Mad, Bad and Blonde by Cathie Linz Page A

a thing for local history.
    “I read someplace that knowing trivia like that is a good trait for an investigator to have,” Mr. Kneeson said. “ Tangential knowledge , I believe it was called.”
    Faith proudly threw her shoulders back and stood a little straighter. “It is a good trait to have, because you never know when you’ll need to call on a bit of information to start a conversation.”
    “Or a con,” Caine said.
    “You’d know more about cons than I would,” she said.
    “Right. I do have more experience as an investigator than you do,” Caine said.
    Damn. Score one for him.
    “Caine doesn’t usually do the sales pitches for his employer,” she said.
    “Neither does Faith.”
    Mr. Kneeson’s gaze volleyed back and forth between Faith and Caine. “I gather you two know each other pretty well?”
    “You could say that,” Caine said while Faith was saying, “Not really.”
    Mr. Kneeson just laughed. “Okay then. Let’s get lunch, shall we?”
    They were quickly seated at the restaurant on the lobby level. Faith ordered the Amish Chicken Club Waldorf sandwich, while Caine and Mr. Kneeson both ordered the Diablo Burger.
    Whenever she attempted to bring up the reasons why West Investigations was the best choice for Thompson and Associates, Caine was right there to distract Mr. Kneeson. The food, especially the truffled potato chips, was delicious, but the company was turning out to be extremely frustrating.
    “Excuse me a minute,” Mr. Kneeson said, glancing down at his BlackBerry. “I’ve got to take this call.” He stood and moved to a quieter corner to speak.
    Faith glared at Caine. “Stop trying to sabotage my business lunch.”
    “It’s not your lunch.”
    “You’re monopolizing the conversation.”
    “You’re just angry because you’re losing.”
    “I am not losing. Losing patience maybe, but not losing my cool or losing this client.”
    “He isn’t your client yet.”
    “He will be.”
    “You sound pretty confident about that.”
    “I am confident.”
    “Then you shouldn’t be afraid that I’ll get Mr. Kneeson to go with King and not West.”
    She eyed him suspiciously. “Did you somehow arrange this? For him to get a flat tire?”
    “You’ve really got a vivid imagination. Is that because you’re a librarian?”
    “A former librarian.”
    “Right.”
    “You won’t win.”
    He just smiled. “We’ll see.”
    She smiled back, even as she gritted her teeth. “Yes, we will.”
    “Sorry about that,” Mr. Kneeson said as he returned. “Where were we?”
    “I was about to tell you why someone smart enough to be a White Sox fan like yourself would want to choose West Investigations for your firm.”
    “How did you know I’m a White Sox fan?”
    She pointed to his BlackBerry screen with the Sox logo. Then pointed to her own screen with a matching logo.
    “Do you have some of the ball players as clients?”
    Faith smiled discreetly. “You know I can’t answer that question. He’s a Cubs fan.” She nodded toward Caine. “You know what that means.”
    Mr. Kneeson nodded. “That his team is going to lose again.”
    She nodded too. “The sports franchise that’s gone the longest without a championship. And that’s not just in baseball, that’s all the sports combined. When did the Cubs last win the World Series? Was it 1904?”
    Now Caine was the one gritting his teeth. “No, it was 1908.”
    She and Mr. Kneeson exchanged a knowing look.
    Talk about a momentum shift. Things were totally going Faith’s way now as she and Mr. Kneeson talked baseball—recent games and the bullpen, pitching stats and RBIs.
    Caine called the server over. “I’ll take the check now.”
    “It’s already been taken care of by the young lady,” the server said.
    Faith just smiled. She’d cornered the server earlier and made the payment arrangements with the corporate credit card.
    “I hate to eat and run,” Mr. Kneeson said, “but I’ve got to get to that workshop I told