If Nicole thought her epiphany was supposed to make Kelly feel better, she was wrong. In fact, she was so far off track she might as well have been on a train to Auckland.

“Not helping.” Kelly mirrored Nicole’s actions from earlier and pointed to her eyes. “Focus.”

“Oops, sorry, I got carried away. What other babes were there?” Nicole asked.

One name sprung to mind. “Lucy, Paula’s other boarder. She made a comment about sneaking off to bed, but I think she was only joking. She likes to tease me.”

“Ooohh.” Nicole’s ears perked up and Kelly could’ve sworn she saw them twitch.

“Is this the flatmate you think is sexy? Black hair, purple streaks?”

A frustrated sigh escaped Kelly. “Sure, she’s gorgeous, but that doesn’t mean I want to bang her any more than you want to bang every dude you find attractive.”

Nicole quirked an eyebrow.

Chuckling, Kelly shook her head. “I should start calling you piglet. You and Steve truly are perfect for each other.”

A dreamy look twinkled in Nicole’s eyes. “Yes, we are, and we have you to thank for that. But, honey, this is about you, not us.”

Sobering, they continued to hash out names.

Murray was out for obvious reasons. Colette, possible, but unlikely. Lucy and Grace, also possible but highly unlikely.

“Who else do you remember being there before you…you know?” Nicole put her glass on the coffee table.

“A few people I don’t recall meeting before. Paula’s best friend, Ashleigh.” At least she assumed she was still there, but it had been hard to make out the faces of the remaining guests who had been huddled around the brazier.

“Oh, and another woman from Paula’s work. I’m pretty sure her name’s Kate.”

Kelly had only met her briefly but according to Paula, Kate changed partners as often as she changed her underwear, and she didn’t discriminate between men and women. She was somewhat a plain Jane, so she obviously had qualities that attracted both genders to her bed.

Hopefully, that quality was more than being an easy lay because then that would be just plain sad. She’d heard of people with low self-esteem sleeping around as a way of boosting their feelings of self-worth, yet it often had the opposite effect.

Come to think of it, Kate appeared to have been on her own. At least Kelly didn’t see anyone who might’ve been her date. Perhaps she was turning over a new leaf, not that it was any of Kelly’s concern.

Frustrated, Kelly sat forward and ran her finger through a ring of condensation on the wooden coffee table.

“We’re no closer to discovering who the person is than when we started this conversation.”