“Yeah. We’ll get the guy.”
“Or gal, you chauvinist.”
“Right. Or gal.”
“Oy! I’ve got a question for you. Is it true Fletcher-Durrand has reached a settlement in their lawsuit?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
Sabine snorted. “That was very FBI-ish, West. I heard through the grapevine they were settling.”
“News to me,” Jason said. “Where’d you hear that?”
“Where else. Stripes.”
“Right,” he said thoughtfully.
“So when are you taking me to dinner again?”
“It’s your turn to take me to dinner, you chauvinist.”
Sabine laughed. “True. How about next week. Maybe Thursday?”
“It’s my birthday. I think I’m booked at Stately West Manor.”
“Friday?”
“Friday. It’s a date.”
“I’ll pick you up at seven. Wear something pretty.”
Jason snorted and hung up. His amusement faded at the unexpected and jarring sight of Sam Kennedy standing in his office doorway.
“Knock, knock,” Kennedy said.
“Thanks, I’ve had mine for the day,” Jason returned. He was still smiling, but it was a curve of mouth and nothing more. He did not like the way his pulse jumped and fluttered just because Kennedy suddenly popped up again.
And, oddly, Kennedy’s return smile was equally unamused.
“Something tells me you’ll survive.”
Jason’s heart gave another unpleasant leap, and his temper rose with it. What the hell was that supposed to mean?
He opened his mouth to ask, but Kennedy cut him off with a neutral, “You’re here late.”
“So are you. I thought you’d be on your way north by now.”
Kennedy’s smile was sardonic. “Disappointed?”
Jason didn’t bother to answer. He closed his laptop.
Kennedy showed no sign of being in a hurry. He folded his arms, leaning back against the door frame and studying Jason.
The steady appraisal made Jason uneasy, though he wasn’t sure why. He said at random, “I sent you my notes from my interview at Fletcher-Durrand Gallery.”
“I saw that,” Kennedy said. “Thanks. What can you tell me about Special Agent J.J. Russell?”
Now there was a change of subject. “Russell?” Jason thought back with surprise to Sam’s phone conversations in the car. That Russell? The LA Field Office’s Russell? He said neutrally, “Competent. Ambitious. He’s still pretty green.”