The Pandora Directive: A Tex Murphy Novel (35 page)

I experienced a sudden twinge of excitement, the likes of which I hadn’t felt since ninth grade. “Give me about fifteen seconds to freshen up.”

Bogie took all the billing information from me and asked if I had any questions. “No. I just want to tell you, Bogie, I think this could be the beginning of a — “

“Yeah, yeah. You know how many times a day I hear that line?”

I severed the connection and lit up a Lucky Strike. So, maybe it wasn’t a perfect world. But there’d be other cases, maybe even a real flesh-and-blood woman waiting for me somewhere down the road. But until then, there were worse ways to spend time than playing strip Parcheesi with Jayne and Brigitte.

Sure, they wouldn’t be real, but hey, what is?