Dana stilled. “Those are her notes.”
Serena smiled, and a dimple winked in her left cheek. “Did you think I’d look at the pages and then have aGood Will Huntingmoment?”
Well, yeah. “Maybe aBeautiful Mindone,” Dana admitted.
“Or a Daniel figuring out theStargatesituation?” Serena laughed, leaning back and plopping her tennis shoes on the desk. She wore one yellow and one blue footie that barely peeked above the shoes, somehow looking right on her. “Tell me about Candy, so I can get into her head a little bit. Like, how did you meet?”
“Same journalism class at Columbia,” Dana said, remembering fondly. “She’s a city girl, I’m a country girl, and we both love words. We worked together on several projects and became good friends.” In fact, one of her best memories was of taking Candy fishing one weekend when they visited Dana’s family. The city girl had done all right, although she just wouldn’t take a fish off the line to save her life.
“What three words would you use to describe her?” Serena asked, intelligence shining in her eyes. This close, specks of green and gold were visible in the brown.
It hurt to think about her friend, but she persisted in using the present tense. Chances were that Candy hadn’t survived the attack, but Dana had to keep some hope. “Three words? Hmm.” She thought for several moments. “I’d say organized, adventurous, and tenacious.” She’d never give up on a story, much like Dana. “She’s interested in how businesses work and how people can infiltrate them and cause problems.”
Serena nodded. “All right. Who are her favorite authors?”
“Steve Berry, Nora Roberts, Lexi Blake, and Stephen King,” Dana said instantly.
“Favorite animals?”
“Well, I don’t know that she had a favorite. She didn’t have pets.” Dana chewed her lip. “As for her family life, she had a brother she lost to a car wreck in high school, and they were raised by a single mom who died of breast cancer shortly thereafter.” Dana breathed out. “I kind of adopted her into our family during college and dragged her home for holidays. She enjoyed that, I think.” Then they’d gotten busy with work and their adult lives. It had been a while since they’d vacationed together.
“What kind of people did she date?”
“Very smart men,” Dana mused. “Past boyfriends include an inventor of some computer program, a theoretical physicist, and a quite successful stockbroker.”
“How about you?” Serena asked.
Dana chuckled. “Lost causes seem to be my type. How about you? What’s up with you and Professor British accent and cute butt?”
Serena rolled her sparkling eyes. “Uptight academics who have lived their whole lives in the ivory tower just bug me.”
Dana hadn’t tagged the professor that way. “And?”
“He stole my office.” Serena frowned. “We both work at D.C. University, and we were up for a very plush, in the corner, perfectly situated office, and he got it. Butthead.” She reached down and rubbed between Roscoe’s ears. “I mean, I was new at the university, and I guess he had some seniority, but that was the empty office when I agreed to teach there and I assumed it would be mine.”
“Well, then. You should teach him a lesson,” Dana said.
Serena straightened up. “Go on.” Her tone was both interested and encouraging.
“I don’t know, but your revenge should have something to do with the office, you know? Like fill it with confetti or foam or something.” Dana leaned back and set her shoes on her desk. “Candy loved practical jokes. I mean loves. She loves practical jokes.” The levity disappeared with her slip of the tongue.
Serena sobered and opened the binder again. “Okay. Let’s see what we have here.” She read through the notes. “Is there a wall or a whiteboard I could use to tape these pages up?” She clicked the binder open.
“Yeah.” Dana’s feet dropped to the floor, carefully missing the dog. “We can use case room two. I think it’s clear for now.”
“What’s in the first case room?” Serena asked, glancing toward the three doors at the back of the office.
Dana winced. “The Lassiter case.”
Serena pulled her legs back and set her feet on the floor. “I worked with Angus before that case, but I heard it destroyed him.”
Dana nodded. “Yeah. I think it did.”
The elevator creaked, groaned, hitched, and then opened.
Wolfe stepped out, a stack of dark brown folders in one hand and a tray of whipped-cream-topped lattes in the other.
“Wow,” Serena whispered.
