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“None whatsoever. I’ve only ever shown my picture to what I call confirmed targets—targets that I agreed to meet—and I’ve never lost a confirmed target. Regardless, I create new profiles across the board after each case.”
Strike two, and you’re running out of ideas. “You must have a stalker, then. Someone local you’ve interacted with that has become obsessed.”
Birdie must take her glasses off. The plastic frames clunk when she plops them on her desk.
“Only if he works for the government, and I’ve already looked into those contacts. Otherwise, I don’t get out much.”
Strike out, Bash. So much for me being the security expert. Birdie’s more on top of things than I am, and probably Knot as well. Time for an appeal to the Ump. “Past boyfriends?”
“I doubt it. It was always the guy that ended things.”
Her admission completely derails my train of thought. “Why?” I question immediately.
“Well, by their accounts, I’m boring and prudish.”
I don’t understand that at all. “You are never boring, and you weren’t prudish last night.”
“I guess it’s because you’re a better man than them,” she says confidently.
She’s wrong, but I ignore the statement. “I’ll check in periodically. Let me know if something pops up. Stay safe, Birdie.”
“You, too.”
I hang up and toss the phone on the table. How the hell does anyone label this woman boring and prudish? Birdie Crenshaw is full of piss and fire, and judging by what I saw yesterday, she likes things a little rough.
That means the men she dated before just weren’t man enough to know how to handle such a live wire. Since she was out of their league, they treated Birdie like she wasn’t good enough. That explains why she comes across as shy.
I grab my phone and call Birdie right back. “Bastien, what’s wrong?”
“There’s not a damned thing wrong with you. Those other guys were fucking morons to give you up.”
“I could say the same about the women you dated.”
“No, because I’ve never let a woman hang around that long. Until you. And you don’t even know what you’ve unleashed.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I’m getting with you. And I’ll keep pushing until you figure it out for yourself.”
I just bet she will. Since I have no answer for that, I cop out. “Birdie?”
“Yes, Bastien?”
“Get back to work.”
I tuck my phone away, smiling despite myself. Piss and fire.
A thick file resting in the center of the suite’s conference table finally catches my attention. The label identifies it as the security briefing for the diamond. With nothing better to do, I pull it to me and read through every page.
The suite door opens before I finish. “Fun reading, isn’t it?” Chelsea asks.
My reply is caustic. “Riveting.”
Our remaining crew follows her inside the suite’s common area, though it’s not even four yet. “Where the hell have you been?” Kai asks.
“Like I told Chelsea,” I answer, “there was an issue with Birdie’s security.”
Dunder snags the chair to my left. “What kind of an issue?” he asks.
“Birdie left the compound yesterday without telling anyone.”