“Friends outside work?”

She grimaced. “Not really. I’m friendly with people, but I don’t hang out with anyone from outside the Institute.”

“What do you do for relaxation?”

Her brows bobbed. “Work.”

“You don’t do anything social to relax?”

“I call you.”

The words made his insides clench. He’d known she depended on him. If he were completely truthful, since he’d met her, he’d rather talk to her on the phone than go on a date or drink with his buddies. He’d been awful company. He needed to apologize to his friends and stop pretending that all he felt for Darby was platonic friendship. He was miserable without her. But a future together was far from guaranteed.

“I mean,” she continued, oblivious to his thoughts, “there’s a lot of hiking and camping associated with work when it’s not Arctic conditions outside—a lot of camaraderie. I enjoy that. I do go to the bar with the others occasionally on a Friday after work, even though I only ever have one beer.” She swallowed audibly. “Not sure that’s going to happen in the future though.”

“You’ll forgive them eventually.”

She laughed the way he’d intended. “Sure, I’m going to be the one avoiding them rather than the other way around.”

The only person who wasn’t a suspect as far as Eban was concerned was Darby. He didn’t tell her that. He didn’t want to scare the hell out of her.

“They’ll all be worrying I’m going to murder them in their sleeping bags.”

And he was worried one of the people she thought of as a friend was the actual killer.

“Which bar do you go to?”

“Borealis on Regent.”

“Anyone ever pay you more attention than you’re comfortable with?”

She licked her lips and a shiver of desire eased through him. “Anyone paying me any attention makes me uncomfortable.”

Right. He looked away. “What about a gym? Yoga? Somewhere else you might go regularly enough for someone to recognize you and maybe start following you.” Or find out her home address from a membership log.

“I swim on campus.” She pulled a face. “Not exactly the most social sport but a useful skill to have.”

She was so freaking sensible. It shouldn’t be such a turn-on but it was something he loved about her. It made him want to strip her down and do frivolous things to her body.

He stared ahead at the road, hoping she didn’t realize he was so attracted to her. Dammit. She was effectively trapped in a cabin with him and he refused to make her uneasy in any way.

He cleared his throat. “What about people in your apartment building? Anyone make any extra effort to get to know you there?” He hadn’t forgotten Lenny had come inside when he’d been there and run away when he’d announced himself. This killer was bold and seemed fixated on Darby.

Was the break-in at Gleeson’s related? Were they after something or trying to destroy evidence?

“Hmm. Davis Farraday and Stef Riddell live in my apartment building, one floor up—they’re friends from the lab. At least I thought they were friends.” She sighed. “Then there is Mrs. Lenoski from two apartments down who has always been a bit too jolly when she sees me, now you mention it. But she’s in her eighties and I didn’t see her at the ceilidh.”