Page 15 of Paternal Instincts
“Not yet.”
“The nanny, too.” Quaid tipped his chin at the iPad. “Give him that information.”
“I have less on her. Her first name is Clementine. She’s twenty and a university student.”
Quaid raised his voice. “Mr. Davis. Your nanny’s last name?”
“Um… Prescott.”
“Thank you.” Quaid turned his back on the father and, in a hushed tone, said, “They recently fired her.”
“A little birdie told me.” I motioned to Sparrow who lingered nearby, waiting for Quaid.
“It’s not much, but we’ll get more details once we get to the house. Find out what you can about them in the meantime. Apparently, Nixon recently accused his partner of embezzling funds and threatened to file a lawsuit. Jude’s a gambler. Might be in debt.”
“Can’t do a financial background without a warrant.”
“I know. Right now, he and the nanny are our only red flags, and I say that loosely. We don’t have enough information on the rest of the family yet to know if there are more. It’s a start.”
“Leave it with me.”
“Call Costa. He can probably get access to dirt that doesn’t require a warrant. I’ll get one if I feel we need it, but—”
“I can do a simple background check without leaning on your bro Ruiz.”
My comment earned Quaid’s trademark sneer. “He’s not my ‘bro.’”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, hot stuff. Keep me posted, and I’ll call if I find anything noteworthy.”
“Thanks.” Quaid glanced at where Nixon and Sparrow waited by the elevator. The father barely acknowledged the daughter, too lost in his grief and oblivious to her mounting distress. “Oh. One more thing.” He held up a note tucked inside a plastic evidence bag. “Canyou fingerprint this? I’ll get elimination prints from the parents when we get to the house.”
I frowned at a short statement scrawled on its surface, eyeing Quaid, who shrugged. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
“Apparently.”
Jordyn photographed the note using the iPad camera app before saying, “And if you get a chance, contact FedEx and see who delivered this to the Davises’ residence on Tuesday.” She gave me the address, and I jotted it down.
Since Quaid was professional to his core, I didn’t steal a kiss goodbye. To him, it would be inappropriate. If the mood was right, he allowed it, but this wasn’t one of those times. Plus, Jordyn would rake us through the coals at this point. We’d been called out on enough public indecency for one day.
Instead, I offered a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder, whispering, “Talk soon. Love you.”
“I love you too.”
Jordyn groaned, tucking the iPad under her arm. “You two are ten levels of disgusting. You know the honeymoon ended eighteen months ago, right? The happy sappy puppy love thing, the fucking in the storage room, that can stop anytime. PS, I’m not the only one who knows what you two do in there.”
Quaid’s eyes widened in horror.
I lightly punched Jordyn’s shoulder. “You’re just jealous. Don’t ruin a good thing. Do you know how long it took me to convince him to get naughty in public?”
“Az. That’s… not something I want my partner to know.”
I laughed, and Quaid grumbled under his breath, marching away.
“Call if you need me,” I said to Jordyn.
“We will.”
The minute the elevator doors slid closed, I found my phone and hit Connect on Ruiz’s number. Fuck this. Our first baby was due to arrive any day. I might not have been able to ask Quaid to step away from the case, but I could damn well ensure he had all the backup available to solve it as fast as humanly possible.
