"I like that philosophy, and any sale is good."

"You learn not to make mistakes as you get older. No more cheap clothes that fall apart for me. It's quality all the way. Dress for success. Can you tell I've been thinking a lot about this?"

"Since it's working for you, I'll say your thinking is successful."

Penelope smiled at the compliment and stopped outside a door. She tried the handle, but the door didn't budge. "This is, or was, Juliet's office. It's locked. I'm not sure whom to ask about a key, or getting access," she added, looking suddenly worried.

I spied Solomon walking towards us, his face full of purpose. "Don't worry about that," I told her, "my colleague will smooth things out with the right people."

"Do you need anymore help?" she asked.

I didn't get a chance to answer as Solomon came to a stop next to us. Penelope gave him a fast appraisal before glancing towards me, clearing waiting for an introduction. "This is my colleague, Solomon," I told her as Solomon gave her a nod. "This is Penelope Cera. She's a good friend of Juliet's." This time, Solomon stuck out his hand and gave hers a gentle shake.

"You work here?" he asked, skipping all pleasantries.

"Yes, I'm a paralegal."

"Do you work with Juliet?"

"Not directly. Like I told Lexi, I work with the firm's lawyer, looking over contracts. Juliet didn't send many my way, but she called on me from time-to-time if she had any legal questions."

"Good to know." Solomon produced a key and smiled. "Lexi and I need to take a look inside."

"Oh sure, yes, of course," said Penelope, sidestepping out of the way. "Do you need any help? I can show you around if you like?"

"No, thanks," said Solomon. "We can find our own way."

"Oh, yes, I didn't mean the office. I meant the computer and the firm's internal systems. It takes a little getting used to."

"Thanks for the offer, but we'll be fine." Solomon stuck the key in the door and the lock clicked open. He stepped inside.

"Perhaps a coffee? I don't normally offer, but since you're here to help Juliet..."

"We're fine," said Solomon, pushing the door open.

"Thanks," I told her. "I really appreciate your help, but we'll take it from here."

"Well, okay then, just shout if you need anything. Or dial 25 on the extension." Penelope gave us a little wave before turning to walk back the way she came. I shut the door, closing us into the office.

"How was your interview?" I asked as Solomon looked around.

"Didn't turn up much. People seem to like Juliet and are surprised by her recent nefarious activities. You?"

"Same here. I met a guy who had a run-in with her. Tom Oliver."

"What kind?"

"He wanted a promotion, she turned him down in a particularly scathing way by email, then congratulated him in person when he was offered a different promotion. He seemed puzzled by her behavior, and so am I."

"Any similarities to firing the assistant?"

"I thought so. I got a copy of the email. Juliet, if it was really her, was mean."

Solomon sat at the desk chair and fired up with the computer. "Let's assume it wasn't her."

"What are you doing?"

"Switching her computer on."

"I can see that. I meant, why?"

"So I can copy her hard-drive and have it analyzed back at the agency. I'm also going to comb her data and see if I can find some anomalies."

I held a hand up and pulled a face. "Yes?" asked Solomon.

I lowered my hand. "I already asked Lucas to be on the lookout for anything suspicious."

"I know. He told me. He asked for the hard drive."

"I feel redundant here. I don't know enough about computers to help. Or trading. Or finance."

"True. We need to split up."

I blanched, the blood drained from my face, and I swayed a little. Had Solomon become sick of waiting for my answer about moving in? It wasn't like I didn't think about it every few minutes. I just hadn't decided whether or not I was the one making all the compromises. And now, had I sealed my fate by confessing to diving beyond my depth? "We what?" I stuttered.

"We should split up. I'll stay here and do the computer stuff. You go out and interview Juliet's friends."

"Oh! Oh, yes."

"They might know something about Juliet's weird behavior. There could be a reason for her acting so far out of character, or maybe she mentioned why she felt she needed to be such a hard-ass at work. See if she told them anything about money worries or struggling at the office. Maybe she had huge aspirations that she couldn't meet on her salary."

"Got it. Anything that provides a possible motive."

"Existence or absence of motive. Let's meet up in a couple hours."

"How about at Juliet's house? Delgado is still doing the installation and I'd like to inspect it before we get it running. I want to check the audio and video feeds. It could be our best chance at finding the stalker; and once we have them, we might have someone tangible enough that Lucas can tie to the insider trading."

"Sometimes you say the sexiest things."

"I know," I said as I tossed my hair and sashayed from the office. At the door, I turned around and blew Solomon kiss, then beat a hasty retreat before I lost my cool.

~

Juliet gave me a small list of names of people she considered close friends. As I pulled up in front of the first address, I was looking forward to what I would hear. Rose Phipps attended college with Juliet and was now settled in Montgomery too. As I approached the stoop, I could hear a small dog yapping and a baby crying, so I figured Rose would probably be just thrilled to have yet another intrusion.

The harried woman who arrived at the door didn't look pleased to see me, although her eyebrows lifted when I produced my PI license and explained why I was there.

"I can't imagine why Juliet sent you to interview me," she said, pulling off her apron and folding it over one arm. "We haven't spoken in a couple months."

"Was there any reason why?"

"Yeah, Juliet was pretty damn mean and told me to get lost. Well, not in so many words, but I got the gist. I was too boring for her now that I had a baby." Rose sniffed. A small dog edged past her, its nose wriggling as it got closer to me. I leaned down, extended my hand, and let him take a look-sniff. Apparently satisfied, the dog sat and looked up at his owner expectantly. I thought my expression probably matched the dog’s, but hoped I smelled better.

"Did she say that to you?" I asked, thinking about Juliet's own pregnancy news.

"She sent a text."

"Do you still have it?"

"No, I just got a new phone so I deleted all the texts from my previous phone. It wasn't the kind of text you’d want to keep for posterity."

"Did you talk to Juliet about it?"

"No, I figured enough was enough. She'd been acting a little strange for a few weeks before that anyway; and honestly, with the baby and Sparky, I have enough to deal with."

"What do you mean by strange?"

"Not showing up after we made plans, and then pretending she knew nothing about it, and acting like she had no idea what I was talking about. ‘Accidentally’ —" Rose raised two fingers to make air quotes " —sending a text that said my baby was ugly and had a weird-shaped head. Little, petty, mean girl stuff. I thought we left all that behind us in high school. Like I said, once she sent that spate of texts, I figured enough was enough. If Juliet wanted to act like that, I didn't want to be her friend any longer."