Page 13 of The Perfect Illusion (Jessie Hunt #39)

When Jessie pulled into the garage, she was happy to see that Ryan’s car was already there.

They hadn’t had a chance to really talk at all today, what with the case he’d been working on since early morning, as well as her own busy day. She even harbored hopes that they might get a chance for a romantic moment.

With Kat staying at the house and Ryan being on desk duty until just recently, their opportunities for private time together had been limited.

The Kat situation would be remedied this weekend.

And Jessie hoped that she and Ryan would be assigned a case together again soon.

But for now, those private moments were few and far between. They could really use one.

Jessie parked the car and entered the house. She found Kat in the kitchen fixing herself a mug of tea.

“Welcome home, Ms. Hunt,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Jessie said. “You look like you’re settling in for the night.”

“Yeah,” Kat told her. “Long day. How was yours?”

“After I dropped you off this morning, I got a call from Captain Parker,” she explained. “A former beauty queen was murdered in the bedroom of her Brentwood mansion and then posed in her sash and tiara. So that’s been fun.”

“And you’re working this with Brady, right?” a familiar voice said from behind her.

She turned around to find her husband coming out of their bedroom.

Ryan was dressed comfortably in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

The casual look did nothing to diminish his visual appeal.

His warm brown eyes and sweet smile—highlighted by impressive dimples—were contrasted by his impossibly square jaw and the well-muscled frame that strained at his slightly-too-tight t-shirt. He looked as great as ever.

“I am,” she said as he came over and gave her a kiss. ‘It looks like you’re officially done for the day.”

“Yep,” he said, “I got home about ten minutes ago and I’m wiped out. Luckily all Nettles and I have left is some paperwork on our case, which we pushed off until tomorrow morning. Getting back into the groove of field duty has been a process.”

Jessie was slightly surprised by the admission. Captain Parker had been slowly reintegrating him back into the HSS team after a poisoning incident that nearly killed him and left him weakened for over a month.

Ryan had told her in a private moment that he knew getting re-acclimated to work would be slow going. But she didn’t expect him to admit it in front of Kat. She considered that a promising development in his ability to be more open.

“Well, you should definitely take it easy the rest of the evening,” she recommended. “And I plan to join you in that endeavor.”

“I would have thought that between you and Brady, you’d have closed this case already,” he teased, squeezing her hip to let her know he was messing with her.

“We had a pretty good suspect there for a while,” Jessie told him, unfazed by the playful dig.

“He was a pageant coordinator with a record of harassment. But he has an ironclad alibi. So first thing tomorrow, we’re going to go through the victim’s other contacts.

Jamil and Beth have reams of names for us, maybe too many. ”

“I’m happy to help once Nettles and I wrap up tomorrow,” he offered.

“I’ll let Brady know that,” she said. “I’m sure he’d be happy to have you on board.”

“That is if he doesn’t consider three to be a crowd,” Ryan said, though neither of them thought he’d object.

“Speaking of three being a crowd, I’m going to head to my bedroom,” Kat said. “Could I please hitch a ride with someone tomorrow morning?”

“I’ll take you in,” Ryan said. “Where am I dropping you this time—street market, train station, mall?”

“Let’s play it by ear,” Kat told him as she headed down the hallway. “It’s more exciting that way.”

After she closed the door, Ryan turned to Jessie.

“You want to change into your jammies?” he asked. “I’d be happy to accompany you.”

“That would be lovely,” she said as he took her hand and led her back to their room. Maybe this would be their romantic moment.

She hadn’t expected one, with the tension that had been hovering over them of late. There was the ongoing issue of whether they would have a child, whether via birth or adoption. It was already on the back burner even before Ryan had put a formal pause on the process.

He’d initially been the one pushing for them to become parents, but of late his attitude had changed.

He’d told her flat out that until she got a handle on the churning ball of rage inside her—the one that seemed on the verge of exploding any time she encountered a truly objectionable perpetrator—he wasn’t comfortable bringing a child into their lives.

Some small part of her was relieved that it wasn’t a constant discussion point for them.

But that was overwhelmed by the shame she felt at knowing that her life partner didn’t think she was a safe person for a child to be around.

But in this moment, when Ryan was tenderly holding her hand as they stepped into the bedroom, she decided to push her concerns to the mental back burner.

She moved into the closet to pick her jammies for the night and was just sliding off her shoes when a thought occurred to her: she was supposed to check out the pendant necklace in Mark Haddonfield’s box of personal effects to see if it might actually be a thumb drive like the one Marcus Sullivan used.

But doing that would upset the mood, and she wasn’t sure the next time one might come around.

Haddonfield would have to wait. Instead of jammies, Jessie grabbed a slinky satin nightgown she thought better fit the occasion.

She was just sliding her pants off when her phone rang. She glanced at it and groaned.

“Who is it?” Ryan asked from the bedroom.

“Brady,” she told him.

“I thought you guys weren’t picking up again until tomorrow.”

“We weren’t. That’s what worries me. He wouldn’t call unless it was important,” she said as she answered the call. “What’s up Brady?”

“Sorry to bug you at this hour,” he said. “but there’s been another murder and it looks connected to the Hollinger killing. I was going to head there now. Are you able to meet me?”

“Of course,” Jessie said with a sigh she tried to hide. “Send me the address and I’ll be there ASAP.”

She hung up, then proceeded to pull her pants back up again.

“Rain check?” she asked of Ryan, who was now standing in the closet doorway with a hangdog expression.

“Absolutely,” he said, forcing a smile onto his face. “Looking forward to it.”

Jessie was too. In the meantime, she turned her attention from the potential merging of bodies to the investigation into a dead one.