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“I don’t know if he’s a drifter,” Savannah said, not entirely convinced he wasn’t And frankly, not entirely convinced that Juliette wasn’t spot on in her assessot and Savannah

“But he’s not staying at the house He’s going to get a room at the Bonne Terre Inn”

“He’s still a stranger,” Juliette said

“Right, and he’s the only person who has answered that ad,” Savannah pointed out “Everyone in toho could do the work knoe don’t have a big budget and that the job is huge”

“But a stranger?”

“I have vacation starting tomorrow—”

“And you’re going to spend it babysitting this guy and your courtyard?”

“No, actually, I’ious rituals around the world for the Discovery Channel, but I’ll be home”

“What do you know about this guy?” Juliette asked, brushing her suit jacket off her lean hips, revealing her gun and her whipcord build

Juliette looked so irl, a few years older than Savannah, who had seela Juliette used to never wear pants, and never left the house without a thick coat of hot-pink lip gloss

Savannah wondered how e in Juliette Of course, that was years ago and Juliette would take her head off for asking

“I checked his references,” Savannah said, feeling confident until Juliette sniffed in disapproval “And they were great”

“References lie,” Juliette said

“Give me some credit, Juliette I’m a researcher I searched his name on the Internet,” she said, “and Matt Howe, at least the Matt Howe doing work atporn on the Web He’s a nonentity”

“Right, because the Internet is so reliable” Juliette pulled her notebook from her pocket and hit the end of her ballpoint pen “Matt Howe?”

“With an e”