Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,22

I love dates. You should go to that new restaurant over there by the twisty street, you know, Lombard.” She beamed, naming the famous San Francisco landmark. “It’s been written up all over the place. You know the place, I’m sure.” She acted as if she were searching for the name. “Parasol or something.”

“Well, since we’ll be discussing business,” Carrie reiterated, a bit repressively, “we’ll probably want to stick with something more staid. Thank you for the recommendation, though, Ms. Bascom. Tell me”—Carrie deftly flipped the conversation back to art—“is art a passion of yours as well?”

It took only a split second for her to make her decision on that one. She didn’t want to be pegged as an art patron, not in her current guise. “Oh, I’m just Shirley, and no, I mostly love a great party. My friends”—she waved toward the now-disappeared Jen and Jack—“were meeting here and invited me along.” She grinned at her hostess. “It just seemed the coolest thing to do, you know? And I was right. It’s a lot of fun.”

She caught the sardonic look that crossed Gates’s face before he managed to recover the bland façade he’d worn since Dav’s arrival.

“Interesting,” Dav added, smiling her way, but with eyes only for Carrie McCray. Dav, it seemed, wasn’t picking up any clues from his erstwhile security expert. He’d dismissed Ana as just what she was portraying.

Interested in Carrie, more than in having an interesting evening, I think, Ana silently decided.

“Well, thank you for coming, Shirley.” Carrie was at her gracious best, but obviously ready to conclude the chat and move on to her other clients. Dav was making her nervous. “Gates, it’s good to see you. Thank you for being here as well. Are you in the market for something new to grace your walls?”

“No, I’m just keeping Dav company.” He waved toward his boss. “And making new friends.” He nodded Ana’s way, turning those gorgeous brown eyes on her. He treated her to a slow, deliberate wink the others couldn’t see. It was all she could do not to give it away and react.

With what little undercover work Ana had done, she was unprepared for a real flirtation under the guise of a fake one. It was usually the other way around. That she was prepared for.

Leaning toward her, Gates brushed her cheek with a kiss, just at the same place he’d stroked it with a long, lean finger. “I slipped a card into your purse. It’s between your cell phone and lipstick. Call me. Tonight.”

It was all she could do to keep the shock from showing on her face.

“So. That was interesting.” Davros Gianikopolis’s faintly accented voice was as smooth as silk, delivering the bland statement into the quiet of the limo. One of San Francisco’s frequent nightly fogs had rolled in and was curling around the hills as they made their way out to Dav’s compound in the hills.

Gates laughed at the evaluation, reading all the meaning behind the words. “Interesting, yes. Informative, yes. Irritating? I’d have to say again, yes.”

“Irritating? But you seemed so taken with the young woman you ran into,” Dav teased, with the ease of long practice. “And she so energetically shook your hand on parting.” He smirked. “Such enthusiasm.”

“Yes, enthusiastic.” He kept his tone bland. Dav was used to his tactics and had a sixth sense about him from long association. He wanted to see how long he could keep Dav from catching on.

“You believe her to be more than she seemed?”

About six seconds. Slanting a glance his boss’s way, Gates decided to let the cat out of the bag. “Did you happen to see the fall I took?”

“I saw you roll, but it was a bit of a blur.” He rubbed his arm. “The young man, Queller, was pulling me out of the way.”

Gates nodded, reminding himself to thank Queller. “Then you probably didn’t notice just how strong she is.”

“That little thing?”

Gates laughed. Ana had played it perfectly, coming across as flighty, diminutive, and weak. “Not that little. She was strong enough to help me off the floor, pull me out of the way of those idiots who kept knocking people over like ninepins. What does that tell you?”

“Really?” Dav sat up, interest flaring in his eyes. “That slip of a girl? In heels?”

Dav held up a hand for silence, closed his eyes. Gates knew he was replaying the scene in his mind. When he looked at Gates, he was frowning. “Wait. How did she