Page 58 of Air Of Mystery
I’d give Camilla this: her cheerfully loud arrival totally destroyed any uncomfortable vibes that Estella had left behind.
Camilla walked over and gave me a one-armed hug. “Hey, Skye. I’m so excited to do this!”
I hugged her back. “And we appreciate your cooperation.” Gesturing to the chair I had put in place, I invited her to have a seat, while I took the other chair that was facing her.
Apparently, Camilla had freshened up her hair for the on-camera interview. Her blonde hair now boasted a wider andbrighter streak of hot pink. Today, she was rocking a pair of dark jeans, black ankle boots and a pink leather jacket tossed over a white shirt. She was hip, chic and subtly witchy.
I took my seat across from her and Larry brought over a ring light, moving it behind the camera.
“We’ll let you all get to work,” Gabriella said and began shooing the rest of the gang out of the room. “I’ll be back down with Archer in about an hour—after he gets home from school.”
“That’s perfect,” I said. “Thanks, Gabriella.”
“See you later, Skye.” Charlie walked over and dropped a kiss on top my head. “We still good for dinner around six?”
“Looking forward to it,” I told him.
“Me and George are too!” Larry chimed in.
“I prefer my steak medium rare,” George told Charlie.
Charlie paused. “I didn’t tell anyone I was grilling steaks.”
“No, you didn’t,” I said. “I thought you were going to grill some chicken.”
“I had planned to,” Charlie admitted,” but the market had—”
“Steaks on sale, and so you decided to switch it up,” George finished for him.
Charlie did a double take. “You took the words right out of my mouth.”
“I hope you have beer,” Larry said. “If you’re going to grill. There has to be beer. Am I right?”
“I do.” Charlie nodded to Larry. Then he said to George, “I also have—”
“A nice bottle of theTrois Amisred that you picked out for Skye,” George interrupted.
Charlie’s eyebrows went way up.
“Which I’m thankful for,” George continued, “because I personally prefer red wine with beef.”
I stood up and moved between them. “Come on, George. That’s enough. Stop hazing my boyfriend.”
George only smiled.
Charlie began to laugh. “Can’t wait to see what other tricks you have up your sleeve tonight during dinner.”
“He’s a pain in the ass, isn’t he?” Larry said to Charlie.
“You wound me.” George gave a dramatic sniff.
Camilla had been watching the entire exchange and now she was starting to chuckle. “Man, you guys are fun! If you ever want another investigator to ride shotgun with you, I’d love to tag along sometime.”
I barely managed to restrain myself from rolling my eyes at my team and smiled at Camilla instead. “That would be great,” I told her. “But right now if the guys are done messing with each other, I’d like you to tell me about your experiences and what happened the night you found the amethyst parure of Bridgette Ames.”
***
The interview with Camilla went splendidly. When Archer came down an hour later, he was holding his mother’s hand and looking more than a tad nervous.
