Page 87 of Fire Dancer
“A woman of many talents,” he said amiably.
His eyes, however, dropped to my neck. Right about to where my pulse was hammering.
The laugh I forced came out as more of a cackle. “I guess you could say that.”
I looked at Nancy, desperate for her to snap her notebook shut and announce,Well, we really must be going.
But she went right on talking garnishes and sauces with George, the butler.
My heart thumped harder while sinking to about the level of my liver. As tempted as I was to get the hell out of Dodge, was my mission here really over? Would pictures of vials constitute hard evidence?
Doubtful,my heart — or my liver — concluded.
Certainly not enough to usher the agency in for a raid tonight, just in time to catch Jananovich at his game and rescue the likes of Becca, Saanvi, and stunning, stupid Rob.
I yanked the sentiment back an instant later. Maybe Rob wasn’t stupid. Maybe Saanvi wasn’t reckless and Becca perfectly sane. Maybe they were here for noble causes, like saving money for a relative’s cancer treatment or to pay off crippling loans. Maybe, just maybe, one of them had a ranch that meant everything to their family, and they couldn’t find any other way to meet a sudden hike in back taxes.
That one sure sounded familiar.
So, was my mission here accomplished?
No. Not by a long shot.
My mind spun as a whole new idea hatched. A foolproof way to collect evidence…or one that would prove me a fool.
“And, my. What a coincidence.” Jananovich raised his eyebrows at mymoonlightingremark.
He looked at me, then around the kitchen, working out the odds of such a coincidence.
Not very high, and we both knew it.
It was time to take the offensive.
I pulled his business card out of my back pocket. I’d brought it as aget-out-of-jail-freecard in case one of the security guards questioned my presence on the premises. That way, I could always claim to have been invited by the big boss.
I never imagined selling a different version of that story to the big boss himself, but here I was. And Stacy was waiting for me to avenge her.
“Actually, I jumped at the chance to come here again,” I lied, showing him the card. “I was hoping to talk to you about that opportunity you mentioned.”
His eyes lasered through me in a mixture of temptation and suspicion.
“Did you, now?”
I did my best to ooze honesty. “I did. But I see it’s not a good time.”
“Not the best…but perhaps opportune in a different way.”
My pulse quickened.
“Oh yes?”
His eyes flickered ominously, but Nancy called out before he spoke.
“Thank you, everyone. We’ll be going now. Pippa. Wendy…” She nodded us toward the door.
The left side of my body burned to join her. The right side hung back, ready to play avenging angel. Both impulses canceledeach other out, and in the end, my body simply jolted, getting nowhere.
“Pippa?” Nancy cocked her head.