Day and Night

by Kaylie Hunter

  “Well, isn’t this a wonderful way to start the day,” I said, walking over and removing the weaponized fork from Sara’s grip. “What are we fighting about now?”

  “She started—” Nicholas started to screech.

  “He won’t listen to—” Sara bellowed over him.

  “STOP!” Grady yelled.

  Both kids went silent, turning their glares back to their plates again.

  “Okay, then,” I said, moving into the kitchen to get us both a cup of coffee.

  “I’ve got some Bailey’s liqueur if you need to top that off,” Anne said, stepping aside and leaning her forehead against the kitchen cabinet. “I miss Hattie.”

  I laughed before returning to the dining room and placing a cup of coffee at the head of the table for Grady and taking the seat next to him.

  Grady sat. “Okay, this is how it’s going to work. Each of you will get to say two sentences, without insulting the other one, to explain what is going on. You say more than your two sentences or drag it out with conjunctions and other nonsense, you’ll get sent to your room. Sara, you go first.”

  “I was only telling Mom how we found the files on Judge Wynhart for the custody case, and then Nicholas started yelling at me, and—”

  “Stop—” I said, holding my hand out in front of me. “That’s enough conjunctions.”

  “Nick, your turn,” Grady said.

  “She had to open her big mouth and rat us out—”

  “Stop—” I said. “Grady said no insults. Besides, we get the picture. Sara was excited to find information on Judge Wynhart, but neither of you were supposed to be going through the boxes. When she told about the files, the jig was up, and you were both in trouble.”

  Maggie hid her grin by taking a drink her coffee. “You’re good. It took a lot more screaming between the two of them for me to figure it out.”

  Whiskey smirked. “You only missed the part that it was two in the morning when they found the file.”

  “You’re both hereby assigned to the following punishments,” I said, turning to face them. “One, you’ll do all the dishes today, together, and without fighting or more punishments will be added. Two, you both will write a three-page essay on the health benefits of children getting a full night of sleep. And three, you will each recite a list of ten qualities you like about the other one and share your list at dinner tonight.”

  “Mom…” Nicholas groaned.

  Sara wrinkled her nose and glared at Nicholas.

  “Clear your plates and start the dishes,” Grady ordered.

  Anne returned to the table with her coffee as the kids pouted all the way into the kitchen with their plates.

  “I can smell the Bailey’s,” I said to Anne.

  She sipped her coffee, looking away and pretending not to hear me. Whiskey and Nightcrawler laughed, and Maggie looked curiously at Anne’s cup before going to the kitchen.

  “Heard Bones was injured,” Whiskey said, turning to Grady. “He okay?”

  “He’ll live.”

  I rolled my eyes. “He thinks I was stalling on purpose. He blames me for getting stabbed.”

  “Were you? Stalling, I mean,” Maggie asked, rejoining us at the table. Nightcrawler’s hand moved toward her leg under the table as she settled.

  “No. Not really. But I wasn’t moving at my normal speed either. My brain was a bit foggy.”

  “Why?” Anne asked, leaning forward looking concerned.

  “We were in a dungeon of sorts,” Grady answered for me. “It knocked the wind out of her, but she worked her way through it and saved our asses.”

  “Barely,” I whispered, blowing out a slow breath.

  “Hey—” Grady said, grabbing my chin and tugging it toward him. “You did good. I’m not sure how you pulled yourself out of the dark hole you drifted into, but I sure as hell was happy when I saw the lights come back on. We would’ve been goners without you.”

  “Or you would’ve been fine if I hadn’t been there to distract you in the first place.”

  “Well, I say, bravo,” Maggie said. “I couldn’t have done it. Not yet, at least. When I got your text last night, explaining what you thought you were walking into, I ran into the bathroom and puked.”

  Nightcrawler grinned, raising his hand to stroke her cheek. “And then you brushed your teeth and called Kierson to get a unit on standby. You girls might react differently than you used to, but you’re still in the game. That counts.”

  “What counts is the lives that were saved.” Grady agreed. “Four women get to go home to their families thanks to you gals.”

  “I need more Bailey’s,” Anne said to herself before going back to the kitchen.

  “She’s okay,” Whiskey said to me, watching me watch Anne.

  “Are you sure? First, Lisa was acting all manic, and now Anne seems almost defeated. What gives?”

  Grady shrugged. “They’re adjusting.”

  “To what? What’s making them act so off?”

  “You left, and then Hattie went back to Texas,” Whiskey said. “You two were always the glue that kept everyone sane.”

  Grady nodded. “Lisa felt like she needed to do all the things Hattie used to do, since she wasn’t working at the store. Then Anne became obsessed with the kids, since Hattie used to handle a lot of that.”

  “The new teacher is helping,” Whiskey chuckled, “but it’s been a long weekend. And the kids don’t need as much attention as Anne thinks. She’s just worried about them not having Hattie to talk to.”

  “But they do have Hattie,” I said, setting my cup down. “Hattie calls or video-calls with them several times a day. She has one-on-one conversations with them daily, so she knows they’re doing okay.”

  “Does Anne know that?” Whiskey asked.

  I shrugged and yelled toward the kitchen, “Sara, did you talk to Hattie yesterday?”

  “Yup. I called her in the morning, but Pops wanted her to go over to the new ranch so we video chatted last night before bed.”

  Anne turned and looked at Sara then at me.

  “And what about you, Nicholas?” I yelled again.

  “I talked to Hattie and Pops yesterday afternoon, and Pops is going to call me after he goes fishing this morning and let me know how many fish he catches.”

  “And you two call them whenever you want, right?” I asked.

  “You told us we could,” Nicholas said, raising his eyebrow and looking at me oddly.

  “Why?” Sara asked.

  “I just wanted to make sure you both were staying in touch.”

  Sara giggled. “Hattie would fly back to Michigan if she couldn’t talk to us every day. That’s why Pops got her a laptop, so she could video call.”

  I turned back to Whiskey. “See? Hattie’s still taking care of the kids. Maybe Anne will settle down a bit now. As for Lisa—” I turned to Nightcrawler “—I need to hire a housekeeper. Someone to manage repairs, pick up groceries, clean, that type of thing. If you hear of anyone, can you let me know?”

  “I actually know someone. She’s cleaning empty apartments for a few dollars an hour right now. I’m sure she’d jump at the chance to work normal hours.”

  “Set it up. We’ll still handle some of the day-to-day, but we have too much going on to manage everything. She can set her own schedule, but it would most likely be the three houses and maybe Headquarters, at least until the new houses are built.”

  Nightcrawler pulled his phone, sending a text. He smirked at the immediate reply. “She’ll be here at eight tomorrow to get started. Her name’s Eloise.”

  I turned to Grady. “Text Donovan and tell him to hire a nanny for Abigail. And to finish the nursery at Headquarters. Lisa needs to get back to work.”

  Grady pulled his phone and sent the text. I turned and watched the clock. It took a full three minutes and forty-two seconds for the front door to be slammed open and Lisa to storm inside.

  “Who do you think you are, ordering my husband to hire a nanny?
” Lisa yelled, pointing a finger at Grady.

  “Lisa, sit down,” I said calmly.

  “I don’t want to sit down!”

  “SIT DOWN,” I ordered, pointing to a chair.

  Lisa threw herself into a chair and glared at me.

  Grady’s phone rang, and he walked toward the sliding door to answer it.

  “I told Grady to send the text,” I said to Lisa. “We tried things your way, and you went a little cra-cra on us. Now we try my way, which is that you go back to work, and Abigail gets a nanny. If the nanny sucks, Abigail will be surrounded by forty security guards, including your husband, who will step in. Understood?”

  She started to say something but then snapped her mouth closed. She turned to see a grinning Donovan walk into the house, closing the front door behind him and carrying Abigail.

  “You’re a bully.” She pouted at me as she reached out to take Abigail.

  “And you sometimes need someone to bulldoze past your stubborn streak.” I laughed before drinking my coffee.

  “You are mighty stubborn,” Donovan said, kissing the top of her head before moving in the direction of the coffee.

  “Don’t worry, Lisa,” Charlie said from the garage entrance. “You’re not the only one Kelsey bosses around.” Kierson followed her inside the house, closing the door behind them.

  “I only boss around the people who need it,” I said.

  “That was Wayne,” Grady said to me as he sat. “He’s doing okay. He has a few broken ribs and a handful of new scars. Doctors say they’ll release him tomorrow if he doesn’t have any complications from the concussion.”

  “How many times has Wayne been knocked unconscious?” Charlie asked.

  “A lot,” Grady answered, laughing. “That’s why the doctors want to keep him another night. They said his head CT looked like a jigsaw puzzle.”

  “Well, I’m glad he’ll be okay. I didn’t like leaving him alone in the hospital, but Alverez promised to keep an eye on him.”

  “Wayne’s milking it too. By the time they get back here, she’ll either hate him, or she’ll be sleeping with him.”

  “Want to place a wager on that theory?” I asked.

  “You don’t think it will happen?”

  “Alverez is all business. She’ll shut down his advances, but she won’t get mad. It will drive Wayne insane that he can’t charm his way into her life.”

  “I’ve never seen a woman Wayne couldn’t stir a reaction out of. Fifty bucks,” Grady said, reaching out his hand to shake mine.

  “A hundred,” I offered.

  Grady nodded, and I reached out to shake hands on the bet.

  “Grady,” Charlie said, shaking her head. “You just made a bet with a profiler.”

  Everyone laughed and teased Grady.

  I looked at Kierson, who was relaxed in the chair across from me with his arm wrapped around Charlie’s shoulders.

  “What?” He grinned.

  “I don’t know,” I said, grinning back. “I saw you and it was like I needed to tell you something, but I can’t remember what it was.”

  “Shit,” Grady cursed, pulling his phone out. “We forgot about Agent Forrick.”

  “That’s it! You read my mind,” I said, grinning at Grady.

  Grady winked as he waited for someone to answer his phone call.

  “Do you still have guys tailing him?” Kierson asked, pulling out his own phone.

  Grady nodded as he talked on the phone. He wrote down an address and slid it across the table to Kierson.

  ~*~*~

  After breakfast, the kids finished the dishes while everyone else picked up around the house. When everything looked less chaotic, I went to the atrium to start digging into the piles of boxes. I stood at the entrance feeling overwhelmed as I looked at the massive piles.

  “This is going to take forever,” Grady said, wrapping an arm around me.

  “No, it won’t,” Lisa said, walking around us. “I texted everyone. They’re on their way.”

  Donovan carried the portable crib into the atrium and took a sleeping Abigail from Lisa and settled her with her blanket. Anne, Whiskey, Nicholas, Sara, Charlie, Kierson, Nightcrawler, and Maggie moved around the room, each finding a space on the carpet to sit and grab a box. And that was only the beginning of the labor force. Soon we had my entire family, including Nana, several guards from Aces, a handful of bikers from Devil’s Players, Genie, Dave, Steve, and Bridget, all elbow deep in a box and calling out information to Sara, Tech, Carl, or Genie to document or run searches on. Lisa was in charge of organizing the files based on importance after they were reviewed. Nicholas was in charge of keeping Nana out of anything too serious. And Maggie and I reviewed the files that were deemed important, once the others had identified them.

  I had just finished reviewing the files on Judge Wynhart when the doorbell rang. I crossed the room to the windows and looked over to the front porch. Three police officers stood on the porch with their hands resting on their weapons.

  “Keep Carl, Nana, and the kids inside and away from the windows,” I ordered as I handed my Glock to Donovan.

  “Who is it?” Grady asked.

  “Cops,” I answered before opening the side door of the atrium and walking out.

  I walked around the exterior of the atrium and called out to the officers on the front porch. One of them pulled his weapon, aiming it at me.

  “I have no problem with the police department visiting, but I can’t say I’m finding the visit all that reassuring. Have your deputy holster his weapon.”

  “Are you armed?” the Chief of Police asked.

  “Not at the moment,” I answered, raising my hands and turning in a slow circle so he could see that I didn’t have a gun.

  “We still need to frisk you.” The chief nodded to one of his deputies. “Protocol.”

  “It isn’t protocol unless you're arresting me, but go ahead.”

  I allowed the deputy to frisk me, but kept my eyes on the chief. When the deputy was done, he pulled one of my wrists behind my back. I raised an eyebrow at the chief.

  Grady, Kierson, Charlie, Maggie, and Katie walked out the front door of the house. Kierson and Maggie flashed their badges.

  “Ms. Harrison, we’ve been asked to take you into custody relating to the death of Thomas Harrison.”

  “My father’s dead? Thomas Harrison?” I asked, stunned by the news.

  “Nice try,” the chief said. “A gun registered in your name was found at the scene.”

  I snorted. “Impossible. I know where all of my registered guns are.”

  “It’s the unregistered guns that occasionally go missing,” Katie said.

  “Not helping, Katie,” Kierson grumbled. “Chief, when did this murder take place?”

  “I’m not at liberty to discuss the case to the public.”

  “We’re FBI. Were not the public,” Maggie said, glaring.

  “And yet I’m not sure whose side you're on,” the chief said, glaring back.

  “Let me rephrase…” Kierson said, throwing a look over his shoulder at Maggie. “Ms. Harrison flew out to Arizona early yesterday evening and didn’t return to Michigan until dawn. I can provide a list of witnesses, many of them in law enforcement, who can confirm and testify if needed to her whereabouts.”

  “Maybe we have the wrong Harrison then,” the chief said, glancing over at Charlie. “What’s your alibi look like?”

  “I was here, along with about forty other people until around one in the morning. Then I went back to the hotel. I was a bit loud when I was skinny dipping in the hotel’s pool, so I’m sure a few guests could confirm.”

  “You know skinny dipping in a hotel pool is illegal, right?” Genie asked Charlie as she giggled.

  “I’d rather be charged with indecent exposure than for the murder of that douchebag of a sperm donor.”

  Kierson released a noise that sounded like a cat hissing before he looked back to the chief. “I can confirm that Charlie H
arrison was indeed swimming naked in the hotel pool until I dragged her out and hauled her back to her room.”

  “And what about between two and three in the morning?” the chief asked, squinting his eyes at Charlie.

  Charlie grinned. “I was very much—not alone—for the rest of the night.”

  “I can vouch for her being in her room.” Genie giggled, raising her hand. “I made the mistake of getting the room next to Charlie’s. She’s not quiet when she’s, uh… um… having sexual relations.”

  The chief pulled out a notepad from his back pocket and dramatically pulled his pen from his pocket. “I’ll need the name of the man you were with.”

  “What if I was with a woman?” Charlie asked.

  “Knock it off,” Kierson growled at Charlie, handing his ID over to the chief. “She was with me. We’ve been in a physical relationship for over a year now.”

  “Off and on,” Charlie added.

  Kierson glared at her again, but it only made her grin widen.

  “Charlie, behave,” I ordered. “Deputy, remove the cuffs, or you’ll be hearing from my lawyer.”

  The chief nodded at the deputy and the cuffs were removed. Grady and Katie moved over to stand beside me.

  “What information can you share about my father’s murder?”

  “It’s not my case,” the chief said, shaking his head. “I was asked to assist with taking you into custody, that’s all.”

  I couldn’t stop the snort. “You were asked to arrest me because the sheriff of Sadler Creek would’ve found himself six feet under if he’d dared to step on my property,” I said as I stepped closer. “Now I need some answers. Are you going to be part of the solution or part of the problem?”

  “He’s a good chief, Kelsey,” Steve said, walking out of the garage with Dave. “Cut him some slack.”

  “I ordered you two to stay away!” the chief yelled at them. “What are you doing here?”