“Oh, I forgot that they did that there.” She smiled and turned her attention to Easton. “Hello, Easton. How are you?”
Easton winked at her. “I’ll be doing so much better when I eat whatever smells so good.”
Fran stepped back and allowed them inside, calling out to Grans as she did. “Grans, meet Wilhelm Schultz and Mr. Easton I don’t know what his last name is.”
Grans laughed as she held out her old, delicate hand to them from her spot at the head of the table. “Schultz, Easton. It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you from my soon-to-be granddaughter today. I hear that my grandson is spending a lot of time with you lately.”
“Unfortunately.” Easton took my grandmother’s hand and kissed it.
My Grans blushed, and I rolled my eyes. “Suck up.”
Grans shot me a glare. “Listen, boy. I don’t get many kisses anymore from men that aren’t related to me. Don’t ruin it.”
Schultz started to laugh as he one-upped Easton by placing a kiss on her cheek. “If you ever want one, let me know. I’ll be more than happy to oblige. Especially if it gets me fed.”
Grans patted Easton on the butt, causing us all to chuckle.
“Take a seat, everyone. Let’s eat. I hate to say, it’s not often that I have such a full table. This makes me incredibly happy.” She smiled sadly, and I felt my heart lurch.
I tried to spend as much time with her as I could. Even if it was just sitting on her couch and writing while she watched her crime shows on the television while I pointed out everything that was done wrong throughout the fictional investigation.
Everyone sat, with Fran on one side of me, and my grandmother on the other.
We ate. We laughed. And not fucking once did any talk of serial killers come up.
Not until Chief Wilkerson called me a half an hour after we’d finished dessert.
I reluctantly answered, even though it was the last thing I wanted to do after having such a damn good dinner.
“Just letting you know,” Chief Wilkerson said in my ear the moment I answered. “That Chief Teller spoke with the hair chick. Apparently, she was pretty well rounded out. The FBI special agent that dropped in on the questioning, Wolf Amsel or something like that, agrees. She doesn’t fit the profile. They said that the driver and assistant, a man in his mid-thirties who was a close friend of the hair chick, did fit. They’re running a few background checks on him right now. As soon as they have those, they’ll get back to me.”
I groaned, pissed that our lead went to hell.
But hopeful that the driver/helper would fit.
I just wanted this over.
The thought of it all was making me literally sick to my stomach.
How many more would have to die before we found him? Before he made a mistake big enough that we were able to get a lead? To pinpoint who might be doing this?
Sighing after I hung up with the chief, I turned around and nearly ran over Fran.
I stopped with barely an inch separating us, then did the first thing that came to mind.
I placed a small kiss on the tip of her nose and said, “I love you, too.”
Her eyes glowed with happiness. “I’m glad that I met you, Taos Brady.”
I pulled her in with a hand on her ass until we were pressed from chest to thighs, her breasts pillowing on my sternum, and her head tipped almost completely backward so she could see into my eyes.
“I’m glad that you gave me a chance,” I told her. “I’m glad that you gave CrossFit a chance. I’m glad that you changed your life. I’m glad that I was in time to help you that night. I’m glad that you’re mine.”
Tears glistened in her eyes when I was done with my impromptu speech. “You’re like a fictional character in one of my romance novels.” She shook her head with a grin tugging at her lips. “I didn’t think men like you were real.”
I tucked a stray, escaped curl back behind her ear. “I’m sure, eventually, you’ll think I’m annoying. For now, though, we’re going to continue saying I’m Mr. Perfect.”
She snickered. “Come back to the table. Your grandmother is telling us really good stories about how awful you were in high school.”
I rolled my eyes. “That woman.”
She squeezed my hand. “That woman thinks you’re her entire world. She’s been talking about you nonstop today. I think that you can do no wrong in her eyes.”
I snorted. “Oh, I can do wrong. She knows it, too.” I paused. “She just wants you to think the best of me so you’ll marry me.”
She tilted her head. “It won’t take much convincing.”
With that parting comment, she went back to her seat next to my grandmother, immediately starting to laugh at what Grans said.
I, on the other hand, stood back and watched the two of them interact, knowing deep in my heart that this day would forever be one of my best memories.
My two favorite people in the world, side by side, laughing and carrying on like they’d known each other their entire lifetimes. Knowing that they loved me was everything right then.
Everything I never knew that I needed.
CHAPTER 23
There should be sympathy cards for people that have to go back to work after vacation.
-Text from Madden to Taos
TAOS
I woke to Fran in my arms, curled tight against my body, with her head pillowed on my bicep.
My eyes went to the clock on the nightstand behind her, and I frowned.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, moving just a little bit deeper into my arms.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
I wasn’t sure what had woken me, but all of a sudden, I felt like there was something that I needed to do. The only problem was, I didn’t know what.
What I did know was that there was something that was niggling at the back of my brain.
Fran rolled over and reached for her phone on the nightstand, her frown filling her face.
“No calls or texts on my phone,” she said. “What about yours?”
I leaned over and looked at my phone that was set up on the opposite nightstand.
That was when I saw the missed calls that were filling the call log.
“Shit,” I grumbled as I stared at the missed calls from Chief Wilkerson, Easton, and Schultz. “I think there was another murder.”
I was wrong, though.
What it was, was a potential lead.
“Got something we think you should come look at,” Chief Wilkerson said the moment that he answered the phone. “Have a blue and white already sitting outside your house to keep an eye out. Come on.”
I reluctantly started to pull on my pants that I’d left on the floor beside the bed.
“Sorry, I was sleeping, and didn’t realize that I’d turned my phone on silent,” I said as I pulled them up over my hips.
“No worries,” he said. “But get here.”
After giving Fran a kiss, who sighed as I said I had to go, I grabbed a t-shirt, my gun, a pair of shoes, and walked out to my car.
When I arrived at the station, it was to find everyone up and much less perky-eyed than I was.
“Nice Crocs,” Schultz said.
I looked down at my American flag Crocs and shrugged. “I was in a hurry. Normally I only wear them to the gym when I’m working out.”