The Gray-Haired Knitting Detective Series: (Books 1 - 3)

by D. E. Haggerty

  Chapter 15

  Mr. Hot and Delicious Cop would be a great distraction

  “Aren’t you going to turn on the siren?” Martha asked once the cop was back in the patrol car and they were headed to the police station. Ally bobbed her head in excitement. Jack hung his head.

  The cop chuckled. “Normally perps don’t like the siren on.”

  “Why not?” Ally leaned forward to get a better look at the officer.

  “They don’t want to be seen being hauled to the police station,” was the officer’s perfectly acceptable answer.

  Ally and Martha huffed before leaning back and crossing their arms over their chest. “Well, that’s just boring,” Martha said to Ally. Ally nodded in agreement.

  The quiet didn’t last long. “So, officer,” Martha began. “Are you single?” Jack tried to make himself disappear at this point, but unfortunately closing his eyes and wishing he was anywhere else in the world but in the back of a cop car that smelled like piss with two elderly troublemakers-turned-matchmakers was a bust.

  “I’m single ladies,” the officer readily answered. “But don’t get your hopes up for your granddaughters. I’m also gay.” Jack prayed for a hole in the floor of the sedan to open up and swallow him whole.

  Ally and Martha clapped in glee. The officer turned around in surprise before quickly returning his attention to the road. The quick look was all Jack needed. It appeared that he’d been arrested by a man hot enough to be Mr. January in the police calendar. Although it was dark in the car, he couldn’t miss the curly brown hair and eyes the color of rich chocolate. He’d bet the man was made of muscles as well. He nearly sighed but caught himself just as he saw Ally and Martha looking at him for a response. He buried his face in his chest. Luckily, they had arrived at the police station.

  The officer parked and then exited the car. He opened the door closest to Ally and peered in. “Are you ladies gonna behave?” They nodded in agreement and smiled sweetly at him. The cop chuckled and waved at them to get out. When Jack scooched over and got out, the officer grabbed his upper arm before shutting the car door. Apparently, Jack wasn’t as trustworthy as the elderly Abbott and Costello.

  The officer pulled Jack by his arm while Ally and Martha followed behind through the back entrance of the police station. Izzy and Noel were waiting. Noel stood by his desk with his arms crossed over his enormous chest and his feet planted shoulder-width apart. His mouth was pulled tight. Somebody was pissed. Izzy was sitting on the chair next to Noel’s desk staring at her feet. Jack was happy to have missed that encounter.

  Betty, Rosemary, and Rose were already sitting in an interrogation room when Jack, Ally, and Martha entered. “Have a seat,” the cop said and then left to talk to Noel.

  “I take it you want to take over,” he said to Noel as he tilted his head toward the interrogation room.

  Noel ran his hand over his face. “Yeah. It’s a family matter.”

  The cop laughed and clapped Noel over the shoulder. “Good luck man,” he said and sauntered off.

  “Hey wait,” Martha yelled at the retreating cop. “We didn’t get your name and number yet.” He stopped, slowly turned around, and stared at Noel.

  Noel shrugged while Izzy giggled. “They probably want to set you up with someone,” she said quietly when Noel refused to speak.

  “I already told them I’m gay.” The cop shook his head.

  Izzy clapped before standing and taking a good look at the man. “Are you really or just saying that to get them off your back?” She whispered, but Jack could hear her as he was sitting closest to the door.

  “Darling, I wouldn’t lie about something like that.” A slight Southern twang was now distinguishable in the officer’s voice. Jack nearly swooned.

  “Are you single?” Izzy asked, but Noel cleared his throat.

  “This isn’t exactly the moment to be playing matchmaker, Iz.” Noel started to walk away.

  Izzy ignored him. “So?” The cop blessed her with a megawatt smile and Jack heard the women behind him sigh. Noel grabbed Izzy’s arm and pulled her away before she could get an answer. She whispered ’we’ll talk’ as she was being hauled away.

  Noel and Izzy stepped into the interrogation room and Noel closed the door behind him. “So, ladies,” Noel began. “Who wants to tell me what’s going on?”

  Five voices responded at the same time. “We were just having a peek.” “We didn’t do anything wrong.” “Did you see that cop?” “Perfect for Jack.” “He’s so yummy.”

  Noel hung his head and took a deep breath before beginning again. “One at a time.” He pierced Betty with his baby blue eyes. “You start.”

  Betty laid her hands primly in her lap and returned Noel’s gaze. “We were just having a look around Damien’s place. We didn’t even try to go inside.”

  Noel shook his head and stared at the group. “You do realize, that what you did is called trespassing and is illegal.”

  “How is that illegal?” asked Rosemary. “We didn’t go into his house or anything.”

  “You want someone walking into your yard and peeking in your windows?” Noel asked the only question that would get the elderly snoops to understand that what they did was wrong.

  “Well that would just be rude, wouldn’t it?” Rosemary responded.

  Noel nodded. “And illegal.”

  “Well, we didn’t mean any harm,” Ally stated.

  “So what are you going to do with us,” Betty asked.

  Noel hung his head. “Lucky for you, I talked to Damien and he won’t be pressing charges. You’re free to go.” He walked over to Jack and released his handcuffs before slapping him on the back. Then he stood by the door waiting to usher the group out of the station. But they weren’t going anywhere. They huddled close together and talked in conspiratorial whispers. “Did you see the cop that brought us in?” Martha asked Betty. “He’d be perfect for Jack.”

  Jack’s eyes rounded and he looked to Izzy, but she sat down and joined the matchmakers. “I think I can get his phone number.” Jack looked up at Noel for support, but he just shrugged. Well, that wouldn’t do. Jack had enough on his plate with Wyatt thinking they were back together and lusting after Damien. On top of that, it looked like someone was stealing from the store. Huh, now that he thought about it, Mr. Hot and Delicious Cop might just be the distraction he needed. He grinned.

  Izzy caught his look. She stood and looked at Noel, who nodded before she took off. Jack watched her through the door as she approached the cop. It was obvious she was telling him about Jack when he looked over his shoulder to peruse Jack. Jack smiled but managed to stop the hand that was lifting to wave at him. The cop smiled back before reaching into his breast pocket to pull out his notebook.

  Izzy came rushing back a minute later and handed the piece of paper to Jack. “His name is Brad. He really is gay and he’s waiting for your call.”

  Jack took the piece of paper and searched for Brad in the station. Their eyes met and Brad winked before sauntering off. He was right. Brad was made of muscles. A distraction was indeed just what the doctor ordered.

  Chapter 16

  They were going to get it now

  The senior spies decided that they needed to ‘debrief’. Jack rolled his eyes at their terminology but followed his orders to take the ladies back to Noel and Izzy’s house. He ignored them as they went on and on about Brad being a perfect match for him as he drove. He was starting to understand how Izzy felt when he threw her back into the dating game. Maybe he should have been more diplomatic? Nah. He shook his head at that crazy thought.

  Everyone piled into Noel and Izzy’s kitchen. Coffee was quickly made, cups and plates set on the table, and pie magically appeared. Jack was really going to have to start working out more if the grandmas were going to feed Izzy pie every day during her pregnancy. He wasn’t eating for two.

  Noel arrived just as everyone had quieted down. He came into the dining room and immediately assumed the cop posi
tion. Uh-oh. They were going to get it now.

  “What the hell did you think you were doing tonight?” Noel didn’t bother to soften his vocabulary or voice.

  The group hung their heads. Jack looked anywhere but at Noel. Izzy, however, was having none of it. She stood, walked over to Noel, and poked him in the chest with her index finger. “Don’t you dare talk to the ladies like that!” She crossed her arms over her growing bosom and huffed.

  Noel looked to the ceiling and took a deep breath before returning his gaze to his irate wife. “I’m a cop, Iz. I can’t be rescuing your lady crew every time they decide to carry out a harebrained scheme.” He spoke softly, but his voice was made of steel. He wasn’t going to budge. Well, neither was Izzy.

  “Come on Noel. No one was hurt. They didn’t do anything wrong.” Noel raised his eyebrow. “Not really.” She sighed. “Come on. Trespassing is just some trumped up charge when cops can’t find any evidence.”

  Noel’s face turned an unnatural shade of red. Jack jumped up. “No worries, Noel. We won’t do anything like this again.” He looked at his posse. “Right?” They immediately nodded their heads in agreement. With their hands clasped in their laps and their heads bowed, it was almost possible to believe them. Almost.

  Noel shook his head. He wasn’t falling for it. “I know you are going to do whatever you want to do anyway.” He sighed. “But you need to be careful. What if Damien was home? What if he thought you were burglars? What if he had a gun?”

  The ladies tittered. “Damien wouldn’t have a gun. He’s a bookkeeper for goodness sakes.” Rose defended their actions with her quiet voice. The rest of her gang nodded in agreement.

  “Besides,” added Betty. “We would have noticed if he was packing.”

  “Because guns are always visible?” Noel asked and then lifted his jacket allowing everyone to see the 9 mm strapped to his waist.

  Martha rolled her eyes at him. “You’re a detective, Noel. Of course, your gun is hidden.”

  Betty had had enough. She clapped her hands. “Okay. We were bad. We get it, Noel. Now, let’s move on. Where are we with the investigation?”

  The silver-haired spies immediately calmed down and turned their attention to Betty. Jack answered on behalf of his squad. “We didn’t see anything suspicious.” Ally and Martha nodded in agreement. “What about the front of the house?”

  Betty, Rose, and Rosemary shook their heads. “We looked in the windows, but we didn’t notice anything strange,” Rosemary filled in.

  “What exactly were you looking for?” asked Noel against his better judgment.

  “We just wanted to see if he was obviously living above his means,” answered Rose. “We didn’t notice anything that would suggest he’s a thief.”

  Jack shuddered. “It was a bit depressing actually. An average house in an average neighborhood.” He scrunched his nose in disgust.

  Izzy suddenly sat up straight. “What about the fact that Damien didn’t press charges? Does that implicate him?”

  Noel shook his head. “Nah. He thought the whole thing was hilarious. If he was guilty, he probably would have blown his top.”

  “Makes sense,” Izzy added.

  “So what do we do now?” Betty asked.

  Everyone looked at Noel, who shrugged. “Technically you don’t even have enough to start an investigation.” He looked at Jack. “Sorry, but the fact that your profits took a nose dive isn’t enough to warrant police involvement.”

  “So I need to find out why the profits are down?” Jack asked and Noel nodded. Jack looked to Rose. “Do you think you could figure that out?”

  Rose blushed. “I can try. If you can get me the finances, I can go through things for the past months.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll do. You can come into the office and work at Wyatt’s desk. He’s never there anyway and his computer has access to everything. No one would need to know what you’re up to.” Jack took a deep breath and looked around the table. “But I can’t have you ladies coming into Fabulous, Darling. If you’re all walking around, everyone will know that something’s up. I don’t want to upset my employees if there’s nothing to worry about.” And he didn’t want to hire all new employees when everyone quit because they were driven batty by the elderly troublemakers.

  “Do you really think Damien is stealing from you?” Izzy asked.

  Jack shrugged. “I have a hard time believing that the man who lived in the house we saw tonight is a thief. But I can’t deny the fact that our profits are down by double digits even though the store seems busier than ever.”

  Izzy placed an arm around Jack’s shoulder. “We’ll figure it out.” The ladies chimed in their agreement.

  “If you find anything suspicious, let me know, and I’ll have a look,” Noel added his support.

  “So,” Izzy rubbed her hands together. “When are you gonna call Brad?”

  Noel chuckled and Jack rolled his eyes. “What do you know about him?” Jack asked Noel.

  “Not much,” Noel shrugged. “He’s normally on evening patrol so I don’t see him much. He hasn’t been in the area long. Seems like a solid cop.”

  Jack nodded. “I’ll call him tomorrow.”

  Chapter 17

  Sex was never the problem

  Jack sat at his desk strumming his fingers. He knew he needed to update Wyatt on his so-called investigation, but he was still avoiding his business partner. He also had to figure out a way to apologize to Damien. That wasn’t going to be awkward. No, not at all. He sent Damien a message to come to his office and then hoped for a black hole to appear and suck him away.

  There was a knock and Damien entered. So much for that black hole. “Can you shut the door?” Jack asked as he stood and walked in front of his desk. This wasn’t a conversation between Jack the boss and Damien the worker bee.

  They sat across from each other at the conference table. Jack sighed. “Look,” he started but then stopped when he heard Damien’s chuckle. He raised a single eyebrow at Damien.

  Damien held his hands out in front of him in apology. “Sorry, man. I can’t help it. I just keep imagining these old ladies in jogging suits trampling around my house trying to look in the windows.”

  Jack lowered his head and stared at the wooden table. “I’m really sorry. Things kinda got out of hand.”

  “You think?” Damien was still chuckling.

  Jack reached across the table and grabbed Damien’s hand. He squeezed it gently in apology, but quickly let go when he felt heat and interest flash through his body. He looked up and noticed a slight blush on Damien’s face. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, I’m sorry.”

  “Err, yeah, that’s okay. No harm, no foul, right?” Damien’s voice was low and husky. Jack felt his pants tighten and quickly stood, knocking his chair over.

  “Anyway,” Jack stumbled back to his desk. “We should get back to work.”

  Damien nodded and hurried out of the office. Shit. Jack couldn’t be crushing on Damien. Especially not now when there were problems with the accounts. He rubbed his hand across his face and decided now was a good time as any to confront Wyatt. The day couldn’t get any worse, right?

  Wyatt arrived two hours later to prove that the day could indeed always get worse. He flounced into the office and walked right up to Jack. Hands on his hips, he flirted. “So, are you finally ready to admit that we were meant to be together?”

  Jack’s eyes bugged out. Yeah, he knew that Wyatt was holding a candle for him, but he didn’t realize it was a never ending candle that gave the holder hallucinations. Seriously? They had broken up years ago – before they even opened the store. Should he be worried about Wyatt’s sanity?

  Jack shook his head. “Wyatt? What’s going on with you? We’re not together. We haven’t been together for years.”

  Wyatt let out a long-suffering sigh. “We were together a few weeks ago.”

  Jack felt his face grow warm, but he fought through it. “I was so drunk I don’t even r
emember it.”

  Wyatt huffed and then collapsed in his chair. “You don’t remember having sex with me?” Jack shook his head. “It was some of the best sex of my life.”

  Jack shrugged. “Sex was never the problem between us. You know that.” He took a deep breath and let the truth out. “You’re not the one, Wyatt. I’m sorry, but you’re not.”

  The brutal honesty of Jack’s confession hit Wyatt like a ton of bricks. “Jesus, Jack. Can you be more nasty?”

  “I’m sorry, Wyatt. I’ll always love you. You know that but as a friend.”

  Wyatt snorted. “Some friend you’ve been these past years. You spend more time with Izzy than at the store.”

  Jack held onto his calm by a thread. “Izzy is my best friend. She always has been. You know this. Even when we were dating, I spent tons of time with her.”

  “I get that. Really, I do.” Wyatt held up his hands in surrender. “But why so little time with me then? It’s like you avoid the store to get away from me.”

  Jack raised an eyebrow at Wyatt. “You’re never here either.”

  Wyatt shook his head. “Not now, no.” He shrugged. “I guess I gave up.”

  Jack decided to dish out some more honesty. “Okay. I admit I was avoiding you as well. At first, you were totally fine with our break-up and we started the store as great friends. But after the store started to become successful and we weren’t working 80 hours a week anymore, you started dropping all these hints about getting back together and pressuring me.” He shrugged. “I should have talked to you then, but I just avoided you instead.”

  Wyatt dropped his head and stared at his shoes for a moment. “I guess neither one of us handled this very well.”

  Jack decided that today he was going to be a better man. He rose and walked to Wyatt’s desk. “Friends?” He held out his hand. Wyatt looked at it and shook his head. “Yeah, friends,” he said and stood to hug Jack. Jack stiffened but when it became obvious that Wyatt was indeed just offering a friendship hug, he reciprocated.