"Please do," said Solomon. "We'll wait."

Jane kept us waiting the few minutes it took for her to call her former employers. When she hung up, she looked pale, but determined. "They put me through to Mark Lancaster and he advised me to help you in any way I could. I've never even spoken to Mr. Lancaster before! Will it help me get my job back?"

Solomon glanced at me. "I don't know, but we can put in a good word with Mr. Lancaster. I can't promise anything, but at least, he knows you're cooperating with us."

"I need a job. The severance check isn't enough to see me into retirement. What can I do to help?"

"Tell us everything about your time at Lancaster Friedland," said Solomon as I grabbed my notepad from my purse, preparing to take notes. After a moment of thought, I reached into my purse again and pulled out my cell phone. I hit the recording app. Life was too short to decipher my handwriting later.

~

"What do you think?" Solomon asked as we walked down the stairs from Jane's apartment.

"She seemed really confused."

"I don't think she had a thing to do with whatever is going on with Juliet."

"Me neither," I replied, trying not to sound despondent. I suspected Jane could have been the stalker, but it seemed unlikely. Her body language was all wrong for someone who felt under suspicion. Even though she had access to every part of Juliet's life, she lacked motive.

"She has more access to Juliet than anyone else except Rob. She could access Juliet's work computer and could have sent that email to herself, maybe even made trades she shouldn't have. She mentioned she'd been to Juliet's home and she could have known Juliet's passwords for all that online shopping, but she seems so... nice," I finished lamely.

"Agreed. I don't get the feeling she could be our stalker. It should be easy to prove she isn't behind this."

"I have some evidence that might support Juliet," I told him as we reached the car. "That is, it's not evidence. It's more of an experiment. Remember the stuff about Juliet supposedly buying a ticket to Russia at the airport? Lily and I found a way to disprove that."

"Lily?" Solomon raised an eyebrow.

"Just watch," I said, browsing for the video clip I made earlier that day. I passed the phone to him and indicated he should hit play.

"What is this?" he asked.

"Just watch." I studied Solomon as he watched the video. Almost immediately, fake Juliet appeared on the screen, keeping her back to us, and the camera followed her across the terminal towards the desk where Kimberley waited.

"Where did you get this?" he asked. "That's Juliet. Is this the same day the photos were taken on the terminal cameras?"

"Keep watching."

"Do we get a better angle of her face?"

"Keep watching!" I waited as Solomon stood transfixed as the video played out. Finally, the camera started moving towards Lily. I watched my hand on the screen reaching across to Juliet and tapping her on the shoulder before hearing my squeak of surprise as she turned around.

Solomon laughed. "I should have guessed. You had me convinced. She looked just like Juliet in that wig."

"I know! She had me fooled too. She looks exactly like Juliet. Some of the little details are off. You know, the piping on her jacket, the dress..."

"That baby bump... If your best friend could fool us into thinking she was Juliet, someone else could fool a stranger into thinking they were too. All they would need were her passport and clothes that looked like hers for the cameras."

"Or maybe even her own clothes," I added with a little shudder. "This is good enough to prove it wasn't Juliet at the counter buying that ticket to Russia, right?"

"It’s enough for probable doubt, especially coupled with the airport photos we already have."

"And we have the fake email sent to Jane O'Dowd that was purged from Juliet's email account. That's another red flag. There was no need to purge it if it were real."

"We need to speak to the people Juliet worked with," Solomon decided.

"I tried that. Mark Lancaster spoke to me, but I couldn't get inside to talk to anyone else. They said they had their own agency on it and didn't want me in the way." I gave Solomon an expectant look.

He threw an arm around my shoulders and smiled. "I think I can get you an in."

"What will it cost me?" I asked.

Solomon popped a kiss in my direction and winked. I didn't need to wait for another hint. I leaned in, pressing myself against him, and dropped the softest of kisses on his lips. He pulled me closer, cradling the back of my head with one hand, the other pushing against my back as he deepened the kiss. "Shame we have to work," he murmured against my lips. "Shame we're outside."

"Perhaps we should take a half day."

"Perhaps we should solve the case first."

I kissed him again, my heart rate spiking. He just had that effect on me. Plus, now I wanted to win. "Race you to the finish line!" I whispered.

Chapter Thirteen

Solomon and I breezed past reception, our laminated visitor passes swinging from lanyards around our necks. Well, mine did anyway. Solomon's was neatly clipped to his belt. The receptionist who previously blocked my path barely gave me a second glance; she was too busy drooling over Solomon as he signed us in. It didn't bother me one bit, and I scarcely gave her a second thought when I accidentally stepped on her foot as she opened the door for us.

"I don't know whom to speak to first," I said as looked around the floor. Everyone seemed busy. A lot of people were talking loudly on their phones and plenty more were hurrying around. Many had multiple computer screens on their desks, the monitors flickering with line-after-line of data. "The boss is chatty for a man who doesn't want to talk. I hope that's the company ethos."

"You mentioned you spoke to him. When was this?"

"Earlier today. Does no one keep you informed?"

"I don't have eyes on the building," he said, not bothering to point out that I hadn't exactly mention any specifics earlier.

"Where do you have your eyes?"

Solomon looked down, his eyes resting considerably south of mine. That answered my question sufficiently.

"Why isn't our office like this?" I asked, thinking about how quietly we all worked. Sure, there was joking and conversation, but mostly the office was used for silently running information through the various databases at our disposal, or sitting around the big table in the boardroom, discussing strategies for tricky cases. Almost as soon as I said it, I realized my error. My current office was in the backroom of a bar and there was no one to talk to. However, cocktails were readily available, and Solomon couldn't offer that.

"Our?"

I flicked my hair and tried to look nonplussed. "Your."

"We're all too busy to try and just look busy."

I blinked. "You think they're all faking?"

"No, I think they just work in a different way. Let's talk to everyone. Juliet was senior in the firm. They must all know her, or know of her."

"Everyone?" I looked around and counted almost fifty people.

"Everyone. Let's split up. It'll be quicker."

I started with the person closest to me. Flashing my PI license, I got my pen and notepad ready for revelations that I hoped would soon be spilled. Most everyone who knew Juliet was nice about her, expressing genuine surprise at her suspension and arrest. They were similarly surprised about Jane O'Dowd's departure, though few could agree on the real story. A couple of workers were new and didn't know either Juliet or Jane. There were also a couple of mildly nasty comments from colleagues, but I figured that was predictable, given an office of this size; Juliet must have stolen someone's milk at least once.