the door for her annoyed cat.
* * *
“Any thoughts on why they are looking you up now?” Raphael asked, p icking up a triangle of sandwich. Since it was a celebration — the avoidance of Juliet’s Nemesis — she had cut the sandwiches on the diagonal and added sweet pickles .
“No. It isn’t like our parting was such sweet sorrow. Most people were glad to see me go. Still, I got a phone call last week from the weasel who wanted my boss’s old job. The guy is a real player. I should have known he’d send someone out when I didn’t jump at the chance to catch up on old times.” She frowned. “In fact, I bet he’s trying to take the job away from my boss’s replacement. I wonder if I should call . … No. Not getting involved. They can have this fight without me. ”
Juliet shook her head and leaned down to scratch Marley who was enjoying his tuna without bread or a side of scotch.
“We’ve never spoken much about your actual job, but is it safe to say that you had some unique gifts that might make your shoes — or office function — hard to fill?”
“Yes.” Juliet weighed her answers and final ly settled on the simple one. “I’m very intuitive. Very good at seeing patterns and breaks in patterns and predicting future patterns. Mostly what I did was look at information, sometimes in the media, sometimes classified communications between agencies or other foreign entities , and found the … misinformation. Or disinformation. Then I figured out who was lying and why.”
“You were a human lie detector.”
“Except I didn’t work much with humans. Just their words.”
“And what will you do if this man is persistent?”
“It depends. I can call some friends — I had a couple — and see if they can call the dog off. He is probably wanting to solve some case for the sake of personal glory. I mean, if it were something straightforward he would just ask for help through the usual channels . If it were a known case, the guy who took over for my boss would have asked me to look at it .”
“Option number two?”
“I can always hit him over the head and bury his body in the woods.”
Raphael looked amused.
“Would that be wise? Bodies almost always get found eventually.”
“Not if I hide them,” she muttered. “I bet I’d be a crackerjack killer.”
“Doubtless. Do you want me to ask around about this guy?”
“Not yet. I’m going to see if he has called in on Garret. I’m betting he hasn’t.”
“I wouldn’ t touch that bet, ” Raphael said.
“It’s so nice that you’re not stupid.”
They smiled at each other and finished their sandwiches in silence.
* * *
Juliet knew she was taking a risk by going into town, but she was running low on tuna and she had a hungry cat to feed. There was also the urge to talk to Garret about the case and to tip him off about the stranger in town, if the sheriff wasn’t already aware that they had a spy in their midst.
Though she expected the stranger to make some move once she was in town, it annoyed her to find him lying in wait behind a stand of privet about a dozen yards from the compound . He had been there for a while. The hood was decorated with needles and leaves. She didn’t recognize the make of car but it looked boxy and heavy. She could see his face in the mirror as he pulled in behind her and it was smug.
The smile made Juliet see red. His car being heavy didn’t matter much on the dirt and gravel road, not the way it would on a freeway. She had the better vehicle for off-roading. The Subaru had all-wheel drive, was maneuverable , and knew its way around the mountains. It could practically drive itself.
The slashe s of sunlight between the trees would be blinding, and though he might know the road he’d driven in on, he didn’t know the smaller side paths and informal driveways where people would four-wheel drive in to visit their vacation shacks on weekends and holidays.
The air in the
* * *
“Any thoughts on why they are looking you up now?” Raphael asked, p icking up a triangle of sandwich. Since it was a celebration — the avoidance of Juliet’s Nemesis — she had cut the sandwiches on the diagonal and added sweet pickles .
“No. It isn’t like our parting was such sweet sorrow. Most people were glad to see me go. Still, I got a phone call last week from the weasel who wanted my boss’s old job. The guy is a real player. I should have known he’d send someone out when I didn’t jump at the chance to catch up on old times.” She frowned. “In fact, I bet he’s trying to take the job away from my boss’s replacement. I wonder if I should call . … No. Not getting involved. They can have this fight without me. ”
Juliet shook her head and leaned down to scratch Marley who was enjoying his tuna without bread or a side of scotch.
“We’ve never spoken much about your actual job, but is it safe to say that you had some unique gifts that might make your shoes — or office function — hard to fill?”
“Yes.” Juliet weighed her answers and final ly settled on the simple one. “I’m very intuitive. Very good at seeing patterns and breaks in patterns and predicting future patterns. Mostly what I did was look at information, sometimes in the media, sometimes classified communications between agencies or other foreign entities , and found the … misinformation. Or disinformation. Then I figured out who was lying and why.”
“You were a human lie detector.”
“Except I didn’t work much with humans. Just their words.”
“And what will you do if this man is persistent?”
“It depends. I can call some friends — I had a couple — and see if they can call the dog off. He is probably wanting to solve some case for the sake of personal glory. I mean, if it were something straightforward he would just ask for help through the usual channels . If it were a known case, the guy who took over for my boss would have asked me to look at it .”
“Option number two?”
“I can always hit him over the head and bury his body in the woods.”
Raphael looked amused.
“Would that be wise? Bodies almost always get found eventually.”
“Not if I hide them,” she muttered. “I bet I’d be a crackerjack killer.”
“Doubtless. Do you want me to ask around about this guy?”
“Not yet. I’m going to see if he has called in on Garret. I’m betting he hasn’t.”
“I wouldn’ t touch that bet, ” Raphael said.
“It’s so nice that you’re not stupid.”
They smiled at each other and finished their sandwiches in silence.
* * *
Juliet knew she was taking a risk by going into town, but she was running low on tuna and she had a hungry cat to feed. There was also the urge to talk to Garret about the case and to tip him off about the stranger in town, if the sheriff wasn’t already aware that they had a spy in their midst.
Though she expected the stranger to make some move once she was in town, it annoyed her to find him lying in wait behind a stand of privet about a dozen yards from the compound . He had been there for a while. The hood was decorated with needles and leaves. She didn’t recognize the make of car but it looked boxy and heavy. She could see his face in the mirror as he pulled in behind her and it was smug.
The smile made Juliet see red. His car being heavy didn’t matter much on the dirt and gravel road, not the way it would on a freeway. She had the better vehicle for off-roading. The Subaru had all-wheel drive, was maneuverable , and knew its way around the mountains. It could practically drive itself.
The slashe s of sunlight between the trees would be blinding, and though he might know the road he’d driven in on, he didn’t know the smaller side paths and informal driveways where people would four-wheel drive in to visit their vacation shacks on weekends and holidays.
The air in the
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