Tao handed him the champagne. Stane thanked him, but his gaze was on me. "You know, if Tao was any sort of friend, he'd help you out with that ache."
"The whole friends-with-benefits deal is off," Tao said, before I could answer. "It's heartbreaking, I tell you."
I slapped his arm, then gave Stane a steely look. "One more smart remark about my state and I really am going to hit someone. Hard."
He grinned. "Warning heeded."
"Good. Did you manage to find anything out about Marcus Handberry?"
"Yeah. He's a nastier piece of work than even I realized." His grin grew, but the amusement that had been crinkling the corners of his eyes faded as he added, "And he apparently didn't exist until a year ago."
Chapter Six
"NO ONE CAN JUST POP UP OUT OF NOWHERE fully formed," I commented. "He had to exist somewhere, even if it wasn't in this incarnation."
He smiled and glanced at Tao. "She's smarter than she looks."
"I keep telling you to look deeper than the skin," Tao said drily.
"But the skin is so pretty—even when it's not her usual one. This way, my friends."
We followed Stane as he weaved through the shelves and dust, then climbed the set of stairs at the back of the store and entered another world. A world that was clean, dust-free, and bristling with all sorts of shiny electronic equipment.
"God, it looks like the bridge of the Enterprise," I commented.
Stane spun around. "You know about Star Trek?"
"Watched every series, old and new."