Owen found himself standing outside the door to Signs & Portraits with no memory of getting there. It was nearly eleven o’clock. He shrugged and went inside.
Andrea sat at her desk. Her eyes widened when she recognized Owen, but she recovered and smiled at him.
“Is Martina busy?” he asked. “I was planning to meet her for lunch, but I’m early. If she’s caught up in something I can just wander around.”
“I think she is, actually. She went into the back with a customer. Something about a menu.”
Owen winced, remembering the portobello fingers. “Then I won’t bother her.” A thought struck him. “Mind if I use your phone, though? It’s a local call.”
“Not a problem.” She turned the phone around and offered him the handset. “Just dial 9.”
“Thanks.” He pulled the CyberLook business card Johnny had given him out of his pocket. Apparently they had a new logo, with a complicated-looking monocle covering one eye of an androgynous face. The other eye was closed. Owen liked it.
Johnny had crossed out his office number and written in a cell number with a pencil. The card gave Johnny’s title as “Development Manager.” That had been Owen’s job, once upon a time.
Johnny answered on the third ring. “Hey,” Owen said, “you must not be very busy over there if you have time to take personal calls.”
“Um, right. Sure, lunch would be just fine. Where would you like to meet?”
“Okay. I guess you can’t talk. But yeah, I can meet you for lunch. How about Snoopy’s in an hour or so?”
“Good idea, sweetie. I can take you by the dentist’s afterward. I canceled that meeting we were talking about, so I don’t need to be back here right away. See you soon.”
Owen replaced the handset thoughtfully. He nodded thanks to Andrea, and was about to ask her to check on Martina when Martina herself and a stocky older man appeared from the work area.
“Thanks, Mr. Johnson,” Martina said. “I’ll let Shawna know what you said about the spelling, and we’ll have those changes made for you by Monday.”
Mr. Johnson appeared ready to argue, but Martina looked past him and spotted Owen. “Mr. Tremaine!” she cried with a hint of desperation. “I’m so sorry I’m late for our appointment. We just had a little crisis to deal with, but I’m free now. Come on back and we’ll discuss your project.” She drew Owen down the hall and closed the door before the flustered Mr. Johnson could react.
“Whew,” she said, leaning against the door. “You’re early, but I wish you’d pounded on the door half an hour ago. It turns out that man doesn’t even have a location in mind for his restaurant—but he keeps fiddling with his menu and wants us to drop everything else whenever he wanders in with his latest changes.”
Owen grinned, noting the “us.” For Martina, Shawna’s absence was only temporary. “Could be he’s bored. Or doesn’t know how to cook. Or maybe he just likes you.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sit, sit.” She pointed at the chair Owen had sat in the day before. “So you saw Andrea out there. If you still want to watch her to see where she goes, I think it can wait until this evening. I’ve pinned her down with so much work she won’t be getting up for at least the next six hours.”
He nodded but didn’t sit. “We should talk, but we can do it on the way, if you still want to get lunch and if you’ve got a couple of hours free. We’re meeting somebody, and it might take a while. Have you ever been to Snoopy’s?”
“Sure. That sounds great, actually. I could kill for one of their combo baskets right now.”
“So let’s go. We’ll be a little early, but I want to get a table before the lunch rush makes it impossible.”
She nodded and picked up her purse. On the way out she told Andrea she wouldn’t be back for a couple of hours at least because of a business meeting after lunch. Andrea nodded and waved, busy working her way through a list of potential customers.
“Think she believed that?” Owen asked as they walked out.
“Who cares? She works for me, and she didn’t show up yesterday. She can handle the place by herself for a while.”
Owen filled her in as he drove. She took notes on a pad she pulled from her purse. She looked unhappy, but not surprised, to learn that Junior was dead.
“So, basically,” she said after he finished, “we know there’s more security at CyberLook than ever before. It might be because of a new project related to stuff you were working on before you left, or new customers, or both. Danny Sheffield is planning to take over Junior’s role. The sales team’s space has been converted to something else, but we don’t know what happened to them. The CFO is worried, and you think he might be a crook. And this guy Johnny wants to talk to you without anybody at CyberLook knowing about it, but we don’t know why.”
“Sounds about right. We can ask Johnny about all of the above when we see him, if he doesn’t tell us on his own.”
“So that’s what we’re doing? Trying to find out what we can?”
“Sure, and dealing with whatever he wants to talk to me about.” He glanced at her as he turned onto a gravel road. She was smiling. “What?”
“Just wondering how many people you’re planning to adopt.”
Owen shook his head and parked the car. “We’re here. Let’s just go see what he wants.” He got out and started walking to the restaurant.