Chapter 4

cardigan walked into Othello's 5 minutes early and spotted her immediately. she was standing at the counter, and he viewed her in profile: high heels, tailored suit, short black hair. her body was long and fluid--a swimmer's body. when she turned toward him, she looked right at him--not through him, not judging or inspecting--but at him, giving him her full attention. "mr. cardigan?"

he nodded. "ms. charles, i presume. pleasure to meet you." he ordered a black coffee and followed her to a corner table. "thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

she removed her black framed glasses, placing them in a soft case in her purse, then took a small nibble of her bacon & cheddar scone. "you wanted to talk about james, mr. cardigan?"

cardigan noted the flaky texture and abundance of smoky bacon in the scone and was beginning to regret not ordering one, then directed his gaze back to the magnetic sierra charles. "how do you know mr. livermore?"

"he hired me." she smiled for the first time as she raised her cup to her lips, her lipstick leaving no stain on the white ceramic. "i'm a private investigator, mr. cardigan."