There you have it. She doesn’t want to talk. Look, guys, I’m tiptoeing on the line of the law here. If you knew the things, borderlineillegalthings, I’ve done to try to get her to talk, Imean. She won’t budge. So we’re going to move on from the Phoenix Fraudsters for a while. Who knows, maybe she’ll come around on her own. I know. I’m as disappointed as you are, but I found an incredible new case to turn our attention to. Next week, I’ll be headed to California…
The screen goes black as the clip ends.
The chair beneath my ass squeaks as I lean back, handing Silas back his phone.
“What do you make of it?” I ask him, running my fingers over my chin. I already have my own thoughts forming, but my brother’s opinion matters to me.
“Before you beat the shit out of him and chased him out of town, I’d think he’s bluffing. Now?” Silas shrugs, his gaze steady. “I don’t think he’s coming back.”
“I don’t either. She’s proven to be too much work.” A smirk works its way to my mouth as I’m filled with pride.
Silas doesn’t miss it, but he lets it slide.
“Did you send this to the captain?” I shift the conversation before he can change his mind and give me any shit.
“Calloway did. His comment about borderline illegal might be enough to get his cell information. No doubt he probably had it on him while he went through her house. There’s a good chance he recorded that too.”
I nod. “Agreed.”
“I’ll let you get those reports done. It’s late.”
I check my watch. 00:27. “Yeah,” I sigh, picking up my pen.
Silas hesitates at the door. “Just to say, before I do, she’s lucky to have you.”
My eyes snap to my brother’s face.
“And she isn’t Jolene. If you take good care of her, I know she’ll take good care of you too. You deserve that, Sutt. In case you forgot.”
29
Sutton
The key turnsin the lock, followed by the alarm keypad beeping, reminding me to put in the code. I wince. After seventeen hours at work, every sound feels amplified. My back aches. My eyes burn. All I want is six uninterrupted hours unconscious.
I slip off my shoes and turn my back around, noticing the blanket and pillow fluffed and folded on the couch. Someone laid them out for me, preparing my place to lay my head once I got home. I don’t need more than one guess to figure out who would take the time to make my night easier. It’s the same person who’s been making my life easier since she got here.
The refrigerator hums softly as I pass by the kitchen. Rather than taking a sharp right into the living room, I continue quietly down the stairs, swallowing hard over the lump in my throat.
I check on Nellie first. Her bedroom door creaks softly, not much more than a murmur in the dark. I can just make out her messy brown hair atop her pillow in the sliver of moonlight shining through the window. Her chest rises and falls with quiet, even breaths, her mouth open on a soft snore. She’s completelyzonked. I pull the blanket up over her shoulders, kiss her on the forehead, and carefully back out of the room.
On my way back to the stairs, I pause outside my door.
She’sin there.
Sleeping in my bed beneath the covers in one of her sexy little short sets, infusing my sheets with her flowery scent. I know, because I smell her in the evenings when I make it home in time to read before bed with Nellie-Jo.
The door is ajar. I press it open with my palm and lean against the doorframe, taking in her prone form diagonal across my bed. I smile despite the exhaustion weighing down my shoulders. Leave it to Alice to sleep like a wild woman, taking up that much space when she’s only five-foot-two.
“I can feel you staring,” she mumbles into the dark.
Embarrassment colors the skin above my scruff. I huff out a laugh. “You’re awake?”
“Barely.”
“You should be sleeping.”
She rolls over, clutching my spare pillow in front of her body. “I would be if you weren’t gawking.”
