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“Impressive.” Folding his arms, he leaned against the kitchen counter. “Correll had a thing going on with his admin assistant, too, right? Fiona? That’s how you got into his laptop in his office.”
“That’s right.” She tapped her head. “The eyes may be going, but you’re not senile yet.”
“Thank God.”
“Why did you bring that up?”
“Would Fiona be willing to do more snooping for you? For a price, I mean.”
“She might be, although I think she’s still sleeping with him.”
“After he cheated on her?” He reached for his cup and took a sip of coffee. “Some women don’t know when to quit.”
Was he talking about Lori, her or his mother?
She turned away and slid her thumb beneath the seam of the box. “A little jewelry can go a long way. Do you want me to contact her?”
“We’ll keep her in our toolbox.”
“We have a toolbox?” She pulled two plastic-wrapped frozen sandwiches from the box and held one up. “Looks like egg and sausage on an English muffin.”
“Sounds good to me.”
She ripped open the plastic with her teeth and placed the sandwiches on a plate. “Is this town safe for us?”
“The FBI hasn’t released any info about you yet. I’m positive we weren’t followed, once we got rid of that money.” He tugged on the end of her hair. “And you need some fresh clothes.”
“I just might risk getting nabbed by the FBI for a change of clothes at this point.”
“We’ll be fine, and I need to go to the post office and send off these pills.”
With visions of new clothes before her eyes, Claire wolfed down her breakfast almost as quickly as Mike did.
As she rinsed their cups in the sink, she asked, “Can you log in to your laptop so I can check the message board?”
“Sure.” He wiped the crumbs from the counter and swept their trash into a paper bag.
“Ah, a self-sufficient bachelor.”
He was beside her in an instant with a dish towel. “I’ve had years and years of practice. Now hand me that mug so I can dry it and put it away.”
He put the dishes in the cupboard and leaned over the counter where his laptop was charging. He powered it on and entered his thousands of passwords before spinning the computer toward her. “Go for it. I’m going to brush my teeth before we head into town.”
With a little hitch in her breath she accessed the discussion board and scanned the messages. She blew out a breath. Nothing much new and nothing from Hamid. Her message waited for an answer.
“Anything?” Mike came up behind her smelling like mint.
“Not yet, but I’m confident he’ll check this board.”
“If you say so.” He logged off and slipped the computer into the bag. “I’m taking it with me, so we can check again while we’re out. Let’s get ready to go.”
“I’m going to brush my teeth and pull my hair back.”
When she returned to the living room, she joined Mike, standing in front of the mirror by the front door.
He pulled a fur-lined cap with earflaps low on his forehead. “How’s this? Do I fit in?”
She turned the flaps down over his ears, brushing his hair back. “You look like any other Northeasterner in the winter.”
“I’d still be more comfortable with a bit of a disguise.” She wound a dark scarf around her neck, covering the lower half of her face. “What do you think?”
“It’s a start.” He threw open the closet door next to them and pawed through the coats. He yanked one off its hanger and held it up. “You’d look less like you with this cover-up than with that long, black coat that screams well-heeled city girl.”
She glanced at her coat draped over one of the love seats and stepped forward to take the dark green down coat from Mike. But he held it open and said, “Turn around.”
She did so, and he draped it on her shoulders, his fingers skimming the sides of her neck. She shivered as she stuffed her arms into the sleeves. Why did his touch always feel like an electric current dancing across her skin?
The down coat fell right above her knees, leaving a gap of denim between the hem and the top of her black boot.
