“You’re so right, you’d be lost without me,” he said, nudging her a little with his elbow.
They both knew that his wardrobe closely resembled that of a cartoon character. Other than this morning, where he’d gotten dressed up for the brunch, Thorin wore the same combination of clothes every day. If it weren’t for variations in coloring and musical artist, one would think that all he owned was one metal band T-shirt and one pair of jeans, when in actuality, he ownedseveralmetal band shirts andseveralpairs of jeans—not that this was any better.
A least it meant he didn’t smell.
“Did you just come back here to give me fashion advice, then?”
He nodded. “Yes, of course… but also because my dad isstillhere nosing about…,” he said, grimacing.
“He’s here? He wasn’t dismissed?” Perdita’s eyes darted around for the weasellike man. She was a little surprised that he hadn’t pestered them for more interviews, but unlike her dad, maybe Thorin’s father did have morals after all.
Thorin nodded, running a hand through his unruly curls.
“Hewasdismissed, but they let him stay. He seems to have a pull with the police department. He’s probably got some dirt on them or something. Anyway, I think he’s hoping to be the one to break the news when the… person… behind this is arrested.” Thorin’s face was red, as he was clearly too hesitant to saymurderer. Her father’s murderer. “I’m actually glad to be back. It’s crazy out there. It’s all anyone is talking about on the news and on social media. Apparently, the Manor put out a statement earlier announcing your dad’s death, and that woke the frenzied theorists and amateur sleuths online. It was making me anxious not knowing what was going on in here when there was so much noise out there. Isn’t it weird that it is less chaotic in here than it is out there?”
Perdita nodded. It always felt to her like the Manor did not operate on the same wavelength as the rest of the planet, like they were trapped in a void and the house was located inside a nightmarish alternate universe.
“Itisweird,” she agreed quietly. In reality, Perdita felt the complete opposite to Thorin—she’d rather be out there in the chaos than in the prison of her childhood home. But she didn’t say that.
Across the room, Perdita finally spotted Thorin’s father, drinking coffee out of a ceramic mug and laughing it up with one of the officers like this was some kind of fun soiree and not the aftershocks of a crime.
She always found it odd that Mr. Philips was a writer for such a distinguished science magazine, but all his articles read like tabloid entries. He rarely ever reported on actual science—thatshe could have at least respected. Instead, he wrote more about the sordid details of what those scientists were up to in their private lives. The fact that someone as golden retriever–like as Thorin could even be related to someone like Jesse Philips, who had spent years hunting her father—and by extension her and her siblings—for sport in his magazine column was still unbelievable to her.
He was probably on high alert for when he’d need to record the grand finale of all of this—the killer’s arrest.
He truly was the worst.
“What do you think would happen if your father saw us talking? Do you think it would make him mad?” she asked suddenly.
Thorin’s dimples made an appearance as he smiled. “Probably, but I’ll just tell him that all the other seats were occupied,” he said in a low voice, before gesturing to the empty sofas around them. The remaining suspects were huddled together on the opposite end of the room, almost as if they were attempting to physically distance themselves from Perdita.
Like they knew she was a person to be avoided.
Perdita almost frowned at the thought.
She forced a smile, ignoring the dread knocking at her chest. “Hopefullyhe’ll buy that. Luckily for me, my father probably won’t have much to say on the matter for once.”
Thorin raised an eyebrow, still smiling. “Whoa, that’s dark, Dee,” he said.
His blue-gray eyes met her deep brown ones. “It’s true though. One less person watching over us,” she replied, not breaking eye contact.
There had been a time when the two had been forbidden by their fathers to evenlookin the other’s direction. It had been the only thing their fathers had ever agreed on. It was the main reason why they had been resigned to sneaking around for the last four years, but now… well, things were different.
Her father was gone.
She saw the way Thorin’s lips twitched in the corners, and his Adam’s apple bobbed as he stared at her and she at him.
“You’re going to get me in so much trouble,” he said in a low murmur, leaning in close, his eyes flickering down to her lips.
She suddenly felt the twinge of the strange heaviness of her grief sitting on her chest and remembered where they were and who they were to each other.
“That’s the goal,” she said, smiling a little as she pulled away from him.
It felt weird flirting with Thorin out in the open like this. It had been one thing, them sneaking around right under everyone’s noses, but this felt like something else—like she was directly disobeying her dead father’s wishes.
Thorin took the hint and pulled back too, giving her space without her needing to ask for it. Another reason she loved him so much. They had an unspoken agreement about the ways things would work between them. That’s why they worked so well together, why she felt like Thorin would always be by her side no matter what. Not even their fathers could wrench them apart.
“How’s everything with your brothers and sister?” he asked, switching lanes as they often did when they needed to ignore the elephant-sized issues between them.
