Page 96 of Mike

“Suck it up, Mike.” She giggled, using his words from earlier. “They’re in high school. By that time, my vocabulary was already honed and edgy. I’m sure if they let fly with a few of my euphemisms, your tympanic membranes won’t bleed.”

An hour and a half later, Mike, Joe, Dilly, and Tim were sitting around the kitchen island, sucking up chips and snacks, and making small talk when Dilly’s astuteness kicked in.

“So what are you doing home today, Dad, and doesn’t Elle have to work?” She turned her eyes to Joelle. “I thought you worked Tuesday through Saturday, five to close.”

Yup. His daughter had a steel trap for a brain.

Joe raised a brow in Mike’s direction, and…

Well, he knew the entire op would be wrapped up by tomorrow, so spilling some of the deets now wouldn’t screw things up. His kids knew when to be quiet.

Oh, wait. Mike paused.

Except with their mother. Which now that everything was coming out, needed to be addressed. Mike held up a finger to Joe, letting her know he’d be speaking first.

She easily gave over, which was another thing to love about her. She liked to take charge, but also knew when to step back.

“Before we discuss Jo…Elle,” Mike managed to amend. “I have a little bone to pick with you two.”

Dilly didn’t look worried, but Tim might have blanched a little.

“Shoot, Dad,” Dilly told him, grabbing another handful of pretzels.

“It seems that someone might have let their mother in the house a few weeks ago, against my instructions.”

Dilly immediately shook her head, but Tim’s face lost even more color.

“Tim?” Mike asked.

“Yeah,” he confessed. “She said she lost one of her diamond earrings, and thought it might be in your office.”

“In Dad’s office?” Dilly responded incredulously. “Duh, Tim. Even I’m not that stupid.” She turned to her father. “What did she do?”

Mike huffed, not sure how he wanted to deal with Tim’s naiveté, but answered Dilly first. “She went through my papers, and saw that I hadn’t taken her off my will or my life insurance policy yet.”

“So?” Dilly shrugged and went back to eating. “What’s she going to do, Dad? Kill you?” A snicker emerged from her mouth, but died out when Mike didn’t answer. She raised her head and stared him in the eyes. “No way. You’ve got to be kidding me?”

Mike shook his head, sadly. “I wish I was. But Joe here, heard her and Cameron plotting at the bar, which is how the two of us actually met.” There was no need to rub salt in the wound, and tell the kids their real meeting had been under his truck, after Mellie had already cut his brake-lines.

Dilly’s entire countenance went stiff. “What are you going to do?” she asked.

“First off, I’ve already changed my documents, and I will let you two know when to spill that, after I confront her. Which I will be doing this coming weekend. I dropped the hint that Joe and I will be hiking Baxter Peak, and by the look on her face, she’ll take the bait. I’m just not sure what to do with her once we’ve caught her red-handed. I don’t want to scar you kids for life, having your mother put away as a felon.”

Tim still wasn’t verbally engaging. He was looking down at his hands as he laced and unlaced his fingers.

Dilly, on the other hand…

“While I think on that one, Dad, why have you called Elle, Joe, two times? What aren’t you telling us?”

Mike sighed. Of course she’d picked up on that. “You want to take this one, Joe?”

“Gladly,” she said with a commiserative smile.

She regarded the kids, her face an open book. “My real name is Joelle Pikens, and most people call me Joe. I’m actually not a server at the Local Moose… Well, I am, but it’s an undercover gig.”

“You’re a cop?” Tim spoke up for the first time, no longer frozen.

“No. I’m a federal agent with the DEA,” she apprised. “I’ve been working to bring down a fentanyl ring that operates locally, and had intel that the people involved frequented the bar.”

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