Page 49 of The Best Trick

Very funny,I thought, giving him a nice big fake smile.

Alfred promised to email all of the information on people associated with Wilson, and then he jumped into his car and sped off. We stood there waiting until he’d disappeared down the frontage road, heading toward more populous areas.

“What do you think?” Odin asked.

“I think he's annoyed with us, and I think his annoyance tell is a slight tightening of the mouth muscles,” I announced, pleased that I'd noticed that.

Odin swung into our own car, and I got into the passenger seat and shut the door, buckling up.

“Anything else? What did he want?” Odin asked.

I sat back and set my feet up on the dashboard. Odin and Zeus were always in front, so this was a nice change. “Hmm.”

“That's a very dangerous way to ride,” Odin said. “You know what would happen to you if we got in an accident when your feet are on the dashboard like that?”

“Who cares, we're outlaws. We live for danger,” I said.

“I think we are a bad influence on you,” he said.

I grinned. “Thank goodness for that!”

Odin gave me a concerned look. “Please don't ride like that,” he asked. “It reallyisdangerous.”

I put my feet in their proper place, weirdly touched.

“What else?” Odin asked. “What else crossed your mind about Alfred?”

“Hmm…” I was enjoying our conversation. This was usually the kind of conversation he had with Zeus. “It’s weird he needed to meet with us personally. He wasn’t a huge amount of help.”

“He wasn’t, was he?” Odin said.

“He was super into us pursuing Don Pedro,” I added.

“Micromanagement?” he asked.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” he said.

* * *

The four ofus met at a seaside place for a lavish lunch. Odin and I did the big download, which was mainly that Alfred was unhelpful and his mouth tightens when he's annoyed.

Our food came. I had ordered an appetizer plate of mini crab cakes for my entrée. They looked absolutely delicious. I pushed a fork sideways into a crusty shell, enjoying the fragrant steam. I smeared a bit of sauce on top.

“He also seems really invested in it being Don Pedro,” I said.

“Well, I'd think it was Don Pedro, too, if I didn't know otherwise,” Zeus said, checking his phone. “Here it is—Alfred’s email with the names and addresses of Wilson's people. I say we start with the wife.”

“Do you think Wilson’s wife could have Doris?” I asked.

“Who knows,” Zeus said. “Could that be why she chose not to go into witness protection with her husband?”

“Interesting,” I said. “Though she could just be fed up with his criminal ways…not that I can imagine that myself,” I quickly added.

Thor grinned. “You love our criminal ways.”

“You know I do, baby!”

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