17
SAVANNAH
It was a beautiful night for a party, and I was surprisingly enthusiastic about it, considering my life was still on its way to hell in a handbasket.
Pasco and Jensen had set me up with an undetectable shadow account on my company’s financial, HR, and logistics management systems. They’d wanted to have it set up before I arrived, but they couldn’t do so without either a warrant, which would have taken days, or my permission as one of the company owners, which took only a few minutes to document. So far, my clandestine search hadn’t yielded anything that would help us find Devlin, the missing money, or answers about what the hell was happening.
Despite my growing sense of doom, I genuinely enjoyed chatting with Kat, meeting her husband, Gage, and the team’s doctor, Bond, and bantering with Kyle and Pasco. Wheeler flirted shamelessly, drawing Ben’s scowl more than once. I wondered if Ben knew Wheeler was only doing it to annoy him. Childish, yes, but so were some other male bonding rituals, and this one wouldn’t draw blood. At least I hoped not.
Eight of us—six teammates, since one worked remotely and another had been delayed yet again—plus Gage and I were gathered around Kat and Gage’s large dining table.Their home was an adorable bungalow located on a street of eclectic houses with wide front lawns and lots of shade trees.
When we had finished dinner and were drinking the remainder of our wine, I heard Gage tell Pasco, “We’re totally off the grid, power-wise.”
“Those solar panels are enough to cover it all?” Kyle asked.
“Those and the geothermal heat pump,” Gage said. “My company is using technology developed in Europe to build them here, and—”
Kat held up her hand. “And my green-energy engineer would be happy to discuss the specs with anyone who is interested. You can call him on his work number tomorrow.”
Gage smiled at his wife, obviously smitten and not at all offended.
I decided to help change the subject. “So, how does a green-energy engineer and a sp…” I tapered off. Mai had been elusive about her work with HEAT. I didn’t know the rules about agents sharing that information with spouses.
“It’s okay.” Kat took his hand. “Gage knows what I do for a living. We met because of my job, actually.”
“Hmm.” Gage turned toward me. “We actually met because we were neighbors in our apartment building in New York. She started shamelessly hitting on me when she found out I was the pussy whisperer.”
Beside me, Ben choked on a mouthful of wine.
“Gage!” Kat fake-smacked his shoulder with her napkin. “I had a foster cat who was having trouble adjusting,” she explained. “And Gage was knowledgeable about felines.”
“Sure,” Gage interjected.
“So I asked for his help with Mr. Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants.”
“Mr…?”
“Whiskerbottom Fuzzypants,” Gage said.
A loud meow came from the doorway to the kitchen.
“And there he is now,” Kat said. “He’s always known his name, so of course we couldn’t change it. He has softened his stance over the past year and a half and does make allowances for Mr. Fuzzy.”
A large, gray shadow appeared in the doorway and moved stealthily toward Kat. Mr. Fuzzy was enormous.
“Are you sure he’s just a house cat?” Ben asked.
“They won’t let me take a blood sample for DNA testing,” Bond said, “so I don’t think we can confirm he’s not part bobcat.”
“Are they picking on you, Mr. Fuzzy?” Kat practically purred to him. “And where’s your sister?”
“Is she that size, too?” I asked.
“No,” Gage said, “Miss Whisperbottom Fancy Pants is a dainty little girl. They’re siblings by adoption, not litter mates. And before you ask, no, we did not name them. The manager at the animal shelter did.”
“So, you met over cats,” Ben said.
Kat nodded while Gage shook his head.
