Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 99604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 498(@200wpm)___ 398(@250wpm)___ 332(@300wpm)
He didn’t miss a beat. “That’s the kindest offer I’ve had in too long to mention,” he said, “but I’m afraid not. I need to speak with Ms. Albertini, and then I have plans.”
“Well, then, do you have a card?”
“A card?” One of his dark eyebrows rose. “What would I do with a card?”
Jolene hesitated, then regrouped. “You know…a business card.”
That grin appeared again, slow and easy. “No, I wouldn’t have a card.”
“Are you self-employed? Do you work with somebody?” she pressed.
“I work where the wind takes me,” he said.
That wasn’t an answer, but I didn’t help her out. I was being very unhelpful at the moment.
Jolene looked at me, then back at him. Finally, she shrugged. “All right, I guess I better go type up my story. I’ll say you wouldn’t comment, Anna.” She brushed past Cormac and started down the hallway. To his credit, he didn’t turn to watch her go.
“Jolene,” I called out.
She paused halfway down the hall and looked over her shoulder, that smug grin already in place. “Yes?”
“There was a great libel case that came out of southern Idaho a couple of weeks ago,” I said evenly. “You might want to take a look at it before you make false allegations against my grandmother in your paper.”
Her smile only widened. She waved a hand in the air and kept walking, heels clicking down the hall like punctuation marks on my temper.
Cormac leaned against the doorframe. “She can write.”
Yeah, I knew that. I took in the easy set of his shoulders and the faint curve at the corner of his mouth. I needed to know what he wanted before I asked him to sit. “What can I do for you?”
“I was hoping you’d update me on the status of the missing boxes.”
“There is no update,” I said bluntly. “I’m not sure I’d tell you if there were, but there isn’t. So there you go. We know nothing now that we didn’t know a few hours ago in Silverville.”
“Oh, well, I wanted to come see the bigger city,” he said. “Also, do you mind giving me Donna’s phone number? I’d like to interview her as well.”
I blinked. “You what?”
He didn’t answer and just kept that focus on me. It was intense. Not as intense as Aiden’s, but close.
“I don’t give my sister’s phone number out,” I said. Though, if he was just looking for a date, maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing. Donna hadn’t gone out with anyone since—well, I couldn’t even remember. She was beautiful, funny, and brilliant. But this guy? I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him, and he looked like he’d land solid.
“What would it take for you to give me her number?” he asked.
I lifted my chin. “I’ll tell you what. You give me three true facts about yourself, and I’ll pass your number along. She can choose whether or not to call you.”
Of course, Donna worked as a realtor here in town, and he could find her easily enough. She was in every third real estate ad from here to the county line. But maybe he didn’t know that. Then again, he had already read the local paper and recognized Jolene O’Sullivan.
He lifted one shoulder in a lazy shrug. “I don’t think so. Sometimes the truth can be… how do you say? Elusive.”
“I disagree,” I said. “I pretty much find it to be truth or not truth.”
He studied me for a second, something flickering behind his calm. “That’s interesting. Is Donna the same way?”
“Absolutely. I learned it from her.”
“Hmm.” His smile edged toward a challenge. “We’ll see about that.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a card, sliding it across my desk.
When had he moved close to my desk? I glanced down at the rectangle. “So you do have business cards?”
“Not really. That’s just where you can reach me.”
I picked it up to study a plain white card with nothing but a single phone number etched into the center. No name. No company. “Are you trying to be mysterious?”
He laughed, low and easy. “Of course not. Why would anybody want to be mysterious?”
I couldn’t quite put my finger on what he was doing, but whatever it was, it wasn’t being aboveboard.
“Please call me if anything breaks in the case,” he said.
I tapped the card on my desk. “Are you going to do the same?”
“Of course, Anna.” His voice softened, too smooth for my comfort. “I’d be happy to keep you in the loop. I believe your grandparents will be issuing a reward within the next hour or so, and I’ll find those boxes.”
I frowned. “I’m not sure there’s going to be a reward.”
“Oh, well. I could be wrong.”
Something told me he wasn’t. The certainty in his tone brushed against my nerves, a quiet hum beneath the words. I narrowed my gaze and studied him, trying to decide what kind of man smiled like that while dropping half-truths.