pick up on the fact that other peo
ple were not supplying full answers.
"I don't know." Gabriella's brows came together in an uneasy frown. "It's the way you talk about her, I guess. You get sort of quiet whenever her name comes up in the conversation. If I ask you about her, you just tell me how good she is. What a great eye she has."
"She is good. I'd swear she's got a sixth sense where fakes are concerned. Terrific instincts when it comes to tracing missing art, too."
Hell, Cady was good enough to follow through on her threat, he thought. She could become his competition. She certainly had the skills and the contacts to handle a lot of the trace work. The thought of her doing recovery, however, was nothing short of appalling. Granted, nine times out of ten there was little physical danger involved. But occasionally, as the Vandyke job had so graphically illustrated, matters got complicated. Cady knew nothing about that end of the business. The first time things went wrong, she would be in big trouble.
He winced, thinking of her parting shot. "If I need muscle, I'm sure I can hire it."
"You've used other freelancers who were good, but you never got that tone in your voice when you told me about them."
"Gabriella—"
ABC Amber Text Converter Trial vers ion, http://www.processtext.com/abctxt.html
"Come off it, Dad, this case was the first time you met Cady Briggs in person, and you come back acting weird. Something happened, I know it."
Gabriella wasn't going to allow herself to be distracted, he realized as he moved on to the next tapestry. He studied the unicorn in the scene in front of him.
"Miss Briggs went outside normal procedures," he said carefully. "There were some problems in the recovery. Everything turned out all right in the end, but we had to get the police involved."
Gabriella brightened visibly. "You mean Miss Briggs screwed up?"
"I wouldn't put it quite like that." "She did screw up. I can tell. She screwed up royally, didn't she?" Gabriella looked very satisfied now. "So, did you fire her?"
"Not exactly."
"Why not? You just said that she didn't follow procedures and that you had to call in the cops.
You've always told me that, whenever possible, you try to recover objects for your clients without involving the authorities. That's the reason people come to Lost and Found in the first place. They don't want publicity and attention." |
"Sometimes you can't avoid it. This was one of those | situations." |
"You just said that things went wrong because Miss Briggs failed to follow procedures. Why defend her?" Gabriella asked stubbornly.
"I'm not defending her. Freelance consultants have a certain degree of latitude. That's why they're freelance rather than full-time employees." Damn. Now he was making excuses for Cady. "She's new at the business. She'll learn." Probably the hard way, he thought, when she tries to hire that muscle.
"What did you mean when you said that you didn't exactly fire Miss Briggs?"
"I decided to give her a second chance because she's good at what she does. But she said that she wasn't interested in doing any more consulting work for Lost and Found."
"You mean she got mad and quit?"
"That's pretty much how we left it."
"Why didn't you say so? Guess that takes care of the problem, doesn't it?" Gabriella was clearly relieved. "You won't have to worry about her screwing up any more jobs in the future, will you?"
"Apparently not. Mind telling me what you've got against Miss Briggs? You've never even met her."
Gabriella looked away, concentrating very hard on the tapestry. "I don't think she's good for you."
He did a double take. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"It's hard to explain." Gabriella flushed. "You get a sort of brooding note in your voice whenever you talk about her. It's like she makes you depressed or something."
This was what came of sending young people to college, he told himself. He was not about to attempt to explain the difference between
ple were not supplying full answers.
"I don't know." Gabriella's brows came together in an uneasy frown. "It's the way you talk about her, I guess. You get sort of quiet whenever her name comes up in the conversation. If I ask you about her, you just tell me how good she is. What a great eye she has."
"She is good. I'd swear she's got a sixth sense where fakes are concerned. Terrific instincts when it comes to tracing missing art, too."
Hell, Cady was good enough to follow through on her threat, he thought. She could become his competition. She certainly had the skills and the contacts to handle a lot of the trace work. The thought of her doing recovery, however, was nothing short of appalling. Granted, nine times out of ten there was little physical danger involved. But occasionally, as the Vandyke job had so graphically illustrated, matters got complicated. Cady knew nothing about that end of the business. The first time things went wrong, she would be in big trouble.
He winced, thinking of her parting shot. "If I need muscle, I'm sure I can hire it."
"You've used other freelancers who were good, but you never got that tone in your voice when you told me about them."
"Gabriella—"
ABC Amber Text Converter Trial vers ion, http://www.processtext.com/abctxt.html
"Come off it, Dad, this case was the first time you met Cady Briggs in person, and you come back acting weird. Something happened, I know it."
Gabriella wasn't going to allow herself to be distracted, he realized as he moved on to the next tapestry. He studied the unicorn in the scene in front of him.
"Miss Briggs went outside normal procedures," he said carefully. "There were some problems in the recovery. Everything turned out all right in the end, but we had to get the police involved."
Gabriella brightened visibly. "You mean Miss Briggs screwed up?"
"I wouldn't put it quite like that." "She did screw up. I can tell. She screwed up royally, didn't she?" Gabriella looked very satisfied now. "So, did you fire her?"
"Not exactly."
"Why not? You just said that she didn't follow procedures and that you had to call in the cops.
You've always told me that, whenever possible, you try to recover objects for your clients without involving the authorities. That's the reason people come to Lost and Found in the first place. They don't want publicity and attention." |
"Sometimes you can't avoid it. This was one of those | situations." |
"You just said that things went wrong because Miss Briggs failed to follow procedures. Why defend her?" Gabriella asked stubbornly.
"I'm not defending her. Freelance consultants have a certain degree of latitude. That's why they're freelance rather than full-time employees." Damn. Now he was making excuses for Cady. "She's new at the business. She'll learn." Probably the hard way, he thought, when she tries to hire that muscle.
"What did you mean when you said that you didn't exactly fire Miss Briggs?"
"I decided to give her a second chance because she's good at what she does. But she said that she wasn't interested in doing any more consulting work for Lost and Found."
"You mean she got mad and quit?"
"That's pretty much how we left it."
"Why didn't you say so? Guess that takes care of the problem, doesn't it?" Gabriella was clearly relieved. "You won't have to worry about her screwing up any more jobs in the future, will you?"
"Apparently not. Mind telling me what you've got against Miss Briggs? You've never even met her."
Gabriella looked away, concentrating very hard on the tapestry. "I don't think she's good for you."
He did a double take. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?"
"It's hard to explain." Gabriella flushed. "You get a sort of brooding note in your voice whenever you talk about her. It's like she makes you depressed or something."
This was what came of sending young people to college, he told himself. He was not about to attempt to explain the difference between
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