“I’m not here to see you, Hunty,” I said, continuing to walk past him to the office. I grinned when I opened the door and saw my niece sitting on the ground, playing with blocks. She was so freaking cute. I knelt down beside her and tickled her little cheeks, earning me a toothy grin.
Wrapping my arms around her sides, I lifted her and gave her a huge kiss on her tummy, which earned me a load of giggles. She pulled at my beanie, which I normally would hate, but because it was her, I just couldn’t bring myself to get upset. She was too damn cute. She started pulling at my hair while she squealed and laughed.
“Oh, you think that’s funny? You’re taking away my hat? How am I supposed to pick up the ladies now?”
“Unca!” she shouted in response.
“You realize that she can’t answer that, right?” Carly asked, not even bothering to look up from the desk.
“That doesn’t mean she doesn’t give good advice.” I put Alessa on my hip and bounced her. “Right? You give great advice. I know,” I said, using baby talk. “You’re just the most beautiful thing in the world. Yes, you are. You are.”
“Oh my God, please stop talking like that. She’s a human.”
“A very tiny, adorable human,” I grinned, rubbing my nose against hers.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving her Eskimo kisses.”
Carly sighed. “You know, when I first met you guys, I never thought a baby would make you guys all go gooey.”
“Well, that’s because I don’t have to take her home.”
“But if you did want to take her home, I would totally let you. I’m swamped right now.”
“How about this, I’ll take her with me for the rest of the day if you help me with a problem I have.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You have five minutes.”
“Ten,” I countered.
“Seven and a half, and not a second more.”
“Fine.”
I walked over and shut the door, not wanting Josh involved in this just yet.
“Time’s ticking,” Carly pointed at her watch.
“Geez, alright. I have a woman problem.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “Why is it that people only come to me when they have female problems?”
“Hey, this is the first time I’ve come to you.”
“Fine, what’s this female problem?”
“Well, she’s like you. At least, I think she’s like you.”
“Beautiful and ready to kick ass?”
I hesitated. “Something like that. Probably more like kill me if I ask too many questions, which I may have done already.”
She leaned forward in her chair, obviously intrigued. “Okay, who is this woman?”
“I can’t tell you. She’s a person of interest.”
“Like, wanted by the police?”
“No, but she might be soon. Her step-son came to me with some concerns about his father’s death.”
“Is this the new woman in town?”
I sighed heavily. “Shit, why can’t anyone just not get that?”
“Well, I don’t know, Captain Obvious, maybe because it’s a small town and there aren’t that many people you could have met.”
I frowned. She had a point there. I was being too obvious about this. Maybe I should have presented it as a hypothetical situation.
“So, this is the woman that Eric is working for.”
“Yes,” I said hesitantly.
“And you’re letting him work there without telling him that you think she’s murdery.”
“Well, he’s not exactly her target.”
“Nobody ever is. A murderer doesn’t decide not to kill someone based on the fact that someone wasn’t their target. If you get in the way, you’re gone.”
“So, you think I should tell Eric?”
“Well, what makes you think this person is a killer?”
“Her husband died of a heart attack at a young age…” I went on to tell her all the other facts that I had learned so far, but also what I had learned from spending time with her. When I was done, I knew I was well past my seven and a half minutes.
“So, you think she’s out to find another victim.”
“Possibly.”
“So, you thought you would toss your name in the hat for that one.”
I frowned. “No, I was—“
“You said there are sparks between the two of you. You said that you kissed her. I would say that makes you her next target.”
“No,” I shook my head, not wanting to believe it was true, even though I suspected it all along.
“Look, she obviously knows how to use an axe, and a little too well, from what you told me. But from what it sounds like, she’s the typical female killer. She uses poison. My recommendation to you is that you don’t eat or drink anything she makes.”
“That’s it?” I asked incredulously. “That’s all you have for me?”
“Well, if I told you to stay away from her, you wouldn’t be able to do your job. And somehow, I have a feeling that you like her a lot more than you’re letting on.”
“Only because she’s skilled at getting men to like her,” I argued.
“Oh, so it’s her fault that you’re falling for a woman that you know to be a killer.”
I sighed. “Well, what if she’s not?”
She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the desk. “If you knew that there was a chance that a bomb would go off, but you also knew there was a chance it wouldn’t, would you hold the bomb anyway just to see what happened?”
“That’s hardly the same thing.”
She shrugged. “Seems to me, either way you’re going to die.”
“And you seem so concerned by that.”
“Hey, if you die, I’ll be sure to avenge your death. I have no problem removing someone like her.”
“And if she’s not a killer?”
“Then I would find out sooner rather than later. If you think you might actually like this woman, and you’re not just intrigued because you can’t figure her out, I would suggest you take a risk, show her that you want her and play her before she plays you. The only way you’ll really win this game is to get her to fall for you so that you can figure out who she really is. You need to know what really happened in her home town, because
