The Job by Janet Evanovich, Lee Goldberg Page B

around his neck, a skinny blue blazer over a zip-up sweater, skinny Japanese denim jeans, and blue suede Derby shoes.
    Before Kate could say a word, Nick spoke in a rapid stream of fluent French, dramatizing his points with elaborate, dramatic gestures. Bernard interrupted him with a short comment in French that was the only phrase in the conversation that Kate understood.
“Elle ne parle pas français.”
    “Oh, please forgive me,” Nick said to her. “I assumed you spoke French. I am Jean-Luc Picard, Mademoiselle Blake’s
avocat.
I must insist on speaking to my client at once.”
    Kate narrowed her eyes at Nick. “Jean-Luc Picard. Why is that name so familiar? Do I know you?”
    “I would remember someone so beautiful,” Nick said. “Even with your hair pulled into that horse’s tail you are a goddess.”
    “Serena Blake hasn’t requested a lawyer,” Bernard said.
    “She has not been given the opportunity yet,” Nick said. “Has she?”
    “It’s a little early for her to be making calls,” Bernard said. “It’s nearly dawn.”
    “I am available to my clients at all hours of the day and night to save them from
obscènes abus d’autorité de la police comme ce qui s’est passé ici ce soir,
” Nick said, then caught himself, taking a deep, calming breath. “
Excusez-moi,
I forget myself when I get outraged.”
    “The goddess would like to have a word in private with Monsieur Picard,” Kate said.
    “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Bernard said. “Something might get lost in translation.”
    “Oh, don’t worry,” Kate said. “I’ll make sure I am understood.”
    Bernard reluctantly stepped out, closing the door behind him.
    “You lied to me,” Kate said to Nick. “You’re a big, fat liar. You told me you didn’t know of any connection other than you. Liar, liar, liar.”
    “I suspected Serena, but it was only a suspicion. I didn’t want to implicate her until I was sure. She was one of four people involved in those jobs. And any one of those four could have told someone else.”
    Okay, so he’d told a fib to protect a colleague. Understandable. Especially since lying was second nature to him. And there was the code of honor about snitching. She got all that. Sort of. But things were supposed to be different now. He was on the good team. Sort of.
    “Where’s the trust?” Kate said. “I thought we’d established trust.”
    “You trust me?”
    “Of course not. You’re a career criminal, a con man, and a cheat,” she said. “But I thought you at least trusted
me.
I’m dependable, responsible, and I’ve got sterling character. I wouldn’t take advantage of your immunity to arrest someone from your old crew.”
    “Really?”
    “Mostly. I suppose there could be circumstances—”
    “Exactly,” Nick said. “You are
so
the job.”
    “And you are
so
irritating.”
    “I love when you get angry,” Nick said. “Your nose gets a cute little wrinkle in it.”
    “Ugh!”
    Kate closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Take a moment, she told herself. Think of something calm. A lake. A kitten sleeping. A puffy cloud drifting overhead. She opened her eyes.
    He was grinning. “Feel better?”
    She felt her nose to see if it was wrinkled. “If you suspected it was Serena, why did I find her first?”
    “You guessed Orléans and I guessed Oxford. I ran into an old friend when I got to Oxford and found out Serena was in Orléans. I was watching a half block away from you when she got arrested.”
    Yes! Kate thought. She’d outsmarted Nick. Woohoo! Yay! She wanted to do her happy dance, but she restrained herself.
    “What job did you do in Oxford?” Kate asked.
    “It’s where I recruited Serena. After I was thrown out of Harvard for cheating, I relocated to England and apprenticed with Duff MacTaggert. Even back then he was a legendary con man. When I left Duff and went out on my own, Serena was one of the first people I recruited. She had gymnastic skills worthy of