Kate was running late. She'd been caught up in a five-guy late night alley brawl that left her tracking down two of them until the early hours of the morning, and her belated return to the batcave translated into a less than timely departure for her day job.
She was both sore and exhausted as she made her way into the Crow's facility, tossing back the remainder of the extra-strength coffee Luke had made to get her through the morning. While on her saga, Luke had uncovered some news about blue poppies she was eager to read, but first she had to get through a morning of meetings with Margaret Cobblepot and two of her board allies. She considered stopping by the kitchen to grab another cup, but already feeling the shakes settling in, she decided her empty stomach couldn't handle another round.
"You're late," Margaret observed as Kate entered the conference room. She looked her up and down, noting Kate's haggard appearance. "I hear you own a bar."
"Uh - that's right," Kate responded confusedly.
"When you're on the board of a company, there are certain... appearances to be maintained. Let's try to keep our wild nights to a minimum," Margaret continued, tossing a copy of the Gotham Gazette onto the table. It was open to the "Who's Who" section known for covering the debauchery of Gotham's elite each weekend.
Page 6, Kate noted. Well done, Luke, she thought, reading the headline that suggested Kate had spent the weekend out galavanting. There was even a blurry picture for added charm. Your photoshop skills could use some work though...
"And that girlfriend of yours… Amy, or Angela or…" Margaret said, searching for the name. She slid the article back to her, scanning it, "Angelique! You and her should join Robert and me for dinner. I'd like to meet this 'angel of the night'," she said, quoting the article. "How about Thursday?"
If Kate wasn't already so pale from sleep deprivation, Margaret would surely have seen the color drain from her face.
"Thursday?" Kate asked dumbly. Luke just haaad to give her a name, she thought, cursing Luke's handy work. "She'll actually be out of the country Thursday. Business," she added, "you know how it is."
Margaret peered at Kate over her glasses, analyzing her words before breaking into a sympathetic smile, "Oh of course. It must be hard for her to be away. I remember when Robert would travel endlessly for work - the long weeks alone...," she said, trailing off as her eyes glossed over. "Well nevermind that then, you just tell me what works and we'll put it on the books."
Kate nodded, silently thanking Maragret's pass. She was already struggling to keep track of her stories, and adding in an imaginary girlfriend made her list just that much longer.
"Well, enough socializing - let's get down to work. The first issue is the integration of the GCPD to the task force. We will find out who our little special inspection guests are later today, but I want to go through the candidates with you first. A little birdy advised your handy work is to thank for knocking Sophie Moore down a peg last week. I'm thrilled with the list - especially this Roman Cavallo fellow - he's with me, as you know. I hear you put up an exceptional fight for him," Margaret pointed out with a wink.
Kate did know that. She also knew that there were seven other names of the list who were allied with Margaret. How Cobblepot managed to manipulate the original list at all still amazed Kate. Of the seven, Kate steered clear of five. The remaining two, Cavallo and Azeveda seemed manageable, and Kate had it on good authority that Cavallo was up for suspension following a last minute snafu involving Batwoman and a drug deal gone wrong the week prior. Fortunately for the Crows, this hadn't fallen on Margaret's radar yet.
Margaret's praises also reinforced her suspicions of Paulie. That there were only three people in the room and both Sophie and Kate would never divulge the news to Cobblepot. That made him the obvious outlier.
"Too bad only the two made it," Margaret said, peering at Kate over her glasses expectantly.
"I was worried any more would stir the pot too much. We still need Sophie to appear as Lead Crow in more than name, and that would be difficult if we assumed full control of the list. I put up enough of a fight to make clear the board had final authority. Besides, I think this should provide you with the access you need without causing Sophie to question the integrity of the audit," Kate replied. She had expected Margaret to challenge the final list, and came prepared. She felt confident that, once assigned, she could control the information flow to one Cobblepot ally, but not three. If everything went to plan with Cavallo, that's exactly how it would play out.
"Fair point. Besides, I'm confident our two will make the cut. As for the third, we can use that as a distraction.
"Did you hear? Did you hear?!" came a squeal through the precinct hall.
Renee Montoya glanced up from her desk and saw Wendy bounding toward her.
"Hear what, Wendy?" she asked with a slightly annoyed tone. She always enjoyed visits from her former police academy buddy, but she also had a mound of paperwork to complete following a botched arrest from the day before.
"The special inspection officers for the Crow audit were selected!"
"And?" Renee asked with no interest. She had heard the city was setting up a team to aid with the internal review, but had not bothered to learn more.
"You were chosen!"
Renee looked up from her desk, perplexed. "Excuse me?"
"Explain."
Renee had charged into her Captain's office. After finding out from Wendy that she had been selected as one of three to take on the role of special inspections officer for the Crow audit, she was beyond furious.
"I see you've heard."
"This is some horse shit," she continued, her face red with anger.
"Language, Montoya."
"I get that I messed up, Cap', but I don't deserve this kind of punishment. It was one time," she pleaded. "Don't make me do this."
Captain Morgan leaned back in his chair, observing the feisty spitball that had arrived in his precinct six months earlier. She was like an unwanted foster child - being handed from precinct to precinct. This was her longest tenure at any location since her rookie year. Her problem? She had a habit of getting in too deep with cases and stirring up all sorts of secrets. She meant well, but in a culture so rooted in corruption, her ambitions were seen as a hindrance to colleagues dabbling in it on the side.
"This is out of my hands, Montoya. Besides, it won't be for long. The Mayor wants this wrapped in weeks. He sees it as more of a formality than anything."
"That's exactly what I'm worried about! You might as well put me behind a desk if that's all this is. I'm not going to ruin my reputation by pandering to the elites over at Murder Crow," she jumped in.
Morgan chuckled at Montoya's reference to the Crows. He was a sucker for puns and found the recent nickname for the Crows especially tickling. The GCPD had its own problems, sure, but the latest actions by the Crows were on a different level: they were killing bystanders to bend at the will of their elite clientele.
He sighed when he realized Montoya wasn't going to back down. "Let me see if they can find an alternate to replace you. The paperwork has officially been filed, so you'll have to appear on behalf of the GCPD for the time being."
Montoya broke into a smile. A shortened sentence was better than nothing. "Thank you, sir. That would mean a lot."
"One might even say I'll try to rum up something."
"That will never be funny, sir."
Captain Morgan waved her off. "I'll let you know when I hear something. Until then, enjoy your time on Murder Crow," he grinned jokingly at Renee. He knew she hated the Crows almost as much as she hated her corrupt partner. This would be as trying for her as it would be for the Crows who had to deal with her.
She eyed him in annoyance as she made to leave.
"Just wait. I'll be back."
"Oh I know. I'll be holding my breath, Montoya."
"So blue poppies are the key ingredient in fear toxin?" Kate asked Luke.
Luke had spent the last three days taking a deep dive into Bruce's archives from years of crime fighting. He thought the flower sounded familiar, but couldn't place it for days. He remembered Bruce once referred to it in passing in a bad joke. Luke didn't get it at the time, but it did make him think it was significant enough Bruce might have logged it from a previous case. After nothing for page after page and file after file, he almost gave up before a single line item that opened up a world of information: He found it stashed in the Scarecrow's file. Scarecrow, also known as Dr. Jonathan Crane, had used fear toxin over a decade earlier in his own research at Arkham.
Equipped with this knowledge, Luke returned to his web of public research but found any reference had been scrubbed clean. Research papers on fear toxin from years prior censored the term 'blue poppies' to ensure it wouldn't be misused again, and nothing in his other research provided any evidence of its existence.
"He's actually been quite clever about it," Luke added. "It's like the world was so afraid it would be abused again that they wiped it from recent memory, and that's allowed him to hide it in plane sight. It took us over a week to find a trace of information on it, and that's only because we have Bruce's archives."
Kate pondered this. "Is there any way to track it? It's not local to this region, right?"
"Tibet, actually," Luke, "And no, there haven't been any imports to Arkham that seem suspicious. I think we need to assume Butler is accruing it through less conspicuous means."
"Great, let's just add it to the list of things to keep track of. Apparently it's the theme of the day."
"Speaking of… well, all of that...how has it been? I feel like I haven't seen you in weeks," Luke asked as a way of taking a break from crime-fighting.
As much as Luke and Kate's lives intertwined around Batwoman and the real estate work, Luke was right that they hadn't physically been in the same space for more than an hour since she had started her role with the Crows. He got the high level need-to-know bits when she would swing in to change for a night on the prowl, but he was still in the dark for most of it.
"You were going to tell Sophie your theory about Cobblepot, right? How did that go?" Luke continued.
"Fine. Might need to double back on it," Kate responded, not bothering to look up from the research she was pouring over.
"Double back? What does that mean?" Luke asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. "Were you… distracted by something else?"
Kate looked up at Luke who was grinning mischievously back at her. Her eyes narrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?"
"Just that… you know… I can see how conversations with Sophie could be difficult."
"I don't understand what you're saying. Do you have a real question?"
Luke finally broke, "Ok, Mary told me she left you and Sophie behind at the bar the other night and… well, you came in super late and, I was jus-"
"Nothing happened," Kate cut in, shortly. Aaand, that was nearly two weeks ago, she thought to herself.
"Oh… really? Because Mary thought -"
"Mary thought what, Luke," Kate asked, her tone challenging and edgy.
Luke paused for a moment, trying to get a read on Kate. He knew she wasn't into her private details being discussed, but he felt they were close enough that a conversation like this wouldn't make her as defensive as she was getting.
"Nothing," he said finally. "Forget I mentioned it."
He returned his attention to his computer, hesitant to bring up another topic at risk of breaking any more eggshells. His afternoon with Mary had divulged a number of interesting tidbits about Kate that he didn't know, and he wondered, if not for Mary, whether he'd have ever learned them. Obviously the most intriguing was Kate and Sophie's relationship. While he had warned Kate against entering a relationship, Mary's sharing of their relationship during their time at the Academy made him wonder why they weren't back together yet.
He began thinking back to that Thursday morning after her night out with Mary and Sophie. She had looked terrible, and, after discussing it with Mary the following week, he assumed it was because of a late night of… catching up. Contrary to his advice that Kate avoid relationships, he was excited that she may be finding happiness in a relationship with Sophie. He even rationalized being ok remaining in the dark about it for the time being.
As he let his thoughts linger, he suddenly recalled the story he'd had published in the Gotham Gazette just that morning. He and Kate had cooked up a strategy to drop stories to the Gazette as a way of keeping up her appearances. That morning's story effectively announced she was in a relationship, and it dawned on him that perhaps the reason for Kate's temper wasn't because he was nosing around her private life with Sophie but because there was no private life with Sophie in the first place.
"I'm sorry," Kate said softly from her side of the table, causing Luke to flinch in surprise. "I'm being a crab."
Luke looked up to see Kate's face was full of remorse, and he grinned shyly back at her, suddenly regretting his own comments, "It's good, really. And I'm also sorry - I shouldn't have pried. I was just trying to make conversation about something other than Duela Dent and her… friends?"
"How about we hit pause and order a pizza?" Kate offered.
"With extra olives?" Luke asked pleadingly.
Kate stared at him for the monster he was, "How about we go halvsies?"
Sophie was just leaving her office for the night when an email notification appeared on her phone. It was from the GCPD Commissioner himself announcing the three selected names to take on roles as special inspectors. Sophie quickly swiped through the political nonsense that filled the first four paragraphs until she landed on the names:
Josh Azeveda
Roman Cavallo
Renee Montoya
Start date: effective immediately.
She dropped her phone-holding arm to her side in exasperation. Of course it would be these three, she sighed to herself, thinking back to the hours long debate from a few days prior. She stared longingly down the hall at the elevator lobby before turning back toward her office. It was going to be a long night.
"I've never even met someone named Angelique let alone considered dating one," Kate laughed through a slice of pizza, throwing a stray olive at Luke. She was razzing him for his artistic licensing in the Gotham Gazette's article from that morning. Apparently Kate's new beau was a fashionista from France with a taste for wine and travel.
"What? A worldly woman like Angelique?" Luke pressed, confounded at Kate's remark. She stared back at him with equal dumbfoundedness.
"I said 'come up with an alibi,' not 'write a novel backstory'."
"A novel ba - what? I'm talking about Angelique - the 17th Century woman born into the provincial aristocracy in the west of France? The protagonist of not one, not five, not ten, but thirteen classic French novels?!" Luke gaped back.
The significance of the character was lost on Kate. She wasn't much of a reader in school, and that translated well into adulthood.
"You didn't have many girlfriends in high school, did you?" Kate countered.
Luke glared at her from across the room, "I'm sure not nearly as many as you."
Kate laughed, nodding in obvious agreement. She glanced at the pile of research left to trudge through, and wasn't sure she had the energy left to sift through it. She looked up at Luke who seemed to be sharing an intimate moment with the last piece of pizza in the box.
"Oh, just eat it, will you? It's infected with olives anyway," Kate broke in, causing him to jump slightly. He grinned and timidly snatched it up. She smirked back, thinking about how much Luke's company made being Batwoman bearable. With everything going on at the Crows and the real estate hunting, she regretted that their time had dwindled to passing remarks and the occasional late night study session.
"All right, I'm making the executive decision: no more Batwoman tonight. We're taking the night off," Kate announced.
"Kate, it's 10:30."
"We're taking the rest of the night off," Kate corrected, rolling her eyes at Luke's remark.
"Honestly, after this weekend, I can live with that."
"Great. Because I saw an old N64 up in Bruce's office, and if I know anything about my cousin, it's that he'll have a copy of Smash Bros. too."
"Oh! Can I be Kirby? Bruce never let me play Kirby," Luke jumped up, his eyes bright with enthusiasm.
Kate grinned back, "not a chance, Luke."
Renee Montoya entered through the ground level of the all glass facade with contempt, sneering at the expensive way everyone dressed and the hubris of the over-the-top architecture. So much money was wrapped up in the appearance of the Crows that she wondered how much of their fees actually went to fighting crime.
Just before she clocked out the day prior she had received her formal assignment. It defined her role as special inspector and the authority it carried. For the next few weeks, her job was to oversee the current Crow caseload and, "where applicable and with assurances of her safety" participate in field-based task force events. For her first day, her initial orders were to register at the front desk that morning to formally check in and receive her badge. She had expected it to provide her access past the security gates separating the lobby from the elevators, but instead, after fifteen minutes of filling out paperwork and getting her identification scanned twice, she was instead handed a meaningless green badge with the word 'Visitor' on it.
"What am I supposed to do with this?" She accused the guy behind the counter who had been assisting her.
"I don't know. Wear it?"
Renee rolled her eyes. "Do you know who I am?"
"You are… Renee Montoya, GCPD," he said, reading from the forms she had just submitted.
"Exactly. Maybe you didn't get the message, but I'm a special inspector. I can't inspect if you don't give me any clearance."
"Look ma'am," he continued, "I don't make the rules. I just type in your information, and if you're on the list, you get clearance; if you're not on the list, you get that special little green badge, and I call someone from upstairs to pick you up."
"Did you just call me 'ma'am'?" Renee asked, flabbergasted at the suggestion. She almost didn't catch anything past that insult.
"Uh… yes? Look, I can't give you access if you're not on the list. I've messaged Sophie Moore to come down and she ca-"
"No need, Jerry. I'm on my way up and can take her," came a voice to Renee's right.
"Ah, mornin' Kate. And of course, by all means. Ms. er… Montoya, please follow Ms. Kane. She'll take you to where you need to go," Jerry said with a faint smile of relief. He sent a small wink toward Kate in thanks as they parted, and Renee in turn shot him a glare of annoyance. She wasn't done with him.
Looking back she saw that this Kate Kane had already parted and was steps ahead of her. She let out a small grunt of annoyance before hurrying to catch up. After a night of drowning her sorrows in two for one margaritas with Wendy at her local watering hole, she had managed a slight change of heart about her new role. If she was going to be stuck here, she might as well do her best at uncovering the dirty little secrets the Crows kept hidden. To her, they were no better than the GCPD, and she believed this assignment made it her duty to uncover corruption from within like she did as a cop.
"So, Renee, is it?"
"Yea, what's it to you?" Renee said defensively. Who was this Kate person, and why did she already know who she was? Were all Crows in on the GCPD news? She eyed Kate as they walked through the open security gate; she didn't dress like anyone she had passed entering the facility. While everyone else was in smart business attire or fit out in task force uniforms, Kate dubbed a black leather jacket over a faded plaid shirt. Her skin-tight jeans were riddled with holes, and her left hand gripped a black motorcycle helmet. If Renee hadn't just watched her scan a security pass granting entry, she wouldn't have believed this Kate Kane was in fact a Crow at all.
"I figured meaningless small talk would be better than an awkward silence, but sounds like the latter is more your cup of tea. So, I'll finish with 'welcome to the Crows'." Kate said, glancing at Renee. To Renee, Kate looked like she was trying to hide a smirk as she entered a waiting elevator.
Renee followed, slightly perturbed by Kate's tone. "I'm not staying long," she said unprompted. She wasn't sure why she felt the need to declare her plans to leave, but something about being in this space made her want to bounce as fast as possible.
"That's the hope," Kate replied casually.
When the doors opened at their floor, Kate stepped forward first and nearly crashed into another woman trying to get on. She watched Kate reflexively extend her hands to avoid a clash, grabbing the upper arms of whoever had tried entering and just as quickly releasing them as though the touch shocked her.
"Sophie," Kate choked out to the other person who had stepped back into the lobby, taking a moment to recover from the startle. The two exited the elevator, and Renee quickly deduced this was the Sophie Moore that Jerry from downstairs was referring to. She was immediately struck by her rich sepia-brown complexion, chocolate eyes and, after a brief up and down, noted her well-cut blazer and skirt accentuating the curves and shape of her toned body. Based on her limited sampling of two, she wondered if - and hoped that - every woman who worked for the Crows was this attractive. "This is Renee Montoya. Renee, this is Soph-"
"Do you just see established protocol as guidelines, now? Not even a day into this, and already you're ignoring them," Sophie interrupted, her tone short and accusatory. Renee didn't know this woman, but she could see she was clearly peeved.
"You know I've never been one for following codes of conduct," Kate replied coolly.
"Cute."
"Look, I thought I was doing you a favor," Kate replied, lifting her hands in surrender.
"You think that a lot, but I can't recall the last time your 'favor' didn't advance your own agenda."
"Not only is that incredibly subjective, it's downright Hobbesian."
"Just - how about next time you want to do me a favor you stay out of my way?" Sophie retorted, her tone cutting through the air like a knife.
"But then I'd miss out on these special moments, Soph," Kate replied, causing Sophie's eyes to widen in surprise before narrowing back into a scowl of annoyance.
Renee watched these two in amazement. If this was how leadership within the Crows worked, she wondered how it had taken this long for it to be flagged by the city. At the same time, the remarks felt personal and perhaps less of a company-wide work culture; at least that's what Renee hoped. Although there was a certain enjoyment from watching these two bicker.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?"
"Actually, I do. So do you. You and I have our weekly debriefing. You're four minutes late for it, actually," Kate said, glancing at her watch. "I'll have to make a note of that."
"I didn't agree to that," Sophie responded, her voice raising in frustration.
"That's because I didn't ask, but it's been on your calendar for a week."
"I am not attending that. I'm already supplying you weekly summaries - anything more is redundant. If you want, reschedule it for next week."
"Sophie," Kate replied, breaking from her banter. Her face suddenly turned serious as she stared at Sophie silently communicating something more than words could say. It made Renee wonder what their relationship was. If she was supposed to be reporting to Sophie, then why was this Sophie person passing information to Kate? After a moment, Sophie let out an exasperated sigh, declaring Kate the winner of their silent discussion.
"And what am I going to do with... this?" Sophie responded, gesturing at Renee.
"Hey, I'm a pers-" Renee tried cutting in.
"I've got two more coming any minute. What do you propose they do in the meantime?" Sophie continued, ignoring Renee.
"I'm sure there's another broom closet somewhere you could sacrifice. Just empty it out and toss them in there for the morning."
"We couldn't use the conference room?" Sophie asked, squeezing into Kate's sad excuse for an office. Kate climbed over her own desk to get to the other side of it while Sophie unfolded a chair stored in the corner.
"Don't you like my place? It's such a quaint alternative," Kate offered, extending an arm as though showing off a grand ballroom. In reality, Kate had chosen her office because she knew it was the one place Margaret hadn't bugged - a small piece of intel she had acquired at the end of yesterday's meeting. The only unfortunate thing that came out of it was that Kate found herself second-guessing her previous accusation against Paulie. If Cobblepot had the place wired, she didn't need some low-level Crow like Paulie for information.
Sophie rolled her eyes at this, clearly annoyed by the entire situation.
"Shut that, will you?" Kate asked, nodding her head at the ajar door.
"Still haven't learned how?" Sophie quipped back, pressing it closed.
Kate stared back dumbly, feeling her cheeks burn at the reference. Her frustration only grew as she watched Sophie offer an innocent smile and slightly raised eyebrow back at her. An unspoken moment passed between them, both briefly caught up in the past, until Kate finally broke it:
"We need to discuss how to deal with the special inspectors."
"I've already started building out a plan for all three-"
"Two," Kate corrected.
"Sorry?"
"Cavallo was suspended this morning," Kate advised. And not a moment too soon, she thought. She had seen to it that at least one of Cobblepot's plants was caught red handed in the middle of their less than savory acts. Cavallo was the easiest to narrow in on for his not-so-subtle dabbling in drug dealings. Luke had managed to correlate a pattern of his dealing spots, and Batwoman did the rest.
"Are you serious?" Sophie asked in shock, quickly moving from relief to concern. "But that just means someone else will be selected to replace him," she reasoned out loud. "They called for three."
"And that might be the case if not for the short-staffing the GCPD has been experiencing now that Batwoman has been having her fun exploiting the inner corruption of cops. They've put over ten percent of their staff on suspension in the last five months, and they can't lose more bodies to this audit. It also helps that the Commissioner would rather eat his hat than issue an amended announcement."
Sophie absorbed Kate's words. She wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it all felt too good to be true. Of all fifteen names on the list, Kate fought for two who had obvious links to corruption, and then those two appeared alongside Renee Montoya on the assignment. Now it just so happened that Batwoman's intervention relieved their load by a third. More than that, Kate knew before she did, which made her more skeptical.
"What's going on?" Sophie responded. She knew Kate well enough to know when she was withholding - her tendency to deflect was always at an all time high when her goal was to keep something hidden, and Sophie began sensing that this entire morning had been an act to catch Sophie off guard. "This timing is far too perfect."
"You're right: the timing is too perfect, which means I should ask you the same. You're the one with Batwoman's number. Are you telling me you didn't have her take out Cavallo?" Kate replied coolly.
"Are you serious? You think this was me? I haven't said anything about this," Sophie replied, feeling blindsided by Kate's accusation. It hadn't occurred to her that Kate would correlate this to her relationship with Batwoman and think she was responsible for Cavallo's suspension. If anything, Sophie was frustrated with herself that she hadn't thought to ask Batwoman for help before today.
"So you are still working with her," Kate continued.
Sophie gaped back at Kate, silently cursing herself. Why was Kate always so on her game about this stuff? Her attention to detail had always gotten the best of Sophie, and this was no exception. She needed to bluff her way out of this, and she needed to do it fast, otherwise Kate would only grow more suspicious: "That depends on what you mean by 'working'. I wouldn't say I'm 'working' with her in the way you work with a partner. I'm 'working' with her so I can collect information on her. Before Jacob left we established a protocol where I continued engaging with Batwoman for the purpose of eventually identifying her and bringing her in," she said. A part of her was impressed by her ability to lie on the spot as she mentally scrambled to anticipate Kate's follow-up questions. She knew she'd have a hard time convincing Kate otherwise. After all, Sophie had told her about their kiss from a few weeks back. She hoped that detail had been overshadowed by the rest of the night and would remain overlooked by Kate for the moment.
"I haven't seen this in your weekly reports," Kate replied, trying to stay casual while mentally grappling with Sophie's explanation. She didn't want to believe it was true, but she also felt like Sophie's performance was too on the nose for it not to have some legs.
"It's all under the table. The GCPD has their own investigative team searching out Batwoman, and he didn't want our intel getting prematurely mixed."
"I see," Kate responded, nodding thoughtfully. But she didn't see. Kate's head was swimming with questions. If this was true, she had to see that information. The last thing she needed was the Crows getting too close to her identity - even it was excluded to just Sophie and Jacob. It also meant she needed to be careful about what Batwoman shared with Sophie until she could verify Sophie's story was nothing but fiction.
"So in short, no, I didn't ask her to get involved with this. I wouldn't reveal that kind of internal information to her in the first place," Sophie continued. "The last thing I need is her taking actions that might make the Crows more suspect than they already are." She was trying to toe the line between a convincing performance and not divulging more than she could follow through on later. Her sense was that her performance was working on Kate who had fallen into contemplative silence. "So can we get back to Montoya and Azeveda? They're literally sitting in a closet, and who knows what kind of seven-minutes-in-heaven trouble that'll stir up," Sophie said, trying to pivot to something more trivial.
"Oh yea? Because there's so much happening in this one?" Kate shot back, trying to regain her footing in the conversation. She was not used to Sophie getting the upper hand in their banter. "Besides, given how she eyed you at the elevators, I'd bet my inheritance Montoya is already out of the closet."
Kate smirked in satisfaction as she watched Sophie's eyes widen in surprise.
