Page 116 of The Bridesmaid

The realtor is leaving as the door opens, and Fitzwilliam puffs in, looking out of breath and flustered. He has my computer screen tucked under his arm.

‘Oh, hey!’ he smiles in relief. ‘Thought I’d got the wrong office.’ He looks around, taking in the view. ‘Nice.’

He crosses the room, and kisses me on the cheek, before depositing my screen on the desk.

‘Not bad, huh?’ I say. ‘For someone who was raised in a walk-up on the Lower East.’

‘Just be careful you don’t turn into Leopold Kensington,’ says Fitzwilliam. He sounds like he is only half joking.

‘On the subject of Leopold Kensington,’ I say. ‘Adrianna wants to hire me to look into his disappearance. The forensic part, at least.’

Fitzwilliam’s eyebrows rise at comical speed. ‘His disappearance? The guy took a bullet right through his abdomen.’

‘True. His body was never found,’ I point out. ‘And he was a tricksy guy. Possible he set the whole location up so he could disappear if he needed to. It’s not impossible.’

‘Does this mean you’ll be looking into the Kensington family?’ Fitzwilliam looks unhappy at the thought. He reluctantly dropped the case of attempted murder against Adrianna and Ophelia when Petra refused to press charges.

‘Lot of skeletons in the closet, right?’ I nod. ‘I’ll need an assistant,’ I add.

He sighs. ‘I guess I have some vacation coming up. You sure you want to take this assignment?’

I nod. ‘Absolutely,’ I tell him. ‘Like Adrianna says, I’m part of the family now.’