Chapter 140

Cole was slightly dazed as she followed Ellery out of the Royal Albert Hall and into the lingering warmth of the night. They wandered silently between the pale white mansions and red-brick towers of Kensington, letting the memory of the music linger.

The next time Cole paid attention to her surroundings, they were on the Old Brompton Road. This area was the closest Kensington had to a commercial district, though it still exuded a posh atmosphere with its upscale flats, boutique stores selling extravagant items nobody would reasonably desire, high-end restaurants, unnecessarily large Pret A Manger branches, and, somewhere in the midst of it all, the pub where Private Eye was founded.

Ellery grabbed Cole’s hand and pulled her into a late-opening gelato parlor that was so small, she would have likely missed it if she had been alone. The sight of the long counter, displaying different flavors of ice cream fluffed up like perfect little clouds and as vibrant as bi