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But it seemed Watson heard something in Ellery’s tone, because his ears perked and he gave a tentative wag of his tail.

“Yeah, well, it’s coming out of your allowance.” Ellery folded up the scarf and laid it on the counter.

“Awww. My gosh, he’s cute.”

“Remember that when he’s chewing on your boots.”

“No, he wouldn’t. Look at that sweet little face.” Tosh scooped up Watson and kissed his sweet little face. Watson bore up manfully—or pupfully—under these attentions.

“Something sure smells terrific!” Flip appeared in the doorway, followed by Lenny, who said, “We’re going to have to time our showers. I’m pretty sure Chelsea ran out of hot water. We could hear her screaming from down the hall. She sounded like she was being murdered.”

Flip concurred. “The hot water ran out while I was showering.”

Tosh said, “We didn’t hear a thing downstairs.”

“You can hear the wind.” Lenny shivered. “It’s whispering from every corner of the house. It’s so dark and desolate out here. How do you stand it, Ellery?”

He shrugged. “You get used to it.”

“Doyou?”

Ellery chuckled. “Of course.”

“You’re not nervous at all? It’s as dark as night outside. The wind sounds like the sea is rushing the house.”

In fairness, he’d been a little jumpy those first couple of months. The house—especially back then—had been more than a little spooky. Ellery said bracingly, “Yeah, but it’s not.”

“Notyet.”

Flip laughed at Lenny.

“There’s wine.” Ever the pragmatist, Tosh held up the wine bottle.

“ThankGod,” Lenny said.

Flip sat down at the table, lifting the lid off the large blue box. “Whoa. Tosh, are these your photos from Tisch?”

Tosh, getting more wine glasses out of the cupboard, glanced over her shoulder. “Hm? Yes! I was thinking it’d be fun to go through them together.”

“That’s a great idea. I don’t have any pics from back then. In fact, I don’t have a lot of photos from now. I never think of taking them,” Flip said.

“Same.” Lenny clicked her wine glass against Tosh’s. “Cheers.”

“Oh!Wait,” Tosh exclaimed. “We have to toast!”

“Didn’t I just—”

“No,formallytoast.”

Ellery tossed his oven mitt aside and picked up his glass. “What are weformallytoasting to?”

“Flip, you’re good at this part,” Tosh said.

Flip obediently rose, held up his glass and announced, “To old friends and new memories.”

They all smiled at each other.

“That’s a nice one.” Ellery clinked his glass against Tosh’s and Lenny’s. As he and Flip clicked rims, he teased, “Do you have a list of toasts memorized for every occasion?”