He set his cup of tea on the table, reached for her and pulled her into his lap.

“And I love making you hate me.” He kissed her and she let him. Begrudgingly. But soon she simply let herself enjoy the kiss and his arms around her. She settled in against him and he pulled her legs up over the arms of the chair and held her in his lap.

“We need to discuss Mr. Tremont,” Søren said. “And this ‘case.’ I’m not happy with you playing detective.”

“Are you going to order me to stop helping him?” Her heart sank at the thought. She really liked spending time with Cyrus, and she wasn’t sure she would ever really be at peace until she knew why Father Ike had tried to call her.

“I don’t want to, but I will if I have to. I’d like to talk to your new friend man to man.”

“Like…have coffee with him?” Her voice went very high at the end of the question.

“Something like that. Would you call him for me?”

Nora stood up and walked to her dungeon to find her phone.

Just to annoy Søren, she said “ow” with every step she took. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. About fifty ow’s in total by the time she returned with her phone. She settled again on his lap and sent Cyrus a text.

You up?

The reply came quickly.

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

“Suspicious,” Nora said under her breath before calling his number.

“Good morning,” Nora said when he answered.

“Yes, it is,” Cyrus replied. His voice sounded so chipper, it hurt her ears.

“Calm down,” she ordered. “I have a bangover.”

“A hangover? When did you drink?”

“Bangover,” Nora corrected. “It’s a hangover from sex. Everything hurts.”

“And you decided to call me first thing? That’s on you.”

“Søren’s making me. He wants to talk to you again. Oh, he just told me to tell you that you’re not in trouble.”

“That’s good news. Put the man on.”

Nora handed Søren her phone.

“Mr. Tremont?” Søren said. “Do you, by any chance, run?”

Nora’s eyes went wide. She tried to grab for the phone.

“Say ‘no,’ Cyrus! It’s a trap!”

Søren swatted her hand away.

“Good,” he said. “Tomorrow morning? Let’s say seven?”

“Don’t do it!” Nora yelled as Søren named a park where they could meet.

“See you then,” Søren said. He hung up.

“It’s bad enough you torture me,” she said. “But Cyrus, too? He doesn’t deserve this. And he doesn’t even have a safe word.”

“We’ll run and we’ll talk. Afterwards, I’ll tell you if you can continue working with him on the case. In the meantime, you’re getting a security system installed on your house.”

“Speaking of…where’s Gmork?”

Søren whistled. Outside the door, Nora heard a bark.

“You locked him out? No wonder he hates you.”

“I took him out when you were still sleeping. But then, yes, I did lock him out. With water and a blanket.”