“Or a Daniel figuring out the Stargate situation?” Serena laughed, leaning back and plopping her tennis shoes on the desk. She wore one yellow and one blue footie that barely peeked above the shoes, somehow looking right on her. “Tell me about Candy, so I can get into her head a little bit. Like, how did you meet?”

“Same journalism class at Columbia,” Dana said, remembering fondly. “She’s a city girl, I’m a country girl, and we both love words. We worked together on several projects and became good friends.” In fact, one of her best memories was of taking Candy fishing one weekend when they visited Dana’s family. The city girl had done all right, although she just wouldn’t take a fish off the line to save her life.

“What three words would you use to describe her?” Serena asked, intelligence shining in her eyes. This close, specks of green and gold were visible in the brown.

It hurt to think about her friend, but she persisted in using the present tense. Chances were that Candy hadn’t survived the attack, but Dana had to keep some hope. “Three words? Hmm.” She thought for several moments. “I’d say organized, adventurous, and tenacious.” She’d never give up on a story, much like Dana. “She’s interested in how businesses work and how people can infiltrate them and cause problems.”

Serena nodded. “All right. Who are her favorite authors?”

“Steve Berry, Nora Roberts, Lexi Blake, and Stephen King,” Dana said instantly.

“Favorite animals?”

“Well, I don’t know that she had a favorite. She didn’t have pets.” Dana chewed her lip. “As for her family life, she had a brother she lost to a car wreck in high school, and they were raised by a single mom who died of breast cancer shortly thereafter.” Dana breathed out. “I kind of adopted her into our family during college and dragged her home for holidays. She enjoyed that, I think.” Then they’d gotten busy with work and their adult lives. It had been a while since they’d vacationed together.

“What kind of people did she date?”

“Very smart men,” Dana mused. “Past boyfriends include an inventor of some computer program, a theoretical physicist, and a quite successful stockbroker.”

“How about you?” Serena asked.

Dana chuckled. “Lost causes seem to be my type. How about you? What’s up with you and Professor British accent and cute butt?”

Serena rolled her sparkling eyes. “Uptight academics who have lived their whole lives in the ivory tower just bug me.”

Dana hadn’t tagged the professor that way. “And?”