There was a slight hesitation. “Maybe ten—fifteen—minutes. She left not long after the coffee arrived, which was slightly odd.”

“How long ago was this?”

She wrinkled her nose. “I think he arrived just after nine thirty, and she walked in a few minutes later and asked for him. He did say he was expecting someone.”

The timing suggested either this woman had been following him or he’d planned to meet with someone other than us. My gut was voting for the former rather than the latter. “Are you able to give me her description?”

“Well, she was a dark elf, about so tall.” She raised a hand, indicating a height a few inches over my five eight. “And she was wearing really gorgeous earrings.”

I raised my eyebrows. “You noticed her earrings?”

She flashed me a grin, but it faded quickly as her gaze returned to Jules. “I love amber, and hers were shaped to look like a bee.”

“Was there anything else that stood out to you?”

“About her? No.”

“And him? Do you know if he gave her anything? Like a file?”

“She did leave with a folder.” She frowned. “Why are you asking all these questions? You cops?”

“No, just curious.” Given the last thing I needed was her realizing she was being compelled, I quickly added, “You’d better go inform your boss what has happened, but don’t tell anyone else and don’t mention my questions to either him or the cops.”

I pushed the enforcement of that last bit, and she nodded. “You’re staying here? You won’t touch anything?”

“The police will want to talk to us, given we found him, so yes, we’ll stay. And no, we won’t touch anything.”

She hurried away. I glanced at Lugh. “The cops and ambulance on their way?”

He nodded. “Though it’s too damn late for the medics to be of any help.”

I crossed my arms and studied Jules for a second. “If the woman is behind his death, what could she have administered to make it look so natural?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced around. “There’re no security cameras, so I guess we’ll have to rely on a postmortem giving us at least some answers.”

I nodded. While we wouldn’t get those results, Sgott would look at them if we asked.

The cops arrived at that point, and the manager escorted them down, giving the two of us side eyes as he explained the situation. One of the cops took our statements and details while the other began to photograph the scene. As the medics bustled in and we stepped out of their way, the officer said, “You’re free to go. If we have any further questions, we’ll contact you.”

“Thanks, Officer,” Lugh said, then motioned for me to lead the way.

Once back outside, I drew in a deeper breath and then said, “What now?”

“We go to the café across the road and take a look at the notebook while keeping an eye on developments here.”