Chapter Twenty-Three
Trinity woke to the sound of her phone buzzing.
Even though she’d placed the damn thing on vibrate, it buzzed on the nightstand loud enough to wake her. She tried to reach for it but encountered a warm male body instead. She still wasn’t used to sleeping between two men. When she tried to sit up, Jackson groaned in response and wrapped his arms around her to snuggle her closer.
She smiled to herself as she turned to look at where Maxwell continued to sleep undisturbed. The man really did have an amazing capacity to sleep through just about anything. She caught a glimpse of the clock and wanted to groan herself. It was only ten in the morning.
She didn’t blame the men for wanting to sleep in.
They’d had a very long night, after all.
After she and Maxwell had been interrupted, they’d gone directly to the crime scene. They had met the manager on the other side of the building after sending her ahead to give them time to collect themselves. Trinity instantly knew the dead body lying on the beach was Alan Browning, the foreman who had been working on the construction site. She could tell just by glancing at the watch on his wrist before she’d even gotten a chance to see his face. From the look of it, she’d guess he had died shortly after he had left Siren’s Cove the other night.
He probably left the bar and had gone to meet his killer, and whoever was responsible had gone with overkill. Why shoot someone five times when every gunshot increased the chances of being heard? That was either rage or someone who didn’t know what they were doing. From the pattern of the bullets, she thought it was the latter.
After a brief examination of the body, Trinity had called Jackson. She hated disrupting his poker game, but she knew he’d want to know about the dead guy. By the time she and Maxwell made it to where the body had been washed ashore, two officers were standing guard. They tried to stop her from coming closer, but she’d given Jackson’s name and watched as both officers snapped to attention.
She had no idea what Jackson did to the poor guys to make them so afraid of him, but their reaction amused her.
Jackson had arrived on the scene shortly after, and the first thing he had done was make sure she was all right. She had assured him she was, then stepped back to watch him work. He had a natural ability to lead. It was built into his DNA and a part of her felt bad for him because she was the same way. Between her, Jackson, and Maxwell, it was like having three alpha dogs all fighting for the position as leader of the pack.
Only, somehow they had found a good rhythm of switching who took the lead and they did it without thinking.
She and Maxwell had stepped back, letting Jackson take control of the crime scene. She and Jackson had done the same during the meeting earlier in the day, letting Maxwell do his thing. They all had their strengths, and it seemed like they also shared a mutual respect for those abilities.
The problem was the murder of the foreman just didn’t make any sense.
She was almost positive that Browning was the one who had switched the order forms to inferior materials for the build and for the missing funds. It also seemed like he was stupid enough to be behind the botched kidnapping attempt.
But if that was the case, why kill him?
The only way the whole clusterfuck made any sense was if he had been working with someone. And that someone had ended him. Now, it was just a matter of finding out who the hell that was and taking them down.
Trinity considered ignoring everything and going back to sleep for a few more hours, but a whisper of sound coming from the hallway had her going on alert. She jerked up in bed, reaching over a startled Jackson to grab the gun she insisted on keeping on the bedside table. Pointing it at the doorway, she sat up, ready to defend them as the door to the bedroom was pushed open.
“Son of a bitch!” Even as the curse left her lips, she relaxed and put the gun down in her lap. “I almost shot you!”
“Nice to see you, too, Trin,” Tony Moretti said with a grin.
“Nice to see all of you,” Finnegan Kelly amended as he propped a shoulder against the door frame.
Jackson let out a vicious curse as he debated taking the gun from Trinity and shooting both men himself. He eyed the two large, dangerous individuals standing in the doorway with a fierce scowl, not liking the way they were grinning at the woman by his side. Glancing over, he was relieved to see Maxwell had dragged the sheet up to cover Trinity’s bare breasts.
She sighed. “What the hell are you guys doing here?”
“Well, it doesn’t look like she’s here against her will,” Finn said to Tony, ignoring her question. “Guess you were right.” He grinned back at her. “Looks like you’ve gone island native, Trin.”
“Who the bloody hell are they?” Maxwell growled out, still holding the sheet up shielding her from their view.
Both Finn and Tony groaned.
“Another King in the family. Jesus, does that make you and T-rex sisters now?” Tony asked. “That could be very dangerous.”
Finn’s laughter had Trinity grinding her teeth. “Get out, Irish!”
“Aww, but we came all this way to see you,” Tony said with a grin.
“Out. Now. Or I’ll shoot you both.”
Tony held his hands up in the air. “We’re going. But I expect you downstairs in five. I’m hungry.” He grabbed Finn by the shoulder and pulled him out of the doorway before Finn could crack another joke. “Careful, man, you know she doesn’t have a sense of humor if you wake her up. She really might shoot us.”
Their voices receded as she flopped back onto the bed, covering her eyes with her forearms. Jesus, this was just what she needed to wake up to.
She sighed. “Seriously. The next person besides you two that sees me naked is going to have to die.”