Natalie set her beer down with a thunk. “Rex the ex?”
I nodded and leaned forward, telling them about Rex’s visit this afternoon in a low voice so the kids wouldn’t hear.
“That no-good cocksucker,” Natalie bit out when I was finished. “I’m going to teach that limpdick-loser a lesson for messing with my girl.”
Cooper shook his head at her. “Nat, you need to be careful. Rex is pawing at the ground right now, looking for a fight. You don’t need to end up with a target on your back, too.”
Natalie visibly bristled. “I can handle Rex.”
“I don’t doubt that,” he shot back. “But I don’t like you getting in the middle of this. With emotions running high, it could go south fast.”
Before Natalie could tell Cooper to go to hell, which she appeared to be on the verge of doing, I held up my hands. “Listen, you guys, if anyone is going to go toe-to-toe with the jerk, it’s me.”
“I don’t think so,” Doc said, weighing in, his tight gaze daring me to object.
“Nyce, you need to be even more careful than Nat,” Cooper said. “Detective Hawke is just waiting to find something to pin on you so he can rope you into this, too.” When Harvey started to speak up, Cooper pointed at him. “Same goes for you, Uncle Willis, so leave Bessie out of this.”
“Well, then,” I said, feeling like my hands were tied. “I guess that leaves Aunt Zoe to fill Rex’s ass full of rock salt.”
She smiled. “It would be my pleasure.”
Cooper sighed.
“So.” Aunt Zoe came over and took Doc’s and my dishes. “Did you three notice anything in the Sugarloaf Building that will help us find the lidérc?”
I shook my head. “Although the ward that was messed with before that allowed the lidérc to get free appears to have been restored. I’m guessing Dominick has the place ready to cage the devil again once I find the damned thing and return it.”
The sound of footfalls coming our way from the dining room silenced any further talk about the lidérc.
“Um, Mom,” Addy said, carrying her empty plate and bowl over to the sink. “Can Kelly come over tomorrow and spend the night?”
Kelly was Addy’s best friend. Her dad was Jeff Wymonds, whom I wanted to talk to regarding his conversation with Hawke up at the Golden Sluice. Maybe picking up Kelly would give me an opportunity to ply Jeff for information.
“Sure. You can call her after supper and let her know I’ll pick her up tomorrow. I just need to know when her dad will be home so I can ask him about something.”
My eagerness to talk to Jeff, who I usually tried to avoid like three-day-old roadkill, earned me a raised eyebrow from Doc.
Addy danced at the news, and after grabbing a couple of apple pie bars, she turned to Doc. “Can you come help us with the TV? Layne hit some button on the remote and we can’t figure out how to get back to Andy and Barney.”
“Sure, squirt.” Doc pushed back from the table. “We’re not done here,” he told me and then followed Addy, who skipped out of the room.
“Why do you want to talk to Jeff all of a sudden?” Aunt Zoe asked after Addy was out of earshot.
“Just to see how things are going,” I said with as much vagueness as possible.
“Violet Lynn, tell me you’re not going to try to get information out of him about Tiffany,” Aunt Zoe said.
“I’m not, I promise.” Finding out what Tiffany was doing to sell his house when I couldn’t was old news.
“Why do I get the feeling there is something more to you offering to pick up Kelly, then?”
I gave her a big fake smile. “You’ve been sniffing too many glass furnace fumes, that’s all.”
“That silly smile means you’re definitely up to something.”
“What? Would it make you feel any better if I offered to take Natalie with me to get Kelly?”
“No,” both Aunt Zoe and Cooper said in unison.
Natalie glared at Cooper. “Why in the hell can’t I go to see Jeff with Violet, Coop? Do you think I’m going to do something illegal there, too?”
“I never said anything about you doing something illegal around Rex.”
“You insinuated it.”
I frowned between the two of them, trying to remember if Cooper had insinuated that, or if Natalie was just hungry to fight with the detective tonight … or to do something else equally as passionate.
Cooper scowled back at Natalie. “Whenever you and Parker get together, something usually happens that lands you both knee-deep in shit without a shovel.”
Natalie threw down her napkin and pushed back from the table. “Cooper, I need to talk to you in Zoe’s workshop.” Her harsh tone made it clear this was possibly going to end with someone losing his head, praying mantis style—minus the copulation part.
Harvey and I shared a raised-brow glance.
Reid sucked air through his teeth. “You sure have a way of making the ladies gnash their teeth, Coop.”
“Says the kettle, Martin.” Cooper stood, beer in hand. His face was all granite with craggy edges as he held Natalie’s stare.
“Do you really want to do this now?” I whispered up at Natalie.
“Yep, and you’re coming, too.” She locked onto my forearm, hauling me out of my chair.
“What?” I stumbled after her toward the back door. “Why? What did I do?”
“You’re the one who lit this damned fire.”
Chapter Seven
There were moments in my life when being abducted by aliens for sphincter probing purposes appealed to me—like now.
After Cooper closed the door to Aunt Zoe’s workshop, Natalie, he, and I faced each other in a Mexican standoff. ZZ Top blared from the stereo my aunt kept near her worktable, providing the background drumbeat for our tension-laden moment while singing about an immoral shack outside of La Grange, Texas.
Cooper stood in front of the door in his usual wide-legged cop stance
