Disclaimer: the characters are not mine. They belong to James Patterson
I blame Nofret for beginning this line of thinking and then giving me permission to follow up.
This is just wrong.
As she and Lindsay were winding their way through the restaurant Jill spotted Denise sitting alone at a table. She contemplated walking past but decided that she could be mature and spare two seconds of politeness for her boss.
"Denise? How are you doing?" Jill feigned interest.
A startled Denise looked to her, "Bernhardt. What are you doing here?"
"We just had dinner." Jill answered, almost apologetically.
"Right, sorry. Nice to see you again Inspector." Denise responded, regaining her usual coolness. Lindsay gave a half-hearted smile.
"Are you dining alone?" Jill asked.
"No. My, um, da...," Denise faltered and looked to the door, "parking the car." she recovered.
Jill studied Denise for a second, intrigued by her nervousness. "Well enjoy your meal." She finally said as she turned to leave.
"Thank you." Denise responded as she directed her attention back to the wine list.
Once outside Jill finally laughed, "that was weird."
"She's your boss." Lindsay chuckled in response.
"Yeah, but I wonder who has her so flustered."
As they rounded the corner of the building they ran into a whistling Cindy. "Hey guys. What are you doing here?"
"Just having dinner." Lindsay responded.
"What are you doing here?" Jill asked suspiciously.
"Dinner." Cindy answered as she moved around them toward the restaurant.
"Alone?" Jill asked tentatively.
"No." Cindy paused, glancing toward the door. "I'm meeting someone inside," she said as she backed away from them. "I don't want to keep them waiting. See ya tomorrow." She turned and went through the door.
Jill and Lindsay stood staring at each other for a moment until Lindsay moved toward the door with a mischievous grin.
"I don't want to know." Jill said as she grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her toward the parking lot.
Now that I got that out I can get back to more serious work.