“You find things?” Her eyes brightened like a hound on a hunt catching a scent. “What exactly does that mean, Mr. Coretti?”
“Call me Mac,” he said easily.
“Well, Mac,” she said, drawing out the name like a test, “I should probably tell you that I can’t ignore a mystery, and you’re being awfully mysterious right now.” She giggled.
For goodness sakes. Jolene O’Sullivan had just giggled in my office. I didn’t even know she was capable. As a flirt, she wasn’t bad. I had to give her that.
“Nothing mysterious about me.” Cormac spread his big hands wide as if to show harmlessness. “I just find a good adventure wherever I go, and this one involves Fiona O’Shea’s nugget boxes. It’s my understanding they’re valuable. Silver’s fetching a fine price these days.”
“Silver?” she repeated.
“That’s what I heard,” he said smoothly. “Besides, I like the idea of the treasure map on the bottom.”
She rolled her eyes. “There’s no treasure. People have been looking for years.”
“Yes, but some of us have more luck in that area than others.”
“You do seem lucky to me,” she said, voice thick as honey.
Good grief. I might actually start gagging.
“You’re very kind, Ms. O’Sullivan,” he murmured.
“Jolene,” she corrected. “I insist.”
“Jolene, it is.”
I almost asked if they wanted to get a room, but she beat me to it.
“I’m pretty much finished with my interview,” she said lightly. “Since Anna never tells me anything, would you like to grab an early dinner?”
He didn’t miss a beat. “That’s the kindest offer I’ve had in too long to mention,” he said, “but I’m afraid not. I need to speak with Ms. Albertini, and then I have plans.”
“Well, then, do you have a card?”
“A card?” One of his dark eyebrows rose. “What would I do with a card?”
Jolene hesitated, then regrouped. “You know…a business card.”
That grin appeared again, slow and easy. “No, I wouldn’t have a card.”
“Are you self-employed? Do you work with somebody?” she pressed.
“I work where the wind takes me,” he said.
That wasn’t an answer, but I didn’t help her out. I was being very unhelpful at the moment.
Jolene looked at me, then back at him. Finally, she shrugged. “All right, I guess I better go type up my story. I’ll say you wouldn’t comment, Anna.” She brushed past Cormac and started down the hallway. To his credit, he didn’t turn to watch her go.
“Jolene,” I called out.
She paused halfway down the hall and looked over her shoulder, that smug grin already in place. “Yes?”
“There was a great libel case that came out of southern Idaho a couple of weeks ago,” I said evenly. “You might want to take a look at it before you make false allegations against my grandmother in your paper.”
Her smile only widened. She waved a hand in the air and kept walking, heels clicking down the hall like punctuation marks on my temper.
Cormac leaned against the doorframe. “She can write.”
