Rex did not look happy. Riley, Philby, and I were sitting in his office, while on the other side of the closed door we could see him talking to Dr. Rye through the window. In fact, there were several windows. On an inside office. I wanted to rub that in the vet's face, but decided this might not be the right time.
Riley was on the phone with the CIA, trying to get them to deal with this. I just sat there thinking I'd nailed the last nail in the coffin on my relationship with Rex. Angela won. I doubt she ever got in trouble for breaking in to steal a cat that looked like a murderous dictator. Stupid, perfect, law-abiding Angela.
The date was probably off. I'd heard when we were being arrested that witnesses had spotted us breaking in. Great. It was probably some old lady with nothing to do but pursue her healthy interest in conspiracies.
Rex shook hands with Dr. Rye, and the vet left. Rex opened the door, closing it right behind him.
"Dr. Rye isn't going to press charges." Rex said as he sat down at his desk. "For some reason, he thinks you just really missed your cat." He handed me back the vet's phone number that I'd given up when we surrendered. He didn't even thank me for making his job easier.
"So we can go?" Riley asked, standing up. I joined him.
Rex scratched the back of his head. "Can I have a moment with Ms. Wrath?" Uh-oh. He used my formal name.
Riley nodded and left the room extremely quickly. Traitor.
We both watched the door close and the latch click. That was the quietest it was going to be.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Rex tried to restrain himself, which I thought was nice. But there was a definite tone in his voice.
"Sorry." I meant it. "But I've got this assassin chasing me, and it occurred to us that he was after Philby, and we were worried about the cat, because why would the bad guy want him alive, so we went to rescue him." I let out a long breath.
Rex blinked like a goldfish. "From the Lenny Smith thing? You have an assassin chasing you for that? Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped."
I shook my head. "Your captain gave the case back to Riley and the agency, remember? Besides, I didn't want to bother you."
Rex stood up and started pacing. "Bother me? You didn't want to bother me? Someone is trying to kill you, and you didn't want to bother me?" Okay, he was getting a little angry now. I decided to keep silent.
Finally, Rex sat on the front of his desk, inches from me. "You need to tell me everything. I can't have you running around town, dressed in black, scaring little old ladies."
Aha! It was a little old lady! Score one for me.
"Okay," I said.
Rex thought for a moment. "You didn't have anything to do with bullet holes and blood showing up at the grocery store the other night, did you?"
"Um…" I said slowly as if it could possibly give me enough time to come up with an answer.
Rex shook his head and held out his hand for me to stop. "Never mind. You're just going to have to add that to telling me everything."
Riley tapped on the glass of the door with a look that asked when I'd get to go.
"Look," Rex said. "I've got to work late to clear all this up. Go home, and I'll call you tomorrow. Okay?"
I nodded and snagged Philby, who was chewing on a plant on the floor.
"Oh," Rex said, causing me to stop. "Don't tell Angela any of this tomorrow night. It's important to me that you impress her."
My shoulders slumped. He wanted to impress her…with his friend Merry Wrath. Great.
"I won't." I walked out of his office, and it kind of felt like I was also walking out of his life.
Riley and I were exhausted and decided to just take Philby back to my house instead of to the yarn shop. We smuggled the cat in Riley's jacket as best we could, but if Bobb was looking closely he'd probably know. We checked the house and the cement grave outside but found no evidence of a break-in or tampering. I put out some fresh cat food we picked up on the way for Philby and tossed the old stuff. It was poisoned. I should've sent it to a lab of some sort, but the vet had the info, and it didn't really matter anyway.
Riley kept looking at me strangely. I knew he was freaked out about getting caught. He probably blamed that on me too. Why not?
"I'm going to bed," I said dully as I scooped up Philby and staggered a little under his weight.
"Okay," Riley said. "I'll stay here in the living room and keep an eye on things."
I shrugged and made my way to the bedroom. After placing the cat on the bed and changing clothes, I fell asleep instantly. Misery is a strong sedative.
* * *
The next morning Philby and I joined a fully dressed Riley in the kitchen. He was making breakfast again. I was beyond depressed, so I ate twice as much as usual. I didn't want this mystery anymore. I didn't want the CIA here. I just wanted Philby, Kelly, and my self-loathing.
"Why are you dressed so early?" I asked Riley.
"I'm going with you to your Girl Scout meeting," he said. "Kelly called to remind you."
Oh crap. I'd forgotten. We had a meeting today. I was going to teach the girls how to make weapons using everyday objects. Kelly didn't really like this idea, so I toned it down somewhat. I'd been saving the supplies for months.
I didn't really feel like going. But maybe something like this would cheer me up. We were meeting at Kelly's house in her basement, and Riley was going along, presumably for security. Okay. Might as well get it over with.
Riley was in the backyard, checking on the fake cat grave, when the doorbell rang. I looked through the peephole in the door and opened it.
A man in a trench coat, fedora, blond mustache, and dark sunglasses stood there. "Pssst…" he whispered, before looking from side to side. "I hear you're selling cookies."
"Hey, Abdul. How's it going?" The guy standing in front of me shared an office with me early in my career in Pakistan.
"I have no idea what you're talking about. My name is…Andy. Andy Bellafonte."
I crossed my arms over my chest. "You are Abdul Jones. You like the color red and have a dog named Bubba."
The man shook his head. "I have no idea what you're talking about. I don't even work for the CIA."
"That's funny because I didn't mention the CIA," I said. I wasn't going to make it easy. Abdul never chipped in to the office tea account but drank 10 cups a day.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Finn," he said. Yeah, he was a great agent. Which was why he was sent back to Langley to work in the marketing department after only six months in the field.
"I never said my name, Abdul," I answered.
The man blinked at me. His fake blond mustache started sliding off. I couldn't tell if he was going to run, cry, or attack. I decided to wait and see what happened.
"Put me down for a case of Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies." Peanut Butter Sandwich cookies—the often ignored bastard of Girl Scout Cookies. Of course he wanted those.
"I'll need the money up front or no deal." I told him how much it would be and held out my hand expectantly.
The mustache fell completely off.
"Um, will you take a check?" Abdul asked as he clumsily pasted the 'stache back on his upper lip.
"Sure," I said, suppressing a snicker. See what I mean? Only a flunky pays with a check with his name and address on it while undercover. Abdul tore out the check and handed it to me.
"Maria will be getting the shipment," I said. Abdul was not getting his cookies until his check cleared.
"I was never here," he said, before looking both ways and running away down the sidewalk.
I sighed and closed the door. At least it was another sale.
"Was that Abdul?" Riley asked, appearing very close behind me. I shuddered a little then hoped he hadn't noticed that. He was starting to have a seriously physical effect on me. That wasn't good.
"Yeah." I turned around to face him. How did he get his eyes so blue? "He ordered some cookies. You ready to go?"
"Let's drop Philby off at the safe house first," Riley said.
I agreed. We still had to keep the cat safe. We hid the cat in a duffel bag as we took him to the car. Suzanne at the yarn shop promised he'd be okay. I made a mental note to interrogate her when we got back. It felt like I was leaving my cat with a complete stranger. Sure, Riley knew her, but I didn't.
* * *
The girls were all there when Riley and I arrived. I made him carry the box of supplies. Riley recoiled when he saw the kids. He didn't really have much experience with anyone younger than 19.
The girls thought he was adorable and immediately crowded him like gypsy children at American Tourist Appreciation Day at the Eiffel Tower. Riley shrank back and looked at me in horror, wondering what to do.
"He's got candy in his jacket pockets, girls!" I shouted.
I'd never heard Riley scream like that before.
He really did have candy in his pockets. I'd filled them before handing him his coat as we left the house.
Kelly and I put the cookies on plates on the table then called the girls over for snack time. Riley stood there with sticky handprints all over his clothes, in total shock. I hadn't seen him like that since the night at the Belgian consulate when three of his seducees approached him at the same time. That was hilarious. He walked around with three handprints on his face for two days.
Eventually he joined us as we started the craft. His job was to cut the sides of the rulers so they looked sort of sharp. We couldn't go full out with making a real weapon yet, because they were only second graders. But someday…
I worked on the armband and spring mechanism while Kelly wielded the hot glue gun. She mumbled several times that we should be doing something more fitting, like valentines or tissue paper flowers, but she kept it up.
When we were done, each girl had a secret shiv strapped to her arm. I felt like we'd really accomplished something. Then we got down to cookie orders.
The girls were doing great so far. Many of them had surpassed their individual goal, which was nice considering how expensive the cookies were. We reviewed safety measures when selling, techniques they could use, even emotional blackmail that would work when Grandma said no.
"Mrs. Wrath?" One of the four Kaitlins asked. "Is this your husband?" She pointed to Riley.
"No," I said wearily. "Like I've told you girls before—I'm not married. It's Ms. Wrath."
Ava spoke up. "Why not? He's totes adorbs. Don't you like him?"
Riley leaned back in his chair with a smug smile. The bastard. I wondered what totes adorbs meant, but thought that asking might make me less cool.
"Well, yes…I…um…like him…but he's a friend…"
"Mrs. Wrath and Riley, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" the four Kaitlins sang immediately. Kelly started laughing. Riley was still smiling. And I was pretty sure I'd blushed bright red.
"All right! That's enough!" I shouted.
"Mr. Riley?" Ava asked. "Are you going to marry Mrs. Wrath?"
It was Riley's turn to blush, and he did so with purple splotches all over his neck. Funny, I'd seen my former boss in lots of situations over the years that would've given a lesser man a heart attack. But this one almost killed him.
Kelly said nothing. She was enjoying it too much.
"Enough!" I shouted. "It's time to clean up our mess!" The girls giggled en masse like junior Stepford Wives and ran over to the table to clean up.
"Nice save," Kelly murmured in my ear.
"You were no help whatsoever," I grumbled.
She shrugged. So I told her how many cookies I'd sold. Kelly gave a strangled cry and stared at me.
"I haven't even sold one fifth that amount! And I've gone around the hospital twice!" she complained.
This time I shrugged. "I guess I'm just better at it."
"Mrs. Wrath?" asked Inez, probably the cutest girl in the troop—even though I hardly notice that type of thing… "Can we come over and see your cat?"
I gave a sharp look at Kelly. She grinned weakly. "I had to tell them something while I was waiting for you."
I looked down at Inez's adorable face. "Maybe next week, okay? He just came home from the cat hospital and needs his rest."
"Yay" Inez cheered. "Hey, guys! We're going to Mrs. Wrath's house next week to see her kitty!"
Oh, well. Fine. I'd hopefully have everything wrapped up by then. Right? We finished with a game while the parents picked them up one by one. When the last girl had gone, the three of us slumped into chairs.
"How do you do this every week?" Riley asked. "It's like they suck the life right out of you!"
Kelly scowled. "They aren't so bad! I get a kick out of the girls."
I nodded. "They wear me out too. But I love them." Wait. Did I just say I loved my girls? I guess I did. I really did. Wow. A little over a year ago, I would've laughed at anyone (and possibly fired a gun in their direction) if you'd told me I'd have a pet cat and love the little girls in my troop. But I did. Things sure had changed.
"Don't forget. We have the cookie booth coming up." Kelly grabbed my arm as we were leaving.
"Why do you always think I'm going to forget?" I complained.
"Because you always forget!" Kelly snapped. Whoa.
I waved Riley away and leaned in. "What is wrong with you? You're always jumping down my throat lately."
Kelly looked at me for a long moment. "It's nothing. Really. I'm just stressed over the cookie sale and worried about you with this killer running around."
"I think you're keeping something from me. Do you have cancer? Are you and Robert having problems? Are you losing your job?"
"No!" Kelly hissed. "Nothing's wrong! I told you. Now get out of my house!"
We left Kelly and headed toward the yarn shop. Something was wrong with my best friend, and she couldn't even talk to me about it. Was it something I missed? Was that why she's mad—because I didn't notice? Not only was I losing my boyfriend, I might be losing Kelly.
My life was falling apart, but I had no idea why. It didn't make sense. And my night was just going to get worse. I had Suzanne to grill and then a date with my boyfriend and his new possible girlfriend.
"Hey, Riley," I said slowly as an idea swirled around in my mind. "Think Suzanne would babysit Philby tonight?"
"I don't know, why?" he answered, focusing on the road to see if we were being followed.
"Want to go out to dinner with me?" I turned on all possible charm. There wasn't much.
Riley took his eyes off the road and looked at me. "Okay."
"It's me and you and Rex and his friend Angela." I thought it only fair to warn him.
"Sounds good," he said with a grin.
Just for a moment, I thought I detected something strange in his voice. Oh well, it's probably nothing. It's not like he could misconstrue what I'd said. Right?