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I sure as fuck recognized her.
Olly pulls up in the black SUV as though he knew I’d be in this alley. I could have been in the park. I could have been sitting on the bench under the trees across the street. I could have caught a cab back to the hotel. But he knows me. He knows me almost as well as I know myself, so he pulls up in the dark and waits for me to slide into the back seat.
As soon as the door closes, he pulls out again and passes right by Libby’s building just as her living room lights come on. My eyes latch onto that light, my heart yearns to go back, but Oliver pulls around the corner and mercilessly drags me away.
“What do you know, boss?”
“She’s not in anyone’s pocket but her own.” I sit back and rest my head against the seat. Pulling in a long breath, I let it out again on a sigh. “She’s a cop.”
“We hate those.”
I smile and finger the diamond earrings in my pocket. I palmed them from her dressing table no more than twenty minutes ago. It’s a habit, a compulsion to take something that isn’t mine. The diamonds aren’t gaudy, they’re not expensive. They would have cost a hundred, perhaps two hundred at the local jewelry store – not so much that I question where she gets flashy cash from. Not even so much that means they weren’t a gift. Perhaps her boss got them for her, or maybe she saved her birthday money.
Now they’re gone, because I’m a thief.
“We sure do hate that breed,” I agree. “But she’s clean. I’ve been in her home twice, and neither time makes me think she’s selling people to get a leg up. None of her files indicate anything suspicious. She’s living a thoroughly middle-class life. Fifty-K salary, and not a dime more. She works, and she works out.”
“You going to approach her?”
I nod, though I have no clue how to do that besides hope she drops the bar at the gym again. “Yeah, I’m gonna approach her soon. I’ll have to figure out how when we get back to the room.”
“You okay with word getting out who you are? People have big mouths, boss. Chick at the gym could spill.”
I shrug. It doesn’t matter if Theo Griffin is known. It would be easier if he’s not, but it’s still legions better than word of Gunner Bishop getting out. “It doesn’t matter. We won’t splash it about, but it doesn’t matter if word spreads. We might even be able to spin it to work for us.”
Griffin Industries and Checkmate Security share interests, according to the woman at the gym, and I know for a damn fact that Griffin security systems are Checkmate’s preferred brand when wiring a home.
The irony is sweet.
“It’s fine. If word gets out, we can easily spin it. In the meantime, I need an in with Libby. She’s off shift till Monday, so let’s find out what she does in her spare time.”
