And he knew the truth. “This guy isn’t a detective,” Shawn said. “He’s a high-ranking official in a pharmaceuticals company.”

“Hey, that’s really impressive,” ponytail said, beaming. “How did you know that?”

“I speak to the spirits.” Shawn was about to turn back to Gus, but ponytail grabbed his arm.

“That’s really cool,” he said. “I want to know more about it.”

“Some other time,” Shawn said.

“Anytime,” ponytail said. “Stop by my office whenever you feel like it. I’m Diarmuid Robert Benson, president, CEO and owner of Benson Pharmaceuticals. But to my friends I’m D-Bob, and since you seem to be a friend of my new friend Gus, that makes you my friend, too.”

Shawn pulled away from D-Bob’s clutch. “Your friend Gus?” Shawn said. “You always make friends this fast, Diarmuid?”

“Only when I can offer them a quarter mil a year, plus housing allowance, hiring bonus, and three weeks’ paid vacation,” Benson said cheerfully.

Shawn stared at Benson, then turned to Gus. “What’s going on here?”

“I told you,” Gus said. “Rutland Armitage isn’t a detective agency. It’s a headhunting firm.”

“And Gus is the head they’ve hunted for me,” Benson said. “Burton Guster is Benson Pharmaceuticals’ new junior vice president of marketing.”

Chapter Eleven

Carlton Lassiter strode quickly down the marble corridor, forcing Juliet O’Hara to scramble just to keep up with him. It was certainly a change from the way he’d been acting the past couple of weeks. In the month since they’d been called to the scene of Mandy Jansen’s death, he’d been dragging his heels every time she wanted to investigate further. Now that they were at Mandy’s former workplace, it seemed he couldn’t wait to get to their appointment.