She folded her hands in her lap, a gesture more appropriate for a navy blue interview suit than jeans and a puffy, off-white down jacket still zipped up to her chin. He wondered what she was going to wear when it really got cold around here.

“I have a B.A. in Drama from a small college in Ohio.”

This time he couldn’t fight back a smile. “I didn’t ask about your education. I asked what you can do. Before you came to Keene’s Harbor, did you have a job?”

“Yes.”

He waited for more, but it didn’t appear to be coming.

“And?” he asked.

“I was an assistant editor at a business magazine headquartered downstate, outside of Detroit.”

“And?” he prompted again.

“I moved here.”

“As you said, with very little in the way of options. Whax20optionst happened to the job?”

“The skills aren’t relevant to what you do here, but if you really need to know, I was let go.”

“Why?”

“It wasn’t directly performance-related, so again, I don’t think it’s all that relevant.”

He was hooked. He had to know. He was sure it was something worth hearing.

“Spill it,” he said. “Lay it on me.”

Kate bit her lower lip. “I had a little incident changing the black ink cartridge for the printer I shared with a couple other people. Maybe it was because we’d switched to a generic brand, or maybe it was because someone-perhaps with the name of Melvin-had messed with it, but whatever the case, I got ink all over the front of my dress. And then while I was in the bathroom trying to soak what I could from the dress, the fire alarm went off.”

“Sounds like something you’d see on Cinemax after midnight.”

“Let’s just say that when presented the choice between potential death and a bit of semi-nudity smack in the middle of downtown Royal Oak, I let the skin show.”