Page 102 of Over Her Dead Body

“And you escaped.”

He says this as though the outcome has corrected the event.

The officer closes my passport and slides it across the desk.

“Crime here is low,” he says. “You are in very safe hands.”

His attention shifts to the next person waiting behind me. He sighs, then looks back at me.

“If your luggage is recovered, someone will contact you.”

“Do I get a report number?”

“If a report is filed.”

“I thought that was what we were doing.”

“We have your information.”

The page remains blank.

I collect my passport and phone.

My actual driver is still waiting outside. He takes me to the hotel without kidnapping me. I tip him very well.

Inside my room, I have calls to make, the stolen laptop that was in my suitcase to put in Lost Mode, blood to wash off, and an outfit to find before tomorrow. At present, my professional wardrobe consists of bloodstained pants and a hotel robe. My suitcase is somewhere north of Lisbon with a man who, unless his day has improved, still has my pen.

I want to fall onto the bed and sleep until someone proves the collection exists.

Instead, I sit on the edge of the bed.

Silence comes with follow-up questions.

The first is the one I have been avoiding.

What the hell am I doing here?

My phone lights up before I have to answer.

The dating app has two notifications. One Todd wants to know how Vienna was. Another wants to know whether I will be home by Friday.

Fine, I tell the first.

Yes, I tell the second.

The first is a lie. The second is a plan.

The officer thinks I should go home. My boss expects me to assess a collection I invented before someone else made it real. Reid thinks crossing the Atlantic means I am here for him.

Only one of them gets a vote on partnership.

Tomorrow, I will keep the appointment and find out whether the collection exists. If it doesn’t, there are other clients I can land. Other calls I can make.

I can fix this.

I can still make partner.

I can still go home and let one of the Todds explain why his smoker needs Wi-Fi.