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face.
    “Let me check to see if the picture came out,” he said. “Bridget will never let me live it down.”
    She looked longingly at the front door. She’d have to dodge around him to leave. That definitely felt rude, but Aidan might be coming out any time now. She walked slowly around him, like she imagined someone would walk around a wild animal, trying not to spook him.
    “Perfect!” he said. “Want to see?”
    He thrust the phone right under her nose. He looked fine, but she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. That seemed pretty accurate.
    “Great! Gotta run!” She smiled apologetically and jogged past him to the door, not stopping until she was safely back in Aidan’s Porsche.
    A quick peek over her shoulder told her Magnifying Glass Guy hadn’t followed her into the parking lot, which was good. Some fans were hard to shake off.
    Aidan hadn’t caught her. Success.
    What had she learned?
     
Aidan didn’t use any of the counter surveillance techniques he’d been drilling into her.
Aidan and Brendan had helped somebody with a chimpanzee, which was pretty cool.
She needed to start cultivating sources at key locations—water, DMV, and who knew where else. This was a long term project.
    She started googling Bobbo the chimpanzee. The Malibu papers had done a long piece on him, which she skimmed, jiggling her leg and glancing over her shoulder every five seconds for Aidan. Bobbo had been a show business ape, appearing in commercials and a short-lived cable TV show called Clown Times she had never heard of. But then—
    A knock on her window made her jump.
    Aidan walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat. “What were you looking at?”
    “Monkey porn.” She clicked the button to make her phone screen go dark.
    Aidan stared at her with his mouth open. “What?”
    “Money forms,” she said slowly. “IRS stuff. Why?”
    Aidan snapped his mouth closed. He must have seen the pictures of the chimpanzees.
    “Did you get what you needed at the water company?” She enjoyed seeing him discombobulated. It was a good look for him. Better than patronizing.
    “I...well...yes.” He glanced at the clock on the dash. Noon. “We’d better hustle, or we’ll be late for the staff meeting.”
    Brendan had their weekly staff meeting at the Marmalade Cafe, and he was a stickler about punctuality. “I could get us there on time.”
    “I want to get there alive.”
    On the way to the restaurant she used her phone to look up details about Mr. Grigoryan and his vineyard. She considered looking up more about Bobbo, but thought Aidan might freak out and crash if he saw more chimps on her phone. He drove faster than usual. Apparently the key to getting him to speed up was to talk about monkey porn and then deny it. Who knew?

                                                                                                                                                                     

    CHAPTER 8
    B rendan looked at his watch as soon as he caught sight of them. That meant they were late, no matter what time they’d arrived. If Aidan had let her drive from the water company, they would have been early. Or if she’d talked to Ginger. She ought to suggest that as an efficiency strategy for the office—Sofia gets to do more fun stuff because she is faster. That wasn’t going to fly. She needed a better spin.
    “Glad to see you could make it,” Brendan said.
    “Sorry,” Sofia said automatically.
    Aidan looked at his phone. “We’re only three minutes late.”
    “That’s a long time,” said Sofia. “Ask a trapeze artist.”
    Aidan glared at her.
    The waitress hurried over. She was new, about Sofia’s age, with curly red hair and freckles. She had pretty brown eyes, and a nice smile she turned up to full when she looked at