‘Oh, no, that’s quite alright. You’re our guest,’ she said before facing the coffee maker again, filling it with water and piling in coffee grounds before hitting the start button. ‘I’m glad Cris was more forthcoming with you upstairs. He really will open up as time goes by.’

‘Yeah, he seemed more comfortable,’ I smiled, setting the photo delicately on the table. ‘I know this whole thing is unusual.’ I helped lay out the coffee cups and saucers from Rosie as she took them down from a cabinet.

‘He can be a little rough around the edges at first but he really does have a big heart, that man,’ Rosie said, busying herself organizing vanilla crème cookies onto a serving platter. ‘This week has just been so hard on him.’

I took the plate of cookies from her and set it in the middle of the table. ‘What’s been going on this week?’ I asked, then quickly said, ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to pry, it’s okay if you don’t want to say.’

‘Oh, it’s just the craziest thing,’ Rosie said, pulling out a chair and sitting down at the table while she waited for the coffee to brew. I mirrored her. ‘The FBI showed up at the office this week.’

I froze, thoughts bubbling back to the surface from my own conversation with the FBI. ‘Oh, really?’ I asked quietly, unsure what to say.

‘Yes, you’ll just never believe this but these agents asked him for a DNA sample. Can you believe that?’ she tutted. My palms were starting to sweat. I was sure they wouldn’t appreciate that I was the reason the FBI had shown up.

I opted for, ‘That’s crazy. Did they say anything else?’

‘Not really. He had a full room of furry patients so he told them he didn’t have time and to make an appointment. They certainly came on the wrong day. Cris was in a bad mood because I’d squeezed several appointments into his already tight schedule.’ Rosie leaned in and whispered, ‘Sometimes I have a hard time saying no, and it drives Cris crazy when I double book but he always finds a way to make it work.’ She winked and chuckled quietly.

I nodded, grabbing a cookie and popping the whole thing into my mouth to give myself a moment to gather my thoughts. After I swallowed, I said, ‘I can’t believe they asked for his DNA. Did they say why they wanted his sample?’ I was sure the FBI wouldn’t have told them that he was under their microscope due to my own DNA profile but my nerves were getting the better of me.