Page 26 of Always Murder

He passed through the servants’ dining room, and the sound of his steps moved upstairs.

I slunk out of the kitchen.Indira was collecting mugs from the table.Her face was back in its usual impassive control.Fox was glaring at me like I’d done something wrong.

“I tried,” I protested.

“You tried,” they said scornfully.

“What did you do?You just sat there!”

“I was guarding the back door.”And then, a heartbeat too late: “And providing moral support!”

“It’s all right, Dash,” Indira said.“I’m sure he’s fine.It can be stressful, meeting a new partner’s family.And Millie’s family is close-knit and very involved.And it’s the holidays, which means lots of demands on their time.He only needs to make it through a few more days.”

Neither Fox nor I had anything to say to that.

Indira headed into the kitchen, carrying the coffee mugs.Fox rubbed their face and said, “What are you going to do now?”

“Oh, I’m definitely sending Bobby to talk to him.The last time Keme cornered me alone, he tried to stick my head in a toilet.The only reason I escaped was because Millie was laughing so hard she fell down, and Keme was so worried about her that he forgot about me.”

Fox stared at me for several long seconds.

“You meant about Paul,” I said.

“Never mind,” they said.“I don’t want to know.”

“I’m going to find Ryan tomorrow and make him tell me what’s going on.”

“You’re going tomakehim?”Fox got to their feet, stretched their back, and in a tone that was insultingly amused, added, “I hope he doesn’t shove you in a locker.”

As Fox sauntered into the kitchen, I called after them, “Very funny, but this isn’t high school.”

On the other hand, Ryan did seem like the type.And he and Paul were, like,alwayswrestling.

So, great.I had a new fear to contend with.

I went into the den and tried to write for a while.I didn’t get far; I was still trying to figure out when Will Gower would find his first dead body.(Well, I was also trying to figure out who was going to get murdered, but that seemed like something I could figure out down the road.) I didn’t make much progress, though; I couldn’t focus, and I found myself replaying the events of the day—my little bout of failed corporate espionage, learning from Luz that Paul had lied to me, and of course, the weird stuff at the tree farm.In the end, I left Will Gower where he was (brooding in his office, waiting for a client to hire him for some innocuous task), and I went upstairs to get ready for bed.

Bobby came home when I was brushing my teeth.He looked good in his khaki uniform, with his duty belt and his gun and the unmistakable air of authority, which was only slightly undermined by the fact that he’d already shed his boots and was standing there in his socks.He also looked tired, which made sense, since he’d worked sixteen hours.

“Hi,” he said and kissed my cheek.

I mumbled a hello around the toothbrush, and Bobby started changing out of his uniform.

I got a slightly longer—and more interesting—kiss when a naked Bobby padded past me to take a shower.I washed my face.I took a peek in the shower, and Bobby grinned at me before he stuck his head under the spray.

“You need to talk to Keme,” I said.

“What happened?”he asked as the water sluiced away soap.

I told him.

“Tomorrow,” Bobby said and grabbed his shampoo.

I let Bobby finish his shower, and I got in bed.I fluffed the pillows.I thought about picking up my book, and then I thought maybe I’d wait and see.I mean, there was tired and there wastired.

When a naked—and now clean—Bobby emerged from the bathroom, he took one look at me and burst out laughing.“Babe, I’m beat.”

“What?I didn’t—I wasn’t—” It was better to end on a note of outrage: “I never!”

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