which is when realization dawned.
“You,” she said, pointing an accusing finger at him. “You’re Gabriel?”
“I did tell you that when we met.”
“Yes, but you didn’t mention that you’re the guy taking the New York art scene by storm.” She glowered at him. “Why did you let me make a fool of myself just then?”
“Don’t get too mad,” Otto said. “You could probably flog that squiggle for a fortune. God knows why.”
“I wouldn’t think of selling it.” She paused. “Unless I have to.”
“Sorry, babe, it’s a habit.” Gabe grinned at her. “I like to be myself when I’m here, not the famous artist that everyone wants a piece of.”
“You don’t live here, then?”
“Yeah, I do, actually. I’m here as much as I can be, but I do have to get my ass in gear occasionally and put myself about a bit.”
“He pretends not to enjoy fame,” Otto said, “but he’d be impossible to live with if he went out of style.”
Gabe shot him the finger.
“The three of us live in this house,” Fin said. “I’m a stockbroker, Otto does all sorts of clever stuff with computer systems, and Gabe…well, you know what he does.” Fin winked at her. “Ask him nicely, and he’ll show you his studio.”
She rolled his eyes. “He’ll be inviting me to view his etchings next.”
“Damn!” Gabe thumped his thigh. “Now I’ll have to think of something more original.”
“ Anything would be more original than that.”
“I’m an artist, darling, not a wordsmith.”
“How come you got into investigations?” she asked, wisely not continuing to banter with Gabe.
“By accident,” Fin said. “We’ve all got our areas of expertise, and we do very well in our chosen fields.”
“I can see that.” She glanced up at the two galleried landings above her head, probably seeing it with her interior designer’s hat on and mentally revamping it. “Let me guess. You need something else to stimulate your—” Otto turned a choke of laughter into a cough. “Okay, wrong phraseology. You need to explore your potential, find your inner selves, or whatever it is your American shrinks charge a small fortune to put a label on.”
“We’re your quintessential good Samaritans, for want of a better description,” Gabe said. “We dislike injustice and try to put it right. We certainly don’t do it for the money ’cause we don’t always get paid.”
“I thought Fin said something about people who could pay—”
“Yeah, he said that,” Otto agreed, “but when it comes right down to it, we’re all too soft for our own good. I guess we just enjoy the challenge of pitting our wits against the bad guys. We can do things that the police can’t because we’re not governed by any rules except our own.”
“So, how do you feel about staying here with us until we’ve got this business with Pearson sorted?” Fin asked.
“You want me to live here?” She paused. “With the three of you?”
“Why not?” Fin shrugged. “We’re all trying to achieve the same thing, so it makes sense to pool our resources. You can’t go back to your condo, and we have plenty of space.”
“You don’t need to share with any of us,” Otto added, waggling his brows. “Unless you want to.”
“Well, I guess I could make myself comfortable,” she said, ignoring Otto’s lascivious expression. “Oh, but what about Mulligan?”
“Looks like he’s already made himself comfortable,” Fin said, nudging the big mutt with his foot.
“Where do we start trying to find Pearson, then?”
Sabine leaned toward Fin and Gabe as she posed the question. She was wearing shorts and a thin vest. Bending forward like that gave them a decent view of her breasts, encased in a pink lacy bra. Gabe thoroughly approved of the view, as did his prick, which jerked in anticipation. Down, boy! He didn’t think she’d offered them this view deliberately. In fact, she wasn’t making any particular effort to impress them, which