“I’ll loan you whatever you need. I have lots of money. I don’t know what to do with all my money.”

Kate paced in front of the refrigerator. His jacket probably cost five hundred dollars, she mused. He drove a megabucks car. And this afternoon he disposed of a case of imported lager without blinking an eye. Either he’d robbed a bank, or else he’d grown up in Toad Hall, and the senior Toad had recently died. “Wedding pictures must pay well.”

“Weddings pay next to nothing.” He gave her a cat-that-caught-the-canary smile. “I won the lottery.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I did!”

“Nobody wins the lottery. It’s all a hoax. It’s done with mirrors.”

“Honest. I won the lottery. Thirty-five million. Of course, after taxes it was a lot less.” He took a small framed photograph from the wall and held it out to her. “My commemorative keepsake.”

“Son of a gun. You actually won the lottery.”

He put the picture on the counter. “I immediately quit the photography business and haven’t had a real job since.”

“Then what do you do all day?”

“Whatever I want. Mostly nothing, I guess. Except for my drawing. I spend a reasonable amount of time drawing.”

Kate wrinkled her nose. For as long as she could remember, there hadn’t been enough hours in her day, and she’d always considered anyone who didn’t work a slacker. She had a mental image of David Dodd with a two-day-old beard, drinking beer and reading comic books. Not a pretty picture. His business, she reminded herself. She had no right to sit in judgment on his lifestyle. If he’d turned himself into a shiftless spud, it was no skin off her nose. She found a knife and whacked off a piece of spice cake.

Dave winced and removed the knife from her hand. “There’s something about women and weapons that makes me nervous.”

“Chauvinist.”

“Not at all. I also get nervous about men and weapons.”

Kate’s thoughts returned to Elsie. “So what do you think of my roomie? Is she crazy?”

“I don’t know. I’m not excited about her packing that cannon. And I don’t know if I buy the story about the guy on the roof.” He gave Kate a plate for her cake. “I hate to say this, but underneath it all… I like Elsie.”

Kate took a swipe at the icing with her finger. “I guess I do, too. But if I believe Elsie, then what about the helicopter pod?” She forked a piece of cake into her mouth. “I can’t believe someone intentionally bombed my house, but her theory about something else falling down… that caught my attention. It would make sense that there was a camera on the camera mount.”