“And also fixed that whole ‘lack of a sunroof’ problem,” Carl muttered, referring to the high-powered jet of water that had blown a hole from the upstairs toilet through the ceiling.
“The skylight looks so much better,” Grace told him.
On the other side of Hunter, Josh heard Liam say, “Good God, what happened?”
Hunter made a little grunt and rubbed the spot in the middle of his forehead that was probably wound tightly enough to catapult a grape into space if he lay on his back and just let go of the tension caused by his significant other.
“Next time,” Josh said, exerting whatever control he’deverhad over his best friend, “you ask Chuck and Hunter how to fix the plumbing.Or the electricity.Or the internet.”
“I fixed the internet,” Stirling said.“Carl could hack the Pentagon from his house, but he keeps refusing to race me for it.”
Carl gave Stirling the soft look you’d give a favorite nephew.“But don’t think I don’t appreciate the gesture anyway,” he said.He and Michael had bought the house (or rather, Leon had bought the houseforthem) in late November, after they’d helped solve the mystery of what happened to Leon’s brother, Josh’s father.The structure had been perfectly sound and had needed zero improvements when they’d moved in, but between Michael’s three precocious children and their choice of Molly and Grace as their favorite babysitters, the same could probably not be said now.
It was a good thing Michael was so good-natured and Carl so unflappable, Josh figured, but he still wouldn’t put Grace in charge of so much as microwaving pizza bites without explicit instructions and a list of ABSOLUTELY DO NOT DOs.
“Wait,” Liam said at Grace’s elbow.“Weren’t you two going to get a dog—”
“Oh Jesus,” Carl muttered.
“No,” Molly said, shaking her head.
“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Hunter swore.
“For the love of God,” Chuck said, sauntering in with his boyfriend, Lucius, on his arm, “don’t even get us started on the fucking dogs.”
Josh turned to Chuck, impressed by the natty blue-striped brown suit he was wearing, including a tie of such lustrous brown it looked almost like velvet.Lucius—a smaller dapper man with a slight widow’s peak of brown hair and classically handsome features—wore his own understated suit, this one charcoal gray, but judging by the look of adoration on the quiet businessman’s face, his absolute devotion to Josh’s munitions-and-transpo guy hadn’t lessened one iota in what amounted to a year of a long-distance relationship.
“Nice suit,” Liam said.“Did you saydogs?”
“Nice accent, son,” Chuck needled.“Good of you to show up at the last moment.”
“And where were you?”Liam and Chuck got along quite well, actually, but Josh rather suspected Liam’s dynamic with most of his team was the same dynamic he had with his large, rowdy family back in England.
“Me?”Chuck baited.“Me and Lucius here were at the party across the way from Miss Celeste’s party.We caught all the overflow guests who fled after the po-lice came so they could gossip with other rich people.Picked up all sorts of tidbits.”
“And Charles was on call for a distraction in case Josh needed one,” Lucius said proudly.“Which he didn’t.”
“What did you pick up?”Carl asked curiously.
“That the insurance investigator was dreamy,” Chuck replied, holding his battered hands to his impressively broad chest.
“Fuck off,” Carl retorted.“I was just asking.”
“No, really,” Lucius said, taking his and Chuck’s spot farther down the table.“Carl, you cut quite a swath among Celeste’s guests.”
“Oh hell,” Danny muttered, entering the room.Danny was dressed in a close-fitting black suit with a black dress shirt, no tie—the formal version of thieves’ clothes, Josh thought fondly—and unless he was being Benjamin Morgan, happy art docent of the Chicago Art Institute, who wore tweed and corduroy, it was the outfit that made him most comfortable.
“Why’s that bad?”Michael asked, hand protectively on Carl’s arm.
“Because I’m stuck being an insurance investigator for this gig,” Carl said.“If too many people in Kadjic’s circle remember me, it means our cast of bit parts has been stretched a little thin.”
It was one of the reasons they’d put Chuck and Lucius in the party three floors down from Celeste’s when Lucius had found the invitation in his mailbox.Chuck was a brilliant chemical engineer and a very talented getaway driver—but he was six feet three inches tall, with red hair, freckles, and a Texas drawl that could shake timber.Carl was just as tall, but his blond, green-eyed looks were a little less noticeable.
“Alas,” Hunter said, “Molly and I have a run on the catering gig.”
Molly grunted, shaking out her curls.“Speak for yourself.I heard two people last night try to link me to that thing we did in the winter before we nailed that sweatshop owner to the fucking wall.Apparently my hair is attracting notice, dammit.”
“Wigs?”Stirling asked, a sort of neediness in his voice that Josh understood.
