Page 155 of The Body in the Backyard

“Wilfred is a big fan of mine, what with saving his business and thwarting an armed robbery,” Nick explained. “Plus Penny raised our rates on this case we just solved.”

“You’ve been busy.”

“You’re stalling, Thorn. Say it.”

She bit her lip and looked up at him, eyes sparkling with a mixture of tears and happiness. “You managed to surprise a psychic. That’s impressive.”

“I had a little help from a friend,” Nick said, glancing in Gabe’s direction. The man was clutching a box of tissues to his massive chest and watching them from the breakfast nook with teary eyes.

“I’m telling Gabe you called him your friend.”

“If you do that, my first act as your fiancé will be to call you a dirty liar. Now say it so we can run away together and start a new life under assumed identities.”

“Yes.”

“Yes?” he confirmed.

She nodded. “Yes, I’ll marry you. I’m not sure about the running away part. But yes to the marriage thing.”

Nick didn’t give her a chance to say anything else or change her mind. He slid the ring onto her finger, bent her backward, and kissed the hell out of his fiancée.

Dimly, in the back of his mind, the celebratory whoops and applause registered. But all that mattered was the woman in his arms.

The red tapeand departmental bullshit took an unnecessarily long time, as usual.

Nick was just getting ready to tell the officer who was taking his statement in the kitchen where he could shove his notebook when Weber strolled up.

“I think we’re done here. If we have any more questions, we know where to find you,” Weber said.

“About damn time,” Nick complained, stripping off the faulty wire he wore and slapping it into Weber’s hand. Griffin and Bella were in conversation with Griffin’s lawyer, Rebecca, who was drinking straight vodka and looked like she was making a list of all the people she planned to sue.

“I see she said yes,” Weber said, nodding toward Riley through one of the few unbroken windows in the room. She was showing off her ring to Brian, Josie, and Gabe on the patio. Gabe looked up and gave Nick a toothy grin and a thumbs-up.

“I didn’t give her a chance to come up with another answer. Now I just have to keep her busy from now until the wedding so she doesn’t have time to come to her senses.”

Weber gripped Nick’s shoulder. “I’m happy for you. Really. Try not to fuck it up.”

“Thanks.” Nick’s throat started to tighten again. “Oh, and thanks for showing up late and endangering the lives of a bunch of mostly innocent people.”

“Fuck you,” Weber said without any real heat behind the words. “I told you, if you had given me more of a heads-up, I would have had more officers on scene. And what did I say about the wire?”

“‘Don’t fucking move around because the wires are loose,’” they said together.

Nick smirked. “How was I supposed to knowdon’t move around muchmeansstop breathing and turn to stone or else the cops won’t know when the bad guy slips past them?”

“Get out of here, Nicky. Your face is annoying me.”

“I’m going. Beer tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“Hey, Henry,” Nick said, spotting Griffin’s assistant sitting glumly on a kitchen barstool. “Got a minute?”

Nick joinedhis team on Gentry’s patio. Dusk had fallen, and someone had thought to ward off the autumn chill by starting a fire in the firepit. It looked as though the fuel for the blaze was a large stack of Griffin’s signed headshots.

“Congratulations, coz,” Brian said. “Dibs on planning the bachelor party.”

“I am very pleased for you both,” Gabe said.