“Isn’t it?” Ray asked. “I figured the big man here would like that information.” He lightly slapped Eliot’s arm. “Now, if we’re done, I think I’ll go back to minding my own business.”
I wasn’t quite done with him. “Is there any scam you know of that requires a Santa suit?”
He shook his head. “There are a hundred different scams you can run around Christmas. A Santa suit might help sell it because people trust Santa. If you’re asking if I knew what he was into specifically, I can’t help you. I’ve told you everything I can.”
“And we appreciate it,” Eliot noted. “We’re going to need the address of that halfway house before you go.”
“Oh, geez.” Ray sounded weary. “Fine, but I don’t want you contacting me again about Beau. I’ve given you all I have. I want peace on this.”
“We’ll see what we can arrange,” Eliot replied. “For now, we need that address. You’re free to go after that.”
“Thanks for being so magnanimous,” Ray drawled. “Oh, wait, that wasn’t you.”
“You’ll live.” Eliot waited until he was out of earshot to ask the obvious. “Can you work with that?”
“I think I can work with several parts. I just need to think.”
“How about we think over lunch?”
I beamed. “You read my mind.”
9 Nine
“What are you thinking? I can tell you’re thinking something.”
Eliot waited until we were in his truck to ask the obvious question.
“I don’t know.” That was the truth. I turned up the heat and held my hands in front of the vent as he waited for me to process. “I think we should go to the halfway house.”
Eliot didn’t look thrilled at the prospect. “Every time we cross that Eight Mile threshold and head to Detroit, something terrible happens … and often to me.”
“Name one thing.”
“Um ... I remember a certain instance not long after we met when you and Lexie got into some trouble and I ended up hit by a car.”
Oh, of course he would bring that up. “Name a second time.”
“There have been ten times, and you’ve ended up in trouble a time or two, too.”
“You don’t have to go with me.” I was already formulating a plan. “In fact, maybe it’s better if I go down there myself. It’s likely those men will be more willing to talk to me if I’m alone.”
He immediately started shaking his head. “Absolutely not. If you’re going down there, I’m going with you.”
“Because you think I need a protector?”
“Because we’re a team.” He was earnest. “Haven’t I proven that over and over?”
“You have, but you hate it when I get into trouble.”
“I do ... if you rush headlong into danger without me. If you take me with you, I still hate it, but I’m willing to put up with it.”
Because I knew that was true, I simply nodded. “Standard Star Trek and Star Wars rules are in place in case these guys try to rough us up.”
He smirked. “You have to wait until this afternoon. I can’t leave Mario in the store alone too long or he gets ideas. Yesterday he wanted to see if he could use an antique sword to stab the invisible ghost he insists lives in my office. I have relief coming later.”
“I can make that work. I have a few ideas on some of the women Beau might’ve targeted. I’ll track them down after lunch.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
I expected him to pull out of the gun range lot, but he waited. “What?” I asked after a pause. “I thought we were going for coneys.”
“We are. I’m just waiting for you to thank me for finding you a good source.”
He was so full of himself. Now he was teaching me manners. “You want a thank you, do you?” I grabbed him by the back of the head and maneuvered so I was practically on his lap. Before he could question what I was doing, I slammed my mouth against his and gave him a hot kiss — which he greedily accepted. I held him close, pouring everything I had into him. When I finally pulled back, I was gratified to find him flushed ... and maybe a little sweaty.
“Was that my thank you?” His voice was husky.
“For now.”
“I wouldn’t mind hearing the words, too.”
Apparently, he did need to teach me manners after all. “Thank you ... for everything. You always come through, even when you think I’m being an idiot.”
“Avery, I never think you’re an idiot. You’re the smartest person I know. Sometimes you’re too smart. You put that brain of yours ahead of my heart.”
I was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“I mean that I can’t lose you. I love you too much. If something were to ever happen to you because you lost your head while you were chasing a story ....” He trailed off and regrouped. “I don’t want you to change. We’ve been over this a million times. I love who you are. I can’t change who I am either. I want to protect you. In instances like this, we have to work together. That’s all I ask from you.”
“You’re saying that you’re going to be with me no matter what.”
He nodded, solemn.
“Even if I decide to navigate an asteroid field?”
His lips curved. “Even if.”
“You know the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are three-thousand-seven-hundred-and-twenty to one?”
He tugged me tighter against him and gave me a light kiss. “Never tell me the odds ... though in this case, I’m fine with them. I’ll bet on us every time.”
Oddly enough, I was coming to that realization myself.
JAKE SAT IN A BOOTH STARING AT his phone in the diner. I was in mid-swing to tell Eliot I preferred Thai for a change when he grabbed my shoulders and turned me back.
“We need things to get back to normal as soon as possible,” he whispered in my ear. “That means a lunch is in order.”
Of course he would think that. “Or we
