Brice’s phone rang, and she rose from the table.
“Seriously? In a tampon?” Remi asked Camille when the agent had disappeared. “High five, girl.”
Camille shot her a sly smile. “I learned from the best.”
“That’s where Remi hid her liquor minis when she was a high school senior,” Chief Ford explained to Brick.
Remi gasped. “You knew?”
“Of course I knew. You didn’t ever wonder why they were always so watered down? Or why your cheap-ass whiskey tasted like hot peppers?”
“You diabolical woman.” Remi shook her head in admiration.
“One day you, too, will ruin your own child’s liquor stash,” the chief promised her.
Remi’s gaze landed on Brick and held for a beat. Her cheeks flushed, and she broke eye contact first.
He wondered what the look meant. Was it something she’d consider? A family? With him? Not so long ago, Brick had assumed he’d live out his days as a bachelor. But that was before Remi warmed his bed. There could be a family filling this house. Little devious redheads running up the stairs. A quiet boy on their heels trying to run herd on his sisters.
The images sprang to life so vividly, he could almost hear the ruckus. There was much he had to discuss with Remi.
Special Agent Brice returned to the room, her lips pursed in a grim line. “Senator Vorhees’s plane was met by local law enforcement on the tarmac in Cancun. He was not aboard.”
Brick saw Remi take Camille’s hand under the table. “Then where is he?” she asked.
“We’re following up several leads,” Brice said evasively.
“So you don’t know,” Brick announced, filling in the blanks.
The front door opened, and White stuck his head in. “You got a second?”
Both agents retired to the front porch.
William excused himself to get everyone a round of waters.
Remi wasted no time in running to the window and trying to listen.
“Remington, come away from there,” Chief Ford said on a yawn.
Brick stole a seat at the table and pulled Remi into his lap. He breathed in the scent of her hair, letting the warmth of her soft body thaw the iciness that had lodged in his gut.
“I don’t like them leaving us out of their stupid plans when Camille is the one in danger.”
“You’re in this too, missy,” her mother reminded her.
“At this point, we all are,” Camille spoke up. “William saved me. Remi defied him. Brick provoked him. I left him. He’ll come after us and anyone who gets in his way.”
Her lower lip trembled, and Brick was struck by just how alone she looked.
“I’m sorry for bringing this to your doorstep,” Camille said to Darlene, who was guzzling coffee. “I never meant for anyone else to get hurt.”
Remi squirmed in his arms, but Brick held on tight. She turned to him, and whatever she saw in his eyes was enough to make her wrap her arms around his neck and hang on.
“I’m sorry no one did anything a long time ago. You didn’t deserve any of this,” Darlene said. “No one’s in danger because of you. It’s because of him. So don’t try to take responsibility for his sins. They’re his. Not yours.”
The words hit Brick dead center, just like they had the first time she’d said them. To him. He’d been busting his ass as a rookie cop like he’d had something to prove.
In his head, he’d needed Chief Ford to know he wasn’t like his father. A good-time grifter looking for an easy score. He’d needed to prove that he wasn’t going down the same path.
She’d already known it. Strongly hinting that he was being a dumbass if he thought otherwise. And she’d reminded him that on Mackinac, people were judged by their own character, not by those of the people around them.
Remi’s fingers toyed with his hair at the nape of his neck. The gentle touch, the weight of her body against his reassured him. She was his. She belonged with him. And no one was going to take her away.
The conversation cut off when both agents returned.
“With this new evidence, the U.S. Attorney is confident she can take this case before the court and win,” Special Agent Brice stated.
“We just need the bad guy in custody,” White added.
“That is usually helpful,” Chief Ford drawled.
Brice gave the room a cool look. “The best move forward at this time is to encourage him to come out of hiding.”
Brick didn’t like how her gaze lingered on Remi.
She shifted in his lap. “You need bait.”
“Essentially yes.”
“No.” Brick’s voice rang out, silencing everyone else.
“Can I speak to you outside, Sergeant?” Remi demanded.
“You can’t be okay with this,” Brick said to the chief as Remi headed for the front door.
Chief Ford met his heated gaze. There was a warning in her eyes and something else. Something like fear.
He followed Remi out into the lousy, damp spring air.
“Absolutely fucking not,” he said before she could even open her pretty mouth.
“Hear me out.”
“There’s no way you’re taking their side.”
“I’m not taking anyone’s side over you,” she said, huddling deeper into the coat she’d snatched off the rack inside. It was his.
“You are not to put yourself at risk, Remington. I couldn’t take it.”
He crowded her against the railing, needing the proximity to her.
“What if there was no real danger?”
He felt a nagging sensation. An irritation between his shoulder blades as if they were being watched.
“It makes sense,” she began. “From a big picture level.”
“Dangling you in front of a homicidal monster makes no sense on any level,” he argued, keeping his hands on the railing next to her. He was afraid if he touched her he’d never let her go.
“I’m saying, we need him to show his grotesque face sooner rather than later so he can be dragged off in handcuffs. He knows that Camille and I defied him. He’d find us here sooner or later.”
“What’s your point?”
“He knows about the divorce and protective order. He knew about the arrest attempt. Sooner rather than later, he’ll track Camille here to a tiny island with a small police force. What he doesn’t know is there’s a Department of Justice investigation happening. That’s a whole lot of law enforcement who could grace our shores in time to nab him the second he lands here.”
“You’re talking about laying a trap here on Mackinac.”
“Can you think of a way to find him faster?”
He wanted to.
“Don’t do this, Remi. This doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t like it either. But this needs to be over for Camille. How long can she hang in there if he’s just vanished? How long can she hold it together, knowing that he could be anywhere? Across the country or around the next corner?”
Brick looked over his shoulder, the nagging feeling still there. But there was no one there.
“Remi, this is asking for trouble. Let the agents handle it. It’s their job.”
“You heard Dumb and Dumber in there. They’ve been sitting on this for a year and a half. Do you know how many times he’s hit her in eighteen months? How many times he’s hurt and humiliated her? There’s no way they weren’t aware of it. They left her there in that situation because they wanted to follow the money.”