I could hear Jackal stomping around his office, making a show of his irritation. I didn’t want to talk to him. And the only thing keeping me was waiting to see if Lou turned up. But I didn’t have to sit around and wait, like a lapdog, for her scraps. She hadn’t called since Chinatown. She hadn’t come by the office. No reason I should wait on her.

I had other places to be.

Chapter 20

Sole del Mare was the sort of address I didn’t naturally drift to, all glass windows and whipped beef tartare and juicy dishonest cocktails. No soft dark corners to hide in. Outside, a deck featured a nice view of the ocean, but it was too hot to stare at something cool and not drink it, so I parked it at the bar, a long, glossy slab underneath a wall of alcohol lit up like a movie-theater marquee.

As I sat down, I slid my phone out of my purse, keeping an eye on the time. I put the purse on the stool beside me. If anyone asked, I was waiting for someone. Even after running home to change into a black pencil skirt and white silk blouse, I’d gotten there earlier than Carrigan. If he was coming at all. The secretary had told Lou and me that Mondays were his day, but that didn’t mean every week. I could think of a thousand reasons he might not show.

I took a lap around the restaurant before I settled on the bar, walking out some of my anxious energy as I cased the place. Two bathrooms upstairs, and a more discreet one downstairs, by the kitchen. The dining room, with airy planks of tables, wouldn’t do: nothing quiet or intimate. Communal benches were not made for playing footsie. It wasn’t the type of place I’d have chosen on my own, but I could make it work. I had to.

When he came—if he came—how to start it? Aren’t you the man I keep seeing on people’s lawns? He might like that, the recognition. But I didn’t want to act like a groupie. You didn’t make time in your schedule for groupies.

Don’t say anything, then. Stare at him until he says something. Men liked that from a pretty woman, direct, friendly eye contact. Maybe throw him off—offer to buy him a drink. No, his wife’s family had money—he was used to women buying him things. Let him start it, let him say hello. Smile, chat, be a little distant but interested. Make him laugh. Say goodbye before he did, make him work for it.

It was funny, how easily it all came back.