Page 5 of Wicked Love
I could tell he could actually talk now. “I just wondered how you’re all doing.”
Rowan hummed, probably able to tell it was more than that but playing along while I worked up to my real question. “About as well as we can with the new baby keeping us up at all hours. At least we’ve got plenty of us to spread the sleeplessness around! Mercy’s already back on the job, laying down the law with her people and telling off anyone who thinks a mom can’t keep them in line.”
I snorted. “They’ll regret that mistake fast.” Mercy was just about the toughest person I knew, man or woman.
“Oh, believe me, they do.”
He paused, and I could feel him leaving an opening for me to get to the real point. I stared up at the ceiling for a moment before saying, “How do you handle it when she’s in danger? Like before, when Xavier was terrorizing her, and all the other stuff that goes on around her… How do you keep your cool and figure out the best way to help her rather than going batshit trying to protect her?”
Rowan’s voice softened. “Sounds like someone speaking from new experience. Congrats if you’ve found a woman who means enough to you that you’d go batshit for her.”
I glowered at the ceiling. “That doesn’t really help.”
He gave a light laugh. “I know. I guess…” His tone turned more serious. “I just decided I’d do whatever it took to make sure she got through okay. Even ifIgot hurt instead. Even if I put my whole life on the line. No holds barred. I love her, and I wouldn’t feel right standing back if there was anything at all I could do. Knowing I’m that committed, that I’ll take whatever action I need to, makes it easier for me to simmer down long enough to figure out what the best action would be. If that makes sense?”
The sentiments he’d expressed about how far he’d go rang completely true. “Yeah,” I said. “It does.”
“So you do have someone like that now?”
I thought of Maddie—of her smile, of the passion that came over her face when she talked about her future plans, of the mix of affection and determination in her kiss. My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Yeah. And I would do anything for her, so you’re right. I’ve just got to figure out what the right thing is, the thing that’ll protect her the most.”
CHAPTERTHREE
Madelyn
Iused my chopsticks to pick at the small carton of rice that had been drowned in the sweet and sour chicken from a local Chinese restaurant. The Vigil guys were all digging into their own cartons around their apartment’s living room, though Dexter had opted to use a fork, looking as if he wasn’t totally pleased that he hadn’t had time to cook while we tried to work out what Beckett’s full connection to their investigation might be.
He popped a mouthful of lo mein into his mouth while peering intently at the shipping records with the trucking company logo that Slade had grabbed several days ago. The records had been in an envelope tacked to the door of a shell corporation we’d tied to two other businesses it was clear Dad had been looking into, but we hadn’t figured out how the trucking company fit in.
From Dexter’s expression, he wasn’t getting any closer. He flipped to the second page and sighed. “There’s definitely no way I can break the code on this without the key. And no way to figure out what that key is.”
“I bet Beckett knows,” Logan muttered darkly as he scanned through our surveillance camera footage on his laptop.
“We still haven’t found any evidence that proves his family has anything to do with my dad’s death,” I reminded him. “Nothing connecting him to the warehouse Dad had the address to or the seafood market that was receiving deliveries from them—that had the logo he mentioned when he was sick. You’re trying your best to pin this on him, and it’s still not sticking.”
Logan looked up to briefly glower at me. “He’s a crook. He lied to us, and one of his employees was so wracked with guilt the guy spilled the beans. Don’t defend him.”
I guessed I should be glad Logan didn’t say anything harsher considering how close I’d gotten to our supposed enemy. But I still couldn’t shake the sense that nothing about this felt totally right.
There was definitely more going on with Beckett than I’d realized, but he’d never asked me anything about my dad other than a couple of typical questions when I’d brought up his death. I hadn’t gotten the slightest sense that he was checking whether I knew about the murder or had evidence he might need to destroy.
“What about your tour of the spa?” Slade asked, waving his chopsticks at me. “We’ve barely had time to go over that. Maybe something you saw there will connect the dots.”
I tipped my head back, letting my vision go vague as I reached into my memories. I’d stopped by a spa that was another business under the same shell corporation as the warehouse and the seafood market earlier today, hoping to get a better idea of what the overall organization was involved with.
“I did see some sketchy stuff,” I said. “It looked like they might be selling drugs to some of their clientele, pretending it’s a special service. I caught a hand-off of the drugs on video—that might work as evidence. But it’s got nothing to do with Beckett.”
When he’d picked me up, he hadn’t seemed at all concerned that I might have learned something incriminating about him there. Although he had acted pretty protective in general… maybe like he had some reason to believe the place might be dangerous beyond my urgent appeal for help.
But if he’d been worried about crimes he was involved in being exposed, I’d have expected a much different reaction. He’d only seemed concerned about my well-being.
How could that guy have been responsible for causing my mom’s car accident? How could he have set fire to the Vigil office knowing I might be in there?
A different part of the memory clicked in my head. “I did see the woman who was at the bar the day I snuck in and got my dad’s trinket box back. The one who was part of the gang running the place.” The one who’d nearly shot Logan when the guys had charged in to help me escape.
Slade perked up. “Then there is a common thread between all of them.”
