Chapter 6
Dover was flipping through shows on her television that evening when her phone buzzed. Pulling up an app, she stared at the face at the other end of the line.
She debated ignoring him for a few minutes before he scowled at the small camera next to the exterior door of her apartment building. She doubted ignoring him would in any way deter him from coming upstairs, so she pressed the button to unlock the door.
“I brought food,” he said a few minutes later when she opened her door.
“And a duffel bag?” she added as he pushed his way past her.
“I thought I’d stick around for a couple more days.”
She watched as Knox crossed to her kitchen island and started unloading bags of food. Letting the door slam closed, she stomped after him.
“So you thought what, you’d stay here instead of a hotel?” she snapped. She looked over the selection of food. “No pizza?”
“Why would I buy pizza in Boston? I live in Chicago, remember. Might as well have carved up some cardboard to eat.” He took the plate she pulled out of a cabinet and helped himself to a heaping spoonful of shepherd’s pie. “Your pub food, however, is pretty solid.”
“Yeah, it is. Our Italian is fucking amazing too.”
“Tomorrow night,” he answered.
She begrudgingly filled her plate with food and followed him to the table. He had already opened two beers he’d pulled from one of the bags. “You can’t just force your way in here,” she said around mouthfuls. “Sharing a biological sperm donor does not make us siblings.”
“Technically, it does.”
“In name only. Are you this aggressive with Memphis?”
“I save the worst for him.” He took a long swig from his bottle. “I haven’t even tried to set you on fire yet.”
“You’re just scared I’ll kick your ass again.”
“Pfft. I teach high school. Nothing scares me anymore.”
They lapsed into silence as they finished eating. She tried glaring at him, but he ignored her, so she gave up. She put the leftovers away while he loaded the dishwasher. They took their seats in her living room, her staring at the television and him staring at her.
“What?” she finally asked.
“Memphis and I dropped in on Fox last night.”
“Okay. So?”
“So, we’re worried about him. His girlfriend’s moods flip like a bad penny.”
“Why is that your problem?”
Knox blew out a breath and ran his hand through his hair. His gaze landed back on her. It was the same one she saw every morning in the mirror. “Damn, you’re prickly.”
“Prickly?”
“Yes, prickly. Ready to take offense and generally difficult,” he snarled. “It’s our problem because he’s our brother. We don’t walk away when one of us isn’t okay.”
“I just don’t understand why it matters to you. Especially now after forty years.”
“Because it took me years to put this family together, and I’m not walking away. So stop fucking arguing. I’m here now, and I’m not leaving until this is settled. If you want to try to push us away, that’s fine. Doesn’t mean we’ll let you, though.”
Dover sighed. She took a few minutes sizing Knox up before rejecting the idea of trying to physically toss him from her apartment.
Last time she took him down, she had the element of surprise on her side.
This time, however, he had his guard up.
Brothers were a pain in the ass. All of them, apparently.
“I’m pretty sure she’s seeing someone behind his back,” she said. She might as well cave. He obviously wasn’t going anywhere. “Fox suspects so too, although he won’t admit it.”
“What makes you think that?”
“I’ve been there when she’s getting ready to go out with her ‘friends.’ Her aura slowly morphs to black.
I only see that in violent offenders. It makes me stress out about Fox and Ethan’s safety.
If she was just having an affair, I would usually see yellow.
But the hues I see can go either direction.
Just because you glow yellow doesn’t mean deception.
It could mean you’re cheerful. Black though? It’s a bad sign.”
“That sounds confusing.”
“It is. Red is very hard too. My boss glows red, but so do a lot of the people I arrest. It’s either confidence or aggression. Anyway, I think it’s more than just an affair. I just don’t know what.”
“Have you tried following her when she goes out?” Knox asked.
“She knows me, and I can’t ask any of the plain clothes guys to do it without bringing in the police. If it is just cheating, I’d be laughed out of the office.”
“Okay, let me work on it. She knows me too, and I don’t exactly blend into the crowd. I know a guy, though, who’s pretty good at following people. Makes a decent living from doing it. Let me get him on it. In the meantime, one of those bags has cannoli from Mike’s if you’re interested.”
“If I’m interested,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes. She snatched the bag off the counter and returned to her seat. Halfway through the first cannoli, Knox took the bag from her. “I have killed for less,” she teased.
“I’m willing to take the chance,” he answered. They sat in silence as they blazed through several cannoli each. Finally, Knox took a long pull on his beer before turning to face her again. “So what’s the deal with the dead guy at the school?”
“I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation,” she answered, licking her fingers clean.
“Yeah, yeah. Who am I going to tell? I don’t know anyone around here. Besides, I have government clearance.”
“How?” she asked, then reconsidered. “You know what, never mind. Here’s what I can tell you.
We think this is at least number three. They’re all successful businessmen or professionals.
We haven’t put a name to number three, but based on his haircut, manicure, and lack of calluses on his hands, we’re thinking he’s the same.
“All of them have been killed somewhere else and posed at a private school in the city. They’re all strangled with something like a belt, and they’ve all been wearing a Catholic medallion of a saint. That part isn’t public, so if you leak it, I’ll rip you apart.”
“You might want to see someone about your violent tendencies.” She glared at him, but he just smirked. “Do you have any idea who it is?”
“Not yet. I will though, if I can hang onto the case.”
“Someone taking it over?”
“I’m sure the boss will want someone more senior than me to run with it. The feds will be brought in soon, I’d guess. You know how they like a good serial killer. The autopsy today turned up nothing. Body was completely clean—no fingerprints, blood trace, nothing.”
“Do you want me to poke around and see if I find out anything?”
“Poke around how?”
“I have connections,” he answered. “State Department, FBI, Houston welding union, several cities I’ve been asked not to return to.”
“You know when you say things like that, I almost think I could grow to like you.”
Bailey was bent over her computer hunting for where the code had broken on her current project when she heard her doorbell ring.
She debated for a moment ignoring it. She hated to be interrupted when she was on the hunt for that tiny mistake in a long string of computer code.
The bell rang for a second time, so she got up and walked to her front door.
“Hi,” Fox said when she opened it. “I was checking on a job a couple of blocks over and thought you might like to go for lunch. If you’re busy, though, I’d understand.”
“No,” she barked. “No, that sounds nice,” she tried again a little less aggressively. “Let me just go find some socks and shoes. Come in, I’ll just be a moment.”
Leaving the door open for him, she raced back upstairs to see what she could do with her current condition in the few minutes she had.
Since Bailey worked from home, she didn’t always dress to go out.
Quickly, she traded out her ratty workout shorts for a nice pair.
A simple T-shirt would have to do for now.
Grabbing her sandals from the closet, she headed back downstairs.
Fox had moved into the living room, so she took the extra minutes to throw her hair into a ponytail.
“Sorry, I’m almost ready.” She hopped around the entry trying to pull her shoes on.
“You’re good.”
“I thought you worked mostly on the south side,” she said.
“Yeah, well, my boss has me running all over town now. You’ll have to pick lunch. I’m not up on food this side of the city.”
“Sure, no problem.” She followed him outside where he opened the door of his truck for her.
She slid into the passenger side and watched as he walked around the hood.
She took a moment to look around the truck.
It was the first time she had ever been inside the work truck.
She took a deep breath of the smell of his cologne.
“Doing okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, good.” She worried for a minute he had caught her sniffing the seats.
“It’s already so damn hot out, I’m afraid the truck doesn’t take long to heat up.”
“No, it’s not bad.” She let out a breath in relief. “This is the first summer I’ve had air conditioning anyway. I’m used to the hot.”
“That’s right. I remember Brooke saying something about you having air conditioning installed last year.”
He started the ignition, and they pulled away from the curb. She guided him across the suburb to a small Italian restaurant. He found a place in the back of the restaurant and pulled the truck in.
She met him at the back of the truck before he could come around to open her door. There was no reason for her sister’s boyfriend to work that hard at tending to her.
“This place makes a great parmesan,” she said as they walked to the door.
“Veal, chicken, or eggplant?”
“Any of them. You just can’t make a bad choice.” They were escorted to a table toward the back of the restaurant. Fox held her chair until she was settled at the table.
“I’ll have water,” he said. She doubled the order, and they picked up their menus. “I think I’ll take your advice and order the chicken parm.”
“So, how is Brooke?” she asked after they placed their order. As much as she hated to bring up her sister, it seemed wrong not to. She needed a reminder that this wasn’t a date.
“Good, I guess.”
“Ethan?”
“Ethan’s great,” he answered with more enthusiasm.
“He got his own library card the other day. Brought home a massive stack of books. He thinks he’s all that now.
” Fox’s face lit with a smile that made her knees weak.
It was a good thing she was already sitting down, or she would have melted to the floor.
“I love when he stays with me,” she agreed. “I let him pick out the movie we watch in the evening. It always involves a dragon.” They both smile at each other. Then Fox sobered.
“I worry about him,” he said. “If you had to take Ethan and run, would you? If he was in danger?”
“Of course. Why?” He was starting to worry her. “What’s happened?”
“Nothing yet, but Brooke has been acting more erratic lately. I just need to know that you’ll be willing to do whatever you have to for Ethan.” He stopped talking when the waitress arrived. They lapsed into silence.
“You’re scaring me, Fox,” she finally whispered.
“I’m scared too.” He sighed and looked up at her. “It’s not fair, you know.”
“What’s not fair?”
“That Ethan’s not yours. That I didn’t meet you first.”
Bailey felt her head swim at his words. She had felt the same way so many times. Why did her thankless sister get the best things in life? Not that she didn’t have a good life, but Ethan and Fox deserved better.
“Fox—” She didn’t know what she wanted to say, but she didn’t get the chance.
“I know,” he admitted. “I’ve stepped way outside the line.”
“You can’t help how you feel.”
“But I can keep from saying it out loud.” His gaze moved around the room until they settled back on her. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m with Brooke, and Ethan needs me. What I want isn’t important.”