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She s out of what she was about to say "And third, there’s no way he’d follow orders any better than John Creede did" She shook her head "You do pick such alphaI wouldn’t have expected it, as depressed as she’d been when she first got here But I was still a little sensitive after what had happened yesterday, and I guess it showed

"Uh-oh," Dawna said "I know that look What’s up?"

"Bruno and I had a fight"

"Evidently there’s a lot of that going around," she said wryly "What was yours about?"

"He thinks I should have asked hiranted, and that I should consult him before I make ‘major life decisions like this’"

"Oh" Wisely, she didn’t say anything ain, as there to say?

"Yours?" I asked

"Chris doesn’t wantout with you He says it’s too dangerous"

Uh-oh

"I told hi from a man orks for a para I could say that wouldn’t either s worse or bite me in the ass later, and wound up empty

Dawna took a deep breath She met my eyes, her expression serious "You’rewith you I think e do is i up e"

"You’re sure?"

She gave a firm nod Her jaas set in such a stubborn line that I decided not to press further I changed the subject "So, what do we still need?"

"Well, obviously a ood to have at least one other person to do basic bodyguard work There are soreed that we didn’t want to go overboard on hiring until we build up so we’ll let her help out around the office If not, we’ll have to hire a clairvoyant or find one we can contract with"

Daas right on all counts I had a fair aht now The job for Adriana and Dahlmar had paid well, and the insurance money (be stillhad coh In fact, the city had offered to buy the land where the building had stood "as is," so they could expand their offices The price wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad I was hoping that if I combined the insurance payout and theAnd we needed a clairvoyant and a oes faster than you want it to

"Does Dottie really still want to work part-ti you find an office soon Her super is starting to get suspicious about Minnie"

I grinned I couldn’t help it I love the little fur ball Minnie the Mouser had been Dottie’s cat until Dottie hadthat didn’t allow pets For a while Minnie had been the office cat, and Dottie had worked for me part-time; that way she could spend ti money And it really was a little , so I got a high-level clairvoyant for practically a song

"Tell you what," I said "Check with Dottie; see if she’s willing to work for us again, on the same terms as before Tell her that Minnie can stay at rinned and nodded She loved Dottie like another grand further, and we dove back into the ind of interviewing Some applicants were better than others, but none were particularly outstanding I was glad ere finally finished at twelve thirty

I turned to Dawna There were so s we really needed to talk about, but there just wasn’t enough time "I want to talk to you I need to talk to you But I have that big fa it close--I’ll have to stick alet there on ti and we can talk over a pitcher ofto be up for a chat after dealing with your ave her a rueful look "Girlfriend, after dealing with aritas Say seven o’clock?"