He was right, but that wasn’t the point. “That’s nothing compared to what you did, you jackass.”

“What I did? What are you talking about?” Davis heard Natalie clear her throat and turned. “Oh, Natalie, sorry to be rude. You were great at the UN. But I gotta tell you, you should give me some help here; your rabbit-brain daughter could use a bit more discipline.”

“Don’t you dare bring my mother in on this!”

“All right. Tell me.”

“You went to see one of my best friends for forever and you accused him of trying to murder me!”

“You mean Day Abbott? I was doing my job, and this is not the time or place to get into that.” He shot a look at Natalie, who was shaking her head at him. She said, “Tell her why, Davis.”

“All right. Griffin and I interviewed Day Abbott, and the interview got a bit personal, so his mama, Secretary of State Abbott, called us in on the carpet in her office. It’s over and done with. I didn’t accuse him of murdering anyone. Your best friend was the jackass, not me.”

Davis looked at the DS agent who had followed him into the living room and at Luis, who were both trying not to be there, and said to Natalie and Perry, “The important thing is that both of you are safe. Agent Gregory’s on his way over. I’m done here, and I’ve got stuff to do,” and he turned around and walked toward the living room door.

He stopped cold when he heard the ambassador’s iron voice sounding like the nuns in his Catholic grade school. “Listen to me, Davis, you walk out that door and I’ll chase you down and pull out your eyebrows, one at a time.”

He turned slowly to face her. “Natalie, it was your daughter who decided to play games because she’s angry with me. I got the message. I don’t want her killed on my watch, and that’s what could have happened. She needs an agent she’s willing to work with to protect her. I’m not it.”

“You don’t know my daughter as well as you think you do, Davis,” Natalie said. “You are definitely that agent. Tell you what, I’ll have Luis handcuff you to Perry and the two of you can fight it out. How does that sound? Think about this, Davis, think carefully, because I don’t mean to lose this argument.”

Davis couldn’t help it, he smiled at her. “Would you still marry me if I didn’t have any eyebrows?”

Natalie said, “Marry you, Davis? No, I wouldn’t want my daughter to consider matricide.”

Natalie’s words bloomed tall and proud in the middle of the silent room. He heard Perry gasp and sputter behind him. Without a word, she clomped out of the living room.

Perry Black’s condo

Monday, late afternoon

There was crime scene tape crisscrossed over her front door, and her shattered windows had been boarded up with plywood.

“How about we get your stuff packed up in ten minutes?” he said. “I’d like to get out of here and back to your mom’s.”

“I’m sure glad Dillon and Sherlock are okay.” She unlocked the front door and opened it onto a disaster area. Perry felt so mad she wanted to howl with it. “Davis, look at my beautiful living room.” Then she walked through the carnage, saying nothing more. She pulled a duffel bag from the hallway closet and walked into the bedroom.

Davis looked at the shattered Tiffany lamp on the living room floor. She’d really liked that lamp. He walked to the kitchen, pulled out a garbage bag, and cleaned out the refrigerator. “Eight minutes,” he called out.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m hurrying.”

“I’m stepping outside for a minute, but don’t run out on me like you did Gregory. Remember, it’s only because your mother threatened me that I’m still here guarding her pea-brained daughter.” He heard her say something but didn’t make out her words because he was already out her back door, dumping her kitchen garbage bag in the trash can. When he walked back into her bedroom, she was standing in the middle of the room, holding a pretty blue sweater. “I can’t think what else to take,” she said, and she looked miserable.

“You’ve got enough warm stuff?”

She nodded.

“Then come on, time’s up. If you need more, we can always come back.”

She grabbed her duffel bag strap and put it over her shoulder and walked past him. She said, “My Kimber’s already at Mom’s. I’ll borrow her laptop until I can replace mine. Hey, wait up. You need another Band-Aid, the jungle leopard is peeling off.” She dropped her duffel and disappeared into the bathroom. She peeled off the old one and patted down the new one. “There, you’ve got a monkey now. It suits you better than the leopard,” and she left him to haul her duffel bag out the front door. They hadn’t spoken about what Natalie had said; he knew very well it wasn’t entirely a joke. They both knew it.