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Finally, face clean, teeth brushed, I grabbed an’s bed, backwards, with lected s in there that couldn’t wait, like bills and invoice payan e, and looked inside

Silence stretched

I concentrated on the emails Usually there would be at least one or t cases in there, considering I hadn’t checked it for at least ten days, but there was nothing Houston aiting to see if ould pass the trials If we failed, our business would take a serious hit and I wasn’t sure it would recover Yet h of it infor you in the

An e, Ms Baylor You asked the hospital to notify you when Edward Sherwood awoke He is awake I escorted Rynda Sherwood to visit hi House Sherwood has a new security chief and Edward Sherwood is under 24–7 guard

House Sherwood stonewalled an clied, his laptop in front of him He had one of the mousse cups in his hand, and he’d spooned a small mountain of whipped cream on top of it

"It’s not set yet," I told him

"I don’t care"

His laptop showed a picture of a yellowed page, the kind that came from a notebook, covered in precise neat cursive

"What are you reading?" I asked

"My father’s notes," Rogan said, spooning more mousse into his mouth "He kept a file on every potential threat This one is on Sturm You said you couldn’t cook"

"I can’t I don’t have the tis"

I nodded, scooted closer to hiertips brushedaway fro that I was still there

This is what it would be like, I realized We could coht

It didn’t have to be all blood and gore and fancy dinners It could also be this, and this felt so good

Chapter 9

I was sitting in Rogan’s kitchen, drinking coffee and eating another bear claw The bear claas dipped in a thin sugar glaze that crunched under my teeth with every bite and then melted in my mouth It was probably ridiculously bad forhis coffee Last night, after I was done going through an decided that we both needed a bit of exercise before bed He was very convincing I could’ve used another hour of sleep today Instead I was up, drinking coffee and wearing my semi-professional work clothes: jeans, a T-shirt, and a soft oversized sweater that was big enough to obscuresat around the island, drinking coffee and talking in low voices

"Where are ith surveillance?" Rogan asked

Everyone went silent

Bug cleared his throat "No sign of Vincent He’s laying low I’ve been keeping an eye on the Harcourts No an asked

"He went back to his house after the restaurant and hasn’t left"

"Victoria Tre, I can’t see it"

It was unlikely that Brian was being held at Stur if Brian’s presence was discovered Most likely Brian was secured somewhere else Vincent, on the other hand, would be at Sturm’s house, because if I were Stur

Rogan looked at Heart "Fortification analysis?"