Page 145 of Dead Beat

Immediately Mira pinged back: WHO IS THAT???

My boyfriend.

Her phone rang. Alex turned it to silent.

Darlington was beaming.

“Don’t get cocky,” she said, curling into him again. “When I go missing, you’re going to be suspect number one.”

“It’s always the boyfriend, isn’t it?”

“Always.”

“We’ll go over the layout of Harkness again tomorrow.”

“If you think it will help.”

He twined a strand of her hair through his fingers. “It’s all I have. All this useless knowledge. I want to believe it can mean something, that it can protect you somehow.”

“It might. Tell me another Harkness Tower fun fact.”

He peered up at the canopy. “It was inspired by St. Botolph’s in Lincolnshire, England.”

“Saint who?”

Darlington laughed. “It’s where Boston got its name. Botolph’s Town.” He paused. “He was the patron saint of travelers and boundaries.”

“Well, I hope he’s paying attention tomorrow night. And I promise if I die, I’ll haunt the shit out of you.”

“We can haunt Il Bastone together.”

“Oh God,” she said with real sorrow. “I won’t be able to come back to Il Bastone. The wards will keep me out.”

“I love that you’re going to miss the house more than me.”

“It’s a really nice house.”

“Dawes thinks you could fix me, pull out the demon self.”

“Make you the gentleman of Lethe again? Is that what you want?”

“It was.”

“That would be the safer path,” Alex said. “The easy road.”

“Are you trying to provoke me?”

“I can’t help it if you find the truth provocative.”

He barked a laugh and drew her closer.

To Alex’s surprise, she felt sleep stealing in. She couldn’t let it. She still had more to do.

“Ready to die with me?” she murmured in the deep quiet.

“It would be my honor.”

“’Til the end of days,” she said, smiling against his skin.