The rest of dinner passed in companionable peace. Between bites of paprika-dusted chicken and tangy, garlicy rice, Agatha and Louisa told them about what they and their artist friends had been up to while the dogs took turns pestering each of them for food. Even though Teresa had been back at college for several weeks, Oliver still hadn’t gotten used to her not being at Sunday dinners. Twice he caught himself about to ask her empty chair how her classes were going. He would reply to her letter later once he and Felipe were home. At least she seemed to be getting on well with her classmates and the new professor they had hired to teach interior design. Beside him, Felipe laughed and replied at the right times, but every once in a while, Oliver caught flickers of anxiety or an undercurrent of pensiveness across the tether. It was unlike him. Under the table, Oliver curled his foot around Felipe’s ankle and felt him press against him in return. Looking up from his plate, he gave Oliver a half-smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
Louisa motioned for Agatha and Oliver to pass her their empty plates. “We were thinking of going to Amato’s Wednesday evening. Would you two like to join us?”
“We would love to, but we’re going out of town for a case next week.”
The moment the words left his lips, Oliver felt Felipe stiffen.
“Cariño,” Louisa said, her gaze narrowing as she turned to Felipe, “you never mentioned you had an out of town case. I thought you weren’t taking those anymore due to your condition.”
Felipe’s jaw clenched. “If you mean I don’t take them because I’m dead, you know that isn’t it. I’m not taking out of town cases because I don’t want to anymore.”
“Yet you’re taking this one.”
“We wouldn’t normally have taken this case,” Oliver began, setting a calming hand on Felipe’s knee in hopes it would temper the tension choking the room, “butIwanted to, not Felipe.”
“At least someone is honest with us.”
“We’re only going to New Jersey, Louisa. It isn’t like we’re going across the country. We shouldn’t be gone for more than a week. You wouldn’t have even noticed we were gone.”
She leveled a glare at Felipe. “Were you even going to tell us you were traveling for a case?”
“Of course, I was. I was going to wait until right before we left, so this didn’t turn into a whole—”
Loudly clearing her throat, Agatha stood and plastered on a tight smile. “Felipe, can I borrow you for a moment? There’s a pot in the sunroom that desperately needs to be rotated, but I’m not strong enough to lift it.”
For a moment, Oliver didn’t think Felipe would take the out. Then, he released a huffed breath and followed Agatha out of the dining room without a word. Oliver froze in place as he watched them leave for fear of breaking the fragile truce between the Galvans. By the time the door swung shut, the tension had fizzled out, but Louisa’s annoyance was obvious as she clanked the dirty dishes and utensils into a pile with more force than necessary and stormed out of the room. Oliver gathered the remaining glasses and as many serving dishes as he could safely carry before he rushed to catch up with her. The Pomeranians bounced off his legs and crisscrossed in front of him in hopes he would drop the half-eaten chicken or butter on his way to the kitchen at the back of the house. He paused on the threshold to readjust his grip and heard Louisa murmuring under her breath. When he cleared his throat, the scowl dropped from her lips at the sight of him juggling an armful of crockery. She plucked the glasses frombetween his fingers and shooed the dogs back into the hall.
“I know you love him dearly, Oliver, but I swear that man will be the death of me.”
“In Felipe’s defense, he really didn’t want to take this case. I had to convince him.”
“Why did you take it? Is he pressuring you to go on long trips? If he is, I can give him an earful for you.”
“No, no, it truly wasn’t Felipe’s doing. I might be related to some of the people involved in the case. Not directly. Well, actually, I don’t know that. I haven’t met anyone there.” Oliver took a deep breath and set the serving dish on the table. He was making no sense. “The town we’re going to is where my parents lived right before they died and where I was born, though I have no memory of them or the town.”
“What a strange coincidence that you should be offered that case,” Louisa replied as she handed him an ewer of water and nodded toward the percolator.
“I know, but I’ve wanted to go there for some time. I thought there might still be more distant relatives left on my father’s side living there. That’s why I convinced Felipe to go. I hope you know I didn’t mean to cause any trouble between you and Felipe. Everything happened sort of quickly, and we only agreed to take the case on Friday.”
“It’s fine, Oliver. I know the city can be as dangerous as the rest of the country, but it makes me nervous when Felipe is away from home. Being far from his usual stomping grounds makes him… not reckless, but overconfident? At least, I know I can trust you to keep him from doing anything too dangerous, unlike his past partners.”
Oliver wasn’t so sure of that, considering going to the murder town was his idea, but he would do his best. As he poured the water into the pot and set up the percolator, his mind trailed to the dusty letter with the blood red seal. He had never seen Felipe react so strongly to a letter before, and while he wanted to pester and pry, he didn’t want to make things worse when he didn’t even know what he was prying into. Oliver eyed Louisa as she loaded the leftover food intothe icebox. Louisa had come from California with Felipe and had known him far longer than Oliver or anyone else did, and if anyone could tell him what was going on, she could.
“Louisa, may I ask you a question about Felipe?”
“Of course, though you might know more about him than I do. He’s kept me at arm’s length for some time now,” she said as she dumped the box of shortbread cookies onto a plate.
Oliver swallowed hard and tried to work the words free. Asking felt like a transgression, like he was somehow overstepping his bounds by going around Felipe when, normally, it would be a perfectly innocuous question to ask about their loved one.
“What are Felipe’s parents like?”
Louisa’s hands stilled over the shortbread. “Why do you ask?”
“Because he got a letter from them and acted very strangely after when I asked about it and them. He got short with me, which he usually doesn’t do. I would have preferred to ask him about it, but I don’t want to make things worse.”
“That would explain why he’s being bullheaded again. Every time they write, he gets his hackles up, though he’ll never admit it. I told him years ago to stop writing to them.” Shaking her head, Louisa’s dark brows furrowed as she grabbed a stack of coffee cups and put them onto the serving tray beside the cookies. “Did you know that I have a brother? No? That’s because he doesn’t deserve an ounce of my goodwill after how he behaved, so I cut him from my life. It should be the same with them.”
“Why? What did they do?”
