Eve left her bag in the living room and toted the cheesecake to the refrigerator. “Bossy little thing, isn’t she?”

“I suppose we should cut her some slack.” Cate followed her middle sister. “She can say whatever she wants to her clients and none of them ever talk back or take offense.”

“Yeah—but dealing with dead bodies all day would give me the creeps.” Eve slid the confection into the fridge, shut the door, and retraced her steps to the living room. “But I’m in her camp on this one. Be prepared to brief us ASAP.”

Bag in hand, she followed Grace into the bedroom.

Now that they were out of sight, Cate let her shoulders slump and plodded toward her own room.

Time for that painkiller.

Past time.

Too bad there wasn’t a pill that could also assuage the regrets Grace’s snoring-related comment had stirred up.

When she returned, both of her sisters had helped themselves to drinks and dived into the bowl of snacks the hotel provided for suites.

“This is the life.” Eve leaned back on the couch, propped her feet on an ottoman, and opened a bag of chips.

“But it’s not worth the price Cate’s already paid.” Grace selected a bag of Fritos and waved it at them. “These are my downfall, you know.”

“It’s also your birthday weekend. Forget about calories—as if you have to worry anyway.” Cate sipped her can of Diet Sprite and sat gingerly in the chair across from her sisters.

“I brought a bunch of chick flicks for us to watch—and a deck of cards, if we want to have a Kings Corners tournament.” Eve munched on her chips, scrutinizing her. “The red streak in your hair is . . . interesting. What are you supposed to be, a punk-rock groupie?”

“Nope—and don’t bother trying to guess. Even I didn’t believe the part they wanted me to play at first.” Cate considered the bag of M&M’s in the bowl. Resisted the temptation. It would hurt too much to lean forward and retrieve them.

A fact she didn’t intend to share with her sisters.

“It doesn’t have anything to do with that human trafficking investigation you were involved in, does it?” Grace pinned her with a worried look. “That had to be super dangerous.”

“But she didn’t get hurt on that one—or not that we know of.” Eve arched an eyebrow at her.