Page 48 of Hunt Me, Daddy

Mara:Absolutely not. The schedule is full, and if you wanted to speak at a conference, you should have submitted an abstract like everyone else did six months ago.

Me:I do not want to speak at a conference.

Mara:Obviously. That is why I trust you slightly.

Me:I need to be introduced to one attendee in a way that feels natural.

Several minutes passed.

Mara:That is the creepiest sentence you have ever sent me, and the competition is not light.

Fair.

Me:She is involved in a dangerous file.

Mara:Does she know that?

Me:Not sufficiently.

Mara:Does she know you?

I looked at the message for too long.

Me:No.

Mara:Should she?

That was the problem with very intelligent women. They had an unpleasant habit of putting the important question where you could not easily route around it.

Me:Yes.

Mara:Professionally or personally?

I did not answer right away. The pen sat beside my keyboard.

Me:Operationally.

Mara:That means personally.

I sighed.

Me:I did not ask for psychological services.

Mara:You never do. You simply create situations that require them.

The woman was becoming irritatingly perceptive.

Me:Will you help me?

Mara:Who is she?

I sent the public version. Kit’s name. Her company. Her abstract from a workshop she had registered for two years earlier and not attended because Daniel’s case had a date conflict that I should not have known.

Mara’s response came faster this time.

Mara:Calloway? She’s good.

I stared at those two words and felt a warmth I had no right to feel.