Which party and when?” Nick tapped his fingers on the tabletop nervously. Charlie loved how captive an audience he was—especially when it came to matters like these. She told him about the EBC party at Abe Eisenberg’s house, then added, “We had a lovely chat.” Charlie had replayed the part of the evening she’d spent with Ava over and over in her head a million times since then. “And I might be very, very wrong about this, but… I couldn’t shake the impression she was flirting with me a little.” Nick’s eyes widened. “Well, you might be right, Charlie. Because look at this.” Nick tapped on his phone screen a few times, then presented it to Charlie. Could you pass me Charlie Cross’s number, please, Nickie? “Oh… My… God!” Charlie gave her best desperate housewife impression. “When did she send this?” “Just before you arrived. Jason is my witness. I would never keep such an important development from you for longer than thirty seconds, but since you were coming over, I thought it could wait until you were here.”
