oversee their oil interests in Venezuela. Good riddance to everyone except the Venezuelans, Dodge thought.
'I hope they know to lock up their daughters,' he told Caroline when they read the notice in the business pages of the newspaper.
Her tummy had a bump that he thought was adorable. 'I can see you in profile now.'
He couldn't keep his hands off the slight protrusion, sometimes to her annoyance.
'Dodge, you're in my way.'
'When's it supposed to kick?'
'A while yet.'
'It'll feel weird, won't it? Something moving around inside you.'
She winked at him. 'You've moved around inside me.'
'Hmm, talking dirty comes with pregnancy. I like it.'
She swatted aside his wandering hands. 'The first time I feel the baby move, I promise to let you know. In the meantime, it wants to be fed, and I can't get dinner on the table if you're going to continue feeling me up.'
He grinned wickedly and covered her swollen breasts with his hands. 'Now, about these...'
Dinner was late being served that evening.
She listed her house and his condo with Jim Malone Realty, and they sold within days of each other. She had found what she referred to as a 'doll house' in an older, established neighborhood. Dodge donated his furniture to Goodwill, since it was nothing to brag about, and they moved Caroline's into their shared residence.
It took Dodge four evenings to paint the spare bedroom a soft unisex yellow and three evenings to assemble the crib. 'I hope the kid likes it, because I'm never doing this again,' he informed her.
'Stop calling my baby the kid.'
He grabbed Caroline's hand and pulled her down beside him onto the nursery room floor amid the tools he'd used during the project. '
'My mother's maiden name was Carter. What do you think? Carter Hanley?'
'What if it's a girl?'
'I'm thinking.'
'You're pretty when you're thinking.' He kissed the tip of her nose, and they wound up making love on the rug.
They were complacent about a wedding date. 'A piece of paper isn't going to make me any happier than I already am,' he told her. 'But I want to make this union official.'
She agreed. 'Before the baby gets here.'
But a date was never set, and they were content with the way things were, so neither dwelled on that technicality. Days turned into weeks, then months, and still they felt no urgency to have their pairing solemnized.
She had returned to work as soon as the bruises around her eyes were no longer detectable. To make up for lost time, she'd doubled her efforts to become the top salesperson in the company. Often she worked late into the evenings, showing houses when it was convenient for clients, hosting open houses on weekends.
Her erratic schedule was okay with Dodge since most nights he had to go to the task force jam sessions after his shift at the tire plant. He was beginning to think the whole thing was a waste of his time and the taxpayers' money. Had a promotion to detective not been the carrot, he'd have asked to be removed from the special unit. He hated having to spend every workday at that damn plant. Mopping floors and replacing burned-out lightbulbs didn't seem like police work.
But had he quit the task force and gone back to patrolling a beat, he would have felt that he was letting down not only his new family but himself, and especially Jimmy Gonzales. So he stuck with it, even though cultivating Crystal's confidence had lost all its allure. The only woman Dodge desired was Caroline, and his desire for her was so fierce, so all-consuming, it was damn near impossible to work up any enthusiasm for his quasi romance with Crystal.
But his pursuit must have been convincing, because one day as they ate their lunch together, she became weepy. 'I'm worried about Franklin.'
'In what way?'
'The way he's acting.' She pulled her lower lip through her teeth. 'I shouldn't talk about it. It's probably nothing.'
Dodge appeared suitably worried about her. 'But what if it is something? What if his rehabilitation in prison didn't take?'
She smiled weakly. 'He's promised me that he won't break the law, ever again.'
'Do you believe him? Can he keep a promise to anybody about anything?'
She crumpled against him, resting her head on his shoulder. He placed his arm around her. 'You're so good to me, Marvin.'
He bent his head over hers and kissed her lightly on the cheek. 'I just want to take care of you.'
The other members of the task force were excited when he reported this to them. 'Albright's planning another robbery, and she knows it,' the captain said, rubbing his stubby hands together with exhilaration.
'That's what I think, too,' Dodge said. 'I need to get into their house. It's a rental. A duplex. Crystal told me the other side is empty, and Albright is using it for storage, without the landlord's knowledge or permission.'
'What's he storing?'
'Crystal doesn't know.'
'You believe her?'
'Yeah, I do. It's a bone of contention between them. I need to find out what he's got in there.'
'Anything you find would be inadmissible in court,' the captain reminded him.
'Yeah, but if I saw something suspicious, we could put him under constant surveillance. And if it was something incriminating, I could use it as leverage to get Crystal to turn state's witness against him.'
'You'd have to tell her you're a cop.'
'Not necessarily. Not at first. I could still be the concerned friend persuading her to do as her conscience dictated.'
'I doubt she would ever agree,' one of the other cops remarked. 'Not if it meant betraying her boyfriend.'
Dodge looked at him with disparagement. 'If it was easy,
The captain sided with Dodge. 'Can you get in and out of their place without Albright knowing?'
'I'll do my best. But if I go missing, look there first.'
'This is serious, Dodge. Cover your ass. Don't get yourself killed over this. It would make us look bad,' the captain said with cruel candor.
