Chapter 24
Miranda was the one who met their favorite pretty boy Ian at the diner in Helery County when he made it to Oklahoma.
Knight was busy arguing with who she thought was Seth Lorcan on the phone, about a previous case from six years ago that Seth was still digging into.
It could have been Sebastian, though. He went by Seb, at times.
But Knight wasn’t a nickname kind of man.
Except…well…Sunny. He called her Sunny, after all.
Hard to miss that. He called her that a lot—especially when his guard was down.
She was still trying to decide if she liked it or not. He hadn’t started calling her that in a good way. But…now…it just sort of slipped out when the man really wasn’t paying that much attention.
The Lorcans were really getting on Knight’s nerves right now, apparently.
Knight was one hundred percent convinced that previous case did not tie into whatever had happened with Andy Anderson, a colleague who had been murdered by the same monster who had targeted Jac and her sister back in November. It was not going well—voices had actually been raised.
Well, voices coming through Knight’s phone. Knight had been as coldly Knight as always. No doubt the Lorcan on the other end of the line was a bit heated now.
It probably was Seth, considering. He was the most hotheaded.
Or…Sin…Sin supposedly had a dark temper when riled.
Having identical brothers working for PAVAD could be confusing at times.
That was for sure. That they’d all married women from PAVAD, too—well…
Lorcan was a popular name at PAVAD, no denying that.
Still, Seth was good at digging. If there was something Knight missed, he’d find it. But…Knight very rarely missed things. Which was good for the Bureau, if not somewhat annoying for Miranda. Considering.
Ian was talking with the waitress when she walked in.
Miranda studied him for a moment before he noticed her.
He was so pretty, with rich black hair, eyes of intense blue, and that sleek, sexy aura—she could so see him as the cover model on a vampire romance novel, honestly.
Too beautiful. Too mysterious. Shiver-worthy, that man.
All the ladies loved Ian Ward. Including just looking at Ian Ward. Miranda had noticed—and looked—a time or fifty herself.
He knew it, too. But…well, Ian cared more about intellectual pursuits than physical. She was almost certain of it. If she got him talking about his pet projects, he would go on for hours. And hours and hours and hours.
He was so adorable at times.
That man was very uniquely wired. He might be off reading over cold case files, or researching serval cats or tiger sharks or beetles or electric circuits or anything else that caught his attention just for the hell of it. The man loved information—of any kind.
Undiagnosed autism was her honest opinion—she was very familiar with the signs, considering she had been raised by a man just like him, and her sister had been diagnosed at age two or so.
Ian never spoke about his background, but she thought a grandparent had raised him from around the age of four. She hadn’t pried.
He’d never come right out and said he was on the spectrum, but…well…Miranda was certain he was. She was just certain he was undiagnosed.
Miranda was ninety-nine percent convinced he had a thing for a certain computer analyst who had absolutely no idea how the man felt about her. It was something about the way Ian looked at Dani sometimes when no one else was watching…
And Dani turned…intense…when Ian was in her orbit. That girl was very aware of the beautiful Ian Ward, too. Dani just wouldn’t admit it yet.
Still, Miranda had a romantic heart. She was probably just seeing things. Maybe.
She thought the two of them would be really good together. At heart, they were both very much alike in how they viewed things. And they were both total nerds, too. They could nerd out together as much as they wanted. They would be good for each other. She so wanted that for her friends.
She just wanted the people she cared about to be happy.
That wasn’t too much to ask, right?
“Ian Kesley Ward…just what are you doing?” Miranda snuck up beside him and almost whispered the words in his ear.
He jerked, just a little. Miranda loved to tease him at times—and no one was watching.
He and Tag—teasing them was a lot of fun.
They teased back, too. Ian turned toward her, smirking. “I feel so betrayed…”
“Hello, gorgeous. You know you have my heart. Well, you…have mine and countless others…” He stepped away from the waitress, who almost had an actual pout on her face once she realized she was losing his attention. To Miranda.
So predictable. The man was just too pretty for the women in this world to handle. “I do try.”
“So…where is your other half?” Ian was constantly making jokes about her and Knight being perfect for each other. Well, Miranda wasn’t going to ever go there. She just wasn’t.
Miranda and Knight—never going to happen.
It just wasn’t.
“My partner, the great and grumpy Allan Knight…is in the rental, deep in…discuss-ument, aka arguing…with Seth Lorcan right now.”
“Ouch.”
“Yes. It could be worse. It could be Sin.” Seth’s identical triplet brother—talk about seriously hot triple threats.
Sin was…coldly terrifying. He was even worse than Knight at being sinister.
Except with his wife and two kids. Sin and Cody were so cute together, too.
That big scary Lorcan man followed that woman around like a puppy.
“Very true.”
“How is everyone back at the fort?” He would have checked in with Dani before heading out. In fact, he had several thick envelopes in his hands that she recognized as coming from Dani’s lab. She always used green-label envelopes.
“Jac is finishing up. She’s a bit pissy at what this testimony entailed.
I’m not sure of the full details.” Ian was a bit of an enigma.
Sometimes, she didn’t really know what he was thinking.
He played the cards close, that was for sure.
He’d become even more closed off since he’d been injured.
He’d been shot in the stomach during a previous case when someone had targeted one of their colleagues—before Cold Case had been formed.
It had taken him a while to recover—most of the damage had been to his spleen and his liver.
He was fully recovered now—but it had changed him.
Just like it had changed Knight, what had happened to him.
Of course it had. Trauma changed brain patterns. For everyone.
But Ian had people who cared about him. PAVAD cared about its people.
Including the snarly big old Knight who had been in a very dark mood when she’d left him. “Tag and Lyn?”
He hesitated. “I am not sure. She said something about body slamming someone and she has a black eye…”
“Oh, so it’s going great for them—this time.
I thought pairing them up would have…interesting results.
” Oil and water, those two. But…they worked phenomenally well together.
But a black eye? Seriously? Lyndon really wasn’t the type for throwdowns.
She was even more of a nerd than Ian—with thick glasses and Miranda had almost bought her a pocket protector for her last birthday. Tag was their rogue cowboy, though.
“If you think that is the word for it…”
“I saw you in here and figured I’d save the female population of Helery County from you. I have an order at the deli across the road—for me and the old Great Cranky One. I’ll fill you in on what we know once we are out of here. I suspect the walls have ears here.”
“There is a photo of Paige Brockman on that wall right there. A much younger one.” Ian shifted the conversation quickly, the way he did. “Did you know that?”
Miranda had seen the photos. And it had taken her a moment to put it together.
“Hmmm. Cousin, I think. Some of her sisters and cousins grew up with an aunt around here, I believe.” It was a small, small world sometimes. Connections were everywhere.
Connections. She’d spent all morning trying to track down connections.
Harper Wycoff had connections, too. As did Kevin Adams…and… “You feel up to digging into connections from over a decade ago?”
Her gorgeous buddy here…had dual degrees in sociology and history.
His mind was almost phenomenal at connecting the two.
Doctor Ian Ward—PhD as of six months ago—was brilliant.
The pretty side of him was just extra. Dani really should just scoop him up.
They’d probably have the prettiest little nerd children together, those two.
“Of course I am. So what brings me to Oklahoma? I haven’t ever been to Oklahoma. I’ll add it to my list of states.”
“I need you to pair up virtually with Dani. Find me everything you can about Kevin.” Ward could handle interviews for them. And the man was like a walking recorder. He remembered things, saw connections, and was just beyond amazing at what he did.
“Noted. Let’s grab Knight and get started.”
“Can’t we just…leave him behind for the natives? He is seriously cranky today.” Like he was…every single time he had to deal with anyone related to Malachi Brockman. Someday, her rusty Knight in cranky armor was going to have to deal with what had happened.
Find some type of closure with the Brockman family. There were just too many of those Brockmans and Lorcans floating around PAVAD for him to avoid it forever.
But Miranda was not going to be the one to tell him that.
She was just not that brave.