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A few faint bruises darkened his jaw, and he looked stiff when he withdrew something long and narrow and wrapped in cloth—was thatvelvet?—from his van. But, otherwise, he appeared to have healed in the last couple of days. Of course, his clothing could have hidden much. I distinctly remembered biting him in his thigh.

“I’m here.” Duncan looked me up and down. “Are you okay? I worried when I was…”

“Captured? Imprisoned? Suborned?” I rolled my shoulders. The wounds I’d received were healing, but I was stiffer than normal too.

“It’s kind of a blur, but I collapsed in that courtyard and was out for a while.” He didn’t mention Abrams standing in front of him with that device. “I woke up naked in a ditch outside of Smokey Point.”

I blinked. “They dumped you? Are you certain?”

“I’m certain about the ditch. That’s about it.”

“But I thought.” My gaze drifted to his scar again. “After the scientist, uhm, took you over…”

Duncan winced.

I held up an apologetic hand. “Nothing that happened was your fault.”

“I’m not sure that’s true, but I… I wasn’t expecting what we got that night. That’s for certain.”

“Even grenades and lock picks can’t prepare you for being taken over by a mad scientist.”

“A mad scientist I had assumed dead these past thirty years, yes. After I woke up in the ditch, it took me a couple of days to recover enough to walk back here. I didn’t have my phone or clothes or anything. Istilldon’t have my phone.”

“You may need to spend my gas money on one of those instead of micro diamonds.”

“What’s on the dash wouldn’t buy the power button, but I’m fine financially.” Duncan waved dismissively, his expression saying thatmoneywasn’t his problem.

I might have been envious, but he was a man who’d just learned he had a more profound issue to deal with. Why hadn’t Radomir and Abrams kept him? To use like the rest of their minions?

Reluctantly, I admitted that just because Duncan was free didn’t mean he wasn’t, or couldn’t become, one of their minions again. They might have released him into the wild, knowing he would return to me, on purpose.

A grim thought. I was glad I’d warned Mom that there might be more trouble.

“I’ll get a new phone soon,” Duncan said, “but I needed to come here first. To make sure you’re okay and to apologize profusely to you. And also…” He glanced at the Roadtrek. “To thank you for not having my van towed.”

“I was thinking of selling it.”

He leaned back and clutched a hand to his chest.

“Only if you didn’t come back,” I hurried to say. “All that stuff inside looks valuable. It might be able to help me along with my goal of buying a four-plex.” I considered the expensive-looking SCUBA gear and other equipment and electronics. “Maybe eventwofourplexes.”

“So you’re saying you would have grieved vastly and longly over my passing.”

“Longly? Is that a legitimate form of that word?” I looked to see if Bolin was nearby, but he’d accompanied the ladies into one of the units.

“Ofcourse. I’ve read many a book, remember? It’s from Old English. There’s also a similar word,longlice. It means at length or for a long time.”

“Goodness. You may need to chat up my intern.”

“He doesn’t interest me as much as you. Andhe’snot who I came to apologize to. And offer gifts to.”

“You didn’t bring lavender perfume, did you?”

Before we’d had our adventure, I hadn’t minded the scent, but I didn’t want anything to do with it now, especially not anything from that company.

“Ah, no. Those who cast me into that ditch didn’t toss any in with me.”

“That’s rude. What if you’d woken up smelling foul and needed a little perfume?”