“Employee, not friend. Like I said, I’m the client. I hired her to set you free.”

“Free?” Simmons’s head jerked up.

I smiled. “You like that word, don’t you?”

She shuttered her excitement and shrugged. “It’s not…unpleasant. But I suspect this act of generosity comes with a price tag.”

“That it does. No sense pretending otherwise. I brought you back to ask your advice on something. I—”

Simmons’s attention was riveted to a young boy strolling past. Her eyes gleamed like a hawk spotting a mouse. Jaime’s lips twisted. Simmons turned on her. Jaime stood her ground, arms crossed, and glared back.

Simmons turned to me. “Make her leave.”

I looked from Jaime to Simmons. It was obvious Jaime wasn’t going to be able to control her contempt—and probably wouldn’t even try. Not the most conducive atmosphere for a friendly girl-to-girl chitchat.

“Just a sec,” I murmured to Simmons, then led Jaime aside, pretending to grip her arm and tug her away.

“I’m not leaving you alone with her,” Jaime said. “So don’t ask.”

“Because you’re afraid she’ll do something to me? She can’t—”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“Oh. I see. So you think this is all part of my master plan to release a league of murderers back into the world?”

“No, but I set her free. She’s my responsibility.”

“She’s not going anywhere unless I let her. She runs, I can take her down. You know I can. I’m not asking you to leave. Just back off a bit. Better yet, let us back off. We’ll take a walk, but stay within sight.

Jaime agreed, and I returned to Simmons and led her onto the path, being careful to avoid body contact with her, and to avoid walking through anything that should be solid.

“It’s about the Nix,” I said.

Another Mona Lisa smile. “I thought it might be.”

“She’s approached me with an offer. Sounds good, but so does ‘prime real estate in the heart of sunny Florida’ until you realize you’ve bought a hundred acres of swamp.”

“Caveat emptor.”

“Exactly, so I’m doing my homework. She gave me your name as a reference.”

The corners of her mouth twitched. “Ah, yes. She does like to do that. Praised me to the heavens with that other one.”

“Cheri MacKenzie.”

A small roll of the eyes. “Whatever her name was. Quite desperate of the Nix, really. Like a man who picks up a piece of street meat because she reminds him of his dead wife.”

“She did kind of look like you.”

“You noticed it, too.”

I circled a large oak, skirting the picnickers beneath, and headed back in Jaime’s direction.

“Is that a ‘no’ for the recommendation?” I said.