Page 22 of Take a Hike
“I’m not—” Kieran started to say, but whatever he wasn’t was drowned out by Bennett and Fifi’s protests.
“Let’s talk about this first, Charlie,” Fifi said, just as Bennett made general concerned grumbly noises.
“Fine.” Charlie interrupted the rest of what she was going to say with a wide yawn. “Let’s meet tomorrow after we pick Daisy’s deputy’s brain.”
“I’ll go with you to talk to Chris,” Kieran stated, as if it were a done deal.
Charlie laughed. “Yeah…no. He’s probably not going to give us anything good, but he’s guaranteed not to tell us anything if you’re tagging along. Let’s meet at ten at the coffee…shoot.” She pulled a face. “Where’s a good place to meet that isn’t a blackened shell of a building?”
“Fire department.”
Charlie met Fifi’s gaze, and they exchanged smirks.
“Okay,” Fifi said. “That way we’ll have some eye candy with our discussion. Good idea.”
Both Kieran and Bennett looked a bit grumpy at that.
“Now get out,” Charlie ordered on another yawn. “I need sleep if we’re going to accomplish world domination tomorrow.”
“World domination?” Fifi repeated, sounding amused as she pushed to her feet.
“Well, we’ll be solving a murder, bringing in our skip, and saving our home, so pretty close.”
Bennett stepped back so that Kieran could leave first. With a final scowl directed at Charlie—which she chose to take as a polite goodbye—he left the room.
“Hey, B,” Charlie said before her brother-in-law could follow Kieran out. When Bennett stopped and raised an eyebrow at her, she put on her best entreating face. “You wouldn’t happen to have a sewing kit on you, do you?”
“Sewing kit?” Fifi asked.
“Need to make some alterations to my pajamas.”Like adding useful pockets.
Bennett, bless him, pulled out a small, flat box and tossed it to her.
“Thanks, B,” she said as she caught it. “How about a hand grenade?”
Before she could snicker at her joke, something came flying at her. She managed to drop the kit into her lap and catch it before it made contact with her face.
“Private Investigator Bennett Green,” Fifi growled. “Did you just throw agrenadeat mysister?”
Turning the object Bennett had just tossed to her in her hands, Charlie noted that it was indeed a grenade as she requested. “Nice.”
“She needed one.” Bennett spread his hands wide in a what-could-he-do gesture. “Besides, it’s just a stun grenade.”
Charlie felt a bit disappointed, but the down-ranking of the weapon in her hand didn’t seem to appease Fifi. “It doesn’t matter. Don’t throw grenades at my sisters.”
“I really did ask for it,” Charlie said, feeling a bit bad for getting Bennett in trouble. Besides, she hadn’t been lying about how tired she was. “Can you take your marital spat and the inevitable making up to your honeymoon suite please? That room is specifically designed for both of those things.”
“I don’t think it’s designed for marital spats.” Fifi frowned at her, distracted from her displeasure about the grenade tossing.
“It’s definitely designed for the making up part, though, so shoo.” Charlie waved her hands at them. “I love you both, but now I’m tired. Good night, and text me if you need backup.”
Although Fifi looked like she wanted to keep arguing—about either the grenade or the intended use of the honeymoon suite—Bennett caught her gently by the hand and towed her out the door.
“Good night!” Fifi called over her shoulder as they disappeared into the hall.
Charlie got up to lock the door behind them. For all the times she teased them about moving into their suite, she was glad to have the quiet stillness of her own room. Then the silence settled over her, the nagging need to talk about the wild day they’d had, and she felt the familiar tug of loneliness.
Mentally shoving it away, she turned the dead bolt with extra force and tried very hard not to think of a certain firefighter.
