“Uh…are you leaving her there on the floor?” he asked. “That doesn’t seem…safe. What if we step on her?”
“Relax. It’s not for long.”
“Let him try,” Kat said. “Dimitri is really good with kids. They like him.”
Hesitantly, he handed Sadie to him.
Dimitri placed her on the blanket and wrapped her like a baby burrito. As soon as he tucked the blanket tightly around her, she stopped fussing.
Her legs and arms were secured, and she was content.
“What the hell?” Curtis asked. “How did you do that? What is this witchcraft?”
“I read once that babies feel like they’re falling. They go from being packed in like a sardine to being all loosey-goosey,” Dimitri stated.
It was funny to hear it from him.
“Did your brother, the killer, just say ‘loosey-goosey’ with a Russian accent and a straight face?” Curtis asked.
Kat laughed.
“It’s a weird day.”
Dimitri cuddled Sadie in his good arm, and he rocked her gently against his body. Immediately, she closed her eyes.
She was out cold.
“There you go. One tired baby burrito.”
“Jesus,” Curtis said, getting up and taking Dimitri’s face in his hands. He kissed him on the mouth.
Kat laughed.
“Mr. Croft, that’s so very inappropriate. You are not my type. For the record, Steele kisses better.”
Curtis laughed.
“I don’t know how you did that.”
“Kiss Steele? He actually kissed me, which seems to go on a lot with this family. No wonder the media talks.”
Kat giggled.
“Thank you, Dimitri.”
“You’re welcome, and to answer you, I had a library card when the kids were young. I read a lot of books on how to raise children. I’m a reader. I read every night.”
That didn’t surprise Curtis. Dimitri was self-taught and very intelligent. The man could pretty much talk about anything.
“Well, bless you, Dad.”
“I’ll kick your ass if you call me that again.”
Curtis grinned.
“Is she your daughter?” he asked, pointing at Kat.
Dimitri sighed.
Curtis smiled triumphantly.
“Dad it is. OH! Or grandpa.”
“Jesus. I’m going to hurt you,” he muttered. “I’m barely in my thirties. Shut up.”
Kat found that amusing.
“Anyway, how were the kids?” Dimitri asked. “By kids, I mean mine.”
They’d busted him enough.
“Petra was good. She actually gave me a hug today,” Kat said. “Of course I had a cookie at the time, so I’m not sure it would have happened without one.”
He laughed as he cuddled Sadie.
“You look good with a baby,” Kat stated out of the blue. “You should have some.”
He looked up at his sister.
“Okay, I’ll take this little bundle.”
Kat laughed.
“NOTICE neither of us stopped you. We’re tired. It’s week two.”
Dimitri laughed.
“Wait until she’s a teenager, and she strings all her bed sheets together and climbs out a window.”
Curtis laughed until Dimitri pointed at his sister.
“She didn’t.”
He nodded.
“Oh, shit! I need medication,” Curtis stated.
Dimitri knew that was the truest thing said by a father—ever. He’d needed it too. Cigars and bourbon worked miracles.
Since his kids were good, he’d talk to his sister about why he was there.
“Want to do a job?” he asked out of the blue.
She nearly jumped off the couch and onto her brother. She was that damn excited.
“Please don’t be kidding.”
He laughed.
“We need something retrieved.”
“Uh, what?” Curtis asked, wary of where this was leading. While he knew his wife would go back to work, he’d hoped it wouldn't be this soon.
Still…
As a man, he knew better than to say that out loud.
“A box.”
“I’m in,” she stated. “Tell me when and where. I can get into my gear right now…”
He stopped her.
“You have some time.”
“Uh, is that a good idea? You just had a baby,” Curtis stated. The word ‘gear’ drew up frightening pictures.
“I’m good.”
To prove it, she did a backbend and a handstand in front of the men, and she held it.
Dimitri believed her.
“I want to work.”
Curtis sighed.
“I’m outvoted. Where is this ‘box’?”
“In a locked room. We need you to break into the police lockup and steal some DNA.”
Curtis stared at him.
Did he just say the POLICE LOCKUP?
“No,” Curtis stated. “NO, NO, and NO.”
“What?” Dimitri stated.
“I said no. She’s not doing that. You’re not sending a CROFT into a police station to steal anything. Are you out of your mind?”
He laughed.
He’d thought the same thing.
“Oh, Curtis. Yes, yes, she is. She’s your wife, not your property.”
Kat stood there between them.
She saw the battle brewing.
“Can we talk alone?” she asked her brother. “I think Curtis and I should discuss this as a couple since we’re married.”
Dimitri was good with that.
He headed toward the door with Sadie.
“I’ll meet you upstairs. Emma will want to cuddle the burrito.”
He closed the door.
Curtis didn’t give her time to say anything. He was off on his tangent before she could open her mouth.
“Baby, I’m scared. That’s the police headquarters. You’ll be walking into the lion’s den, and now that you’re my wife, you’re a Croft. That’s an even tastier gift than a Gideon to those cops.”
“I’ve been in there before when Emma was trapped. I know my way in, and I know where the desk guards sit. I’ll be good.”
He didn’t like this.
AT ALL.
“I need to be part of the team. Dimitri…he trained us, and Natasha didn’t do the job. She raced out, and she wasn’t thinking. I am. I need you to let me do this to prove that I’m still the woman I was and that he still did a damn good job of training us. He’s not sending me in only for a box, but to make sure we’re still viable.”
Well, this was a shitty time for him to decide to audit his training techniques.
“Please, Curtis? Have faith in me. If you say no, I’ll stay home, but I need to be more than just Sadie’s mom and your wife. I need to be Kat.”
He got it.
For her, he’d give in, but he had a condition to this whole thing.
“If you let me be your backup outside.”
She kissed him.
It was warm, heated, and it reminded him of what they once had. Now, this was his wife.
She rubbed against him.
He got hard.
Kat let him go.
“So, I can do it?”
“Anfisa, I don’t own you.”
She loved him.
He’d helped her through all of this and he had faith in her. She headed toward the bedroom.
“Uh, our kid went that way.”
“I was going to help my husband get naked, so I could give him a blowjob.”
Well, that perked up his ears.
“Pardon?”
“Mr. Croft, we have no baby, and while I can’t have sex, you certainly can get off. Come into our bedroom. I’m going to make you cum.”
He jumped over the couch, and nearly slid into the wall, but he wasn’t missing this opportunity.
His wife was back.
Freaking Hallelujah.
* * * G R E Y S O
N C R O F T * * *
Chris was pulling the details when Emma and Greyson walked in the door. Dimitri was right behind them, and he had a baby in his arms.
“Oh look, the killer found another kid.”
He laughed.
“I thought she was safer up here. I didn’t want her covered in blood. Curtis just told my sister she couldn't help us with our extrication plan.”
Emma cringed.
“When will that cave-boy realize that it’s only sexy in bed?” she asked.
“And cars.”
Chris pointed at him.
“Please tell me that you did NOT fornicate in my ride! I wax her and keep her clean. You have a vehicle that’s become a sperm receptacle.”
Greyson laughed.
“Uh, Croft Industries pays for that ride, and I’m a Croft. I can fornicate anywhere I want,” he said.
“Life is so unfair.”
“Gideon Inc. owns my rides,” Dimitri stated. “You can’t fornicate in those,” he added.
“Duly noted. Oh, wait…”
Emma giggled.
Her husband was incorrigible.
To change the subject, Emma dropped down on the couch next to Chris.
“Where are the kids?” she asked.
“Heath is up in the pool with them. He’s teaching them the proper way to do cannonballs. He said he’s babysitting tonight. He wants to make popcorn and play board games. He wanted you to let Paris and Tessa off the hook.”
Emma laughed.
“It looks like we, inadvertently, found ourselves a nanny.”
Greyson took a seat.
It appeared they did, but it could only be temporary.
“Well, since we’re bringing it up, let’s discuss it.”
“What?” Emma stated.
“We need a nanny. Dimitri has two kids, the Archers are having two—at least—and Kat and Curtis have one as well. We all have jobs. We’re on hiatus from Aquarius, but we have to go back at some point to help people in this city.”
He had a very valid point.
“We can use Heath for now,” Emma stated. “He really likes kids. He was one of eleven.”
They stared at her as she laid down on the couch and placed her head on Chris’s lap. He moved the tablet over for her.
“You’re shitting me?” Greyson said.
“That’s a lot of kids,” Dimitri stated. “His parents were saints. I did two teenage girls and drank.”
“Literally?” Chris asked.
“Nightly.”
Greyson was glad they were only having one at a time. While Paris’s children were technically half his, they were all of his to cluck over.
“We need someone who can protect them,” Dimitri stated. “The easiest way to get to us is our kids.”
He was right.
“Okay, hire someone,” Emma stated.
“I know a woman…,” Dimitri began, getting all of their attention.
He was the LAST person they thought to ask about a babysitter for their kids.
Dimitri laughed.
“Not that kind of know—as in the biblical sense. She worked for one of the mob men in Vegas. He met an untimely end when Randall was king.”
“How?” Greyson asked.
“I killed him,” he said, without batting an eye. “Anyway, I know a woman who was a nanny, but she was also trained to protect. She was lethal.”
“And we want a killer around our kids?” Greyson asked incredulously.
Emma and Chris both pointed at Dimitri, who was cuddling Sadie.
Greyson got it.
“Point taken. We interview her first.”
“She’s not in the country. I have to get her in.”
They stared at him.
He laughed.
“Okay, so she’s not going to be ‘legal’. We’ll pay her under the table. It’s not like people don’t do it every day. If you want the best, you find the best.”
He had a point.
Why not break the law?
It was expected of them anyway.
Dimitri knew it was time to give them his update.
“My case is a tough one,” he stated.
Emma was ready. She knew he looked a little too rattled when she saw him. Dimitri looked edgy.
“What happened?”
He told them.
“Holy shit!” Greyson stated. “You need to be on alert. You need to make sure you keep your eyes open. Maybe you should double up security.”
He shook his head.
“I’m ready now. That car was aimed at me. I think Poppy’s mother’s killer is gunning for me.”
They agreed.
“What do I do?” he asked.
“Stay alive.”
“I meant with investigating. This is NOT my thing.”
Greyson knew.
“You have to be getting somewhere. If he’s gunning, he’s watching her, and you’ve made him nervous. Just keep going at it, and watch your back.”
He could, and would, do that.
It was time to change the subject before Emma began mother-henning him.
“What did you find?” he asked Chris.
“Well, I found some interesting shit out, and I don’t know what to do with it.”
“What?”
“I ran the names you both came up with. First, I ran Johnie Baker.”
“And?” Emma asked.
He pulled up the information on the screen, so they could all review it.
“He’s clean. In fact, he’s squeaky clean—not even a parking ticket. Then I ran his financials through the internet and the FBI.”
He pulled up his IRS forms.
“He’s making that,” Chris stated.
It was a decent above average salary.
“Okay, and?”
He showed them the internet search. “Did you know you can run someone’s name on the internet and find out if they’ve ever filed for bankruptcy?” he asked.
He pulled it up.
And there he was.
“He’s flat broke.”
That was interesting.
“That was four years ago. Now look,” he said, pulling up the man’s tax returns from the previous year.
They studied it.
It didn’t add up.
“Wait,” Emma stated. “According to his taxes, Johnie got the new house tax credit, and he also he got the credit for solar panels…that takes money.”
It certainly did.
“Social media?” Dimitri asked.
They scanned it.
It was always a treasure trove of personal information by way of pictures, posts, or one-line messages.
That’s when they saw it.
“That’s a sweet ride for someone who was flat broke four years ago, and then came into some money.”
Yeah, he was aware.
“We don’t even own one of those rides,” Chris said, “And there’s a shit ton of money in this family.”
“Want one?” Emma asked.
“NO! Don’t buy me shit!”
“He can buy his own,” Dimitri stated. “He’s part owner of my company,” he added, not mentioning his sister’s name. “In fact, he’s pretty damn wealthy.”
“Oh, Jesus. I don’t need that.”
“Denise, eat your heart out,” Emma stated.
He grinned.
“Okay, I can use that. Bring on the babes!” he said, but no one there bought it. His hands were in Emma’s hair as she rested her head on his lap.
“And now I have to keep the gold digging hussy’s off of Chris too. My life just got busier.”
He leaned down and kissed her on the lips.
That’s when he saw it, peeking out from beneath her shirt. They had matching hickeys.
“Who bit my girl?” he asked, checking out her neck.
Greyson handled that one.
“That is a love bite from a horny husband. It trumps naked in a bathtub, and making out in a sex stall at a porn shop ev
ery time.”
She laughed.
It had been pretty damn hot.
Chris looked skeptical.
“I am pretty sure her putting her lipstick on my crotch wins,” Chris stated.
Greyson stared at him.
“Kill him, Dimitri.”
He went to hand Greyson the baby.
Chris laughed as Emma sat up and leaned against him to make sure neither man grabbed him. When they screwed around, shit got broken.
“Can we focus?” she stated.
“Okay, back to work,” Chris said, trying to forget he had money. It freaked him out. “Anyway, that’s not the best news of the day.”
“What is?” Greyson asked.
“Michael Skinner is.”
He pulled up the man’s picture, and they checked him out. Clearly, Chris wanted them to see something and they just weren’t. He was smiling like a lunatic.
“What?” Emma asked. “What is it that you know that we don’t know?”
“We know him.”
They all stared at him, waiting for him to tell them how they knew the man. He didn’t look familiar.
“How?” Greyson asked.
He pulled a picture up on the screen of Abby McCoy, and still, they didn’t connect the dots.
Emma didn’t get it.
“Okay, that’s Libby’s sister. Greyson and you talked to her at the bar. How do they connect?”
Chris pulled up her driver’s license from three years ago and Michael Skinner’s too.
They stared at it.
They’d never asked Abby her married name, and she’d never offered it up.
“Holy shit! They were married?” Emma asked.
The names and addresses matched.
Greyson stared at it.
Dimitri whistled.
“I don’t think that’s a coincidence. At all.”
Emma agreed.
“So, our missing woman worked with her sister’s husband, and some people say that she had some holiday sex in a closet with him?” Emma asked.
Greyson didn’t like this.
At all.
They had a case where the person who hired them had been the bad guy. Abby hadn’t hired them, but she was a link to her own sister’s disappearance.
And she hadn’t warned them.
“What would you do if your sister slept with your husband at a Christmas party and you found out about it?” Greyson asked Emma.
She stared at him.
Oh, that was easy.
“I’d kill her.”
Yeah, and that was a big problem for Abby McCoy. She’d just moved to the top of the suspect list.
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