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Mr. French, the traitor, stayed in his bed and watched her go upstairs alone. Funny how quickly he was adapting to the good life. Her dog, she decided, was quite the social climber. She wasn’t sure she was any different, and that made her feel a little dirty, somehow.
The things hanging in her closet were, predictably, amazing. She picked out a pale pink silk blouse and a pair of designer jeans and dressed quickly. Wh
en she walked into the Small Room, Joe Fideli—digging into an overflowing salad bowl—looked up and said, “I feel like I should get up or something. You look good, Bryn. Ladylike. ”
“Don’t get up. You’ll make me feel worse than I already do about all this. ” She got herself a plate and inspected the silver warming trays. Chicken, fish, salad, vegetables, dessert. It all looked amazing. She chose the salad and sat down with him, feeling hungrier than she expected. “What did McCallister tell you?”
“That the protocol inhibitor from Glickman is working,” he said. When she frowned at him, he waved his fork vaguely at the room around them. “Room’s shielded. You can say what you want in here. So, you met the crazy man. What’d you think?”
“He’s the most paranoid man I’ve ever seen not locked up. ”
“Yeah, that was my feeling, too. He knows what he’s doing, though. ”
“Yes, he does. Did my mystery guest call today?”
“No. He said he’ll take a week to look you over, so I didn’t expect it anyway. As soon as I get your apartment buttoned up, you’re out of here, and you don’t come back. In fact, you break ties with McCallister, at least in public. I’m going to be your shadow. ”
“You don’t think our friendly supplier’s going to notice you and trace you back?”
“I’m not on record at Pharmadene, as I told you. I’m a ghost who gets paid in cash. Besides, I think he’ll think we’re really, really close. ” He held up two fingers together, then crossed them. “You know. ”
“You can’t do that. You’ve got a family. ”
“Yeah, and Kylie won’t be too damn happy about my shacking up with a good-looking woman like you, but I’ll martyr myself for the cause. ” He was, she realized, kidding her. “Seriously, Kylie’s good with it. She knows the drill. This isn’t our first rodeo, and she’s met you. It’s all good. ”
“So our cover story is what, you’re sleeping with me on the side? God. ” Bryn dropped her head into her hands. “If only my personal life were really this exciting. ”
“Sorry?”
“That was also McCallister’s alibi for slipping off the chain today. I’m getting twice the reputation and none of the fun. I’m assuming that Pharmadene would also notice the sleepover. ”
“Oh. Right. Well, Pharmadene doesn’t officially know me; I’m not on any corporate records. Pat pays his contractors off book. Shouldn’t present a paper trail for our mystery guest to follow. ”
“My apartment …” Bryn bit her lip. “McCallister said you’d be making it safe. ”
“Well, safer, anyway; it’s a cinder block box, only so good I can make the place. Tonight, you sleep here; this place is as solid as you can get. I’ll go do some midnight renovations: sensors, motion detectors, upgraded doors and windows. Your neighbors might be a little pissed off about the noise, but I can do it in a couple of hours. Pat’ll sign off on the expense, no problem. ”
“Maybe I should go with you. ”
“Trust me, you shouldn’t. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder wondering whether somebody’s creeping up behind you while I’m installing windows. Because it’s all about me, obviously. ” Fideli fell silent for a moment, then said, with studied casualness, “What happened to you today?”
“Me? Nothing. Why?”
“Tremors. ” He pointed at her hand as she picked up her water glass. Sure enough, it was shaking. She could see the ripples spreading across the surface of the liquid, and quickly put the glass down. “I know Pat can be tough to take, but people don’t usually get PTSD from a day with him. ”
McCallister was going to tell him anyway. She picked up her fork and ate a couple of leaves of lettuce drenched in heavenly balsamic dressing before she replied. “I got mugged. He beat me pretty bad. Broken nose, broken cheekbone, probably some broken ribs. It wasn’t McCallister’s fault. He was checking in for the room. I was walking the dog. ”
Fideli absorbed that in silence. “Just a random mugging. ”
“Yeah. ”
“You’re sure about that. ”
It was a new thought, and a nasty one, and she took another bite and considered it carefully, before she said, “You think someone might have set it up? How? We weren’t followed. Even I didn’t know where I was going. ”
“Pat did. ”
She almost choked on her salad, and took a quick gulp of water to wash it down. “You think he—”
