The idea that this mark could have had anything at all to do with him had not occurred to him. It had been an hour or more, after all, since the two of them had even been in the same conversation, and it had clearly not been there all evening, or else she would have noticed it beforehand. It was quite an unattractive color, he thought — garish, really — so it couldn't have been some kind of intentional fashion choice.

"You've got it on your mouth, too," he said as he noticed a smudge around her lips. It looked a bit like she'd put lipstick on, but quite poorly — the mark was sort of everywhere. Had she had something to drink that had left a stain on her? That didn't quite make sense, unless she had had a minor seizure while putting the drink to her lips — and even that woudn't explain the mark on her shoulder.