Signy’s expression tightened. “I’m sorry about the hotel. He came out of nowhere—”

“Please. Don’t.” Darby held up her hand even though she knew Eban was pissed. “I’m okay. There’s some bruising but the cut was shallow enough it didn’t need stitches.” Just steri strips underneath the bandages. “The doctor doesn’t think my trachea is permanently damaged.” Even so, her throat was raspy and sore. “Do you think I could get some herbal tea to help soothe it?”

Signy nodded vigorously. “I’ll be right back. Want anything, Eban?”

Eban, huh? Obviously there had been a thawing of relations all around.

“Coffee would be great. I’m still frozen from the vigil.”

Signy headed out the door. Darby glanced up at the white boards and quickly away. There were pictures there she didn’t want to see. Three padded chairs sat against the back wall, forming an uncomfortable looking couch.

She headed in that direction and turned the chair in the corner around ninety degrees. She felt Eban’s eyes on her. Weighing her. Cataloguing her abilities.

“I’ll be okay,” she assured him.

He made a noise that sounded like a cross between a grunt and a snort. “Darby, you are the strongest person I know.”

“But…?” she challenged.

He folded his arms and stared at her. “We all have a breaking point.”

“I know exactly what my breaking point is—and this isn’t it. I am not pretending to be superhuman.”

He smiled and her irritation melted.

“You are a superhuman and I want to take care of you.” His gaze took in the room and then via the open door, the entire building. “This is not how I envisioned we’d be spending our evening together.” Those liquid onyx eyes of his returned to hers and turned molten. She flashed back to what had happened in the hot tub that afternoon.

“It’s not what I thought would be happening, either.” A smile finally quirked the corners of her lips. “Catch this person and we can spend a week romping naked in the water.”

“I vote for Hawaii, rather than Alaska in January, for naked water romping.”

She laughed. “My co-supervisor is in Hawaii so I second that motion.”

They grinned at one another stupidly. Then Detective Torgerson returned with a tray of steaming mugs. The sweet scent of mint hit her as the woman handed it over.

“I’m going to sit over here with my noise-cancelling headphones on and do some work.” She propped herself against the wall and lifted her legs onto the connecting seats. “If you’d rather bring in a screen so I can’t see everything that’s going on, I am fine with that too.”

She saw Eban exchange a look with Signy. “I have a desk divider I can drag in here.”

Eban gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Sure. As long as I can see some part of Darby and know she’s safe.”

The words turned her insides to mush.

Signy headed out again and Darby put on the headphones that Quentin had given her for Christmas. She owed Quentin and Haley another phone call, but she hated to upset them when they couldn’t do anything. She was safe enough here, for now.