In hindsight, the entire conversation at the diner was pure misdirection. Nothing Matheson said was real, and was meant to set the stage for what happ...ned later. After that, he strung me along and played to my personality. It worked, too, because I patted myself on the back, at least initially, for decoding their secret message. But it was too damned easy.”“Why have you pass money to the guard?”“To see if I would do it, to suck me deeper into the conspiracy, and to see if anyone would move. Only then did he realise that he’d left his bag inside her flat. Being separated from a few dirty clothes wasn’t a problem, but she now had his passport which made returning home even harder. He knelt down and looked through the keyhole just as Karin inserted her key and all he could do was listen as she engaged the deadlock. “Karin, my bag?” She giggled as she withdrew the key and walked back through the small hallway. James looked down at his chained hands and experimented until he could. I leaned back and resumed drinking my coffee, grinning at Ellie standing there with a look of mock indignation. She sat on the arm of the chair and bent down to touch my cheek, turning my face to hers for a morning kiss."Come on, let's go eat!" Pat said, and stood, pulling me with him.He was in loose and silky shorts, barefoot and bare-chested. Ellie had on one of her flowing floor-length robes that made her look like Cleopatra, but I couldn't see any panties under it. That was always a good. That also brought to the fore the matter of a replacement vehicle. While I could ride with Stevie for the moment, I was going to need my own wheels sooner rather than later. A quick discussion with Matt solved the transport problem. An old college friend of his owned a car dealership in town. We’d be calling in there after lunch with Lee. My dance card was filling up fast. A quick glance at the kitchen clock told me it was time to get out to the house. I was interested to see if we would.