I caught his punch in my hand, holding him back. “Calm down!”
“She would never leave me! Someone has her!” Spittle sprayed my face. “Someone has her!”
“Mr. Visser.”
He kicked me in the shin. I bit back a curse, holding onto my calm. “If you don’t settle down, I can’t help you.”
“Where is my wife?”
A second kick had my fist connecting with his head. Wham. I caught him as he went down.
“You idiot,” I told him.
That punch had been a last resort. I knew the way to hit to cause a knockout, to not inflict damage. Jake and I trained in a gym not too far from our house, and boxing was one of my favorite ways of channeling my personal shit. So, I knew how to hit in different circumstances.
All that rage in Mr. Visser wouldn’t do anything but make things worse. I wanted to help find his wife, but this wasn’t the way business was conducted. Once he woke up, I’d give him another chance to sit and talk with me. If not, I’d be done.
The front door downstairs opened. I heard Louise.
Shit. I put Mr. Visser down gently.
“Dean? Are we good to come up?” Jake called. “We’ve got something for you.”
I went to the top of the stairs, opening the door.
“Hi, Papa!” Louise called up, waving.
Aw. Her rosy cheeks and red nose were too cute.
“Hi, darling.”
“You with a client?” Jake asked. He had a paper box in his hands.
“Sort of.”
His brow creased in thought. “Sorry, we’ll get out of your hair.”
“No, you can come up. Just give me a minute.”
“That’s fine. Is Cherry in?”
Jake was standing by the other door that went to Cherry’s window.
“No. Way too early. Wait there a moment.”
“Cool.”
“Cool, Papa,” Louise added.
I smiled as I hurried over to Mr. Visser, dragging him out of the way. There was a cupboard behind Jake’s desk. That would do as a hiding place until I could explain to Jake what’d happened. Wouldn’t be good for Louise to see any of this.
I returned to the stairs. “Come on up.”
Jake nodded and took our daughter’s hand. “Be careful, Lou.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I scooped Louise up before she made it to the final step. Her blue puffer jacket carried the cold from outdoors. “Brrrr!”
She laughed at that, and I gave her kisses on her cheek. “How’s my little girl?”
With the eye above her right cheek closed, she gave the spot I’d planted my lips on a wipe. “Fine, Papa. Are you busy?”
“Never too busy for you.”
“Daddy said I’m a tyrant.”
“Sorry?”
“A tyrant. What’s one of them?”
I cocked my eyebrow at my boyfriend.
He shrugged.
“You’re not a tyrant, darling.”
Jake looked away, sheepishly.
I kissed her again, and she removed my trace.
“What’s wrong with Papa’s kisses? You don’t like?” I planted some more on her in quick succession. “What about the other side?”
She had such a cheeky laugh. “Papa!”
“What about … your head.”
“Papa! Help me, Daddy!”
“Oh, leave me out of this,” Jake said.
“What if I eat your nose?”
“No! I like my nose.”
“But I like it more.”
She stuck a hand to my mouth. “My nose.”
“Ooo! Fingers!”
She shrieked with laughter as I gummed her digits.
“Daddy! Help!”
Jake popped his head between us. “Yes? How can I help, young lady?”
“Save me!”
“From who? The finger monster?”
“Yes!”
“But that’s Papa.” He looked at me, then at Lou. “Huh? I don’t see a finger monster anywhere.” His eyes widened. “Wait … is it behind me?” He spun.
“No! It’s Papa!”
“Over here?” Jake looked under my desk, then shrugged. “Nope. No monster.”
“Daddy!”
“Is it a tiny monster?”
“Big! Big!”
“It’s me!” I boomed and did my best evil laugh.
“Daddy!”
“Not my Lou!” Jake yelled. “No!”
“She’s all mine!” I evil-laughed again.
Jake chased us around the office until Louise needed the toilet. I took her upstairs because there was no way she was using the steep stairs by herself.
Once she was done, she went and sat with a kid’s book about Saturn in the corner with a cup of hot chocolate and half of my boterkoek.
“Who was the client?” Jake asked.
“I need to talk to you about that.”
“Okay.”
We sat together at his desk. I explained all about Mr. Visser and his missing wife.
“He’s in the cupboard?”
I nodded. “Had to hide him.”
“We shouldn’t stay long, then. Don’t wanna be here when he wakes up.”
“Sorry.”
“What for? I’d have knocked him out too. Is your shin okay?”
“Yes, it’s fine. Thanks for the cake. That was really sweet.”
“Yeah.” He looked lost in thought.
“It wasn’t about bringing me cake, was it?”
Jake shook his head. “I need to talk to you, but now’s not the time.”
“Now is always the time. What’s wrong?”
My muscles tensed after he’d told me about this Parker man. “Dodgy bastard.”
“My thoughts exactly. We haven’t dealt with him in the past, have we?”
“No. Never.”
He sighed. “I didn’t think so, but I gotta be sure, you know? Like a disgruntled client, or a perp out to get his vengeance. But I remember them all.”
“I’m walking you home.”
“You can’t. There’s a client in the cupboard.”
“I don’t care.”
Jake shook his head. “You can’t leave a man you don’t know in here. What if he wanders upstairs and potions himself to death?”
Shit. He was right. “I just don’t want you out there alone.”
“How many times have I been in the field alone when we’ve had to split up? I’ll be fine.” He reached behind him, tapping his staff. “Plus, I have DP here.”
“DP?”
“I decided he needed a name.”
“But DP?”
“Yeah, Double Penetration.”
“Seriously?”
He stood up and leaned forward, lowering his voice to a whisper. “You have a filthy mind, Dean Tseng. Double Penetration because it has two pointy ends, not because of some kinky three-way fantasy.”
“I’ve got all the D you’ll ever need.”
“Oh. Really?” He smirked at my creasing forehead. “Of course, you have, treacle toes. I enjoy every inch of it.”
I leaned forward to meet him and kissed his lips. He tasted of stroopwafel. “Have yourself a treat on the way?”
He licked his lips. “I do love my treats.”
Damn. The way he ran his tongue
