“He stole my office.” Serena frowned. “We both work at D.C. University, and we were up for a very plush, in the corner, perfectly situated office, and he got it. Butthead.” She reached down and rubbed between Roscoe’s ears. “I mean, I was new at the university, and I guess he had some seniority, but that was the empty office when I agreed to teach there and I assumed it would be mine.”

“Well, then. You should teach him a lesson,” Dana said.

Serena straightened up. “Go on.” Her tone was both interested and encouraging.

“I don’t know, but your revenge should have something to do with the office, you know? Like fill it with confetti or foam or something.” Dana leaned back and set her shoes on her desk. “Candy loved practical jokes. I mean loves. She loves practical jokes.” The levity disappeared with her slip of the tongue.

Serena sobered and opened the binder again. “Okay. Let’s see what we have here.” She read through the notes. “Is there a wall or a whiteboard I could use to tape these pages up?” She clicked the binder open.

“Yeah.” Dana’s feet dropped to the floor, carefully missing the dog. “We can use case room two. I think it’s clear for now.”

“What’s in the first case room?” Serena asked, glancing toward the three doors at the back of the office.

Dana winced. “The Lassiter case.”

Serena pulled her legs back and set her feet on the floor. “I worked with Angus before that case, but I heard it destroyed him.”

Dana nodded. “Yeah. I think it did.”

The elevator creaked, groaned, hitched, and then opened.

Wolfe stepped out, a stack of dark brown folders in one hand and a tray of whipped-cream-topped lattes in the other.

“Wow,” Serena whispered.

Amen to that. The ex-soldier wore jeans that emphasized his long legs, a ratty T-shirt that showed off his broad chest, and a pissed-off expression that somehow made him seem even more handsome and yet unapproachable.

He set the folders and drinks down. “I have copies of the police files for Albert Nelson and Frank Spanek, as well as the entire Candy Folks case file. Don’t ask me what I had to do to get them.” He handed a latte to Dana and then one to Serena. “I’m Wolfe.”

Serena blushed a light pink beneath her darker skin. “Serena.”

“Nice to meet you.” He took a latte, focusing on Dana. “Yours is decaf.”

Irritation swept her, and she set her first latte down, definitely not needing the second one. “Knock it off, Wolfe.”

Serena looked from one to the other and then sipped her whipped cream before glancing down at her deconstructed purse, still in a wet heap on the cracked floor. “This is sure an interesting place to work.”

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen