It was half an answer, but he didn’t push her on it. She still had a leg outstretched, rocking sideways on its heel and the toe keeping time against his leg. He liked that a lot, as if it were counting down to something good between them. But here he was in yet another strange moment in a forty-eight-hour period that had been full of them. He knew he would always remember that about meeting Erin Jones. Good things counterposed to something terrible. Thinking how much he liked her, thinking maybe this was heading somewhere nice, and at the same time Colton Locke lay headless on a morgue slab. He figured he wouldn’t see contrast quite that stark again.

It was quiet at hotel reception when they arrived, and there was no one who looked like a problem. They took an elevator up to Erin’s floor, and Vincent followed his normal routine and cleared the room before she came in.

She said, ‘What were you going to do if someone was in here with a gun?’

‘I figured you’d hear the bang and then run.’

Silence again.

He had his back to her, looking at the window and the LA night lights. Hand in his pocket playing with that pen he’d taken, clicking the nib in and out, waiting for her. He wondered where she was going to take it from here. That on its own was an electric sensation—more wattage than all those lights laid out before him.

Erin said, ‘All right. Do you want to stay for a drink, then?’

There: he had the feeling now that he couldn’t go wrong. He was on the home straight. She’d been on his mind for a week, and he didn’t want to delay any longer.

He turned and said, ‘I was actually hoping for more than a drink.’

Erin said, ‘Yeah, me too. But there’re certain steps in the dance, aren’t there? I wasn’t sure how you miss anything out.’

Vincent said, ‘Sort of like this, I think,’ and stepped in and kissed her.

He put his arm around her to bring her close, and she moved in against him and raised her head slightly, lifting it to him with a smile. Cool, soft mouth tasting of wine. All the misery of the past couple of days, and now he had this on the good side of the ledger, and he couldn’t help but think that everything would be all right.

She found his hand and pulled away gently and led him to the bedroom. Clumsy mash-kisses as they undressed each other. They fell on the bed, almost naked. Erin said, ‘Hold on.’

She pushed away gently and stood up again. ‘I hate digging around afterward for things.’

He lay there and watched her unhook her bra, step out of her underwear. He smiled.

Erin said, ‘What?’