She shrugged. “I don't know."
"There's too much going on here that we just don't understand. I don't like it, Nik." She struggled to smother another yawn. “Neither do I. Not a lot we can do about it, though."
"I could take you off the case."
"And just who would take it over? You?” She grinned at him. “You're so busy now, you don't have time to scratch."
"This is true.” He shrugged. “One of these days I'm going to have to hire myself another investigator.” He gave her a sympathetic look as the yawn she'd been fighting broke free. “Why don't you go home and get some sleep? You look dead on your feet."
His words revived memories of the fetid breath and cold flesh of the creatures. She shuddered and rose quickly. “It's an offer I can't refuse. I'll leave the rest of the donuts, in case you want them."
"An offer I can't refuse.” He grinned, and helped himself to another donut. “Just make damn sure you're back by six. I might be tempted to murder our client if I have to put up with him for any amount of time tonight."
"Then I'll make sure I'm late,” she replied sweetly and stepped out the door before he could throw something at her.
* * * *
In the end, exhaustion and a broken alarm clock made her late getting back to the office.
"And what happened to six o'clock?” Trevgard said the minute she opened the door. His voice was mild given the anger she could sense in him. She looked at the clock. It was nearing six-thirty, so he had every right to be annoyed.
"What happened?” Jake asked, his irritation undisguised.
She grimaced. “Alarm clock."
Jake just shook his head. He'd been telling her for weeks to replace the damn thing, but she hadn't considered it a priority.
She glanced at Trevgard. “I'm sorry to keep you waiting. Did you bring the bracelet?" He nodded. “Yes. Jake has it."