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“They don’t, but he’s probably here to support his kids.” He glanced around the small room. “Can we get out of here now?”
As if on cue, an orderly appeared with a wheelchair and soon enough she was home, where Mikado and Jennings greeted her at the front door. Mikado, a small mutt of undetermined heritage, wanted to lick her face and had to be ordered to sit, so he wriggled, tail swishing the floor, while Jennings twined between her legs before she gave them each a pet, then climbed the stairs to their bedroom.
“I might have to go out again,” Reed told her as she sat on a bedside chair and kicked off the flip-flops Reed had brought to the hospital. “I just got a call from the station. We’ve located Bronco Cravens. You okay with that?”
She looked at him as if he’d just flown in from the moon. “It’s only my shoulder, Reed. I think I’ll be fine.”
It didn’t seem fine with him. “If you say so.”
“I do.” She knew what he was getting at: the pregnancy. But she let that elephant in the room remain invisible, for now. Wouldn’t bring it up, not directly. Instead she said, “Seriously, I’m okay.”
“I wouldn’t even consider it, but since Morrisette’s laid up, we’re a body down.”
“You’re going alone?”
“Delacroix is going with me.”
Making her way to the bed, she asked, “Delacroix?”
“A newbie. Assigned to the case. Computer wiz, as I understand it. Figured out it was Cravens who called.”
“Good. Then go, go.” She made shooing signs with one hand as she sat on the edge of the bed and tried to stifle a yawn. “You need to find out what he knows,” she added, and winked at him. “You can fill me in when you get home.”
“In your dreams, Gillette.” But he rapped on the doorjamb with his knuckles. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” As Mikado jumped onto the bed, Reed pointed a finger at the scrappy little mutt. “And you. You’re in charge.”
Nikki laughed, then winced at a sharp pain in her shoulder. “Damn.”
Reed caught her grimace. “You okay?”
“Fine. Just got to remember the stupid shoulder. So go already. Go ‘serve and protect’ and most important: Find out what Bronco knows.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
“I am. Just keep me in the loop.”
“You never give up.”
“And you love me for it.”
“Oh!” He actually managed a grin. “Is that why I love you?”
“Pretty sure.” Exhausted, she nestled under the blankets, her shoulder throbbing slightly. A very determined part of her still wanted to question her husband about the bodies that had been located and if the police expected to find any more, and she really needed to find out if Bronco Cravens was somehow involved. But now wasn’t the time. She’d learned long ago when to push it with her husband and when to bide her time, which, of course, wasn’t in her DNA.
But she’d go with it.
For tonight.
Just for tonight.
CHAPTER 7
Delacroix was waiting for him at the station. Since Morrisette wasn’t on active duty, Delacroix had been assigned, at least temporarily, as his partner. Reed wasn’t pleased about it, but the department was shorthanded and he didn’t really have a choice, at least not for the time being, so he rolled with it. He didn’t know much about her, only that she’d recently been hired and had some, if limited, experience at another department. New Orleans, maybe? Or Baton Rouge? He didn’t recall and it didn’t matter at the moment.
Jade Delacroix was young, in her early twenties, with shoulder-length auburn hair, hazel eyes and sharp features. She was lithe and trim, all of five-four, and wore a pair of thin-rimmed glasses, jeans and a black jacket over a gray T-shirt. After quick introductions, they settled into his Jeep, he behind the wheel, she in the passenger’s seat, and just for a second Reed thought about Morrisette, who had occupied that spot for as long as he’d owned the Jeep.
As he pulled out of the parking space, she gave him the rundown on Bronco Cravens’s whereabouts. “He was spotted at his favorite hangout, a dive bar called the Red Knuckle. It’s not far from the university.”
“I know it. It lucked out. Didn’t get hit by the hurricane.”
