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  She watched him while he stopped by the brunette’s table, watched the brunette’s smile widen as he talked, and then watched her laugh as he went on to the bar.

  How very cheap of that brunette, letting him pick her up like that. Well, thank God she wasn’t looking for somebody if this was what it was like in the world of dating. Thank God she had Jack.

  Suze turned back to look out the window at the brick street in front of the restaurant. The sun was going down, and the Village was getting the timeless look it always took on at sunset, beautiful and moody. I love it here, she thought. Why aren’t I happy?

  Except she was happy. It was the twilight. Twilight was always melancholy, and melancholy beauty could make anybody a little heartsick. She’d be fine when the sun came up again.

  Riley put her glass in front of her and sat down across from her again, blocking her view of the dusky street.

  “You didn’t even ask me what I was drinking,” Suze said.

  “Taste it.”

  She took a sip. Iced tea, no lemon.

  “I pay attention,” Riley said.

  “So she let you pick her up in front of me. Has she no ethics?”

  “God, I hope not,” Riley said. “Also, I told her you were my sister.”

  He looked so calm across from her, so confident that he knew everything, and she felt the sudden urge to disconcert. If she leaned over and kissed him, the brunette would know she wasn’t his sister. That would fix him.

  “What?” Riley said, looking less confident.

  “I didn’t say anything,” Suze said.

  “No, but your expression changed,” Riley said. “Whatever you’re thinking, stop it.”

  “I wouldn’t do it anyway. No guts.”

  “Good. I hate women with guts. I like ’em pliant.”

  “I am not pliant,” Suze said.

  “Another reason we’re not together,” Riley said.

  The chair beside her scraped, and Nell said, “Why are you frowning at each other?” as she sat down. She looked tired but relaxed, so the fight with Gabe must have ended.

  “Low-class company,” Suze said, moving her feet so Marlene could hide out under the table.

  “Thank you very much,” Gabe said, taking the seat beside Riley.

  “So how was your day?” Suze said brightly and then didn’t listen, choosing to watch Riley laugh with Nell and make eye contact with the brunette instead, clearly not caring that she was out of his life.

  When Riley and Nell went to the bar for refills, Gabe said, “So how’s your life?”

  “I have to quit the decoys,” she said. “I’m sorry. I really, really am.”

  “So are we,” he said. “You were great to work with.”

  “Thank you.” She looked away so he wouldn’t see how much it mattered to her and saw Nell, laughing with Riley at the bar. “She looks wonderful, doesn’t she?” Suze said, turning back to Gabe. “So bright and happy.”

  Gabe nodded, watching Nell, too. “‘The shape a bright container can contain.’”

  Suze blinked at him, amazed. In a million years, she wouldn’t have suspected Gabe McKenna of quoting poetry. “Roethke?”

  Gabe looked taken aback, too. “Yeah. He was my dad’s favorite. He used to recite that one to my mother all the time. Nell makes me think of it sometimes.” He frowned at her. “How do you know Roethke?”

  “English 361,” Suze said, “Introduction to Poetry.” When she got home, she was going to find her old anthology and see if that poem was as erotic as she remembered. Even if it wasn’t, she was sure it was a great love poem. Maybe Nell wasn’t alone after all.

  It would be too terrible if Nell was alone.

  * * *

  Two hours later, Suze and Riley had both gone, and Nell was finishing off the last of her French Silk pie and trying to figure out the undercurrents of the evening. Gabe nursed a beer across from her, looking mildly annoyed because Trevor had called earlier and offered her a job again.

  “Okay,” she said. “I don’t get what all that tension was about. Riley was a lot more upset about Suze quitting than he let on. What’s up with that?”

  “There’s some history there,” Gabe said. “Listen, when Trevor called, did he say Jack had told him to offer you that job?”

  “No,” Nell said. “And there is no history. Suze never met Riley before the night we stole Marlene. Their entire relationship is fourteen decoy jobs.”

  “True,” Gabe said. “I’m asking about Trevor because it’s not like him to take direct action. Jack, yes, Trevor, no. Trevor waits.”

  “He didn’t say.” Nell leaned forward over her empty plate to look him in the eye. “You told me you investigated Jack’s divorces. Are you telling me, you investigated Suze?”

  “You sure you’ve told me everything you know about Margie?”

  “Vicki hired you to find out about Suze and Jack,” Nell said. “My God. That’s when Riley saw Suze?”

  Gabe nodded, giving up as she knew he would. “Through a motel window stripping for Jack in a cheerleader uniform. At eighteen. It permanently damaged him.” He stared into space for a moment, looking thoughtful.

  Nell narrowed her eyes. “And you know this how?”

  “There are pictures,” Gabe said, coming back to earth. “It must be something big because Trevor is really hot to get you away from us.”

  “There are pictures?”

  “Were,” Gabe said hastily. “Were, there were pictures.”

  “You are ducking me,” Nell said, leaning closer.

  “Like that’s possible,” Gabe said. “Of course, there’s always the possibility that it’s Jack manipulating Trevor. What do you know that Jack doesn’t want you to tell me?”

  “Nothing. You have everything I know. Listen, I’m going to be finished in the basement by the end of next week. Want me to start on your car?”

  Gabe narrowed his eyes. “Stay away from my car.” He stopped, thoughtful. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe they’re afraid you’ll find something. God knows, you’ve been everywhere.”

  “Just to clean the car.” Nell pushed her plate away. “I wouldn’t dream of driving it.”

  “I clean it. There’s nothing in there. And don’t even talk about driving it.”

  “I said I wouldn’t dream—” Nell began, but he was standing up, ready to go, his keys in his hand, the Porsche insignia tantalizing her.

  “I can’t think of any other reason to hire you away,” Gabe said. “It’s got to have something to do with this blackmail mess.”

  “Maybe they just need a good office manager,” Nell said, pushing her chair back, careful not to hit Marlene. “So are those pictures still around?”

  “You will never know,” Gabe said. “The furniture looks great, by the way.”

  “You are much too sensitive about that car,” she said and picked up Marlene to follow him out into the cold November night.

  * * *

  Nell was disappointed that Suze had quit, but not surprised. “It’s a miracle Jack let her do it this long,” she told Riley. “At least now you’re off the hook. I know you didn’t like working with her.” She waited for him to come clean, but all he said was, “She wasn’t that bad.” Shortly after that, he began dating a dental technician who did regional theater and thought decoy work was performance art, and nobody mentioned Suze again.

  Suze didn’t take the change nearly as well. “I’m fine with it, really,” she told Nell, but by the time Thanksgiving rolled around, she’d stopped smiling and her temper had frayed.

  “Jack insisted on inviting Tim and Whitney,” she’d told Nell the week before. “And I told him if you weren’t coming, I wasn’t coming. And then he said I wouldn’t need you because he’d invited Margie and Budge and Margie’s dad and his wife and Olivia. Five of them. And then there’s my mother and his mother.”

  “I can stay home,” Nell had said, not wanting to make any more trouble between Suze and Jack. Jack had taken to glowering at her wh