Blitz (Blast Brothers #3) - Sabrina Stark Page 0,51
tweaking her. "So this Laura person, is she what, an imaginary friend?"
Mina bristled in her seat. "No."
I made a show of looking around my office. And then, I leaned forward and said in a low voice. "Tell me. Is she with us now?"
Mina made a sound of annoyance. "What are you implying? That I'm crazy?"
"Hey, you said it, not me."
"I'll have you know, Laura is designing the promotional pieces for this year's Tomato Festival."
I didn't care about Laura. She wasn't the one who'd been haunting my thoughts. Absently, I murmured, "Good to know."
"Yeah, it is. She's terrific. And she does it pro bono, too. But you're missing the point."
I pulled my thoughts to the present. "Which is…?"
"See, I'm in my car, talking to my sister on my cell phone, and I see Laura coming around the corner. So I roll down my window and wave—"
I held up a finger. "Quick question."
"Yeah?"
"Are we talking a royal wave? Or the other kind?"
She frowned. "What?"
I put on my best poker face. "I'm just asking, trying to get a sense of it."
Judging from Mina's expression, she knew better. Through gritted teeth, she replied, "It was a regular wave."
"Well, we can't all get the royal treatment."
With a tight smile, she said, "Which royal treatment? A nice, elegant wave? Or the kind that ends with a severed head in a basket?"
I drew back. What the hell?
Now, she was smiling for real. In a voice that was far too sweet to be genuine, she said, "Hey, I'm just asking. You know, trying to get a sense of it."
I had to give her credit for the comeback – not out loud, because hey, there was no need to encourage the insane.
Instead, I made a forwarding motion with my hand. "Go on. Tell me the rest."
"So, anyway…she comes over and asks for a quick favor."
Now this, I had to hear.
As I listened, Mina went on to tell me that Laura's niece had agreed to pose for some sketches that Laura was doing for the festival's promotional materials. But the niece had backed out last-minute, leaving Laura short a model.
When she'd spotted Mina by chance, she'd asked Mina to pose for a few photos to fill in the gaps.
Photos, huh? It was a nice story, but full of holes. I said, "I thought she was doing sketches."
"She is," Mina said. "But those take time, and I had only a few minutes. So she took some pictures with her phone instead. She'll do the sketches based on those."
"And the crown?"
"What about it?" she asked.
"Was it yours?"
"No," Mina laughed. "Laura had it in her satchel. It was a prop for the session with her niece."
Forget the niece. I hadn't seen Laura or a satchel. But Mina, it seemed, had an answer for everything.
I gave it another shot. "So where was Laura? I didn't see her."
"Yeah, because she was standing under the awning. You know, because of the glare. It was a sunny day, remember?"
It was another good answer, but I remained skeptical. Probing for holes, I said, "So your picture – it's gonna be on what? A poster or something?"
"Me?" she laughed. "No. Like I said, she's doing some sketches. When she's finished, nobody will know it was me."
"So that's your story, huh?"
"It's not a story," she said. "It's the truth."
Maybe. Maybe not.
It was hard to say.
I was still debating when Mina said, "And now, I've got a question."
"Yeah?"
"This happened what, two weeks ago? Why didn't you ask about it?"
"Why would I?"
"Well, you must've thought I was nuts."
"Thought?" I smiled. "As in past-tense?"
"Oh, that's nice," she said. "So you think I'm crazy."
I lifted my hand and made a waffling gesture over my desk. "Eh, hard to say."
Looking less than flattered, she said, "I don't get it. If you think I’m unhinged or something, why would you give me control over a million-dollar budget?"
The answer to this was easy. "Because you don't have control. I do."
With something that was almost an eye-roll, she said, "Yeah, but you know what I mean. Sure, you have the final say, but why would you want me involved in the first place if you think I'm unstable?"
It was a good question, one I'd been asking myself for the past two weeks. Sure, the thing with Angelique's book had added a new twist to things, but the truth was, I'd made the decision to go forward with the campaign hours before Mason had tossed that book onto my coffee table.