“Is this the office of Earl Bird?” the guy asked.
“It was,” I said. “But he’s no longer here. I haven’t taken the lettering down from the door yet. Sorry about that.”
“I’m actually here to see Rhonda Bird,” he said, checking his phone screen.
I felt a little prickle of pain in my chest, the kind I’d had when I first walked into Ira Abelman’s office. The same bodily warning bells that’d told me that my life was about to change, without any sense of whether it would be good or bad.
“That’s me,” I said.
“A guy named Summerly sent me.” The man glanced around the room. “Said you might be able to help me with a private investigative matter.”
I hadn’t seen Dave Summerly in person since the night at the water park. But we had texted. A lot. I was keeping him in the wings of my life until I sorted out exactly what my new life in California would look like. I’d told Dave I needed time to get into step with Baby, to figure out just how much control and influence I could or should have on my new charge. He’d respected my wishes, and I liked that. But this new development was a bolt out of the blue.
“Dave said what?” I sputtered. “I…I’m not…”
“She’ll meet you downstairs at the crab shack in ten minutes,” Baby said, popping up from the couch. She was at my shoulder before I even saw her move. “Get a booth at the back.”
Once the guy was gone, I shook my head at Baby.
“I’m not a private investigator,” I said.
“Summerly seems to think you are.” She shrugged. “Or at least that you could be. I do too.”
“Well, that’s just too bad,” I said. “Because I don’t know if that’s the kind of job I want to take on.”
“So let’s go and find out.” Baby smiled. I watched her for a moment, saw the excitement brimming in her eyes, and remembered that part of what came next for us would be working out a new life not only for Baby but for myself too. I needed to be open to experiments and mistakes.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s give it a shot.”
Baby clapped her hands in triumph and bumped my hip with hers, and for a moment I felt like a terrific mother.
Or sister.
Whatever.
Then Baby said, “Maybe we should start a detective agency.”
I laughed. “That’s the worst idea I’ve ever heard.”
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JAMES PATTERSON is the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller. He has created many enduring fictional characters and series, including Alex Cross, the Women’s Murder Club, Michael Bennett, Maximum Ride, Middle School, and I Funny. Among his notable literary collaborations are The President Is Missing, with President Bill Clinton, and the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. Patterson’s writing career is characterized by a single mission: to prove that there is no such thing as a person who “doesn’t like to read,” only people who haven’t found the right book. He’s given over three million books to schoolkids and the military, donated more than seventy million dollars to support education, and endowed over five thousand college scholarships for teachers. For his prodigious imagination and championship of literacy in America, Patterson was awarded the 2019 National Humanities Medal. The National Book Foundation presented him with the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community, and he is also the recipient of an Edgar Award and nine Emmy Awards. He lives in Florida with his family.
CANDICE FOX is the coauthor of the New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestseller Never Never, the first novel in the Detective Harriet Blue series, which was followed by Fifty Fifty. She won back-to-back Ned Kelly Awards for her first two novels, Hades and Eden, and is also the author of the critically acclaimed Fall, Crimson Lake, and Redemption Point. She lives in Sydney, Australia.
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