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"Had," he said, and tilted his head slightly, still watching her "How the hell old are you, anyway?"

"Twenty-six"

"Daht to be an actress; you could do those teen shows You look sixteen"

Bryn ground her teeth and said nothing She was so tired of people assue She supposed when she was forty, she’d be grateful for the baby face, but up to now it had been a total pain in the ass

Probably not theon the radar at the moment, from a macro point of view

"Anyway," Fideli said, "I’m just here to do some reconnaissance You knohat that means?"

He clearly didn’t know her past "Check out the lay of the land"

"Ding I wasn’t planning on running into anybody Where’s your car?"

"I don’t have one I ride the bus"

"No shit Is that one of those save-the-planet things, or I’s?"

"Both Mostly the latter, honestly" Sadly

"Well, good for you, I guess Bad for et you out of here" Fideli fell silent, staring at her

She felt co "What do you want? We don’t have a lot here that’s worth taking, if that’s what this is about I mean, the furniture, maybe, but--"

"I’m not a thief"

"Well, there’s not a load of opportunity for industrial espionage in this business," she said It was a joke, but he didn’t smile His eyes certainly didn’t "What did you want in the prep room?" Preparation, Bryn remembered, too late Fairvieanted to be formal about it with the custo up to be a customer, after all

"I’m supposed to find out if Mr Fairview and Fast Freddy are running drugs," he said "Prescription drugs Stolen"

"What? Of course not!"

"No offense, but you’re what, a day into this job? Hoould you know?"

"This is a successful business Why would they do soain, she’dpast him "Unless--maybe it’s not Mr Fairview? Just Freddy?"

Fideli’s head caht, and there was a new tension in his body "You know souy?"

"Not that much Just … he’s a creep You know the type"

"Explain it to me"

"He came on to me Downstairs"

"Romantic"

"Exactly" She cleared her throat "Look, I’un down?"

"What?" He seeenuinely surprised, and then sh the drawers of your desk Just in case you had a thirty-eight-caliber surprise in there So I guess you’re safe enough"

She was startled "When did you do that?"

"While you were downstairs" His gaze shifted, and the easy friendliness disappeared instantly "Hold up Don’twithoutthe blinds "You know of any reason why your boss and Freddy would coht?"

"No"

"Well, they’re parking cars right now" Fideli backed up next to her, and the gun made an unpleasant reappearance "Not a word, Miss Davis"