In Death 26 - Strangers in Death

getting ahead of it. Tell them the rest, Charles.”
    “We’ll be moving into a house in the West Village.”
    “Oh, God, it’s fabulous. One of those amazing old brownstones, wonderfully rehabbed. It even has a courtyard garden in the back. Working fireplaces, three levels. I’ve already earmarked a room on the third floor for my home office. And the lower level is perfect for Charles’s clients.”
    Eve opened her mouth, slammed it back shut. But apparently some sound had snuck out before she zipped it.
    “Not those clients.” Charles shot Eve a look. “Part three of the news is I’ve retired, and am about to begin a new career in psychology, specializing in sex therapy.”
    “ That’s what you were doing with Mira.” Eve punched his shoulder.
    “Yes. Ouch. She’s been an enormous help to me in the transition. A lot of LCs are married, or get married, and manage very well. I didn’t want to be one of them.”
    “Well, good, because that’s just screwy. I can say that,” Eve complained when Roarke poked her again, “because he’s not doing the screwy. Jeez, like you weren’t thinking it.”
    “Excellent timing,” Roarke announced when Summerset brought in the champagne. He popped the cork himself, and began to pour while Louise wandered over.
    “Wow, look at that gorgeous pie. Look how beautiful the lemon is against the white meringue.” She scanned over to Eve. “You’d look good in a lemony yellow.”
    “I’m more interested in eating the lemony yellow.”
    “I’m thinking wedding again—matron of honor dress. Charles and I want the two of you to stand up for us. We met through you.”
    “We’d be absolutely honored.” The quick glance Roarke sent Eve was the equivalent of a poke. He passed around champagne, lifted his glass. “To your happiness, and the life you’ll make together.”
    “Thank you.” Charles laid a hand on Roarke’s arm, then leaned over to kiss Eve, very softly on the lips. “Thank you.”
    “This is so…” Louise blinked at tears. “Everything. I’m so happy, so beyond happy. And now there’s champagne and pie.”
    “Don’t drip on it,” Eve advised and made Louise laugh.
    “I’m so glad you called Charles, so glad you gave us the excuse to come over. I can’t think of a better way to cap off the best night of my life.”
    “About that,” Eve began, then wondered why her brain didn’t explode from the laser beam Roarke shot out of those wild blue eyes. “It can wait.”
    “It’s all right,” Charles told her. “You want to ask me something more about Ava.”
    Friendship, she thought, was always screwing with procedure. “Tomorrow’s fine.”
    “It’s all right,” Louise echoed. “If Charles can help, we both want him to. Really,” she said to Roarke. “It’s another, less giddy reason we stopped in.”
    “I’ve thought about it—about Ava,” Charles began. “There’s been so much going on in my head it’s been hard to squeeze it in. But I have thought about it.”
    “Ah…maybe we could go up to my office for a couple minutes.”
    “Dallas, I know you can’t quite get a handle on how I can look at Charles’s work—his prior work,” Louise added, “as separate from our relationship. But I can. I have. It’s not a problem for me. So if you have a question about the LC–client relationship, just ask it.”
    “I talked to her first husband. Did she ever mention him to you?”
    Charles shook his head. “No. I knew she’d been married before. I do a check on any potential client. For safety, and to give myself a sense of them. A fairly early, fairly brief marriage, if I’m remembering right.”
    “He’s an operator. Struck me that way. A womanizer with more money than morals and a really high opinion of himself. Nothing like the type I’d have put her with.”
    “She was young. Younger,” Charles said.
    “She walked away from the marriage with a nice financial settlement, after she caught him with another woman. One she’d introduced him to, and according to him, then provided him with ample opportunities to bang. She never brought that up?”
    “No, she didn’t.”
    “He also told me that Ava was enthusiastic in bed. Or good in it anyway. I tend to go with that, as his type would be more than happy to say she was a lousy lay. You indicated she was on the shy and cool side. Lights-off type.”
    “That’s right. Sexual levels, preferences, abilities, they all can change. Inhibitions can set in for a