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"An interesting name"

"Short for Jasmine"

"Beautiful Seems sort of a shame to have a name like that and not use it"

"So nobody's ever called you Terry?"

Terence smiled "Not my friends"

"Have a lot of those, do you, Terry?"

He laughed, then nodded in appreciation "A precious few, Jasmine Do you fence?"

"What, you mean like with swords? Do I look like some posh tart, then? Next you'll ask me if I sail"

"I don't see you as a sailor, actually But fencing you'd have a talent for it, I think"

Jazz sat back and crossed her legs, enjoying the sun, wishing she wore a skirt or shorts instead of long trousers "And why is that?"

"You clearly relish the sparring and the quick riposte You're quick on your feet, light and agile As I ed to slink around the house while I was there, with me none the wiser

And believe me, I was alert for the presence of others It's a rare creature who can truht a tray of sandwiches to a table of well-coiffed professionals at the far side of the patio As he walked past her, Jazz inhaled the aronored it but thought back to the moment on the train when Terence had sat so close to her, had spoken to her, and she had inhaled his warm, sweet breath

"Do your friends share your view of yourself, or are you really as otist as you sound?"

"Both, I suspect"

Jazz s to tell me where you learned your craft?" Terence asked Thus far he had care-fully avoidedeven re thrilling about having this conversa-tion where others could hear yet h that no one would understand what they were talking about

"I can't do that"

He sat forward and slipped out of his jacket "Of course not" Neatly, he arranged the jacket on the back of one of the two empty chairs at their table His clothes were stylish and impeccable

"Do you always dress so well for work?"

"I dress to fit the job Shall I tell you where you learned your craft?"

"You're a psychic noell? You have so many mar-ketable skills"

Terence sat back, perhaps unconsciouslyher pose "You're a tunnel rat"

Jazz flinched inwardly but tried to keep her expression neutral How the hell did he know that?

"Oh, you could have soround, but I don't think so," the thief went on "The pallor of your skin gives you away, and your clothes have a bit of a ht've co, but taken together with your couess I suspect you've learned sleight of hand that wouldpassersby of the burden of having to carry their wallets, purses, ht reach

"You haven't been away fro Your ed-ucation uard, even this far fro fro other than your bravura performance earlier"

The waiter interrupted with their coffees He set down napkins, then Terence's cup and Jazz's glass

"Can I get you anything else?"

"We're perfect, thanks, Rob," Jazz told hi his name Pleased, he put his tray un-der his arh the patio to the cafe

"All right, you've read your share of Doyle," Jazz said, turning to Terence She picked up her iced coffee and took a sip, wrinkling her nose It needed sugar "I won't argue Rather, let's just cut to the 'so what?' I had the good fortune to get to so you wanted before you did and you're upset"

"You have skill, not good fortune"

Jazz shrugged "Whatever And what of it? You think I'her than I do, breathe a rarer air How does any of that lead to fancy coffee in the garden?"

The bag with thewith the strange holed blade-- sat on the fourth chair, within reach of either of them She was pretty sure that Terence hadn't even looked at it

"What you did today was far beyond the scope of what you and your accomplices would normally attereater things"

Terence stirred his cappuccino and set the spoon aside "Ad to improve your lot" He took a sip Jazz could sivein today's coincidence I suspect, whether you're aware of it or not, there is another reason you were in that house today"

Her thoughts i The shock of seeing her father in that old picture, standing with the Uncles, remained fresh

"What do you know of the apparatus?"

Jazz frowned "The what?"

Terence cocked his head, obviously surprised by her reply

"The object you stole today," he whispered, glancing around, no longer as confident as he'd been

"What made you take it?"

Jazz smiled She also whispered It wouldn't do for the their subject "I nicked plenty of things today I only took the sod-ding blade because I sahat you were looking for and figured it was valuable"

He studied her, and Jazz saw the ave a sh "It's worth ine, but to you it's worthless

You really only took it be-cause you saanted it?"

She nodded