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Taking a deep breath for courage, I turn off the bathroom light and grab my purse on the way out. I already feel naked without my computer.

It doesn’t occur to me until I close the guest suite door that I might run into Lucas looking like this. I slam to a halt and listen for sounds of him moving around, but to my intense relief, I can hear the shower running in his bathroom. And I’m able to slip out before he can see me.

It’s a short Uber ride to the office building. I’ve pulled this particular ruse twice before during other cases, so my heart barely speeds up as I step up to the receptionist.

I remind myself to plaster a smile on my face. “Hello,” I greet her brightly, my voice a whole octave higher than my usual. “I don’t know if I’m in the right place. I’m the new temp?”

“Yes!” she says, equally bubbly. She’s a beautiful blonde woman in a business professional outfit similar to mine. “You’re Rachel, right?”

I nod at the fake name I set up.

“Perfect, you’ll actually be with me today. My name is Bethany, I’m one of the executive assistants. I’ve been filling in at the front desk here while they hired you.” She sends me another blinding smile. “Ready to get started?”

I try to match her smile, but I don’t think my face moves that way. “Sure am!” I chirp instead. “Show me the way. I’m a fast learner.”

Sometimes, the hard part with these ruses is forcing myself to be a slower learner. Because the tasks and systems Bethany shows me? My brain picks them up instantly. But I’ve found in the past that being too good at a fake job sometimes raises eyebrows, so I have to make it a little more realistic. I force myself to ask questions, and to have Bethany repeat herself on a few things.

She seems to enjoy walking me through everything, though. I get the sense she likes being in the know.

Which also means I have an opening to test the rumor mill, too.

I wait until I have the important things typed into my phone; the things I haven’t been able to find in the company’s official paperwork but that I can see now that I’m on-site and in their systems. I take note of their software, the passwords they like to use, the company’s official—and unofficial—values and priorities, and the employee responsibilities that aren’t listed on LinkedIn. So far, nothing jumps out at me. But I’ll check into a few things later anyway.

Bethany’s offer of lunch gives me the opportunity to ask the questions I really want answered. Once we’re settled at a table in a nearby café, I casually pick at the salad in front of me as I ask, “So…do you like working here?”

She shrugs as she stabs at a hard-boiled egg in her bowl. “I guess so, yeah. I’m not, like, dying to come to work every day, but it’s a good job. Nothing to complain about.”

Then a sly smile appears on her face. Bingo. Here we go.

“If nothing else, it’s plenty entertaining,” she says.

“Oh yeah?” I try to match her excited-but-trying-not-to-be-obvious-about-it tone. “Why’s that?”

Her gaze flicks over me, as if trying to decide if she can trust me. I muster the most innocent look I can.

She must decide I’m harmless because she finally leans forward and says in an animated whisper, “There’s sooo much going on under the covers. Figuratively and literally.”

I blink in surprise. “You mean…affairs?”

She nods excitedly. “Among other things. In a big company like this, there’s just a lot of people and a lot of drama.” When she sits back, there’s a satisfied smile on her lips. “Working the front desk and being the point of contact for so many people, I hear things. I see it all.”

I’m trying to decide which type of rumor I should coax out of her first when she quirks an eyebrow and says pointedly, “I’m hoping it goes without saying that this is off the record between us. I’m only telling you this because you’re about to see some of it, too.”

“Oh my gosh, of course,” I rush to assure her. “I would never gossip about my employer.” Just take them down in a courtroom if necessary.

We sit in silence for a few moments, neither of us making the first move to dive into the gossip. I’m trying to figure out where the most important gossip might be sitting that pertains to my case.

In the end, Bethany breaks first. Eagerness alight in her eyes, she leans forward and says in a hushed whisper, “I’ll tell you the one everyone knows about that just happened at the company’s annual sales conference. Apparently, the new CFO is a bit of a drinker because he got absolutely wasted at the welcome dinner and fell face-first into one of the fire pits. The conference started with him being taken to the hospital to get stitched up.”

I force a wince. Not quite the juicy tidbit I was looking for. “Wow. The new CFO? So that was a first impression?”

Bethany’s eyebrows lift as she nods and goes back to her salad. “Exactly. The office is taking bets on whether he’ll make it through the first year, or if he’ll be gone by the half.” She pops a forkful of lettuce and tomatoes into her mouth. “Personally, I think he’ll last the year. I think executives are held to a different standard.”

“Amen to that,” I mutter, returning to my own salad. It takes me a minute to ask the question I really want the answer to. I try to seem casual as I ask, “So…someone’s having an affair? Is it the usual office affair? A two married coworkers type thing?”

“God, we’re cliche,” she groans. “Even the office gossip is predictable.” She sighs. “But yes, that’s one of them. Maybe more than one. I have a theory about the sales department, but don’t get me started.”

“There’s more than one?”