Shell Game

Chapter Fifteen

Herbie's jaw dropped; Luke's brows shot to his hairline, and Sharla was aghast. "Nana!"

"Don't Nana me, young lady. Sit down."

On command, Sharla obediently dropped to the edge of the bed. Herbie snapped his mouth shut. Luke tossed a sideways glance at him, and both men shifted to sit.

"Not you two," Nana ordered. "I want answers."

Luke looked to Herbie and lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug.

"Well?"

"I'm afraid we' don't know what you're talking about," Herbie said.

"What crazy stunt are you two trying to pull with that half-assed con artist?"

"What?" Sharla shot up. This couldn't be good.

"Honey, this is between these two. You'd better sit down."

"Nana, I don't think—"

"It's okay, honey. I know what I'm doing."

"Sophia," Herbie spoke first. "I'm sure you've misunderstood."

"The hell I have. It takes a con to spot a con may be true most of the time, but, this time, any idiot should be able to smell this guy's stink a mile away."

Luke's brows went up again, and Sharla swallowed a groan.

"Have either of you asked for an accounting report?"

Both shook their heads.

"What about references? Real ones, not testimonials."

Herbie shot another quick glance at Luke before volunteering, "Not exactly."

"Care to expand on that?"

Again his head shifted from side to side. Obviously not ready to explain further.

"Well, I know neither of you are stupid. Crazy maybe, but not stupid." She turned to Herbie. "You're an ex-cop. Didn't you work vice?"

Herbie nodded.

"And you." She pointed a finger at Luke. "Sharla says you work for the State Department."

Luke swallowed and bobbed his head.

"In other words, CIA."

Again that wasn't a question, and Sharla's heart took off at a rapid clip. She put one hand on her chest and the other on Nana's arm, Her grandmother knew an awful lot of strange things about a world Sharla never even thought about, but she had to be wrong about Luke.

His gaze shifted to Sharla for a few very long seconds before he turned back to her grandmother. "I can neither confirm nor deny."

* * *

Luke was glad Sharla was already sitting down. The way her face went pale as the sheets on the bed, he suspected, had she been standing, she might have keeled over.

He'd considered falling on standard operating procedure and denying outright that he worked for The Company. Evading the way he had earlier with Sharla. But now that the idea of a lifetime with Sharla had started to take root in his mind, he couldn't bring himself to put up any more smoke screens. He just wished she didn't look so damn horrified.

"So." Sophia slid her hands onto her hips. "Now that we've established that neither of you are neophytes, what's the plan with this character, and why are we after him?"

"We're not after anything," Herbie took a step in Sophia's direction.

She held up her hand to stop him. "There are a few things I haven't gotten around to explaining to you yet, Herbie."