He looked so smug, like he had me all figured out. I wanted to punch that smirk right off his face.
“I can lie to anyone, you witless waffle,” I said. “You know, I thought for sure when I returned from the dead after seventy years, you’d be gone.”
“You hoped.”
I shrugged. He nodded.
“Did you spend all of that time as a desk jockey?” I asked. “If you never left the library, time would pass in the world out here. Was it a ploy? Your way of cheating death?”
“No one cheats death.” He tipped back the mug. “Except for you, sweetheart.”
“I didn’t cheat,” I said. “I was born at this level of phoenix perfection. Were you born a broody weasel or do I have your mother to thank for your sunny disposition?”
First, the softball questions, or at least that was the plan. Instead, I couldn’t seem to help myself and went straight in for the jugular.
“You don’t assume I crawled out of a pit?” he said.
“I try not to assume.” Though I may have suggested as much in the past. “I wouldn’t want a repeat of your performance in Reno.”
“You can’t let anything go, can you?”
“No. Why would I? You were a young man, quite cocky. I was assigned to be your partner, which of course meant I was your babysitter due to your headstrong nature.”
“You thinkI’mheadstrong, sweetheart?”
“It’s a fact.” I continued my tale, “We were investigating a series of missing persons.”
“I remember. I was there.”
“We found that particularly tall fellow behind the gentlemen’s club.”
“And I thought he’d kidnapped the women, but it turned out I was wrong, and they were all in love with him. Reno happened seventy-five years ago, Lily. That’s a long time.”
“You left out the best part—where you snuck off in the middle of the night, determined to prove you knew better than me, and you found them all at that ceremony…with the tentacles.” I met Silas’s grimace with a grin. “Anyway, seventy-five years doesn’t feel so long to me.”
“Well it should. Everything’s different. The world didn’t stop while you were gone. You think it’s my fault I got your office, your job, like I asked for it?”
“Of course. You’re always looking to prove yourself, move up the ladder.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
I chewed on that for a moment. “What do you mean you didn’t?”
“I told them to hold it for you, that you’d come back. I knew you couldn’t be gone.”
“You didn’t do something nice for me. You wouldn’t. You’re lying.”
“Am I? Look me in the eye and tell me I’m not being completely transparent here.”
I looked him in the eye. I’dbeenlooking him in the eye. I swore I wouldn’t break the contact first. Then he reached across the table and touched my hand. I blinked.
“I’ve never been interested in proving myself to the library, only in proving my worth to you,” he said.
“That’s ridiculous,” I said, dismissing his proclamation, but I didn’t move my hand. I let him touch me. It was probably the alcohol. This wasn’t going at all like I had planned. Time to change tactics.
“Why did you arrive in Inorog early?” I asked. “What have you uncovered thus far in your investigation? How can you say this is not a competition when you made it one?”
“Youmade it one.”