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Ellery was already peering through the peephole, and sure enough, the tiny figure at the end of the convex lens was Jack. The miniature Jack smoothed his hair, the only indication he felt any nervousness about meeting Ellery’s old posse.

“It’s okay. It’s Jack.”

“He doesn’t have a key?” Somehow Chelsea managed to sound both surprised and skeptical.

“Yeah, he does. He’s just being...”

Jack. Careful and courteous in front of Ellery’s friends, in case they didn’t know—in case Ellery didn’t want them to know—the full scope of their relationship.

Ellery switched off the alarm, pulled back the wooden bolt, and opened the door. Before the space between door and frame was more than a few inches wide, Watson flew out and leaped into Jack’s arms. Jack grunted.

Arms full of ecstatically wriggling puppy, Jack stood on the front stoop in a haze of yellow light. His sun-streaked brown hair was ruffled and his green-blue eyes were quizzical. He smiled at Ellery, then his gaze traveled to Ellery’s companions, and his brows shot up. “I wasn’t expecting a welcoming committee—”

Ellery cut him off with a kiss. Jack hung onto Watson with one arm and wrapped the other around Ellery, kissing him back. Jack’s mouth smiled against Ellery’s.

Watson began to wriggle free. He jumped down and circled Ellery and Jack, barking.

Ellery and Jack drew apart, and Ellery said, “Everybody, this is Jack.”

“I should hope so!” Chelsea said, and everyone laughed. Introductions were made, Jack dutifully repeating names and committing faces to memory.

Ellery watched his friends smiling and shaking hands as they sized up Jack.

He knew what they were thinking—or at least part of what they were thinking. Jack was so completely different from anyone Ellery had ever dated, let alone from Brandon and Todd. Granted, they would consider that to be in Jack’s favor.

“I didn’t think there was any chance you’d make it back tonight,” Ellery told Jack.

Jack’s eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled. “I told you I planned on driving out.”

“You did, yeah, and I’m so glad to see you. Are you hungry?”

“I could eat something.”

“Did you—?”

Jack read his mind without trouble. “There’s no sign that Dolph made it onto the island.”

There was a whole lot going unsaid there, but Ellery left it alone. There would be time to talk when they went upstairs.

He said instead, “Why don’t you guys go ahead and have your drinks in the library. I’ll fix Jack a plate and we’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”

Ellery’s guests filed off to the library, and Ellery set about microwaving the plate of food he’d saved for Jack just in case.

“We just had a scare,” he informed Jack as they waited for the food to heat. “The door to the passage in the library was open.”

Jack’s brows drew together. “Open?”

“I’m sure the workmen left it that way, but it definitely—”

“Did you double-check with Tony Brambilla?”

“At this time of night? There’s absolutely no indication anyone entered the house. Well, I mean, except for the four people I invited.”

Jack threw a cursory look at the clock on the wall, and grimaced. It was just after midnight. They both knew the good people of Pirate’s Cove rolled up the cobblestones early this time of year.

Ellery added, “I’ll double-check tomorrow, but workmen have been leaving lights on and doors unlocked and windows open since renovations began. It’s just with everything else going on, it was a little...startling.”

“I bet.”