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“The best investigators are the ones who pay attention to the details.”
“Speaking of details. I think we should start over.” She motioned to my face.
“Really?”
Schön reached up and touched my forehead with her fingertips. “It’s a little smudged.”
Remembering how good it felt to have her massage the moisturizer into my skin, I agreed with her, perhaps nodding a little too enthusiastically.
By the timewe landed at the Malta airport, I once again looked almost identical to my grandfather, which made the whole idea of talking to myself in the mirror and imagining what he’d say back to me more than a little freaky.
“Everything all right?” Rogue asked when he walked into the men’s room and caught me chuckling.
“I was just thinking how much I look like my grandpa.”
“You don’t look that different to me than you usually do,” he said over his shoulder before walking into a stall.
Not knowing whether he was serious or joking, I didn’t call him out on it. However, before I left the lavatory, I silently flipped him off.
6
SCHÖN
By the time we arrived at the resort on Gozo, I’d had enough of the way Ehren felt the need to hang on Magnet. They weren’t supposed to be newlyweds since they were undercover as my parents and I was twenty-seven. Plus, it was the middle of the night. The only people we encountered were the shuttle driver and the man in the lobby, who’d checked us in.
Making matters worse, since Nemesis had arranged for us to have a two-bedroom family suite, it meant ladies in one room and gents in the other.
Maybe I’d use the excuse that I was a light sleeper and stretch out on the sofa in the living room instead.
Given it was after zero-two-hundred Gozo time, I handed my bottle of baby oil to Magnet and suggested he use that to remove his makeup. “It’ll be gentler on your skin. It will also make it feel softer.”
“Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t you?” Ehren commented when I entered the bedroom.
“I was trying to be helpful,” I said, keeping my back to her.
“I know your type.”
I thought of saying I knew her type too. While Ehren and I hadn’t worked any missions together when we were both with Swiss intelligence, I knew of her and she knew of me. Going down the road of why wouldn’t serve either of us well on this op.
I grabbed my toiletry bag and what I planned to sleep in before leaving the room in search of the other lavatory rather than use the private one she and I were expected to share.
I washed my face, brushed my teeth, put on the flannels I usually slept in, and folded my clothes. If I were alone, I might consider removing my bra, but here, I wouldn’t. For one, it reduced the size of my breasts; thus, if Ehren happened to come looking for me, she might take the opportunity to make a crack at my expense if they were “on display” more than usual. Two, sometimes my back hurt from not wearing it, even when I slept.
I found a blanket and two pillows in the coat closet near the suite’s entrance and had just settled on the sofa when I heard a door close. I shut my eyes, feigning sleep and hoping that if it was Ehren, she’d leave me alone.
When someone approached from the opposite direction, I kept my eyes closed in case it was Rogue. I was in no mood to talk to him either. However, he hadn’t been rude to me. I was just mentally and physically exhausted.
“What are you doing out here?” Magnet asked when I peeked through one eye and saw him standing over me.
“Light sleeper.”
“Same for me. Except I fear I’m too wound up. I was thinking about watching a movie.”
“Go ahead. It won’t bother me.”
He looked at me sideways, then sat on the sofa when I moved my legs out of his way. “Didn’t you just say you were a light sleeper?” When I didn’t respond, he reached under the blanket and tickled my foot.
“Hey!” I gasped and giggled at the same time. “Stop that.”
