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Fair summary, thought Gwen, though she reckoned the cards for this storm had been dealt, and it wasn’t the big one. She folded the paper and placed it thoughtfully on her desk as Mandy teetered in on her four-inch heels.

Messenger’s PA swiveled her pencil-skirt-encased ass and perched on Gwen’s desk. Gwen had a fleeting desire to raise one booted leg and push her off.

“I just read that too!” exclaimed Mandy, nodding at the article.

“Whaddya reckon?” she asked, leaning across the desk conspiratorially. “It looks like it’s gonna keep raining forever. This the big one?”

Gwen looked over Mandy’s shoulder as Gabriel Messenger appeared. He paused in the doorway, tucked his hands into his trouser pockets, and raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Rain’ll stop soon,” announced Gwen. “This isn’t the big one. Call it a warm-up act if you like,” she added, eyes on Messenger as she spoke, almost by rote, knowing what he wanted to hear, giving it to him in the easy sound bites that allowed her to think other thoughts, to scrutinize him, to wonder why he was having Dan surveilled. If it was him who was responsible. She and Dan were still infuriatingly short of evidence.

“Why?” asked Messenger, taking a step closer. Mandy got up from the desk and moved to the side of the office, her scowl showing she was all too aware she was just a sideshow now. “What makes you so sure?” Messenger continued.

“Just wait. And watch,” added Gwen with a gnomic smile.

“For how long?” asked Messenger, glancing at his watch.

Gwen got up, walked to her window, peered out, studying the clouds.

“It’ll stop raining in an hour. Two max. That do you?”

Messenger barked out a laugh.

“Thousand dollars on it stopping by ten a.m.?”

Gwen turned to him, amused. “You and your metrics…” But she shook his outstretched hand.

“Done,” she said.

“Accepted!” declared Messenger. “So, now tell me why I’m going to lose.”

“OK. Those thick, gray nimbostratus that have set in over the past two days are breaking up,” said Gwen, pointing at the sky.

Messenger moved up to her, stood alongside her, peering out. Gwen could smell his citrus cologne, could feel his body heat. Mandy had come up on her other side, stopping her from inching away.

“The sky is lighter,” continued Gwen. “A pale gray. Not a slate gray. That’s ’cause the darker gray stratus fractus clouds, which often sit below the nimbostratus, they’re the result of falling rain, well they’ve blown away overnight. That tells the story you can see with your own eyes. The rain’s lessening.” Gwen took a breath, continued at a sharp clip. “The nimbostratus have dropped most of their load. They’re almost, but not quite, purged by the storm. They’re still moving at a good nick, so they’ll be over the mountains and out of our way soon.” Gwen gestured like a weather girl.

“Blue skies are coming.” She turned to Messenger, gave him a wry smile. “Meteorologically speaking.”

*   *   *

One hour and five minutes later, followed by Mandy, Gabriel Messenger appeared at Gwen’s office fighting a smile. He stood by Gwen’s window, staring out at the brightening sky. From which no rain fell on Carmel Valley.

“Well done, Miss Oracle,” Messenger announced, turning to Gwen, lips twitching. He reached into his pocket, removed a wad of notes. He counted out ten hundreds. Gwen watched Mandy’s eyes, narrow with avarice, as Messenger handed them over to her.

Gwen took the money. It was still warm, alive almost.