Project Enterprise Read Free Page B

it carefully. Looked at Rick. Shook his head.
    So it might have been made in the U.S.A. Or here in this garage. Could someone develop a working ray gun in a garage?
    Was he even asking himself the right questions?

    J illy was back at the table. The feeding frenzy seemed to have died down, but it didn’t help her headache. How had her space gun mockup been replaced by one that actually worked? Who had killed “Jusan?” The two events had to be related, but thinking about it without full disclosure from these people just made her head ache more. She rubbed her temples, fighting back a feeling of falling that seemed to be a side effect of the headaches.
    Bad cop Fyn intrigued her for some reason. She shifted in her seat to keep him in sight as he paced restlessly around her house, a ferret around his neck. She didn’t remember him arriving with a ferret, but then she’d been more interested in good cop Daniels at the time. She got that odd, almost-shift in her vision and felt a longing to be at her computer. These were her most creative moments, when it seemed like her vision split between what was and the place where her novels happened.
    Daniels sat down opposite her again.
    â€œYou said Redding brought you gifts,” he began.
    â€œWas that his name?” It seemed important to know his real name, though she couldn’t have said why.
    â€œOscar Redding. What kind of gifts did he bring you, ma’am?”
    â€œI wish you’d call me Jilly,” she said, then wished the words back. This wasn’t a social occasion and he wasn’t her friend, even if he acted like he was. He was good cop and it was his job to trap her into admitting she’d killed—Oscar.
    His smile warmed the cold places inside her, even if it shouldn’t.
    â€œJilly. The gifts?”
    â€œFlowers. Chocolates. Jewelry—nothing expensive. Trinkets. Like charms related to my books.”
    â€œFlowers. Any special kind?”
    â€œUsually a mix of types, the kind of thing you could pick up at the grocery store.”
    â€œNot your favorite flower?”
    Jilly frowned. “I didn’t really have one.” That wasn’t true, but the flower she saw in her mind existed only in her novels. It was a lovely, waxy red, the color of her door and her toenails and the scent, she didn’t know how to describe its scent. It—soothed. She’d missed it when—when what? How could she miss something that didn’t exist? Why did she sometimes feel homesick for a place that wasn’t real? She rubbed her temples again.
    â€œYou have a headache, ma’am, sorry, Jilly?” He looked worried.
    He did good cop very well.
    â€œI’m fine.” She didn’t want to like him. She wouldn’t like him. He was just playing her and he wouldn’t tell her why.
    He studied her, as if considering what to tell her, but he was really doing it to break her.
    â€œWe found some flowers scattered around on the ground in a clearing back there.” He nodded toward her back yard. “And we found his car parked just off the freeway on a dirt road. I figure he was coming to see you.”
    She shook her head. “No, not to see me, not dressed like that. If he was planning on seeing me, he’d have been dressed like Jusan, my character.”
    Daniels straightened. “You think maybe he meant to leave the flowers?”
    â€œYeah, I do.” She rubbed her face. “He wouldn’t realize how creepy that would be. He’d probably think he was being thoughtful.” She hesitated. “I had mentioned I’d moved in my blog. Maybe it was a—house warming gift.”
    â€œDid you know he worked for a company that makes experimental weapons?”
    She had a feeling the question was supposed to shock her.
    â€œI didn’t even know his real name.” She hesitated. “I suppose on some level I knew he had a job. I mean, he bought me stuff, but