Free No One to Trust by Julie Moffett Page B

behind my right eye and washed it down with more Coke. It was perfect timing because shortly thereafter, a Detective Mastory came into my office and interviewed me about the neck-snapping man in the garage.
    I spoke to him for about ten minutes, but he didn’t have any more of a clue than I did about who had attacked me. I had done my civic duty and the D.C. police would do exactly nothing to track him down on my behalf.
    I readjusted my office temperature, got some coffee and read through more of the info that Ken and Jay had sent my way about Darren, Michael and Flow Technologies. Nothing leaped out at me. In fact, nothing at all was coming together for me in terms of a big picture. And a damned good, big picture was what I really needed right now.
    About eleven-thirty, Finn stopped by my office to ask whether I was ready to head out to the Lighthouse Cyber Café. I’d almost forgotten about it, but just the mention of the place made my stomach growl in anticipation of a thick, juicy double cheeseburger. I grabbed my coat, putting it on in the elevator as we headed to the underground garage where Finn’s Jag was parked.
    “Did you reach Niles?” I asked as the elevator dinged and we got off.
    “I did. And we’re all set for a visit tomorrow morning.”
    I looked over at him. “Tomorrow? Why not today?”
    “They’re supposedly in meetings all day.”
    “Jeez, like I need them peering over my shoulder the whole time. I guess that means we’re not permitted to look at the space without their supervision.”
    “Apparently not.” I saw the corner of his mouth tighten. “Will that put a cramp in your style?”
    “Do I have a choice?”
    “No.”
    “Well, there you have it.”
    It was clear he was annoyed and, for that matter, so was I. For a bunch of guys supposedly worried sick about their star employee, they weren’t making things all that easy for us to find him.
    We climbed into Finn’s Jag and pulled out of the parking lot. Traffic wasn’t too bad as we made our way into Georgetown.
    I glanced at Finn. “Did you have a chance to read Darren’s paper yet?”
    “Yeah, but it was complex as hell. I did pass it on to Ben though.”
    “Good thinking.” Of the three of us, Ben was probably the most likely to understand the nuances of nanotechnology.
    I directed Finn to the Lighthouse Cyber Café, but we drove around for another fifteen minutes until we were able to snag an empty parking space on M Street. Luckily Finn was an ace parallel parker and easily squeezed his car in between a pickup and a minivan.
    “My parents live just a few streets over that way,” I said to Finn, shoving my bare hands into my coat. I’d forgotten a hat and my ears were burning from the cold.
    He pulled his collar up against the wind. “You told me that they live in Georgetown. Do you visit often?”
    “ Often is not the operative word.”
    “It isn’t?”
    I love my parents, but sometimes they drive me crazy. My mom, a former Miss Teen USA and Miss Colonial Blossom, hates the fact that I am not into clothes, big hair or lawyers who aspire to be politicians. She constantly ambushes me with blind dates with catastrophic results. Unfortunately, my lack of looks and a wealthy husband at age twenty-five is a perpetual horror to her. To my growing dismay, she has now made it her life’s mission to find me a husband, which doesn’t make my parents’ house a particularly inviting place to visit these days. In fact, if it weren’t for my parents’ wonderful chef, Sasha, and his amazing food, they’d probably only see me once every couple of months.
    Finn opened the door to the café. “Well, maybe I’ll meet them someday.”
    My heart skipped a beat. I knew my mother would approve of Finn, especially since he’s a lawyer and the heir to a billion-dollar fortune. But I wasn’t about to tell her and subject Finn to a full-out assault by a mother highly skilled at urban matchmaking.
    I stepped across the threshold and