while giving Padma encouragement to go on.
“Excuse me. Could I get a pad and a pen?”
The bartender pulled the items from beneath the counter and dropped them in front of him on her way to other customers. He wrote a note and flagged her down again, pointed out Lisette’s table, ordered a bottle of their best wine and gave her the note and a fifty-dollar bill to deliver it. His message was brief: Congratulations, ladies.
Five minutes later, a waitress tapped him on the shoulder. “The woman at table fifteen sent this.” She laid a crumple of paper in his hand before scurrying away for another customer.
Inside the wadded paper was his tracking device. Lisette must have begun searching her purse the instant she’d read the note.
“I thought you might need that back.”
When he raised his gaze to the mirror, she was standing behind him. Sliding the tracker into his pocket, he faced her. “I always travel with a good supply.”
“Yeah, I figured you did, but you can never have too many, can you?” She combed back a strand of hair. “How long have you been stalking me?”
“Just long enough to piss you off. And it’s not stalking, actually. It’s...professional curiosity.”
“Curiosity killed the cat.”
“My pirate name would have been Lucky Jack, remember? This cat has nine lives.” Considering that her annoyed expression wasn’t easing, he opted for placation. “I wasn’t going to follow you home or anything creepy like that.” He didn’t need to. David’s assistant had already given him all her personal information. He wasn’t admitting that, either. He figured Lisette was totally nonviolent, but even nonviolent people could be pushed too far.
“But following me to a friend’s house, then to a restaurant isn’t creepy.”
“Consider it a test of your abilities.”
It was obvious his comment raised questions, but before she could get to one, he quickly went on. “I know you returned Shepherdess to its rightful owner. Will it be safe there?”
“Yes. Are you going to tell Candalaria?”
Jack snorted.
She studied him a long moment before pursing her lips, looking at Padma, who was watching with great interest from their booth, then gesturing. “Come on. You might as well join us.”
The invitation was a surprise. He hadn’t intended any real contact this evening. He’d just wanted her to know that he could keep tabs on her, to celebrate their success and to ask for a few hours of her time on Saturday. But he was no fool. She’d offered the invitation, and he was accepting.
He followed her to the booth, where Padma was sitting cross-legged on the bench and literally bouncing in place. “Ooh, I was hoping she would bring you over so I could meet you.” She stuck out one hand. “I’m Padma Khatri, Lisette’s best friend in the whole world. I’ve known her forever, and I could tell stories about her that would curl your hair. Not for free, though. I accept any and all bribes. Chocolates and milk shakes top my list.”
Other than a quick glance, she ignored the fact that Lisette was trying to get her to slide across the bench to make room for her. It was hard for Jack to not smile at her brazen refusal or Lisette’s sullen annoyance as she slid onto the opposite bench. He slid in, too, closer than he needed to be, closer than he should be.
Since Lisette didn’t seem inclined to complete the introductions, he offered his hand. “Jack Sinclair. It’s nice to meet you. And we’ll have to talk about those bribes.”
Lisette dipped a tortilla chip into tomatillo salsa, then held it in midair while locking gazes with Padma. “Jack saw the gift we delivered to Mrs. M.”
Padma’s reaction was pretty much a non-reaction. “Yeah, when you said, ‘That jerk, he followed us!’ I kinda figured the rest of it. There had to be some sort of transmitter, right, because you were watching traffic, and let’s face it, it would be really hard to stealth us when I’m driving.”
“She’s right,” Jack agreed. “In three blocks, she made a turn across four lanes of traffic, almost rear-ended a car, ran a yellow light, and I’m pretty sure I saw a dog-walker scramble halfway up a light post with his pooch. Trying to keep up with her would draw too much attention to any bad guys following. Which I’m not, by the way.”
“Following?” Lisette asked drily.
“A bad guy. And by the way, the gift wrap was a good idea.”
As he expected, Padma beamed. “Thank you.”
The waitress brought their dinner, then asked, “You want to order, hon?”
“No, thanks.”
Lisette paused in separating a tortilla from the warmer. “You can stay.”
“Thank you. But there are chili dogs calling my name at a little hole-in-the-wall about thirty minutes from here. Besides, I just came to ask a question.” He thought of his so-far unanswered question and corrected himself. “Two questions. But only one right now.” He would badger the other from Lisette sooner or later. “I’m going climbing tomorrow. It’s always more fun with partners.”
“Yeah, so someone can call 911 and direct them to your broken body after you crash to the ground.”
“You need to work on that attitude. Someone who uses climbing in their job shouldn’t automatically think of broken bodies. It’s a necessary skill, and you need to improve yours. Don’t be scared of it.”
Padma snorted. “Calling her a coward doesn’t have any effect on her at all. Believe me, I said it a lot when she refused to go skydiving with me.”
Lisette serenely stuck out her tongue at her roommate.
“C’mon.” He nudged her with his elbow. “Just think. If you’d had more experience, you wouldn’t have frozen on the balcony last night, and you could have gotten to the ground and been gone by the time I came out. See? I’m offering to help you avoid me in the future.”
Something crossed her face, serious and dark, just for an instant, then she smiled thinly. “When you put it that way, how could I possibly refuse?”
Victory was sweet, Jack thought before he included Padma. “What about you?”
“Thanks, but sorry. I’ve got some engineers’ asses to kick in our quadcopter games tomorrow.”
“Good luck with that. Lisette, you want to give me your address or should we meet back here at nine?”
She gave him a measuring look. Figuring he already had her address? “Here at nine.”
“I’ll bring the gear.”
“I’ll bring the coffee and the insecurities.”
He picked up the tab and got a half dozen feet away when Padma’s words finally registered. Turning back, he found Lisette watching him. “A quadcopter? Really? You flew it out?”
Her
