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Quinn assented.

It took Andy less than five minutes to splash some water on his face—how was it possible the bruises lookedworsetoday?—and change into jeans, T-shirt, and a black sweatshirt. When he returned to the kitchen, Quinn had taken a seat at the table, scrunched against the wall, long legs folded awkwardly. Andy’s mouth tugged into a wry smile, though the situation was not funny.

“How do you take your coffee?” he asked.

“Any way it comes.”

Andy sighed. “It comes how you want it.”

Which, for some reason, made Quinn laugh. “Cream, two sugars, if you have it.”

“I have it.” Andy set about doctoring Quinn’s coffee (he took his own black), all the while conscious of Quinn’s gaze.

“About Bok,” Quinn began.

At the same time, Andy said, “Are you going to tell me what you were doing downstairs?”

They both stopped. Quinn said courteously, “After you.”

“Ohhellno.”

Quinn’s lip curled. “Okay. But you’re probably not going to like this.”

“I don’t like anything that’s happened in the last forty-eight hours, so don’t let that stop you.”

That wasn’t exactly true. Andy did like the fact that Uncle C. was not dead, Quinn was not dead, andhewas not dead.

“After we talked yesterday, I had a feeling your intruder might be back, so I thought I’d stake out the shop.”

This was very much as Andy had suspected, and he couldn’t contain his exasperation. “Seriously, Quinn? Why didn’t you just tell me what you thought? I’d have taken the steps to protect myself.”

“I know.”

“Youknow?” Andy set Quinn’s coffee mug on the table. He sat down across from him.

“It’s only natural you’d do your best to keep anyone from getting inside the shop again.”

“Well,yeah.”

“Whereas if we could catch this person in the act, we could eliminate the threat once and for all.”

“But…”

“Otherwise, you’re simply delaying the next confrontation.”

Andy sat up straight, staring. “You’re assuming whoever broke in before won’t stop until…”

“Until they find what they’re looking for,” Quinn said calmly. “That’s how it looks to me.”

Andy’s heart seemed to descend a rib or two in his chest. “Then you believe the same person broke in twice.”

“Now that, I can’t say.” Quinn swallowed a mouthful of coffee. His brows shot up. “That’s good coffee.”

“Butwhy? I mean, what would anyone, let alone multiple anyones, want at Time in a Bottle?”

“That would be helpful to know.” Quinn continued to watch him in that disconcerting way.

Andy frowned, thinking. As unpleasant as this news was, it wasn’treallynews. More like confirmation of things he already suspected and feared. Still, he felt obliged to argue, “Okay, but the intruderdidn’tcome back. Marcus showed up instead.”