“I don’t have to think it. I know it, Alace. To me, it’s an undeniable fact. What you and Owen do isn’t legal, and some may consider it immoral, but the justice you deliver is indisputable. Truly.” As he resettled their daughter against his chest, she saw Lila’s eyes had closed. “And for as long as you find the work fulfilling, as long as the good outweighs the bad in your mind, I will continue to support what you do. If you decided to ever stop and put that part of your life on the shelf, I’d back you a hundred percent. I support you, beloved, and that will never, ever change.” He came to her and bent to press his lips to the top of her head, much as he’d done with Lila only moments before. “I don’t just love you, beloved. I believe in you, too.”
Going with her gut, she put words to the feeling she’d been holding close for a long time, allowing herself to believe a little more. “What did I ever do right in my life to deserve having you?”
Leaning over the bassinette, he darted a glance at her face, mouth wryly twisted to the side. “I’m glad you added the qualifier of ‘right’ to that statement, or I’d wonder if I was a plague and a trial.”
“Never.” Alace cleared her throat, salt burning the back of her nose. “Still hormonal here. Might wanna put a throttle on all the sweetness, husband mine.”
“The horror. Wouldn’t want a rampaging new mother on my hands.” She stood as he walked towards her, and they met in the middle, her hands winding up the back of his neck to tangle her fingers in his hair. His arms slipped around her, iron bands holding her tight against his body. “My mother’s due to be back in thirty minutes. Wanna make out until she gets home?”
“Defini—” Her murmured response was cut short by his mouth on hers, lips dragging a soft caress side to side. Two backwards steps and her calves pressed against the footboard. Eric’s arms shifted and lifted, and she settled in the middle of their bed, his weight pressing her into the mattress. Kisses followed. Long, drawn-out caresses, mouths moving against each other, whimpers and moans swallowed down, heated air expelled on voiceless gasps. She mapped the planes and contours of his back with her palms, fingers slipping down to play along the edge of his waistband. Eric’s hands stayed determinedly above the waist, his thumb flicking relentlessly against a nipple until her milk started flowing. Clenching her thighs together, she focused on the points connecting them, dragging her lips along the edge of his jaw to his ear, where she alternated sucking and nibbling on his earlobe, his protests lost in a deep groan of arousal.
The proximity alarm pinged quietly on her desktop, and they parted slightly, gazes locking together. “Bebe.” “Mother.” Their explanations overlapped, and Alace found herself grinning at Eric’s lopsided smile.
“I love you.” The damned evocative catch in his breath got to her as it always did, and she arched up to capture his lips in another kiss. “So much, Eric.”
“Beloved.” That single word wrecked her, tears springing from the corners of her eyes. Head shaking side to side, Eric captured the drops with his fingertips, brushing the tip of his nose against hers. “Mine.”
Fucking fucking Eric.
God, how I love him.
Chapter Nine
Owen
Headphones on, Owen waited in front of the computer for Alace to initiate a call, glancing at the clock in the corner of the screen. He was a couple of minutes early, but knowing Alace, he was surprised she wasn’t already on the line. They’d opted for a video call so he could share the dirt he’d found on his neighbors without sending any files over. Yet. Discovery phase, he reminded himself.
Right on cue, the video icon lit up, and he clicked to connect the call. The screen quickly resolved into an image of Alace, wet hair slicked back from a makeupless face, headphones covering her ears much as his did.
“Hey.” He lifted his chin as he smothered a smile. She wouldn’t have any way to know it wasn’t amusement but pleasure, and trying to explain to her would take up time he didn’t want to waste. Under the supervision of Doc, Kelly and Shiloh were browsing an online website for backyard playground equipment, and Owen wanted to be there to urge the discussion into realms of absurdity. The kids were so cautious about being a burden, they probably would settle on a kickball or something, when what he truly wanted to see was a castle for Shiloh to rule over from the upper ramparts. Too long in the system to believe themselves worth the effort. Narrowing his eyes, he pulled his thoughts away from his kids and back to his partner, noting the dark circles underneath her eyes. “How’s the little one?” Now he did smile, because the memory of holding Lila during the short visit to the Wards’ house had become a favorite. He’d missed out on Emma’s early childhood, meeting his daughter for the first time when she was six months old. “She still smell like baby powder and happiness?”
Alace snorted and rolled her shoulder, eyebrows lifting towards her hairline. “Eric might have mentioned to me how the two of you bonded over the addictive quality of newborn baby smell. It was such a quick visit I didn’t get to witness your transformation myself. We’ll have to organize another visit again sometime.” Her lips quirked. “Soon.”
Owen had never met a father prouder than Eric had been of his and Alace’s daughter. “He’s a great dad.” Studying Alace’s expression closely, he noted the tension lines at the corners of her eyes when he spoke, and he tested it by semi-repeating, “Eric’s really good with Lila.” The momentary stress indicators reappeared as if he’d called them up by magic. “And you’re a good mother, Alace. Both of you are great.”
“I didn’t call so you could tell me how you admire me.” The corners of her mouth downturned for a split second, and Owen found his shoulders straightening. “What do you want to do about the pornographer?”
“Let’s go back to where I’m talking about your beautiful family and how much I admire what you’ve built.” That statement earned him a tiny smile, quickly smoothed away. “It’s a lot of work, and so are newborn babies. This is me asking my friend Alace if she’s doin’ okay. So what’ll it be, Alace? Are you good?”
One edge of her bottom lip disappeared into her mouth, and Owen relaxed slightly. If she allowed herself to be visibly conflicted in her thinking, at least it meant she was considering giving him an honest answer. “I’m tired. She eats every four hours on the dot and poops at least as many times throughout the day. Eric’s been back to work as of a month ago, and don’t tell him, but having his mother here was a godsend. I don’t know what I’d have done without Phoebe. She leaves for Malibu tomorrow, and I don’t know how I’ll handle being the only one responsible for Lila all day long.”
“When you drop Bebe off at the airport, come here instead of going home. We can work on things in person, too, you know. Benefit of proximity. It doesn’t always have to be this cloak and dagger with a full twelve degrees of separation. It’ll give you a chance to get to know Doc better, and I know Kelly already fell in love with Lila.” Owen tipped his grin downwards, shaking his head back and forth in amusement. “Boy’s been asking every day when we’d get to go back to Miss Alace’s house so he could see Lila.”
“Just that easy?” Alace took a deep breath, air rasping audibly in and out. “Don’t answer me. I already know what you’ll say. I’ll be there just after lunch.”
“Easy peasy.” He pulled in a breath. “I can handle the video guy. There’s no clock ticking on that one. I’ve got a couple of contacts we can turn the info over to whenever we decide.” He was careful to keep his language centered on the partnership. If Alace was feeling pressured in her new role, she’d want reassurances on the other side of things, too. “The wife-killer is the one I’d like to have your opinion on first. If my research is right, the current wifey is within days of being his next previous wifey.”
“All right. Take me through what you’ve got.” She took in a deeper breath again, blowing it back out slowly. An icon changed on his video chat client, the share button taking on a green hue. “I transferred control to you so you can load up whate
ver you need.”
“That was hard for you, wasn’t it?” As he asked the question, Owen was already bringing the various news articles to the front of his screen. Choosing to share the entire screen instead of the single software was deliberate, and something he knew Alace would notice. Nothing to hide here, boss lady. “It’s okay. We’re besties, we should share things. I can’t use your makeup or heels, so this is the next best thing.”
“You’d look good in heels.” Alace’s throwaway comment trailed off as she skimmed the first article. “She fell and hit her head. Nothing nefarious there, Owen.”
“Right? And if it was a one-and-done scenario, I’d believe it, too. But check this.” He brought the second article to the front of the pile and gave her a minute to digest the pertinent details. “And these.” Wife number three had earned more than a few news articles, mostly for the sheer unlikelihood of a single man losing so many partners to such random home accidents. “This reporter is one to watch and stay away from. She has a wicked intuition about things. After reading this, I went back and checked on her career. She’s made a name for herself by solving the unsolvable cases.” He spread the articles across the screen, reserving the one corner where the video window was. “Let me know when you want me to move on.”
“The reporter, did you do any kind of a search or trace on her? She looks familiar somehow.” Alace’s eyebrows knit together in a frown. “I haven’t talked to her, I don’t think, but does she have family in town?”
“Yeah. Her sister is a nurse at—”
“Grundella.” Mouth drawn down into a grimace, Alace nodded slowly. “She’s an OB/GYN nurse at the local hospital, isn’t she?”
“Yeah, but her name isn’t Grundella.”
Alace waved a hand as if dispersing an unwelcome smell. “No, her name is Jessica, and she was a pain in my ass. So bad news, I’m already on the radar of the sister of a nosy, intuitive reporter. Said sister only dropped her annoying ways when Eric suggested this author lady he knew might be willing to include someone in a book, and the presentation of personality could go one way or another, no middle ground.” Chin lifting, Alace cast her gaze upward, looking away from the screen for the first time. “People are the worst part of anything, you know?”
“Yeah, I so know.” Hovering his mouse cursor over the document icon, he found and brought to the front the final article. “Case in point, Ashworth.” He allowed his gaze to trail over the first few paragraphs of the article in which a fake-grieving Ashworth was clearly hitting on the reporter. “I know what I’d like to do to this guy, but because it’s virtually right here in my backyard, I don’t think I’d make an impartial agent, you know?”
“I need a day.”
Owen was shaking his head before she finished speaking. “I don’t think she’s got a day, Alace.”
“I need a day. I’ve already started looking into various aspects of Ashworth, but I need a day to get the information back. I set up a surprise inspection to happen this morning with a follow-up for tomorrow, and all the activity should keep him at bay until we are ready to go.” Chin lowering towards her throat, she frowned at the camera again. The defensive posture wasn’t like her, and Owen decided to wait for her to finish whatever she was saying, keeping his interrupting questions to himself for now. “The inspector wasn’t due for a couple of weeks, but his other projects were shuffled around, and he had a couple of slots open up on his timeline. I didn’t call in anything, so he’s not going in with any expectations. Ashworth will be cautious simply because of the change in schedule, but there won’t be any red flags raised.”
Something like that took more than a few hours to set up, and Owen knew it. “Thank you.” He flashed a grin at the camera. “That’s why you’re the boss lady, boss lady.”
“Did you see anything to do with prostitutes in what you found about Ashworth?” Expression impassive, she waited, motives shrouded in stillness. “Or anything else in his background?”
“He visits a massage parlor in town known for providing happy endings, but I found no incidents of violence in their records about him as a client. Not even on the shadow server where their real books are.” Owen let his head swing side to side once. “In his twenties, he was a fan of drinking and driving, but the threat of a license suspension seemed to push him onto the straight and narrow. There’s no contact with kids whatsoever, he doesn’t even substitute for his friend’s Sunday school class when asked. Found some good-natured back and forth on social media about his well-publicized aversion to kids.” Tongue in his cheek, he studied her face, then shook his head again. “What did I miss, boss?”
“You should read the minutes from past neighborhood watch meetings. While the masseuses are entirely female, as have been the women he took to a motel from the various bars he frequented before he got married for the first time, in the weeks immediately preceding the death of the first two wives, he had home visits from known male prostitutes. A neighbor recognized one of the men, claimed he’d seen the man’s picture on a police blotter article, but who knows. The neighbor snapped pictures of men he saw parking in front of Ashworth’s house. Then, twice he took a picture of Ashworth driving a car that wasn’t his away from the house. It never escalated into an official report or anything, mostly because I found a healthy deposit into the investigative neighbor’s account after the first real complaint.”
“Holy shit. He’s bringing male hookers to his house with his wife there?”
“It’s unclear if the wife was home at the time. But I can tell you the sex workers I’ve identified from those pictures have all dropped off the radar completely.” She was chewing on her bottom lip, and Owen focused on the tell. “I think he conducted test runs on his ‘accident’ plans.” She lifted one hand and made air quotes around the word. “Whether there’s anything else to it, I don’t know. The pictures only surrounded the two incidents. But I found community reports of missing male prostitutes, including those, as well as others where the dates line up with the deaths of the rest of Ashworth’s wives. Completely ignored by the police, of course.” She huffed out a sigh. “Their vehicles were all found abandoned in large parking lots around town, no evidence of foul play in the cars.”
“Hold on, are you telling me you think he killed them in the house and disposed of them there?” Owen allowed his eyes to unfocus, staring at a spot on the wall while he worked out the details in his head. “Some kind of a structured rehearsal of the accident, and then he somehow dealt with the bodies at home? Why not put them in the car and leave them to be found or drop the corpses in the woods? We’re surrounded by hundreds of acres of forest, which would make an effective dumping site. More than one of the deaths involved blood. If he’d had a successful test run, there’d be proof. Cleaning up the evidence would leave residue and would have shown up on the lab tests.”
“Blood markers inconsistent with Ashworth or his wife were found twice. It was noted each time, but effectively dismissed because it was older than the accidental death scene.” Alace’s eyes were open wide, as if she were asking “Can you believe this shit?” and honestly, he just couldn’t.
“How could one ugly old man be this lucky? Why hasn’t anyone stumbled on this before?”
“I think the reporter was close, but she was skeeved out by his attitude. While she’s got intuition, she seems to lack the dogged dedication of her sister.”
“The nurse.”
Alace nodded. “Jessica.”
“What did she do to piss you off?”
Alace wafted a hand through the air again, and Owen looked past the motion, keying in on her facial expression. Tension around her lips telegraphed disgust.
“Man, she seriously pissed you off. What’d she do?”
“Tried to trap me at the hospital after Lila was born.”
“Ohhhhh.” Eric had already told Owen about their joint discomfort with the hospital’s security, and now Alace’s distaste for the nurse who had blocked her efforts at going home made s
ense. “I hate her too.” He thudded a fist against his chest. “I stand with Alace.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
“Yeah, but you don’t hate me.” He leaned back in his chair, lifting his heels to the edge of the desk as he balanced his chair on two legs. “So I got that goin’ for me.”
“Ashworth.” Alace was trying to bring them back on track, but Owen wasn’t done.
“Are you worried about this reporter getting curious because you cockblocked the sister’s attempted cockblock of keeping you in the hospital until she said you could leave?”
Alace stared at him for a beat before responding. Mouth pursed, she pushed the single word out so softly the computer mic didn’t pick it up; Owen had to read her lips. “Possibly.”
“Got it.” The unstated truth was while Ashworth might be in Owen’s backyard, he wasn’t removed far enough from Alace’s cover persona to make this a comfortable mission for either of them. “I got a guy.”
“I can’t run scared.”
“We aren’t.” Admitting to his own potential exposure kept them on an even footing in the decision to farm out the job. “We’re conserving our resources to the best advantageous outcome, one that keeps us in the business longest. I want to be able to keep going, Alace. As long as Ashworth is stopped and exposed somehow, I don’t mind not being the triggerman on this one.”
“Either of them.” Her gaze was steady now, unflinching when he scowled into the camera. “It’s too risky to both of us, and we’ve got families to worry about now.”
“I can agree Kuellen shouldn’t be an up-close and personal thing. I don’t like it, simply because of the kind of scum he is, but I can agree with you on that one.” Owen allowed his scowl to deepen as he accepted her edict. “But we can’t leave him. A lot of his product is run-of-the-mill porn featuring legal-age actors, but the snuff stuff is real, Alace. People killing real people onscreen so others can get their jollies off on it. I hired an analyst who identified no less than ten percent of the sample provided was real violence, not scripted for the camera. And he’s preying on not only innocents but people who deserved protection.”
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