“Both of you,” said Rob. “Have coffee at least, Angie. Kai will think you don’t like her.”

“Don’t listen to him,” said Kai, holding out a coffee cup. “He is teasing. You will like me and I will like you and now that’s settled.”

Her English was excellent, save for a distinct and unusual rhythm. To Angie’s ear it sounded as though Kai had learned British English that was now giving way to her husband’s slow Georgia drawl.

She sat down, and then John sat down across from her with his back to the wall.

The immediate problem, as far as John was concerned, was not the fact that Angie Mangiamele was sitting at his breakfast table with a barely disguised scowl on her face. As odd as it was to have her here, and as disturbing as this discussion promised to be, there was a bigger issue, and that was the fact that Caroline and all of her sisters would be here in an hour for one of their planning meetings. What he didn’t want, what he couldn’t afford, was to add the subject of Angie to flower arrangements and discussions about color schemes.

“Isn’t this cozy,” said Rob, looking around the table with true and undisguised pleasure. He put a sticky bun the size of a wagon wheel on his plate. “How is your filming coming along, Angie?”

Angie sat very straight with both hands wrapped around her coffee cup. She was pale, and there were shadows under her deep-set eyes. John counted the tines on his fork.

“We aren’t actually shooting yet,” Angie said. “There’s a lot of prep work to do. As far as Miss Zula is concerned, there are a few mysteries to solve.”

“Mysteries?” Kai’s small, neat head turned, and the veil of her hair swung with it.

“Yes. The biggest mystery is why Miss Zula seems set on throwing Caroline Rose and me together. Any idea why that might be, John?”

Kai put her hands flat on the table to either side of her plate. “I like her,” she said to Rob. “She asks good questions. Do you play poker, Angie?”

“Don’t answer that, Angie. My wife is a card-counting shark.”

“I could teach you to throw craps,” Angie said to Kai, and in spite of the seriousness of the situation and his growing uneasiness, John had to smile at the idea of these two women at a craps table.

She said, “And about questions, the thing is, I keep asking them until I get answers. John?”

A small V-shape crease had appeared between Angie’s brows. It was true that she wouldn’t stop asking; her persistence was one of the things that made her good at her work.

“Maybe you should ask Miss Zula directly,” John said. “I can’t read the woman’s mind.”

“I can,” said Rob.