"We don't work together. You quit."

"We're working together now," I said, waving a hand over the stacks of papers and our open laptops. "Most couples don't work and live together."

"After this case, you're going back to your office and I'm going back to mine."

I pursed my lips. Solomon had a point. Having rejected his offer, so far, to return to the agency, my point was currently moot. That didn't mean his simple request didn't stir up a lot more questions that would either support or detract from my ultimate decision. "Okay, where are we going to live?"

"My house, or yours."

"Well, yes, obviously, but..."

"Lexi, we spend most nights together. You have a closet at my house, and I have some very nice, padded satin hangers here."

"They are nice, aren't they?"

"The pink ones are my favorite," Solomon deadpanned. "Don't you want a permanent, walk-in closet with enough space for more purses?"

My heart fluttered and my mouth dried. "You know all the right things to say."

"What do you say?"

"My parents wouldn't approve."

"You do a lot of things your parents wouldn't approve of."

"I'd ask you to name one, but I can think of a ton without putting much effort into it."

"What don't they approve of? Living together before marriage? We are as close to doing that as you can get, except we have two houses instead of one."

"They do want to see me married one day, you know that. My brothers are all married."

"Daniel married twice."

"If you ever have the misfortune to meet his former wife, you'll understand why they're divorced."

"Serena is divorced."

"You've met Ted. No explanation necessary."

"I think Delgado is going to propose."

"Shut up!"

"He's nuts about her."

"And I'm not even on my first marriage," I lamented. "Serena wins again."

"First and only," said Solomon.

"Serena will laud it over me that she can score two husbands, and I'm still a spinster. I might learn to embroider."

"Why?"

"Spinsters do that."

"You're not a spinster, and your sister doesn't have the best taste in men, except for Delgado who happens to be an exceptional man."

"I'll tell him you said that."

"Do and I'll fire you."

"I don't work for you!"

"Then I'll fire him." The corners of Solomon's mouth quivered. I tossed a pillow at him. He caught it easily, leaning over to tuck it behind my head. When he lingered, I reached upwards and kissed him.

"What if you moved in here?" I suggested.

"You don't have space for a large closet here."

"I have a driveway. You don't."

"Tempting. I have a huge kitchen."

"Mine occasionally features a food-stealing dog from my neighbor's house."

"Like that one?" Solomon pointed. I twisted slightly to follow the direction of his finger. Barney, my neighbor's hearing dog, was sitting in the doorway, his tongue lolling over his salivating jowls.

"How did he get in?"

"No clue. Every door is shut."

"Ignore him and he'll go away eventually."

"Are you sure? He looks hungry."

"He always looks hungry. He'll be starring in his own obese dog horror story on Animal Planet if he's not monitored carefully, so don't feed him. Besides, it'll only encourage him." I picked up my cell phone and sent a text message to Aiden letting him know his dog was at my house.

"We could get a dog," suggested Solomon. "I like dogs."

"I'd like a dog, too, but having a pet feels like a PI cliché."

"What else is a PI cliché?"

"You being ridiculously hot."

"Hard life," said Solomon. "Lexi, if I have to convince you to live with me, perhaps you're not ready; and if you're not, that’s how it is. Simple as that."

"It's not that. I... I'm..." I struggled to formulate my thoughts. "I've never seriously lived with anyone before."

"Not even when you were engaged?"

"We lived together for a month, and it was a disaster."

"Just because that was a disaster doesn't mean this will be."

"Have you ever lived with anyone?"

"No."

"Really?"

"I raised my brother and sister. When they left home, I was fully invested in a career. I never had time to live with anyone. It's part of the reason why I settled in Montgomery... so I could have a life."

"And you're ready now?"

"I'm ready for a lot of things." Solomon flicked open the top button on his shirt and I temporarily forgot what we were talking about. He smiled and closed the button just as fast. "Mind out of the gutter, Graves. We can talk about this later. Right now, let’s work out if Juliet could have done any of the stuff she's been accused of."

I took a long sip of the coffee and pulled the paperwork towards me, bending my head to look at it. We divided the tasks up. I had a long list of all Juliet's suspicious correspondence, along with her log-in and log-out times, courtesy of Lancaster Friedland's IT department, including all activity recorded from her personal access pass. I also had her home IT records to match against her suspicious shopping activities. At some point over the next few hours, I intended to prove that Juliet wasn't in the right place to have committed her so-called crimes. Solomon, with a better grounding in financial crimes, took on the larger task of investigating the insider trading violations. Picking up my pen, I began cross-referencing every bit of data, and making notes as I went.

It was an hour before either of us spoke again. "How's it going?" asked Solomon.

I looked up, shaking my head. "Not good."

"What have you found?"

"I can match most of the suspicious online shopping to times when Juliet was in her own home, but the times are weird."

"How so?"

"Odd times of the day. Like, really early in the morning when most people would still be in bed."

"What are you thinking?"

"That Juliet was still in bed and someone snuck into her house and used her computer. She has a work station in the kitchen. It wouldn't be hard to get in, mess with the computer, then leave again without anyone noticing."

"Risky behavior."

"Apparently, our stalker isn't concerned about that," I said, thinking about the previous evening when the stalker came equipped with an ax.

"True."

"Or with being super creepy. I also found some goods that Juliet hasn't accounted for in her list of items."

"Such as?"

"All women's stuff. A couple of mid-range purses, some clothing, some home goods. They were sent to another address. Juliet is paying for stuff she didn't even receive! I think it adds up to... almost twenty thousand dollars. How could she not have missed twenty thousand dollars?"

"More money than sense."

"You sound like my mom."

Solomon laughed. "Give me the address. I'll go check it out."

"I'm coming too!"

"No, you're not. The stalker already shot you. I'm not sending an injured, unarmed woman to a suspicious address."

"I'll wait in the car. Promise! Not even lying. See?" I held up my hands, showing my uncrossed fingers. "Also... I got dibs."