Page 93 of More Than Nothing
“What happened with the other guy?” she asked. “The huge one?”
“Levi Foster. He was pretty apologetic once we took him to one side. Tyson threw the first punch and most of the others too. Foster gave us no trouble at all as soon as we dragged him off you.” Roman’s face was grim as he recalled the chaos. “We let him go with a caution in the end. But I’ll be keeping an eye on him.” He stood up to slot another couple of slices of bread into the toaster. “Foster couldn’t even tell us what it was all about. He was pretty drunk.”
“Just trash talk, I think. Ty was knocking them back too and it doesn’t take much to make him flip out.” She watched Roman’s face as she spoke. He grunted but said nothing.
One of these times, her repellent family would color this fragile thing between them. He wouldn’t be able to help himself from tarring her with the brush she’d been trying to avoid her whole life. It was guaranteed. And no amount of sexual pull would be able to stop it.
Elenie put down her toast, her appetite disappearing, as Roman came back to the table.
“So the handgun has gone off for analysis with the DEA. Dorsey was pretty understanding about it coming via me. And they’re looking into the Saginaw address you gave her as well. I’ve also had a couple of interesting emails from June Reed Sanders. You did well to get her on board. The information she’s forwarded from Craig is illuminating.” Roman frowned at the butter as if that might be next under the spotlight. “The balls are lining up over the pockets, Elenie. One of them will fall soon. When it does, we’ll be ready.”
His words sounded like a promise. It was one that she needed to be true so badly it hurt. No matter what came with it.
“I’m heading into Detroit tomorrow. Milo has to make a work trip—he’s got meetings through the afternoon and evening—so I’m going to grab the chance to share the ride and go with him. There’s some business I need to take care of.”
Elenie wondered if she was imagining the way he avoided her eyes. Roman swept some crumbs from the table into his hand and brushed them onto his empty plate. For a moment, his face looked stormy, as if old memories were biting at the thought of returning to the city. She reached out to curl her fingers around his wrist. His mouth softened immediately.
“I’m staying overnight but I’ll be back first thing Sunday.” He gave her a devastating smile which had her stomach jumping, her skin tingling. Damn, but she loved that smile.
“OK.” Elenie didn’t miss the flicker of relief that crossed his face.
She wanted to trust Roman would tell her if there was something she needed to know, but trust didn’t come easy. She opened her mouth to question him. Closed it again when she realized how many things she might not want to hear.
Chapter 44
Elenie
Though her muscles ached from where she’d taken a battering between Ty and Levi Foster, the discomfort faded to the back of her mind as Elenie completed her shift. Her body still hummed with the ghost sensations of everything she and Roman had done last night—and again this morning.
Special Agent Dorsey might not have raised any issues about the handgun being in Roman’s possession, but Elenie had held back from telling him about the blistering message she’d received from Booth. He was less than impressed.
She’d been right to take the more expendable phone with her to Saginaw. Better by far that Frank had gotten his hands on that one. But the chief deputy was deaf to her reasoning, pushing for more information, better results, and making sure she knew how little faith he had in her.
Elenie’s feet paused on the driveway as she approached the house after work. On impulse, she headed out back to the garage and found the doors ajar, the chunky chain lying in a heap on the ground. Opportunity for a look inside shone like the high bay lights Frank had hung from the roof beams. She hesitated only slightly, before crossing the scrubby grass and sliding into the outbuilding.
“Hi.”
Frank paused in the process of hefting one blue plastic drum on top of another in the corner of the garage. “Yes?”
“Is Mom in the house?”
“I don’t know, Ellie. I’m in the garage. Did you look for her?” He rolled an old tire out through the doorway and let it fall onto the grass.
“Yes,” she said, although she hadn’t, digging around for a way to extend the conversation but coming up short. She could never think of anything to say to Frank. “What are you doing?”
“Tidying.”
“Why?”
It didn’t look so much like tidying. There was little or no order to how the garage was organized. A workbench, piled high with discarded car parts, random bolts and half-used bottles of oil, screen wash, lubricants, and more, was almost hidden behind a stack of tools and fishing equipment. Frank’s new baby, a crossover snowmobile he’d picked up last winter, sat beneath a tarp next to Ty and Dean’s dirt bikes. She could see nothing that shouldn’t be there. Nothing worth reporting.
“Need to clear some space.”
Elenie’s attention flicked back to Frank. “What for?”
“Fuckin’ nosy today, aren’t you?” His grouchy grumble was distracted rather than suspicious. “Got a delivery coming in soon. Have you heard about Ty?”
“I was there.”
