifter parents. The last thing they needed to do was fuel a witch hunt. “Don’t scare the normals,” was a constant shifter reminder. Scared people did terrible things that they didn’t mean to.
Fine,his armadillo scoffed.Run scared. Stay alone forever.
I’m not running, Bruno protested, and to prove it, he took out his phone and texted Clarice.I’d love to go out again soon. Are you free this weekend?
Only after he sent it did he remember that he’d need to find a babysitter again.
23
CLARICE
After three days on the case, Clarice felt like a first class spy, doing research in an incognito window of her browser at home using a VPN, and downloading an app for her phone that let her sweep for recording devices. Who knew that it was so common? Renters and nannies reported being surveilled regularly, and some of the articles that came up were alarming.
The shiny pens that Veronica had given her didn’t set off the alert, which was both very disappointing and a great relief.
One of the incognito browser tabs helpfully told her that Veronica had never been poor, as far as Clarice could tell. There were pictures of her going to a private school prom in New York wearing a designer dress without a pearl in sight. She had a string of mid-level celebrity boyfriends but never stayed with any for very long. One of them had written a moderately popular country song likening her to a viper. Veronica had sued him and he wasn’t producing music anymore.
Did she have lies prefabricated for every heart-to-heart occasion?
