"Yeah."
"Nate told me to ask where you were."
"No he didn't."
"No. He didn't." There was a pause for ten or fifteen seconds. "He told me to tell you to get your ass back to the office."
"Nope, not that either."
"How do you know? How do you do that?"
Eliot smiled, but didn't let it show in his voice. "What did he really say?"
"He said for when you come back to the office to bring, hang on, I made a list, you got a pen?"
"Go on."
"Really, you're gonna want to write this stuff down."
"Go on, Hardison."
"Okay, he said to have you bring: galoshes, an extension cord, six red rubber erasers, a wrench, and a book on puzzle boxes."
"And?"
"And? What do you mean and?"
"There's got to be more, Hardison."
"No, that's it."
"What size galoshes? How long an extension cord? What kind of wrench?"
"Uh. Uhm."
"Come on, Hardison. The devil's in the details."
"Uh."
"Never mind, I'll call him myself"
"So?"
"What?" Eliot asked as he came in to the office the next day.
"Where's the stuff?"
"I gave Hardison the receipt so I can get paid back, but I gave the stuff to Goodwill."
Nate started the coffee pot then turned to face Eliot. "How'd you know the list wasn't for real?"
Eliot leaned back against the counter. "It wasn't vague or detailed enough for you. If you were going to be vague, you'd say something like "get stuff to build a jungle gym" or if you really wanted stuff you'd have given every detail down to size and color, so I knew it was fake." He handed across a book he'd had tucked under his arm.
"Mind games: More than 1000 puzzles for your mind and hands. Interesting."
"I thought you'd like that."
"Did you keep anything else?"
"Yeah, the red rubber erasers. It seemed specific enough that you might want them, and if not, I'm going to leave them around where Hardison can find them. Make him wonder what you're doing with them."
"Just to mess with him?"
Eliot grinned.