“So... why are you still driving like a grandma?”
He shot me a dirty look. “They expect you to go to a client meeting, so we’re going to a client meeting.”
“What client?” I wanted to turn around and search the streets behind us. “You’re not going to drag me back to Evershaw’s house, are you?”
“I have something else in mind,” he said. “Just – trust me.”
It was asking a lot, all things considered. But he’d been right about a lot of things, so one more seemed like a reasonable accommodation. Just the one, though.
“Persephone...” he started, then stopped. He shook his head.
I didn’t look at him, just in case it made him clam up completely. “What?”
“Nothing.” Dodge pulled the car up in front of one of the massive glass-and-chrome monstrosities in the financial district. “We’re here for the client meeting.”
“Who the hell is the client?” I stared up at the building as I hauled myself out of the car, and wished I’d worn a suit instead of the jeans and blazer.
“Friend of a friend,” he said. “He’ll let us hang out here until we have our lunch meeting.”
I shook my head but did my best to look like I was on my way to a meeting as he led the way into the fancy lobby and across the sleek tile to the bank of elevators. “You don’t really think someone is following us, right? That was just – just nerves. Right?”
Dodge hit the button for the floor and didn’t answer until the doors closed on us, alone in the small box. “I’m reasonably sure.”
“How sure is that?”
“There are at least four of them in two different cars,” he said. He squeezed my shoulder, maybe trying to be reassuring. “They picked us up a few blocks from your apartment, before the coffee shop. I wasn’t certain until after the coffee shop.”
I sucked in a breath, ready to scream at how fucking unbelievable my life had gotten in just a few hours, but the elevator arrived at one of the upper floors and I didn’t want to make a scene in that fancy building. The doors opened to a large lobby with a receptionist desk and not much else in the waiting area. There weren’t any signs to indicate what kind of business it was, or what kind of client I might have been meeting.
I edged closer to Dodge as we stepped out of the elevator; his fingers brushed mine in a reassuring touch, not quite holding on but enough that it warmed me from the inside. Even if it probably didn’t mean anything to him, it meant something to me. I swallowed the knot in my throat as we approached the receptionist desk. I fully expected the bright-eyed woman with a pixie haircut to sniff in derision and send us away, but instead she beamed at Dodge. “How can I help you?”
My eyes narrowed as I watched her. Funny that she talked tohimand not me. Sure, Dodge looked like sex on a stick even when he wasn’t trying to be distracting, but that didn’t mean...
He glanced at her and then at the halls and meeting rooms that arrayed out behind the barrier of her desk. “We’d like to speak with Smith. We don’t have an appointment but we’re happy to wait in a conference room or empty office.”
“Mr. Smith? Of course.” She smiled even more brightly and gestured at a few of the ultra-modern chairs that looked vaguely like medieval torture devices. “If you don’t mind taking a seat for just one second, I’ll see if he’s available.”
“Who is Smith?” I asked, after Dodge nodded to her and led the way to the seats. We both eyed the contraptions and then gingerly sat. I made sure not to wedge myself too far into the oddly bent seat, in case I got caught and needed the jaws of life to escape. “This doesn’t seem like the kind of place that accepts walk-ins.”
Dodge shrugged and frowned at the chair as he tried to figure out the arm-rests. “Smith is pretty good people. If he can’t make room in his schedule, he’ll let us squat here for a meeting until we can go meet Evershaw for lunch. We just need to kill time.”
Before I could come up with a sensible question on who this guy was, exactly, the receptionist bounced to her feet with a cheery, “Mr. Smith will see you, if you’ll just follow me?” and then led the way into a maze of halls.
I meant to let Dodge go ahead of me, but he reached to put his hand at the small of my back to guide me in front of him. I should have dug my heels in and refused. I didn’t like being in places like that unless I had the full defenses of a business suit and portfolio and at least a day to prepare interview questions and responses and appropriate small talk. This was too... sudden, too unplanned. Completely unbounded and out of control.
My heart jumped to my throat as the receptionist approached a sleek office with frosted glass walls, concealing whoever waited within. My recent experiences with Dodge and Evershaw and Deirdre meant it could have been “whatever” waiting inside. Dodge didn’t let me drag my feet, only nodding his thanks to the receptionist before going into the office and shutting the door behind us.
I hung back as he strode up to the silver-haired man who rose from the glass-surfaced desk. “Smith. Thanks for your time. We don’t need to distract you for long.”
“No trouble at all, Mr. Dodge,” the older man said. His tall, thin frame seemed incongruous compared to the intensity of his gaze as he studied me. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. How are Miles and Deirdre?”
Dodge snorted. “You know how they are, I’m sure. This is Persephone Lawson. She might be doing some work for us, to help out with... Silas.”
“Ah, yes.” The older man smiled as he held out his hand, his tall frame appearing even thinner when standing next to Dodge’s broad body. There wasn’t anything specifically wrong with him, but something still felt... off. Maybe his teeth were a little too pointy. “Very nice to meet you, Ms. Lawson. It’s too bad about Silas. Hopefully you’re able to assist. What skills do you bring to this unique situation?”
I blinked and moved slowly to take the chair he indicated, though I glanced at Dodge for a hint of whether we were really going to stay and converse with the guy. “Uh, I’m still playing catch-up on a few details. Originally, Mr. Evershaw asked me to develop a habitat for him. For – it. Silas. I’m a habitat designer for large cats and other predators.”
“A habitat designer?” Smith seated himself behind the desk but leaned forward, eyes flashing with an odd hint of silver. “Fascinating. I can’t say that I’ve met someone with that skillset. Tell me how you came to this unique career field.”
