Maddie nodded in agreement. “I know but ... .”
“It seems crass,” he finished. “I get it. I don’t know what to tell you. We’re just going to have to put up with it.”
“Yeah.” Maddie let loose a weary sigh. “I think I’m going to head over to the saloon to see what everybody is doing. Do you want to come with me or skulk around the brothel?”
Nick’s eyebrows winged up and his lips curved. “I don’t skulk.”
His response amused her. “You do so, especially when you want information on a case that doesn’t belong to you, like when the state police take over an investigation you feel should be yours.”
“I think you’re imagining that.”
“And I think you’ve already got your eye on the building.” Maddie patted his arm in an encouraging manner. “Go ahead and ... lurk. Do you like that word better?”
“No.” Nick couldn’t deny that he was interested in knowing where the investigation stood. That didn’t mean he was comfortable letting his wife wander around on her own when a killer was on the loose. “I think I should stick with you.”
Maddie recognized that he was leery about what had happened and she wanted to assuage that fear. “I’ll be perfectly fine. Nobody is going to attack me when there are fifty other people around. Besides, I think the other psychics might be more open to telling me what they know when I don’t have a police detective attached to my hip.”
Nick pursed his lips. She had a point. “Do you promise to be careful?”
Maddie mimed crossing her heart. “I swear I will be a very good girl.”
He smirked at her expression. It was one of his favorites. “Okay.” He leaned over and gave her a kiss. “Please don’t go anywhere by yourself. If you leave the saloon ... .”
“I’ll make sure it’s with somebody who doesn’t look like a murderer. Of course, I have no idea what a murderer looks like, so that might be more difficult than it sounds.”
Nick shook his head. “I love it when you’re difficult.” He gave her a playful swat as she moved toward the building in question. “I won’t be long.”
“I’ll try not to cry because I miss you so much.”
Nick shook his head and watched until she disappeared through the swinging doors and then turned his attention to the brothel. Maddie wasn’t wrong. Having a murder investigation so close, one he was separate from, was pure torture. He didn’t like being cut off from the information. With that in mind, he crossed the street and stared at the building in question. There was no police tape warning others away. That didn’t mean the structure looked welcoming.
“If you’re thinking of sneaking in there, I would advise against it,” a voice said from behind him. It took everything Nick had not to jolt. “I would hate to have to turn you in to the locals.”
Slowly, Nick swiveled. He wasn’t surprised to find Cooper watching him. He was surprised by the look of mirth on the security chief’s face. “I wasn’t going to sneak in,” he reassured the other man quickly. “I was just ... looking.”
“Uh-huh.” Cooper didn’t look convinced as he hopped down from the wooden walkway and strolled in Nick’s direction. “I heard you and your wife talking. She seemed to know what you were planning. Are you saying she read you wrong?”
Nick scowled. “My wife never reads me wrong.”
“No, I don’t suppose she does.” Cooper’s gaze was speculative. “I ran you last night.” He opted for honesty. “Your record is clean.”
“You ran me?” Nick wasn’t surprised as much as annoyed. “You could’ve just asked whatever questions you deemed necessary.”
“You know that’s not how it works. For all I knew, you could’ve been shining me on. I had to be sure.”
“Because we found the body.” Nick knew better than most the simple act of stumbling across the dead made an individual a suspect. “I take it you ran Maddie, too.”
“I did. Well, to be more precise, Boone did. Her record is a little more ... spotty.”
Nick scowled. “Don’t even think of saying anything bad about my wife.”
The reaction was exactly what Cooper was looking for. “You love her.”
“More than anything.”
“I love Hannah, too.” Cooper saw no reason to lie. He was a pragmatic man. He felt he was talking to a man much like himself. He wanted to be sure Nick was an ally before pushing ahead, though. “I want to keep her safe. Casper Creek isn’t just a business to her. It’s her home. I had no choice but to check you and Maddie. You know that.”
And, because he did, Nick nodded. “Fine. Just don’t say anything bad about Maddie.”
“I didn’t say I found anything bad in her record,” Cooper pointed out. “I simply said it was spotty, and by that I mean there are a few holes in it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing ... especially given what she does for a living.”
Cooper’s tone was hard for Nick to read. The man seemed pleasant enough and yet there was a hardness in his eyes. Because he was who he was, though, Nick opted for the truth, too.
“My wife is the best person I know. She gives of herself to help others. Occasionally that has ... come back to bite her.”
“And you want to make sure nothing I do bites her,” Cooper surmised.
“I won’t let you hurt her. I won’t let anyone hurt her.”
“Do you believe I want to hurt her?”
“No.” Nick was quick to shake his head. “In my heart, I feel you’re a good guy. What’s more important is that Maddie likes you ... and Tyler ... and Hannah. If you had ulterior motives, she would most likely pick up on that. The thing is, I still can’t risk her. She’s my everything.”
Because he felt the same way about Hannah, Cooper nodded in agreement. “I get
