Oh, God, did she say that, too? She blinked when she heard laughter on the other end. Annie listened again.

“What do you mean when? It’s not like I’m free to come and go as I please. When you least expect it, I’ll be there.” Annie groaned inwardly. She rather thought there was a song with lyrics like that. She felt her face flame. “So, give me your fax number, and I’m going to send you a picture of the man I want you to find. Think in terms of rewards for a job well done. The kind you never dreamed of, that’s what kind.” Annie squeezed her eyes shut, knowing she was going to have to powwow with the girls to come up with rewards. Her whole body felt so hot, she wanted to run out naked in the snow. Fish was still sputtering on the other end of the line.

Annie slid the drawing into the fax machine and punched in the number Fish had managed to give her during his sputtering.

“How long is this going to take?” Annie asked. “Did I also mention that I…we need the man’s cell phone number and we want a guarantee that he will answer it when we call? You can do that, can’t you, Fish?”

More garbled words.

“What? What? Are you saying you lied to me? You said you worked for some secret branch of the government no one has ever heard of. You said you were a terrorist and a mercenary. I believed you. Otherwise I wouldn’t have called you. Oh, I cannot believe I tumbled to your silver tongue. You can just forget those rewards.”

She listened, her eyebrows shooting upward.

“Well, that’s more like it. The rewards are back on the table. Of course I’ll wait for your call. Where do you think I’m going to go? No, I’m not sending you a list of the rewards. Well, maybe I could send the first three.” Annie made kissing sounds into the phone before she broke the connection.

“Isabelleeeeeee!” Annie screeched at the top of her lungs.

“Oh, no, your source said he couldn’t help. It’s all right, Annie. You tried, and I appreciate it. I guess it just isn’t meant to be.”

“Shut up, Isabelle. It’s in the bag. In a few hours you will be talking to Mr. Franklin. It’s what I promised to get the information for you.”

“Oh, Annie, what did you promise? Are you saying you can’t deliver on your promise?”

Annie told her. Isabelle blinked. Then she blinked again before she doubled over laughing. When she finally stopped laughing, she managed to gasp. “I think we can come up with a suitable list of rewards. We might even be able to come up with instructions. You do realize what the problem is, right?”

“Oh, God, what could be worse?” Annie groaned.