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“She’ll like anyone. She’ll love you.” She wrapped a strand of hair around one finger. “Did you notice the curls?”
“Oh, yeah. We’re going to have fun taming those.” The we had just slipped out. How hard could parenting be? His number one job as a father was to keep Kendall safe. He could do that.
“Lunch and then back to the grindstone?” She slipped her laptop into her case. “Are you going to call Rich back?”
“I’ll call him before we head out to lunch. We should check with the P.D. to see if they can give us anything on Libby, like if half her blood is missing.”
“It won’t be. He killed her to shut her up, not for her blood.”
* * *
AS SHE SAT across from Eric in the restaurant looking over the menu, she couldn’t help humming to herself. That videoconference had gone great.
Eric had been as taken with Kendall as she knew he would be. Did it mean he’d come running back to her arms after he met his daughter? No, but the introduction of father to daughter in person would be a promising start—for all of them.
“Is that supposed to be a song?” He broke off a piece of bread from the loaf in the middle of the table and swiped it across a puddle of olive oil. “Because I don’t recognize it at all.”
“It’s one of those tuneless hums.” She pushed away her bread plate. “If I eat any more of this sourdough bread, you’re going to have to shoehorn me out of this restaurant.”
He tore off another piece. “Good. More for me.”
The waitress took their orders, and Christina squeezed some lemon into her ice water. “I think we have a pretty good handle on why these murders are occurring. Now we just need a who.”
“It has to be someone who was at that meeting the other night. You can’t tell me the coven community is that big. He has to be a member to know who’s who and the power of Los Brujos de Invierno.”
“If the others know, why wouldn’t they give him up?”
“They don’t know.” He shrugged and took a sip of his soda.
“You’d think they’d be a little more interested in helping us out.”
“After what happened to Libby, they’re going to be less interested.”
Christina asked, “Rich okay with the direction of the investigation?”
“He’s not happy with the mumbo jumbo aspect, but he knows we can’t ignore it if all the victims have that in common.”
With her fingertip, she caught a bead of moisture trailing down the outside of her glass. “Did you tell him about our personal connections to the case?”
“No, but I plan to visit Marie Giardano in the evidence locker this afternoon to ask her a few questions about my kidnapping. She’s been there for years, knew my father.”
Their food arrived, and Christina picked at her salad. “I meant what I told my mom. If this case drags on any longer and Rich decides to bring in additional agents, I’m going to start heading home on the weekends.”
“How do you like San Miguel? It makes more sense to me that you’re living there now that I know about Kendall. I knew something was off about you giving up the city.”
“I didn’t think I’d like it, but it grows on you.”
“That’s what my brother Ryan says.”
“So he still likes Crestview?”
“He’s the chief of police now.”
“You Brody boys sure know how to get ahead in law enforcement.” She stabbed a piece of lettuce with her fork. “How much of that is due to your father? To making up for past sins, real or imagined?”
Eric balanced his fork on the edge of his plate and laced his fingers beneath his chin. He gazed past her, his green eyes dark and stormy.
She held her breath. Had she gone too far?
He dragged one hand through his hair as his eyes cleared. “A lot.”
Then he dug into his food again, and she let out a long steady breath through her nose. “Do you want me to come with you when you see Marie?”
“Sure. I’d rather the SFPD think I’m working on the current case and not dredging up the past.” He leveled his fork at her plate. “Are you going eat that shrimp salad or just push it around your plate?”
“I’m not hungry.” She shoved the plate toward him. “Do you want it?”
“I hate to see good shrimp go to waste.”
He demolished her salad while she checked her messages. Nothing.
“Hey, has Nigel called you since last night?”
Chewing, Eric shook his head. He swallowed and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “He probably skipped town. He publicly acknowledged us at the meeting the other night. He’s gotta feel like he has a target on his back.”
