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“Don’t be like that,” I said. Carl’s father hadn’t said a word, but the slight narrowing of his eyes said he was interested in the conversation. “How’s Steve?”

Carl jerked as if I’d slapped him. His gaze shot to Lake, who merely shrugged. Lake’s thoughts said he was enjoying seeing Carl off-kilter. “Steve’s your current boyfriend, right?”

Carl’s eyes promised murder.

I pressed on. “What are you planning to steal from him?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Really?” I feigned confusion. “Because you took most of Lake’s possessions when you left. Isn’t that right?”

“What’s he talking about?” his father asked.

“He took my things,” Lake said. “Including my bed. I should’ve gone to the police, but I didn’t. I let pride stop me from doing that. Carl relies on that being the case. Well, that and people falling for his homeless sob story.”

“This is bullshit,” Carl snapped. “I don’t know either of them. And there is no Steve.”

“What about the one before Lake?” I asked. “His name’s right on the tip of my tongue. What is it?” Like most people, Carl couldn’t stop himself from thinking the answer to my question. I snapped my fingers. “Peter. Yeah, that’s it. You took his car. He didn’t report it either because you’re very good at what you do. You make people feel just stupid enough for being taken in by you that they don’t want to broadcast how it ends. It wasn’t a new car, and he was already thinking of replacing it, so he let it go.”

Carl had gone white, his mind racing. Which was great for me because it gave me a lot of extra material to work with. “Not as good as draining Malachi’s account,” I added. “Or all those gifts from Darnell.”

“It’s all lies,” Carl said desperately. “You don’t believe them, do you?”

His father went quiet for a moment. “I remember Peter. And Darnell, even though you didn’t introduce me to either of them. You never introduce me to any of your boyfriends. And they never last long.”

“That means nothing,” Carl said, his tone defensive. “You don’t believe them over your own son, do you?”

His expression said he did, that things were slowly clicking into place. Which meant my work here was done. I smiled. “Well… Have a lovely evening. Say hi to Steve for me. Tell him not to leave his car keys lying around.”

I tugged Lake away, but he dug his heels in. “Jacket,” he said calmly, holding out his hand. “Verity gave it to me. You took it from my wardrobe.”

Carl stood, his movements furious as he emptied his pockets onto the table before shrugging the jacket off and almost throwing it at Lake. “There you go, old man,” he sneered. “And just for the record, you were crap in bed.”

I wasn’t letting that one go. “Well, they say it takes two to make it work,” I said with saccharine sweetness. “Given Lake and I have had no such issues, I’d say the problem wasn’t him. Maybe look closer to home.”

A glance back once we reached the door revealed that Carl and his father were already mid-argument.

Yeah, that would do.