‘Hardly!’ She laughed. ‘Sticking with the Italian theme, I made tiramisu for dessert.’
Troy let out a low groan and said, ‘Marry me now.’
Kate gave an awkward chuckle and disappeared into the kitchen to bring out the dessert.
She’d done a magnificent job of balancing the flavours, and the tiramisu had just the right edge of coffee. I devoured my portion and went in for seconds.
After dessert, we retired to the sitting room. I looked at Kate and pointedly at the door. Did she want us to leave?
She shook her head minutely, so I settled on the sofa for some after-dinner conversation.
‘Are you okay, Stacy?’ Kate asked solicitously. ‘I’ve seen you wince a time or two.’
‘I have a headache,’ I admitted.
She half-rose. ‘Oh no! Let me get you a potion.’
‘I’m fine,’ I said. ‘It’s from scrying. A potion won’t touch the sides, unfortunately. But it’s been a few hours and I’m honestly feeling much better.’ I was, but that’s only because I’d started at utterly miserable and had progressed to pitifully sulky.
‘Scrying?’ Kate asked in concern. ‘What happened?’
‘Oh, no big deal. I got attacked by a vampyr.’
Troy let out a whistle. ‘How’s thevampyr?’
‘True-dead.’ I gave an apologetic shrug. ‘Sorry. It’s not really appropriate evening talk, is it?’
‘He had it coming, I’d say,’ Troy said admiringly. ‘Only a fool would come swinging at you, Inspector.’
Something in his tone set off alarm bells. Whether it was the tone of hisInspectoror the note of familiarity … I started to wonder.
‘Let’s not talk of such things,’ I said instead. ‘Troy, let’s talk about you. I was actually talking to a friend of mine about you. Jack Hansen. He said you two are friendly, you play football together?’
Troy’s smile didn’t falter. ‘That’s right. How is Jack?’
I smiled even as my gut clenched. ‘He’s good. He’s recovered well from the accident.’
‘Right. Terrible business.’
Robbie changed the subject away from mangling accidents and we chatted quietly for another hour until Kate started to yawn.
‘We should go,’ I said. ‘It’s late. Troy, we’ll walk you to your car.’
Troy blinked. ‘There’s no need.’
‘Of course there is. There was a murder on Kate’s lawn just yesterday. Please, the Inspector in me won’t let you walkalone. Robbie and I will see you to your car.’ My tone made it clear I’d brook no argument.
‘How kind of you.’ He stood fluidly and turned to Kate. ‘It’s been a wonderful evening.’ Taking her hand, he bowed low over it and kissed the back of it gently. ‘I would love to do it again sometime.’
Kate’s smile was relaxed and open, nerves having settled hours ago. ‘Me too. I’d love that.’
We took our leave and walked Troy to his car. Then we watched him motor off.
‘We have a problem,’ I said to Robbie.
‘I know. That’s not Troy Fairglass.’
Chapter Nine
