Page 85 of Chameleon Killer

His eyebrows rose.

“Fourteen missing pages,” I clarified.

“I meant the number of explanations.” The implied smart ass hung unspoken off the end of that sentence.

“I know.” I shouldn’t enjoy needling him so much.

His almost-smile returned. I hated that I wanted to keep it there.

So what did I do? “He knows the Auditor called,” I said.

That erased the smile. “How?”

“He profiled me.” That still rankled.

At least Flint’s snort of derision made me feel better.

“He saw the pivot in the timeline,” I said, motioning to the conference room. “After that, he concluded I had to have received new information to explain the shift in focus.”

“And you confirmed it?”

I shrugged, turning away to pace to the window and looking out at the newsroom. “Eventually.”

“Did he record your confirmation?”

“He could have.” I shrugged. “But he didn’t get to take it with him.”

His cell phone was in my back pocket. I’d filched it when I handed him his jacket.

“He’ll come back for it.”

“I know.”

“What else?”

Turning to face him once more, I folded my arms. “He thinks the Auditor is conditioning me.”

Flint didn’t immediately dismiss the idea. That bothered me more than if he had.

“You agree him?” I wasn’t entirely certain how I felt about that.

Unfazed by my surprise, he lifted his shoulders before he said, “I think someone who calls you in the middle of the night, gives you information no one else has, and sends you chasing a question of his choosing probably wants something.” His implied don’t you? hung unspoken off the end of that statement.

“It isn’t the same thing.” A weak defense. I could do better.

“No.” His easy agreement had me narrowing my eyes.

“But?”

“But Brewster isn’t wrong just because you don’t like how he said it,” Flint said it with a straight face and not an ounce of irony or teasing.

I stared at him.

Flint held my gaze without apology.

Grimacing, I continued to meet his stare. “That sounded almost ridiculously reasonable.” It came out every bit as disgruntled as I was feeling.

“I’ll try not to make a habit of it.”