Page 11 of Road Queens
“No, I—”
“So much British spluttering.”
Horrors. “You guys helped my sister a couple of years ago.”
“Oh.” Cassandra’s eyes widened as she absorbed his words.“Oh.”
“Yeah. So I’ve kind of kept tabs on you guys. Um. In a good way,” he added.
“Sure, sure. Ambulance chasing coupled with mild stalking. Excellent.”
He shrugged. “Sorry. But ... y’know. Full disclosure.”
“Is it full, though? And who did we help? If you don’t mind my asking. Because there were so many—” But before he could answer, she was shaking her head. “I still can’t believe—sorry, I’m kind of all over the place here. I can’t believe they came. We haven’t spoken in years. Why would they come?”
It was telling that she was more rattled by Amanda’s and Sidney’s appearance than she was about learning of his close connection to OpStar.Should have bet twenty bucks instead of five.
“Why?” He chose to take the question at face value and began digging for his keys. “Let’s go ask them.”Only this time, Sean, keep your shit locked down. Good God, man.
“Wait.” Cassandra held up a hand like a traffic cop, which was cute given where they were. “Your plan was to pop in, reintroduce yourself—kind of—and remeet the three of us.”
“Yes. And I have to say, my plan worked perfectly.”
“But now you want to follow Amanda and Sidney, who just left, but not before making it clear they’re not inclined to help. And you want to do that so you can ... go talk to them some more?”
“It wasn’t the plan until you lost the bet,” he replied. “But now you know. Your friends—”
“Former. I think.”
“—cared enough to come. It stands to reason they’d be amenable to further chats. You’ve got questions. As it happens, I do too. So let’s go get some answers.”
“I haven’t hired you yet,” she warned.
“We can talk about that too.”
“Jesus.” Cass stared at the door her (former?) friends had just left through. “You’re right. It wouldn’t have been a good idea if I’d won the bet. I’m just not convinced it’s a good idea even though I lost.”
“One way to find out.”
“You got any references, guy-who-just-showed-up?”
“Dora!” Sean called. When the officer looked up, he pointed at Cassandra. “She wants a reference. Tell her I’m not a creep.”
“By definition, you kind of are. Whether you’re taking pics of a cheating spouse or tracking down a missing person, creeping is in the job description.”
Sean rolled his eyes at Cassandra’s snort. “Fine, tell her I’m a nice creep.”
Officer Dora Schoen considered him for a long moment. Her big glasses and mop of reddish-brown curls, so ruffled they almost looked like goose down, made her look like a formidable Little Orphan Annie, if Annie had access to Smith & Wesson M&Ps. “Yeah,” she said. “I can do that.” To Cassandra: “He’s not entirely objectionable. And pretty good at his job. So ... I dunno.”
Cassandra let out another snort. “As far as character references go, that’s not the worst I’ve heard.”
“Sidney and Amanda are getting farther away by the second,” he reminded her.
“It’s fine. I know where they’re going.” She looked him over one last time. “Let’s go if we’re going.”
Yes!“Thank you, Dora!” he called, already grabbing his keys.
“Go away now, Sean.” But she smiled as she said it, and the smile, coupled with the halfhearted reference, seemed to put Cass at ease.
