Regret flared inside Gabriel as he watched her strong, elegant profile. Death surrounded her at his insistence, since he’d pressed her to continue helping, even after she tried to pull away. Because of him, she’d confronted raw brutality upstairs. It had been caged behind bars and chained to desks, but it was there.

Gabriel stared at her, watching as full lashes swept down over tired brown eyes in an effort to fend off fatigue. She would fight exhaustion, he acknowledged wryly, and she would probably win.

Frustrated by what he read in those simple gestures, he moved to stand in front of her and grunted, “I’m hungry. Time for dinner.” On cue, loud rumblings from his belly echoed his pronouncement.

Erin ignored the sound effects and the edict and turned a fresh page in the legal pad. At the top, she noted the case number, the victim’s name, and the officer in charge. Detective Iberville had forbidden the removal of any items or even a photocopy. Erin saw no reason to explain her eidetic memory, or that she would only use the notes as filler.

“I said, ‘Time for dinner,’ Erin.” Taking matters into his own hands, Gabriel nipped the file from beneath her nose. As expected, she snapped her head up and glared. “I was reading that.” She stretched to reclaim the file, but he held it high above his head, beyond her reach. A cursory glance at the table height showed Erin that if she scrambled atop its surface, she had a shot. But she refused to lower herself to chase after information she had already memorized. Instead, she did the dignified thing and pouted. “I wasn’t finished.”

Gabriel shrugged as he strolled to the black cabinet. He opened the drawer labeled MARCH and located the proper date. Sliding the file into place, he shoved the drawer closed with a metallic click. “Now you are.” Crossing over to the table, he sat on the edge. “We got what we came for. Time to go.”

“You might be through, but I was looking for something,” she said, fuming. The spectacles she’d perched on the tip of her nose slid askew.

“You’re not a detective, darling.” Leaning in, he used a finger to push them firmly into place. “But you’re damned cute in glasses. Makes me want to have you teach me something. A one-on-one tutorial.”

The blaze of heat she shot at him should have melted the glass. “Give me back the file. I’m not done yet.” Gabriel rolled his shoulders in disagreement. “We promised Sylvie we’d be out by now. She only let us stay because I swore we’d leave by midnight.”

“It’s not midnight yet,” Erin argued.

As a gentleman, he declined to point out that it was ten past or that she didn’t wear a watch. Instead, he reached for her hand. “Close enough.”