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“This is Agent Gutierrez.”
“Yes, could you hold just a moment?” He placed the call on mute and grasped Mallory’s chin, lifting her face up to see his. “If I have to stop this hopefully important call with Gutierrez because you are naughty, I’ll spank your ass right here in this room, and whoever observes or hears does. Get me?”
Mallory’s eyes grew large as she sighed dramatically and nodded before snuggling back into his chest. His arm came back up to hold her close. Usually, Monroe would have been all in for the teasing and spanking session, then followed it up with a good session of lovemaking, but he needed to hear what the agent had to say first.
“Sorry about that. What’s up?” He placed the phone on speaker.
“We have a development, and I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, really. Romaine took the bait on how he was less successful than others that had gone on before him, and he gave up a name of an accomplice.”
Monroe rubbed Mallory’s arm. “That’s good news.”
“Well, it could be, but it’s uncertain whether he is really a cohort in these crimes or if he was just a random choice. The man worked with Mallory. Ty Ranger. He’s rather young.”
Mallory jumped up and clipped Monroe’s chin. He tightened his grip on her arm, and when she looked into his eyes, he shook his head. She shook her head back.
“Are you sure? Mallory doesn’t think that sounds right. Let me have her tell you what she’s thinking.”
Mallory leaned in to speak but grabbed the phone instead. “Okay, listen, Ty is a stocker for the Apothecary. He’s in college on the Dean’s list and the College soccer team. He also coaches a city league team and stocks part-time. I’m telling you, between college, soccer practice and coaching along with his part-time job, there is no way that kid has any time at all to do more than catch a few hours of sleep here and there.”
“That’s what we were afraid of.”
Mallory continued, warming up to her subject. “Besides, on the day he kidnapped me, he was out of town at a tournament, and it lasted all weekend. He left Thursday morning and should have returned Monday afternoon. Check it out. You’ll see you have the wrong guy.”
“Thank you. We have to check out Mr. Ranger’s alibi, but it helps to know what to check before bringing him in. I’ll call back if we have any new information.”
Mallory handed Monroe his phone back and turned to walk away. His arm wrapped around her waist tighter, pulling her in closer. She scrunched her face in a question.
“There are going to be some changes, now that I’m in charge, baby.”
Chapter 11
“Changes?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t know what you mean?”
“I mean that if you have given me the reins, then you need to allow me to hold them, not grab them back when you want to.”
“You mean the phone call? It was just easier if I held the phone.”
“No, not the call itself, but I want you to keep out of the investigation as much as possible.”
“What? I don’t think I can do that. Besides, you put it on speaker.”
“An error in judgment. Now listen. There are plenty of good people with mounds of experience and access to information necessary to find things. We are going to work on getting back to some semblance of normalcy or rather create one between us.”
Monroe shifted to a standing position and clasped her hand in his. He led her into the dining room.
“I didn’t mean you would take over everything. I still have a mind that works perfectly well in some areas.”
Monroe stopped, and it looked as though he would say something but changed his mind. “Okay, just what area did you consider off-limits?”
“Well, I don’t know, exactly. I mean, I can pick my clothes and stuff.”
“Thank God because I wouldn’t have a clue. You’d be in sweats and pajamas every day.”
“That would be fine, but not for work. Something I should get back to.”
