I, Spy? (Sophie Green Mysteries, No. 1) (Sophie Green Mystery)

It’s one of the things I’m really good at.
    Dad let Norma Jean out and she started barking at the rabbits on the other side of the stream.
    I gave up on sleep and went downstairs, thinking, I’ll be productive. I’ll work on the Nokia.
    I managed to set ring tones and voice mail and, by the time I’d finished, was so sleepy I dropped the phone on the floor and went back to sleep. Tammy joined me and we curled up together on the sofa, both of us exhausted by yesterday’s very long day.
    Then my new phone rang.
    It was flashing Luke’s name. “What?” I mumbled sleepily.
    “Wake up.”
    “I am awake.”
    “I’ve got a job for you.”
    “Oh, goody.”
    “Lexy’s gone through the computer and come up with a couple of names who could be behind yesterday’s grisly murder.”
    I shuddered.
    “And you want me to…?”
    “Check them out. I’m doing it too. Give me five minutes to get my contacts in and I’ll be back as Luca. Come up to the office in half an hour, I’ll give you the details then.”
    He clicked off and I sat staring at the phone. Half an hour? I had to wash my hair and everything!
    Tom was waiting as I came out of the bathroom, dripping, wrapped in a towel. He ran his eyes over me.
    “Oh Sophie,” he said longingly, “why don't you dress like that more often?”
    “Because I’m part of a huge campaign to halt bathroom perversion.”
    He winked at me and slipped into the bathroom.
    I threw on yesterday’s clothes, stopped and swore and went charging around the house for my Ace uniform.
    “I thought you were working a late today,” my mother said.
    “Change of plan. Overtime,” I explained, grabbing a shirt from the laundry basket and trying to remember where my scarf was.
    Crap. It was at home, along with my pass.
    I made it to the office only ten minutes late and scrambled inside. Luke was reading through some paperwork, looking serene and sexy in his un-crumpled uniform, eyes brown, in full Luca mode. Alexa was immaculate and smiling. I was hot, sweaty and irritated.
    “You’re late,” Luke said.
    I glared at him and he shrank away. “Next time, give me more time.”
    “Half an hour is plenty long enough to get ready and come into work.”
    I flashed a look of despair at Alexa, who rolled her eyes. “Coffee?”
    “Yes. Please.”
    She rolled over to the kettle and switched it on and, when she came back, handed me a large manila envelope. “This is all for you.”
    I looked inside. Oh God. Warrant card, red go-anywhere BAA pass, remote keys to the office, complete with passcodes, list of phone numbers for me to program into the Nokia.
    It was like Christmas.
    “Don’t save any of those numbers under their real names,” Luke said. “Put them all as Mum or Aunt Alice or make up a lot of names. But for Christ’s sake remember who they are.”
    I looked down at the list. A lot of them were police chiefs and army contacts. “Let me guess, I have to eat this when I’m done?”
    Luke and Alexa shared a look. “You could,” Alexa said, “or you could just burn it.”
    Better plan. I was liking Alexa a lot.
    “Don’t let anyone see your red pass,” Luke said, “you’re not supposed to have one. Ace still thinks you’re a Passenger Service Agent.”
    “What about the duty managers?”
    “They know about me—at least, they think I’m with Special Branch. They know you’re helping me. They don’t know you’re actually with us.”
    I nodded as if I understood.
    We went up to the terminal in the Vectra. “Seriously,” I asked Luke, “ this is your car?”
    “Ha ha.”
    “Why do you have it?”
    “Why do you think?”
    I raised my palms. “Lost a bet?”
    He gave me a look. “Would you look twice at a Vectra driver?”
    “I wouldn’t look once.”
    “Exactly.”
    “…Oh.” When he put it like that, it was rather sensible. Wasn’t that why the police drove them as unmarked cars?
    We parked up and made our way up through the undercroft to the terminal, Luke briefing me as we went.
    Hark at me, a briefing. Look out, world, I was a real secret agent now.
    “I need you to keep an eye on this guy.” He handed me a grainy photo of someone with a shaved head. “Has a record. We’re just checking him out as a precaution. Lexy hacked into the allocations, he’s on the gate today. Checking in a flight to Frankfurt. Get your arse over there and flirt the information out of him.”
    “Precisely what kind of information are we looking for?” I asked,