Page 3672

Prince David’s brow twitched at that reaction. “But perhaps his loss can be your gain,” he said. “I’ve just finished eating, but what say I buy you lunch, instead?”

“S-sir... that is a generous offer, but I feel I should inform you that... Charlie Rogerson is, um... well, he passed away this morning.”

Somehow, David did not feel nearly as shocked by this news as he probably should have. But appearing too calm here would do him no favors, either. “What?! What do you mean? What happened?”

Victor sighed and rubbed his forehead. “I’m still not quite sure I believe it, myself. But, um... he was in his bed, and he just... didn’t wake up. Which, I suppose actually means he passed away last night, not this morning... agh... I don’t know. It’s all been too much for me to process.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” said David. “I saw him not two days ago, and he seemed the very picture of health. Full of youthful zeal. I can hardly... imagine...”

Victor nodded. “I know, right? The paramedics said he was already gone by the time they arrived, but they couldn’t be sure of the cause of death yet and didn’t want to speculate. Our guess was... some freak aneurysm or something in his brain.”

“...Our?”

“Ah. Me and the other roommates. We were all in total shock. Hell, I think I still am.”

“Understandable. You’ve had one heck of a morning.”

Victor didn’t say anything and just kept rubbing his head with a distant look in his eyes.

Wow. Talk about a tough conversation to maintain. He did his best, though. “I didn’t realize you and Charlie were roommates.”

“Yeah... been that way since university...” Victor gave a solemn shake of his head. “He was just talking about moving out the other day, actually. Not anytime soon, but just as a future goal. I thought maybe he’d found a girlfriend or something...”

Oh boy. David looked around. The street was rather busy, and his car was still waiting for him. What to do here...?

Simple enough, he decided. He couldn’t just leave the poor kid here, not without at least offering something more elaborate in the form of condolences. He bumped the young man on the shoulder with one of his gloved hands. “It sounds like you might need a bit more than just lunch, right now.” He motioned to the blue-and-white sedan on the curb. “I was just headed back to my little embassy at Livingston. Would you like to tag along? See some of the sights? And I’ll still treat you to lunch, too, if you like.”