Page 15 of Between a Rock and a Hard Cowboy

Work. That is what came first.

And as much as she wanted to kick some Wilder ass in this Christmas challenge, her job—her calling, really—took priority and she needed to get back to it.

She’d been away from her computer for too long. It was in her vehicle, of course. She never was far from it. But it wasn’t like she could call for a break in her meeting with Linc, log onto the dark web and check for messages.

“I gotta go,” she said, reaching for the knob.

“Wait. Have you found anything about the key?” Linc asked.

“I thought you didn’t want my help with that.”

“I don’t, but I would like to know what you’ve discovered aboutmyfamily’s heirloom.”

Narrowing her eyes at his attitude, she answered, “I hate to tell you but yourfamily heirloomis so freaking common it’s bogging down my search. I’ve gotten at least a hundred people sending pictures of a key that looks just like yours. And their keys open everything from chests to desks. One even went to a clock cabinet.”

His eyes widened along with his mouth. She held up one hand to stop him before he spoke.

“Don’t bother saying it. I texted Livvie immediately. Wyatt and Darcy got the key and checked all the clocks in the mansion. No go.”

She enjoyed his scowl as she called him out on the fact his family home was a freaking enormous mansion. Even though the Wilders all just called itthe house,Poppy had taken to calling itthe manor, much like Batman’s Wayne Manor.

Eva enjoyed referring to it as themansionherself. And Livvie still had the look about her as if—almost a year after crashing into this town—she couldn’t believe she was living in that museum of a place.

Linc let out a breath. “What I was going to say was that there’s an old clock here in the cabin.”

Eva’s focus shot to him. “Oh.” She hadn’t anticipated that he'd have relevant information to relay, but rather than admit it, she said, “Don’t forget that greenery.”

She tugged open what had to be a ten-foot-tall door and gazed up at the height of the opening.

They were going to need a scaffold to decorate this place. Or at least a ten-foot ladder. She hoped Linc was prepared. But that was his problem. She was the brains of this operation. He was the muscle.

“Don’t you forget to get online and order your whimsy,” he called after her as she headed out into the brisk evening air.

Just like a man. Had to get the last word in.

Two could play at that game.

“And you find a rag and run it over that mantle before we decorate. I could write my name in the dust.” Smiling to herself, she climbed into her car.

As she started the engine, she saw Linc watching her from the doorway.

She treated him to an admittedly obnoxious little wave of her fingers before throwing the car in gear and driving away.

Back at Rosie’s a dark room greeted her.

It used to annoy her that Poppy would leave every light in the place on even when no one was home. Rich people problems. The girl had probably never paid a utility bill in her life.

Eva, on the other hand, had been raised by a single mother who worked two jobs and still struggled to make ends meet. Because of that, Eva was to this day a miser with the use of electricity. But walking into the dark apartment really hammered home the fact that Poppy wasn’t here anymore. That she now lived alone.

She flipped on the light switch, chasing away the shadows and her sudden malaise.

Whatever residual feelings of loneliness she had disappeared the moment she logged into the computer and saw the message waiting there. A job. And it promised to be something juicy too, judging by the organization the message was from.

The existence of the not-for-profit, open-source investigation collective wasn’t a secret.

People knew of Bellingcat, the think tank of international computer experts who helped find the Kremlin-backed assassins who’d poisoned Navalny. Even more people were aware of them now after the movie about the event aired on HBO.

What no one knew was that Eva worked with them. Part time, since it didn’t pay— At least not in money. But the return in knowing she was bringing criminals to justice or shining the light on wrongs was well worth it.

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