“Huh?” Berman said, as if he’d totally forgotten about Mariel’s presence.

“I was asking if there was something you wanted to talk to me about. Otherwise I need to get back to the lab.”

Berman ran a nervous hand through his hair and glanced back at his monitor screen for a moment before refocusing on Mariel.

“Actually, there are a couple of things I want you to do for me. First off, I want to know what else you know about this man visiting Pia. What is his name again?”

“George Wilson. I already told you what I know. He went to medical school with her. “

“Were they lovers? Are they now?”

Mariel felt that same tinge of schadenfreude she’d experienced the day before. Obviously for Zachary the continued presence of Pia’s guest was akin to sprinkling salt into an open sore. He deserved to squirm after dumping her once he’d gotten what he wanted from her. She knew Berman was the kind of man who wanted mostly what he couldn’t have. For him it was the chase and numbers that mattered, nothing personal.

“There was no mention of the character of their relationship according to the background check,” Mariel said. She would have liked to suggest otherwise, but she couldn’t. It wasn’t her nature to lie. “All I know is what I told you yesterday. They were classmates in medical school. He was involved to a degree in the kidnapping episode. Which I also mentioned yesterday.”

“He’s a second-year radiology resident at UCLA?”

“That’s what the background check revealed.”

“What’s he look like?”

Mariel shrugged. “Describing men is not one of my strong suits. He looks like what he is: a young doctor in training.”

“Would you say he’s good-looking?”

Mariel shrugged again. “I suppose in a stereotypical way. About six feet or thereabouts. Sandy blond hair. Reasonably athletic figure. He’s neither fat nor skinny.”

“Did you find him attractive?”

“He’s not my type, Zachary. It never crossed my mind one way or the other.”

Mariel’s tone and the use of Berman’s first name caught his attention. It reminded him of another of her characteristics that rubbed him the wrong way. Often he had the sense she was reprimanding him, even in intimate circumstances, hardly a turn-on. It had been one of the reasons he’d dumped her when he did. With her, everything was mechanical, even lovemaking.

“Well, I think I should meet the guy, find out if he’s here just because of Pia or because of Nano.”

“The background check didn’t come up with any ties to industry, other than his being a radiology resident.”

“Radiology, just like medicine in general, is going to benefit big-time from nanotechnology,” Berman said. “But I agree with you. The chances that he is an industrial spy are minimal. However, I want to meet him. I’d like you to get Pia to bring him to dinner tonight at my house. Make sure she understands it is a command performance. She had refused an invite on her own, but I think she will come accompanied.”