Page 44 of Sinful Seduction
“And his CO is okay with that? He’s been on this case for about thirty hours already. Does he not have to go back to regular duty now that the case has transferred to homicide?”
She digs her knuckles into my calf, annoyingly painful, but her grip is solid, refusing me room to pull away. “He’s taken leave, which he’s entitled to do, considering he lost Ben the other night. The union makes it so he can take time and not be punished for it.”
“But he’s not actually taking time off. He’s at the hospital and guarding Molly’s door.”
“Kid likes to be thorough.” She inches her hand along the back of my leg and up to my thigh. “So he said how Molly’s parents stayed all night with their daughter, but it was uneventful. Doctors are happy with her progress, and it seems she’s past the worst of it.”
“Is she talking?”
“About the shooting?” She inches her hand higher, higher… inappropriately high. I squeak and try to skitter away, only to stop again when she locks my leg down. “Grow up, Chief. I’m not gonna fondle your foofaa.”
“My foofaa?!”
She giggles. “Relax. I’m trying to help you. And no, Molly isn’t talking about the shooting as far as Clay’s heard. He’s sticking close, but short of posting himself inside her room and staring her in the eyes while she’s trying to rest, there’s only so much he can do. He said she’s had a visitor this morning.”
“Yeah?” I drop my head back and squeeze my eyes closed. Because if I open them and look at my best friend’s hand disappearing beneath the sheet the way it does, I’ll get weird about it. “Who?”
“Her best friend. High school girl. She was mousy, he said. Shy and scared.”
“Her bestie got shot, and chances are, she was friends with Ben, too. Mourning him and worrying about Molly. That’d make most seventeen-year-old girls mousy.”
“Exactly. He said the girls cried and chatted for a bit. Nothing particularlyout of the ordinary happened. Dad left for a little bit, went and got their other two children from Grandma’s house.”
“His mother, or hers?”
“Hers. Sibs were weepy and anxious. Big sis is in the hospital after she got shot, so, again…”
“Expected.”
“Mmhm.” She brings her hand around to the front of my thigh and massages the vastus medialis—the muscle crucial for knee extension and function.So maybe she knows what she’s doing. I guess.“Clay checked on Steve, too.” She waits for my eyes, her lips curling up on one side. “He’s doing okay. Stable. Doctor Cleary’s back on shift now, too, and she told Clay—since she knew he was relaying information to us—that she’s looking to wake Steve around lunchtime. Figured you’d want to be nearby when that happens, so…”
“Thanks.” I draw a long breath, filling my lungs. Then I release it again and drop my chin forward, resting it on my chest. “I do. I’d like to be there for that.”
“And since you’ve slept in till ten, you’re all set for another day of dress fittings.”
Panic lances through my blood, adrenaline flooding right after. “What?”
She brings her hands out from under my sheet. “Kidding. Lori told us not to come back after she saw what we did to the original dresses.”
“We were saving lives!”
She pushes off my bed and wanders to one of the sitting chairs, only to snag a backpack hidden where I couldn’t see it. She tosses the bag, satisfied when it lands on the end of my bed with a muffled thump. “She’s got our measurements, so she’s busy putting something new together. We’ll pick them up on the morning of the wedding. Also, I brought you some clothes.”
Curious, I hold my sheet up with one hand and reach forward with the other, dragging the bag closer and peeling the zipper open to peek inside. “Your clothes? Did you pack me a rainbow mini skirt and ass-kicker boots?”
She rolls her eyes. “Your shirt—the one I stole that first time I stayed at your place. And my black pants. They’re stretchy, so they’ll fit in all the right places. You’ve got your own shoes from yesterday, so reuse your underwear, or go wild.” She walks to the fridge and sweeps up a second bottle of water, then she turns and tosses it to the bed, grinning when heraim remains perfect. “Have a shower, get dressed, then come downstairs. We have a murder to solve, Watson, and you’re slowing us down.”
“We don’t, actually. We’re medical examiners, Doctor Emeri. Not police. And besides, you’re technically on leave this week. Remember?” I drag the sheet clean off the bed and carefully wrap it around my torso. Gingerly rising to my feet, I hiss at the pain radiating up through my legs and into the muscles at the backs of my thighs.
But my knee…
Surprised, I meet Aubree’s smug eyes and frown. “Doesn’t hurt.”
“Because I’m amazing.” She strides to the bedroom door and swings it open. “Hurry down so we can get started. Not working, I’ve decided, is for crazy people who don’t mind peeling their skin off when they’re bored.”
ARCHER
“He’s okay, right?” Felix has never been one to stress out loud. He carried a lot of that on the inside, moving through life with a fast smile and sharp, cutting words. He shouldered the weight of the world—the weight of being the Tim of our family when Tim left—and did so without breaking a sweat. But hearing about Cato and Steve is enough to chew through my phone battery. “So he was at the apartment while you and Mayet were working, and when you got back, he was saving that dude’s life?”
