The Private Eye

reached into the bag on her lap for a potato chip.
    “Josh?”
    “Yeah?” He munched on the chip.
    “I was just wondering. Do you plan to stay in this business for the rest of your life?”
    The question startled him. He turned his head to find her watching him intently in the shadows.
    “What?”
    “I was just wondering if you would want to keep running Business Intelligence and Security, Inc. after you've sold your book.”
    “Selling the book is not a sure thing, Maggie.”
    “I think you will sell it.”
    Her confidence gave him a quiet thrill. Josh stretched his shoulders and resettled himself in the seat. He studied the approach to the manor while he thought about her question. “I don't know what I'll do if I sell the book.”
    “Do you still like your work?”
    “What's liking it got to do with anything? It's a job. I'm good at it. It's a living. A fairly good one, to be perfectly honest.”
    “Yes, but does it give you any real satisfaction?” Maggie persisted gently.
    Josh slanted her a curious glance. “What are you trying to say?”
    She crunched another potato chip. “Nothing,”
    “Maggie, don't give me that. You're after something. What is it?”
    She stirred uneasily. “It's just that I've had this feeling for several days now that you're kind of burned-out. I was wondering if maybe that's the real reason you came over here to the coast for a month.”
    Josh groaned. “You and McCray. A couple of amateur psychologists.”
    “It's true, isn't it? You're here because you burned out back in Seattle.”
    He exhaled slowly. “Yeah. It's true.”
    “What really happened in that “accident” that had you on crutches when you first arrived?” she asked softly.
    “A kidnapping case went sour. Things got a little rough when I went in after the jerk who had taken the girl. He was trying to use her as a shield.”
    Maggie looked suitably horrified. “What happened?”
    “The girl is safe. The jerk's back in jail,”
    “My God, Josh, you could have been killed!” Maggie frowned. “You were playing hero again, weren't you?”
    “I told you, it never pays. The kid I rescued was only seventeen. She didn't even thank me. In fact,
    she hated me for saving her. The guy who had her was her boyfriend, you see. She thought they were going to run off together and live happily ever after. She didn't believe me or her father when we told her she was in love with a two-bit ex-con who planned to take the ransom money and run. Last I heard, she now blames me for ruining her entire life.”
    “Little twit. I don't suppose it's any consolation to know that in a couple of years she'll be thanking you.”
    “I don't need her thanks. I was just doing her father a favor. Good public relations. He's head of a large corporation that uses BIS services. He came to me after he got the ransom note because he didn't want any publicity. I should never have agreed to help. Jobs like that are always messy.”
    “What's going to happen when you go back?”
    “What do you think will happen? I'll go back to work.”
    “What about the book?”
    “I'll work on it when I can.”
    “Josh, maybe you need more than a month off,”
    Maggie said hesitantly. “You know, when you think about it, you really haven't even had the month off you had planned to take, anyway, have you? Here you are, back at work. This is just another job.”
    “Believe me,” Josh growled, “this is not just another job.”
    “Well, you can hardly call it a vacation.”
    He thought about that. He had gotten a good start on his novel, he had found the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life and he was on a stakeout, waiting to catch Dwight Wilcox in the act of breaking and entering. “You're right. It hasn't exactly been a vacation. But it has been interesting.”
    She coughed delicately and stuffed another potato chip into her mouth. “So maybe you should take an extra month or so here at the coast after you wrap up this case.”
    Josh went still as it finally dawned on him she was trying to say something very important. “Here?
    You think I should spend the extra month hanging around Peregrine Point?”
    “You said yourself it would be a good place to write your book. And you fit in very well at the manor. You’ve been extremely helpful, to tell you the truth. If you're about to catch Dwight Wilcox in the act of staging some mischief tonight, then it strikes me that I'll be in the market for a new handyman tomorrow