"Hey." I elbowed Kelly. "One of the Kaitlyns wants to be a Girl Scout leader like me."
My best friend and co-leader nodded, not taking her eyes off of the girls. "Yes, I know. She told me she thinks it's a good job for crazy people."
I ignored the slight. "Does she think she's crazy?"
Kelly speared a hot dog for Inez. "I don't think so. But I think she thinks you are."
I didn't take offence. People usually thought spies were crazy, and we all were, in our own way. It takes a loose nut to decide on that kind of lifestyle. Sure, there were perks, like worldwide travel, meeting interesting people, action and adventure, and things like that. It was also the perfect place for the eccentric, people who…
It was like my brain had run into a bug zapper.
"What is it?" Kelly asked.
"I think I might know what Aunt June did for a living." I pulled out my cell and walked a short distance away.
Riley answered on the first ring. "Hey, Wrath! What's up?" my old handler asked.
Riley Andrews had been my handler in the CIA. We'd been close partners, and even after a brief distraction of a relationship that lasted for a very short time, we stayed friends. He'd tried a few moves when I first moved back home, but by then I'd met my now husband, and he and Rex were different breeds.
Riley was tan, blond, and slick—with a smile that could melt the underwear off the most stoic Russian matron—while Rex had black hair, a sexy, quiet confidence, and was responsible. Where Riley had screwed me over and lied on occasion, Rex always had my back.
Over time, they've become friends. Riley worked for the FBI for a while before settling down in Who's There, Iowa as a private investigator. Kelly worked for Riley as a researcher.
And he could hack into the CIA's database.
"Did I hear you are in some small town on the Mississippi River because of an inheritance?" he asked.
"I am. I need you to get me some intel on a woman named Aunt June—Aunt is her first name, June is her last, and Delilah is her middle name. She might've worked for the agency, maybe in the 60s through the 80s?"
"Okay. I can do that. That'll be $100 an hour."
"What?" I shrieked into the phone. "You're joking!"
Riley went into his matter-of-fact tone, a tone he used on me when he wanted me to take him seriously. "This is a business. I have to make a living somehow. And recently, I've realized that I give you free intel all the time."
"I also solve your cases all the time," I snapped. "Are you going to charge me for that too?"
"I'm thinking about it."
It was true. For many of his cases since he'd gone PI, I'd stumbled upon the answers before he had. I couldn't help it if I was better at it than he was.
"Wait, where did you get this idea? It never occurred to you before. Which makes me think someone has put the idea in your head."
"No." He sounded defensive. "Not at all. It's more like I've come to my senses."
Was I really talking to Riley? "Which is something else you'd never say. Cough it up. Who told you to charge me?"
He sighed. "Your sister-in-law Ronni. She was in here for a case and told me I was letting you walk all over me." He paused. "Although I do like that idea. My back is killing me."
Rex had older twin sisters. Randi was sweet and adored me. Ronni thought I was Satan's spawn and used every opportunity to yell at me. Recently, the twins had married a couple of friends of mine from the past—two clueless Chechens named Ivan and Ron. I'd hoped Ron would be able to mellow his wife, Ronni, out on me.
I guess not so much.
"What case does Ronni have you working on?"
"That's classified. And if you want this intel, it'll cost you."
"You do know that Kelly is here with me, don't you? I could have her do something like erase your files when she gets back."
By the way, Kelly would never do this for me. Back in elementary school, she would beat up anyone who bullied me, but this was her job. Still, it was worth a shot.
"Are you threatening me, Wrath?" Was there a hint of amusement in his question?
I nodded, even though he couldn't see me. "Yes, I absolutely am. Riley, I need that info. And Ahmed told me last time he wasn't helping me anymore."
Ahmed, my usual source at the CIA, had a problem. He was a junkie for peanut butter sandwich cookies. I could usually bribe him with Girl Scout cookies, but he'd gotten in trouble with HR recently. And the women in HR are dominatrices on the side.
Riley sighed. "Okay, but you owe me. Tell me what you have."
I filled him in on everything regarding Aunt June, from her letter asking me to investigate, to the fact that no one knew what she did, to the many photos in her house that featured her with famous people. I even told him about the bugs.
"So she's well-travelled, eh?" he asked. "Okay, give me a few hours. And you will owe me. Big."
"Owe you what?"
His voice was very suggestive. "That will depend on how hard it is to get this information."
I hung up and turned back to the girls, jumping about three feet into the air when I spotted Betty right behind me.
"Aunt June was a spy, huh?" She took a bite out of a seriously torched hot dog. "What makes you think so?"
I put my hand on my chest. "How long have you been standing behind me?"
"Enough to hear everything you said."
"Well, stop doing that!"
"Okay." She turned and started to walk away before stopping and looking back. "For now."
We sat around the campfire as the sky darkened.
