Page 103 of Buried Too Deep

He stepped farther into the warm kitchen and did a double take. Stone and Delores were there, too, along with Delores’s Irish wolfhound, Angel. Stone looked up, a cup of coffee paused halfway to his mouth.

“You finally woke up.”

“Sausage,” Phin grunted.

From the stove, Cora laughed. “It’s in the milk gravy,” she said. “The biscuits are ready to come out of the oven. Can you get them, Delores?”

Delores hopped up from the table and grabbed oven mitts. “They smell amazing, Cora. I want the recipe.”

“I don’t know the recipe. I just make them like my mother did.”

“Then you’ll have to make them again.” Delores gave Phin a quick glance as she passed by him. “You okay?” she whispered.

He nodded. “Fine.”

Better than fine, actually. Cora had kissed him last night and said she’d do it again. But first he needed coffee.

Another whine cut into his thoughts and he remembered poor SodaPop. He opened the back door and went out with her into the garden, shivering as she sniffed every plant.

Why were Stone and Delores here?

He whistled and SodaPop came trotting over, her tail wagging. “Let’s get warm, little girl.”

He exhaled in relief when they were back in the kitchen. He rubbed his hands over his arms. “Cold,” he said when Stone stared at him, one brow raised.

“You were raised in Ohio, Phin,” Stone said, amused. “This isn’t cold.”

Phin would have flipped him the bird, but his hands were too cold. “Blood’s thin now. Lived in the South too long.”

Cora pressed a mug of coffee into his hands. “This is four spoonfuls of sugar, Phin. Delores swears this is how you like it, so if it’s wrong, blame her.”

Burke and his coworkers were watching him with interest, and Phin didn’t like that. He liked to lurk on the sidelines.

Too many eyes were looking at him right now.

SodaPop detoured to her food and water bowls, leaving him all alone.

“Why aren’t you all at the office?” he asked as he took an empty chair next to Stone. “Haven’t they released the crime scene yet?”

Burke pressed a hand to his heart. “I’m wounded, Phin. Truly wounded. Yes, they finally released it late yesterday evening, but Antoine hasn’t had a chance to do a sweep of the office yet, so we aren’t talking business there until we know it’s clean.”

“You have a house,” Phin muttered. He was not caffeinated enough to deal with his friends yet.

Burke laughed. “We love you, too, Phin. My fridge is empty. I was getting ready to do a grocery run when Molly texted all of us that Cora was making breakfast, so we descended. Mmmm.” He inhaled deeply when Cora put the skillet of milk gravy on the table. “Smells so good. I haven’t had good milk gravy in too long. Thank you, Cora.”

It did smell good. So did Cora, as she put a plate and utensils in front of him. She was dressed in jeans and a Tulane sweatshirt. She was still wearing the fuzzy socks from the night before. That the socks made him happy didn’t make sense.

Except that she’d been wearing them when she’d allowed him to see her vulnerable.

When she’d kissed him.

She smiled at him as she took her seat at the head of the table. “We’re debriefing last night.”

Phin’s brain was finally waking up, thanks to the coffee. “Why are you and Delores here, Stone?”

“Because I wanted to see this house that you think is so grand,” Delores said, going for seconds on the gravy. “So far, it is even nicer than you said.”

Stone gave his wife a fond look before returning his gaze to Burke. “And I have some information I thought you might want.” He looked at Phin. “We were already here when they all arrived. I was holding my info until you wandered down.”

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