He sighs, relaxes his posture, and nods. “Fine. Keep going.”
I can’t though, not until he grasps this concept hard enough to hold onto it when I’m not there.
“You don’t have the luxury of disappearing as soon as you get her badge in your hand. You’re right about that,” I say. “And that’s exactly why you need to be difficult to suspect. That means making her feel trusted, and needed, and powerful, and making yourself look small.”
I’m sure this doesn’t sound as glamorous as what he was imagining when he volunteered to be a con artist’s accomplice this morning, so I touch his unevenly refastened collar, turn my chin upward to stoke his awareness that he’s bigger than I am, in the simple, literal sense, and lean in conspiratorially.
“If it ever starts to mess with your head, just remember
