Page 10 of Hell In A Handbasket
Possessed, I slide my gaze across and stop on a clueless Fifi.
Her eyes go wide. “What?”
“This isn’t as scary as you think it is.” Coming around her desk, Minka stops on my left and takes my hand between hers. “It’s Sophia. You know I don’t evenlikepeople. But I trust her. Whatever this case is, it’s clearly important. Tie up yours.” She snags Elton’s spare DNA swab from her desk and places it against my palm. “Do whatever you’ve gotta do. If you feel like you absolutely can’t get away tomorrow, then I suppose we can go on our own. Me and Aubree.”
Fletch scoffs, loud and shaky. “Good luck with that, Delicious. Hasanyonestopped to consider Tim’s opinion on all this?”
Aubree snorts. “It might shock you to hear this, Detective, but Tim doesn’t get an opinion. He’s my husband, not my keeper.”
Fuck me. Tim’s coming to Timbuktu, too.
“Pack your bags, Malone.” Minka moves to her toes and drops a kiss on the underside of my jaw. “I’m gonna call afternoon rounds and brief my staff.”
FELIX
Micah stalks across the sprawling lawn that thrives in the summer warmth, spongy green grass that spreads from the edge of our pool and disappears into the expansive trees surrounding our property.
The property we were raised on.
Abused on.
Witnessed murder, and committed murder, on.
This is our home, even if the house is haunted by the ghosts of our past and the gardens are haunted by the women who now fertilize the soil. But if a man were brave enough to look past the morbid and focus on what we’re building now, he might notice the botanical artistry, hand-created and lovingly tended to by my brother.
As for me, my focus goes to my beautiful wife, eight months pregnant and so fucking stunning in a two-piece bathing suit I hardly notice the rage my brother constantly carries. Christabelle sits on the edge of our pool and gently wades into the water, her rounded belly unnoticeable except when she stands side-on.
From behind, she looks no different from the woman I met inside an opulent ballroom in Manhattan… a mere moment before I threatened her life and fell in love.
I prefer to remind her of the second. Not the first.
I watch her slender frame cut through the water, one arm over, then the other, as her long, dark hair follows and extends most of the length of her back.
She’s always been a water person. Swimming every chance she could get. Doing laps to calm her brain. Floating, especially now that she carries the added weight of my unborn baby.
Boy or girl? I have no fucking clue, and though we have the technology to find out, and I have the patience of a spoiled child, Christabelle wanted the surprise.
For her, I’ll do whatever, be whatever, say whatever to ensure her happiness.
“You’re souring my morning.” I settle back on the cast iron chair that overlooks the yard, taking my coffee mug from the table and crossing one ankle over the opposite knee.
I used to come out here each morning to read the paper and get a little sun.
Now, I come out here to watchher.
“I’m enjoying the view, Micah, but you’re walking around with a giant gray cloud on your shoulders.”
“Something’s coming. Something bad.” He stops on the other side of the table in a suit not too dissimilar to mine. Black pants and jacket, despite the heat, and a crisp white shirt beneath. His hair is still wet from his shower, and his mood, crabby, since Tiia’s already in the car and on her way to the city. “Cato called me last night after you and Christabelle went to bed.”
“Okay…?” I bring my coffee up and take a sip. “Problem?”
“He said Minka and Archer have gotta fly out for some case today. They don’t know where they’re going yet, just that it’s a few hours on a plane.”
“Okay…?” I peel my eyes away from Christabelle and bring them around. “That’s not entirely normal. Is there a reason they’re working a case not within their jurisdiction?”
“Yeah. SophiafuckingSolomon,” he growls. “She called and asked them to come as a personal favor to her.”
My heart jumps, and my brows furrow. Fuck knows Sophia Solomon is… eccentric. In the sense that she’s a wildcard. She’s powerful and brutal. She works silently when silence is needed and really fucking loudly when the occasion calls for it. She has no qualms about killing a man herself or sending someone else to do the job, and though I can’t say that’s an unrelatable trait, I do know she’s not like us.
