Spring Break

Chapter 10

June Ellington's mansion.

It felt like a letdown, Peter had to admit as he climbed the stairs. Henry's gambit was so obviously not true. Was it a bad sign that he'd actually come to enjoy the complexity Henry usually imbued in his pranks?

Then he walked through the door of Neal's loft. Not only was the aforementioned contractor there, taking measurements on the balcony, but a much more familiar figure was standing beside June.

"Joe!" Peter called out, shocked to see his brother. "I didn't know you were in town."

Hearing Peter's voice, Joe transformed. He'd been standing with arms crossed and a forbidding expression, but now he visibly loosened up and smiled. "I'd arranged with Elizabeth to be a surprise guest tonight at your townhouse, but you managed to surprise me first. I didn't know you were going to be here."

"Last-minute lunch invitation," Peter explained. "Neal and I had surveillance duty in the van today, and he took pity on me when the lunch hour rolled around. Will you be staying long?"

"Only the one night," Joe said. "Now that I'm settled in Baltimore, I put my home in Albany on the market. It sold last week, so I'm driving up to clear out the stuff I'd left behind. I'll carry some of it back in my truck, but most will go to a consignment store."

The contractor handed the piece of paper he'd been writing on to Joe. He made a comment in Spanish, and Peter recognized the word for bad.

"Thanks, Horatio," Joe said. "I'll stop by your office this afternoon."

"Thank you, Horatio," June echoed.

Horatio? Peter wondered if Neal's quote from Hamlet this morning had been a coincidence. "Interesting name," he said in an aside to Neal as the contractor made his way downstairs.

"He's Horatio Vasquez, one of the owners of Vasquez Brothers Construction. I met him when June remodeled the loft's bathroom."

Peter nodded. He'd met a few members of the family when they remodeled his kitchen a few months ago, but mostly El had dealt with the construction crew.

"You get the vision, right?" Henry said. "Build a second bedroom on this half of the balcony. Put in a smaller door to the balcony back here, near the fireplace."

Peter got it, and he understood why Joe was frowning and Horatio had grumbled. The balcony was spectacular, and the wall of windows in the loft made the space seem much larger than it actually was. Replacing those windows with a solid bedroom wall would make the apartment seem much smaller and darker. "You'd have to put a wall here, too," he said, pointing to the current bedroom. "Otherwise Neal wouldn't have any privacy with a roommate, especially if he had... well, you know, had Fiona over."

Neal's expression tightened even more.

"Yes, naturally," June agreed.

"But you can't be serious," Peter continued. "Reducing the size of that spectacular balcony would decrease the value of your home."

Joe nodded. He must be here in his role as an architect.

June held fast. "Some things are more important than money. You mentioned Fiona, but she's leaving for Europe in less than a week and will be away for months. Neal's going to be lonely. Having Henry here will help."

Henry started to nod, but then looked askance at Neal. "I'm not exactly planning to replace Neal's girlfriend."

"Neal knows what I mean," June said. "And Henry, poor thing. It's obvious you're nervous about moving to New York."

Neal snorted. "Yeah right. Henry never gets nervous."

"Then you haven't been paying attention," she insisted.