Page 48 of In the Line of Ire

"Yes.Your mom gave me a lecture on being romantic and keeping youhappy." He pointed to the small table holding a wine bucket,crystal glasses, and lit candles. "How am I doing?"

I stoodon my tiptoes, slipping my arms around his neck, and kissed him."Like you need to ask. This is perfect. Everything is perfect. Justignore my mom."

"Easiersaid than done."

"It justtakes practice. You'll be seasoned at it in a few moreyears."

"Good toknow. Take a seat. Your mother prepared a list of topics we'resupposed to discuss, things that don't involve work. They're on thefridge."

"Pleasetell me you're not serious." A slip of typed paper was stuck on thefridge under a smiley face magnet. I plucked it off and skimmed itas I sighed. "Number one, sexual fantasies to share and indulge...I am not reading anymore of this," I said before scrunching thepaper into a ball and tossing it into the trash with the rest of mymother's advice.

"Shame.Number seven sounded kinda fun."

I lookedin the trash and hesitated before deciding against plucking thepaper out. "Not if it came from my mom. No matter how fun it mightbe as a topic, if I associate it with my mom, the moment will beruined forever." I sat on the furthest chair and watched Solomonfinish the preparations. "Besides, I like talking aboutwork."

"Not alot to say about work today," said Solomon as he crossed thekitchen with two plates. He set one in front of me and the other onhis side of the table; then he reached for the wine and poured twoglasses. He handed one to me, sat down and smiled.

"Itisn't the most thrilling undercover work," I agreed. "I spend a lotof time standing still."

"Want toswap sitting in the van for the whole shift?"

"If youwant to try selling purses, sure! Have anymore fake ones turned upat the mall?"

"Nothingwas reported today."

I pickedup my fork, hovering it over the plate. "If you and Serena weren'tscammed, I'd suspect some kind of bait-and-switch on the buyer'send, but I think we can rule that out since the FBI gotinvolved."

"Youmean Samantha's theory of buying a real bag and returning a fakeone to get a refund? Kind of risky."

"Very,but I don't think that's the issue since we saw the store room withfake purses, and I know you and Serena would never think of doingthat. I don't even know why I brought it up. We ruled it outalready. I think my brain is addled from inactivity."

"Youneed to get inside the store room at the department storetomorrow."

"I planon having my break in there as my reason to hang out. If I canpersuade Tansy to leave, I can inspect the stock. Otherwise, we'llhave to ask Samantha to let us in late at night after everyone elsehas gone home."

"I thinkthat's risky too, given the extra attention the mall is gettingfrom the Heavenly Handbags murder."

"I saw the newspaper headline.Murderin Heaven. Who thinks that stuff up?" Iwondered aloud.

"It'scatchy."

"Anyway,we might need a diversion to give me enough time to examine thestock."

"Not aproblem. How long will you need?"

Iconsidered the size of the store room and the volume of stock. Itwasn't a huge space but dozens of boxes for me to open. The realpurses would be interspersed with fakes, if they were there, withno guarantee how many fakes were slipped into the stock. "Fifteenminutes minimum," I decided. "Although it might be better to goafter hours when we have the luxury of more time, despite all therisks."

"It willbe harder to get access to a department store after hours. Morestaff to make sure are gone, more space to cover, and more camerasto avoid in case anyone is checking the feeds. We should stick toopening hours; plus, you already have an invitation to hang outthere from the stock room woman. We can discuss creating adiversion with Maddox."

"Okay,"I agreed. "We should definitely clue him in. And we should check inwith MPD to find out what’s happening with the guy they arrested.This is delicious. I think I need to up my game and spoilyou."

"Yourmom suggested that too. It was on the list."

"Whatnumber?"

"Fifteen."

"Fourteen things came above me being nice to you? Forget Iasked! I don't need to know what those other fourteen things were.I know what I want to do and I fully intend to do it."

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