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go up to your room before we discuss this.’
    â€˜What?’
    Truly, he was the most astonishing man she had ever met. There seemed to be so little connection between the information she was requesting and the demand he was making.
    â€˜Your bedroom,’ he repeated. ‘Do you mind?’
    â€˜Of course not. I…’
    This time, Hayley let the sentence trail off because she had no idea of what she wanted to say next. Instead of talking, she led the way back upstairs to the bedroom that Ethan had shown her to so recently.
    At the door, she turned towards him. This time his hand was on the doorknob. There was no doubt he planned on entering too. Hayley felt a little frisson at the realisation.
    â€˜Why are we doing this?’ she asked.
    â€˜Because you asked me a question.’ He held the door open for her and she walked in.
    â€˜I still don’t understand.’
    â€˜I have to be sure who’s going to be hearing the answer,’ Ethan explained.
    Hayley scratched her head, trying to work that out as Ethan followed her into the room.
    â€˜That’s one of my bathrobes?’ he asked, waving his finger up and down in her direction.
    Hayley nodded. ‘It was on the bed. I thought that meant for me to —’
    â€˜It was.’
    â€˜I can’t work out what you mean.’
    â€˜You talk too much.’
    â€˜Everyone says that,’ Hayley admitted, feeling a little nervous. ‘I think it’s because I —’
    â€˜Take it off.’
    â€˜What?’
    Ethan sighed, pushing his hands into his pockets. ‘In particular, you ask too many questions.’
    â€˜Well, that’s because you ask me to do the strangest —’
    â€˜I’m not asking. I’m telling you. If you want to talk to me about Katy, you have to take the bathrobe off.’
    Hayley thought quickly. Beneath the robe, she was clad in a pink and orange striped bra and a pair of pink knickers with an orange frill around the outside. Those were what she had put on this morning…
    This morning.
    Hayley froze. That bra and those knickers were what she had been wearing until her shower, a short while ago. She had been getting into bed when the alarm sounded. It was the knickers only.
    She folded her arms across her chest and glared at Ethan. ‘You’ll only talk to me if I’m nude?’ she said. ‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of. What possible reason —’
    â€˜You’re curious about Katy,’ Ethan reminded her.
    He perched on the end of the bed and crossed his arms too, mirroring her. She nodded at him.
    â€˜Well, I’m not going to tell you anything unless I’m certain you’re not bugged.’
    Hayley shook her head. ‘Bugged? Of course I’m not bugged. Why would I be —?’
    â€˜You’re here because Alvaro Tomasi sent you.’
    â€˜Alvaro Tomasi shot me!’
    â€˜Alvaro Tomasi missed.’ Ethan spoke slowly. ‘I could be suspicious about that too, you know. After all, the information I have is that Tomasi — all the Tomasis — are very good shots.’
    â€˜It doesn’t feel like he missed me,’ Hayley said, rubbing her arm. ‘Anyway, why would he do that?’
    â€˜Oh, I don’t know. Maybe so I would trust you and let you into my house and once inside, you could ask me all these questions!’
    Hayley thought about that for a long moment. No one had ever judged her badly for being so inquisitive about people before. She had always attributed her interest in people to the fact that she cared about them. Because she did care about people.
    But maybe Ethan was right. Maybe she did ask too many questions.
    Then she turned and fought with the bathrobe’s tie for a moment. She had knotted it in a hurry as she ran, and knotted it, it now seemed, rather too well.
    â€˜You sure you can’t just feel me through the robe?’ she