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?Mark dressed quickly and came out in his underwear to get his pants, and I nearly lost it, flushing beet-red again, and then cursing myself for doing it.
?I pretended to keep working on the computer until Mark was completely dressed. Then when he came out, I jumped up to make him coffee so I had something to do and hopefully not make a fool of myself.
?“You wanted coffee, right?” I told him and stood in the kitchen where the large island acted as a table. “Are you hungry?”
?Mark moved to the table, his eyes still burned into me. “Ravenous.”
?“I made soup. I’ll get you some while I bring you up to date.”
?“Up to date?”
?I turned to heat the pot on the stove and began to brew coffee in my little one-cup coffeemaker. “About our killer.”
?As the coffee machine gurgled away, I pulled a white bowl from a frosted glass-front cabinet and ladled soup into it.
?Mark sat and watched me. “I thought you didn’t cook.”
?“This is a special occasion,” I chirped.
?I turned to face him and our eyes met, and I almost dropped the soup. I carefully put it down in front of him, feeling all warm inside.
?He took the spoon and ate, and I soon put the mug of coffee next to the bowl.
?Twenty minutes and a second helping later, Mark pushed the bowl away and said, “So, I’m ready to hear what you found out.”
?“Good,” I said, and got my head to business. “Well, you know that I got your keys last night—”
?“Nicely done,” Mark smiled, I hoped, from the memory of that kiss.
?“That was part of my plan. I used your keys and spent the night at your place.”
?His mouth fell open. “Despite DeStadler telling you to stay at the hotel?”
?“I didn’t bother them while they searched here, did I?” I protested. “I hate the idea that they were going through my stuff. They confiscated most of my lab.”
?“Your lab?”
?I gave him my wicked smile. “I found it helped when I wrote the Holmes books if I had my own little lab, just in a corner over there. Simple things: a microscope, a chemistry set, fingerprint powder, scanner. They took everything.” I sighed. “I’m just glad they left my computer. However, I am sure they cloned the hard drive, so they could look at my emails and such.”
?“Wish they’d done that with my laptop, that way I’d still have it. So you camped out in my apartment?”
?“I was certain our killer would return,” I pointed out.
?“How so?”
?“He made copies of your keys. Why make them if you don’t want to get in? I also assumed he knew you were arrested.”
?Mark nodded in agreement. “You deduced that if he was going to plant more false evidence, it would be whilst I was in jail.”
?“Whilst?” I chuckled. “Yes. But he wouldn’t know I was there or that we’d changed the lock.”
?“I’m certainly glad we did—”
?“So, I slept on the couch for a while. At about midnight, I heard someone put a key in your door. I roused myself and crawled over to listen.”
?“What happened?”
?“He had no trouble opening the two old locks. His key fit the new one, but he couldn’t open it. While he struggled, I looked through the fisheye lens in the door.”
