"I would say Mr. Cameron is a lovely man and his wife is an awful cook," David lied with a twinkle that was almost real. One more story in the works, yes? One more little bit of mischief.

This was a harmless - maybe, fairly - confusion he'd cooked up before arriving. Why not take all the stories people gave him.

No reason to malign names when he had no proof. No reason to destabilize the Spades, even if he hated them. He could cover his bitterness, weakness, illness - he'd cover it all was amusement and bad jokes.