Page 7
He pressed his lips into a thin line, watching Sparrow, who had decided to add more people to her drawing.
Since starting therapy, Quaid had been forced to take numerous trips down memory lane as he learned to accept the loss of his sister and the abandonment of his mother.
It had been a rough road, but he was coming to terms with things he’d spent thirty years stuffing away in the closet of his mind.
I knew for a fact that when he looked at Sparrow, he saw a reflection of himself as a child. He saw his broken family and the suffering that had taken him thirty years to articulate. He didn’t want that for her, and I could hardly blame him.
I gave his hand another squeeze, drawing him back to the present. “Take the case. Sparrow needs someone like you on her side. Someone who gets it.”
The young girl lifted her head. She smiled, and for the first time, I noticed her missing front tooth. The new one poked through in a rigid line, barely past the gumline. “Are you talking about me? I heard my name.”
“We are.” Quaid crouched to be at her level. “Are you ready to go home?”
“Okay. Are you coming with me?”
Quaid glanced at me as though seeking reassurance, and I nodded.
“Yeah. I am.”
“Can I ride in the police car?”
Quaid’s smile softened the worry lines around his eyes. “That’s up to your daddy, but we can ask.”
I packed up Sparrow’s makeshift art supplies and returned Torin’s desk to its original state of chaos. Sparrow gave Quaid her drawing, and he carefully folded it and tucked it into a pocket.
“Thank you. I’ll put it on my fridge at home.”
As a group, with Sparrow between us, we traversed the long hallway to MPU.
Jordyn waited with the girl’s upset father.
The man looked like shit. Rumpled clothing, blotchy skin, swollen eyes, and a distinct slump gave the impression he was being crushed by the entire world.
I would feel the same in his position. Defeated. Helpless. Afraid.
Quaid made introductions, but Nixon seemed too out of it to care who I was or that I’d spent the last thirty minutes entertaining his daughter.
In fact, he barely acknowledged Sparrow at all.
What did it say when the girl clung to Quaid’s hand and didn’t seek out her dad for support?
It took Quaid’s coaxing to encourage the reluctant child toward her father.
Before Quaid could take off, I snagged his arm and drew him aside. “What can I do?”
“What do you mean? ”
“I either go home and sit on the couch to wait for you to finish this case, or I lend a hand and hope we can solve it faster. You know, as well as I do, that more hands on deck can make a huge difference.”
“Az, you’re on leave.”
I chuckled. “Same as you, hot stuff. We’re a team. Let’s bring this boy home and end on a high note, then we can ride off into the sunset with our own happy family.”
Quaid glanced at Jordyn, who had one eye on her partner and one on Mr. Davis. They must have shared an unspoken conversation because Jordyn approached, carrying the iPad tucked against her chest.
Quaid indicated the device. “Who’s the business partner again?”
Jordyn eyed me with a wrinkle in her nose.
“Aww, don’t be like that, Frawley. Why do you gotta sneer like that?”
Jordyn rolled her eyes. “I had to listen to you two have sex. It traumatized me. I earned this face and will wear the perpetual look of disgust for an eternity.”
“No one told you to stand there and listen.”
Quaid, flush-cheeked with embarrassment, snapped, “Can we please focus?” To Jordyn, he said, “The business partner. Now.”
Jordyn smothered a grin as she tapped around on the iPad, finding the information. “Jude Marigold. Nixon claims they’ve been best friends since childhood. They went to university together and formed a tech startup company called NexGen when they graduated.”
“Hang on.” I snagged a Post-it and pen from a nearby desk and jotted everything down. “Anything else? Age, address?”
“Not yet.”
“The nanny, too.” Quaid tipped his chin at the iPad. “Give him that information. ”
“I have less on her. Her first name is Clementine. She’s twenty and a university student.”
Quaid raised his voice. “Mr. Davis. Your nanny’s last name?”
“Um… Prescott.”
“Thank you.” Quaid turned his back on the father and, in a hushed tone, said, “They recently fired her.”
“A little birdie told me.” I motioned to Sparrow who lingered nearby, waiting for Quaid.
“It’s not much, but we’ll get more details once we get to the house. Find out what you can about them in the meantime. Apparently, Nixon recently accused his partner of embezzling funds and threatened to file a lawsuit. Jude’s a gambler. Might be in debt.”
“Can’t do a financial background without a warrant.”
“I know. Right now, he and the nanny are our only red flags, and I say that loosely. We don’t have enough information on the rest of the family yet to know if there are more. It’s a start.”
“Leave it with me.”
“Call Costa. He can probably get access to dirt that doesn’t require a warrant. I’ll get one if I feel we need it, but—”
“I can do a simple background check without leaning on your bro Ruiz.”
My comment earned Quaid’s trademark sneer. “He’s not my ‘bro.’”
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you say, hot stuff. Keep me posted, and I’ll call if I find anything noteworthy.”
“Thanks.” Quaid glanced at where Nixon and Sparrow waited by the elevator.
The father barely acknowledged the daughter, too lost in his grief and oblivious to her mounting distress.
“Oh. One more thing.” He held up a note tucked inside a plastic evidence bag.
“Can you fingerprint this? I’ll get elimination prints from the parents when we get to the house. ”
I frowned at a short statement scrawled on its surface, eyeing Quaid, who shrugged. “We’ve got a lot to do.”
“Apparently.”
Jordyn photographed the note using the iPad camera app before saying, “And if you get a chance, contact FedEx and see who delivered this to the Davises’ residence on Tuesday.” She gave me the address, and I jotted it down.
Since Quaid was professional to his core, I didn’t steal a kiss goodbye.
To him, it would be inappropriate. If the mood was right, he allowed it, but this wasn’t one of those times.
Plus, Jordyn would rake us through the coals at this point.
We’d been called out on enough public indecency for one day.
Instead, I offered a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder, whispering, “Talk soon. Love you.”
“I love you too.”
Jordyn groaned, tucking the iPad under her arm. “You two are ten levels of disgusting. You know the honeymoon ended eighteen months ago, right? The happy sappy puppy love thing, the fucking in the storage room, that can stop anytime. PS, I’m not the only one who knows what you two do in there.”
Quaid’s eyes widened in horror.
I lightly punched Jordyn’s shoulder. “You’re just jealous. Don’t ruin a good thing. Do you know how long it took me to convince him to get naughty in public?”
“Az. That’s… not something I want my partner to know.”
I laughed, and Quaid grumbled under his breath, marching away.
“Call if you need me,” I said to Jordyn.
“We will. ”
The minute the elevator doors slid closed, I found my phone and hit Connect on Ruiz’s number.
Fuck this. Our first baby was due to arrive any day.
I might not have been able to ask Quaid to step away from the case, but I could damn well ensure he had all the backup available to solve it as fast as humanly possible.
“Christ. What?” The surly tone on the other end of the line was all for show.
“Aren’t you on leave? Why the truck are you calling me?
It’s after six on a Friday night. I’m at home with my kids.
I’m done for the weekend. If your girl Bryn is not in labor, I’m kicking your…
hiney.” His tone shifted to veiled excitement. “Is she in labor? Is it time?”
“You know I wouldn’t harass you if it wasn’t important.”
“Oh my god, it’s the baby. Heck yeah. Quaid said he’d call me when she went into labor. Why are you phoning? Is everything okay? Where are you? Should I come?”
I laughed. “Good lord, you’d think you were the father.”
“Shut your piehole.”
“No baby yet. As far as I know, Bryn is still as pregnant as ever, and we hope she holds off for a couple more days.”
“Why? What’s happening?”
“Your boy friend took a case ten seconds before we walked out the door on our last shift, and he needs our help.”
“Doyle, for the love of god, stop calling him my boyfriend.”
“What? He’s your best friend, and he’s a boy. Hence, he’s your boy friend. Two words. I didn’t combine them. If you did, that’s on you. I know it doesn’t translate well in speech, but I separated them. There was a distinct pause. Gives it an entirely different meaning.”
“Jesus trucking Christ. I should have moved to Calgary. They offered me a full-time contract six years ago, and I turned them down. Tia didn’t want to relocate, but I should have taken it. I could have saved myself a world of suffering. ”
“You’re so hard done by. What’s with the non-swearing?”
“Kids in the room.”
“Ah, I see. You should educate Torin.”
“Educate him yourself. You better learn to maneuver the creative lingo, too. Kids pick up on language like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Noted.”
“What has Quaid gotten himself into?”
“Missing kid. Eerie ransom note and everything.” I held it up, examining it through the bag. “I don’t have all the information, but he gave me two names and wants me to look into them.”
“So look into them. You aren’t incapable of doing a background check. It’s detective work 101.”
“Yeah, but I’m not nearly as good as you.”
“Don’t you dare fluff my feathers, Doyle. It will not end well.”
“Aww, classic Ruiz threats. They don’t affect me like you think. Come on, give a brother a hand?”
Ruiz groaned. “Talk him out of it. Why is he even doing this? Frawley’s capable.”
“She is, but her temp partner doesn’t start until Monday, and—”
“Get her a temp for her temp. Make phone calls. Call in favors.”
“I am calling in favors. From you. Costa—”
“Noooo. Don’t first name me. That means you’re serious. If you’re serious, I have to put pants on and come back to the office instead of watching Disney princess movies with my girls.”
“I’m concerned you aren’t wearing pants in front of your girls.”
“I have shorts on, you moron. It’s fucking summer.” A muffled sound in the background made him grumble. “Yes, Daddy knows it’s a bad word. I’m sorry. Don’t tell Mommy.” Quieter, he hissed, “You’re getting me in trouble.”
“You’re getting yourself in trouble. ”
“Cork it, Doyle. Your turn is coming.”
Softening my tone, I pleaded with the only weapon I had.
The truth. “Quaid has… connected with this case on a personal level. You know how he does sometimes. It’s a done deal.
He’s locked in. I won’t change his mind.
Give me what you can so I can take my husband home and start a family.
I don’t want him to miss our baby being born. ”
The department’s surly IT guy had a soft spot for Quaid, even though he couldn’t admit it.
Torin and I teased them endlessly about their bromance, much to Ruiz’s despair, but I liked what they had.
He did too, as much as he denied it. Quaid needed good people on his side, and Costa Ruiz had proven to be good people.
In the past eight months, their bond had deepened even more as Quaid sought parenting advice from a man with a soft spot for his two girls.
“I’ll be there in an hour. Meet me in my office. Don’t touch anything. If you want to poke around before I get there, do it from your own computer.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ruiz disconnected without saying goodbye.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7 (Reading here)
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55