“My hands are always cold. My everything is always cold. That’s why I’m fascinated by your seemingly perpetually warm hands.”
He peeled her hand off his arm and closed his fingers around hers.
And then they watched TV and he kept her hand in his and they didn’t talk at all about how long she’d been away.
The next day, Blair was back knocking at the pool house door. There was no more TV to watch—they’d finishedThe Bear, and she purposely hadn’t suggested another show. They’d had a nice time, but she needed to be careful.
But no TV didn’t mean there was nothing to watch.
“Hi.”
She stifled a sigh. He looked like a modern-day James Dean, leaning against the doorframe in a white T-shirt and jeans, his feet bare and a pencil stuck behind his ear. Oh, that pencil. It was doing something to her.
She almost felt like his literary genius showed in his physical appearance. He had always been handsome, but since she’d read those chapters, it was like he had leveled up.
All right.Get a grip.She had a mission here. “The security company sent some footage you’re going to want to see.”
He ushered her in, and they sat next to each other on one of the sofas. “Something is coming over the fence, see?”
He squinted and moved his head closer to her phone. “Are those rocks?”
“I don’t know. They said whatever they are, they’re small enough that they’re not tripping the alarm. The sensors are calibrated so thatheavy rain or hail or whatever doesn’t cause a panic every time. Nor do small animals.”
“Can’t have my crows setting off your alarms.”
“Exactly. The system is set up to detect human-size intruders.”
“So it catches Mrs. Afonso when she levitates over the fence but not whatever those things are.”
“Right. And they’re clearly coming from her yard, but what are they? If they were rocks, I’d have noticed them in the pool. But they’re obviouslysomekind of small object—so what else could they be, if not rocks?”
“Only one way to find out.”
“What do you mean?”
“Stakeout.”
“What!”
“Is this all the footage you have?”
“I have another clip that’s a little older. It shows the same thing happening.”
“Do you have time stamps?”
“I think so.” She went back to the original email from the company, which contained the download links to the two clips. “The one we just watched was this past Thursday at eleven thirty p.m., and the other one was the prior Thursday at eleven forty-seven p.m.”
Jack threw his hands in the air like he’d just finished a race. “Thursday night is Double Gin Night!”
“What?”
“I don’t think it’s an accident that both your clips are from Thursdays. Do you have any more?”
“They just went back two weeks, but I’m sure I could ask them.”
“No need. Today is Thursday, right?”
“Yes.”
