Page 104 of Passions in Death
“I didn’t initially suggest it. Some might find it intrusive. They don’t.”
“They’ve merged. Yeah, they’ll have their separate spaces, separate lives, and all that. But they’ve merged.”
“And it’s been lovely to watch. You’re tense.”
“Am I?” She circled her shoulders, felt the twinges. “Maybe some.” She remembered she’d thought about a swim, but friendship had eaten that time away on her mental schedule.
“Tell me about today. It’ll relax you to talk it out.”
“It will. Is that weird?”
“It’s you, Lieutenant. And when we’re home, we’ll add a glass of wine, a meal.”
“I had pasta salad for lunch.”
He glanced over. “Voluntarily?”
“Peabody did it. And considering how much hiking we’ve done around New York the past couple days, probably a good thing.”
“Eating lunch isn’t a sign of weakness.”
“No, I just don’t think about it most days. We stuffed a lot of walking and talking in this one,” she said, and told him.
By the time they drove through their own gates, she had relaxed, at least a little.
“Wine wouldn’t hurt,” she decided. “I need to rearrange my board, write some things up, and I want to talk to Marcus Stillwater. But wine wouldn’t hurt.”
He took her hand as they walked to the house. “Any contact with dogs today?”
“None. I should be safe.”
And when they walked in, the cat, sitting beside Summerset, padded over to ribbon through her legs.
“Late,” Summerset noted, “but unbloodied.”
“We ended up taking Peabody and McNab to the house,” Roarke told him.
“Ah, and it’s coming along beautifully, I thought. I had a tour today when I took over some lemons.”
Instead of a snide remark, Eve felt obliged to tell him, “She did the lemonade. It worked.”
“She’s a quick study, Mavis.”
Leaving it there, Eve started up the stairs.
“She feels pressed,” Roarke observed, “but she made time for them.”
“Love always finds a way. There’s some nice barbecued chicken. It would go well with the fries the Lieutenant is so fond of.”
“Then I’ll see to it. Thanks.”
He went up to find her already shed of her jacket and at her board.
“Want to do this first, want the visual. Then I want to contact Stillwater. Then—”
“Wine and a meal before the rest.”
It seemed fair enough.
