Most of the men in my family and acquaintance would’ve had more than a choice word to say about being handed projects like this. My father, before he died, would bellow if you asked him to help open a jar. My brothers are much like him. I knew the Havilis didn’t look at the world in the same way, I’d been around them enough to see that, but still. Didn’t it rankle on some level that I was asking him to help people who weren’t even family to him?
He stopped tapping notes into his phone and regarded me the same way I was regarding him. “You forget to mention something?”
I didn’t hear or see annoyance. I didn’t see aggravation. He wasn’t hiding those emotions from me—his face was open and readable—I just didn’t see the emotions I was looking for. “Isn’t this too much work, cher?”
Catching my waist, he pulled me in and kissed me gently, soothingly. I hummed into the kiss, leaning up on tiptoes to reach him better. It was always lovely kissing Brandon. I felt his affection through every touch.
“You are never too much work,” he breathed over my mouth. “Your mother, your family, they’re not too much work either. I want to fix this, Mack. All of it, everything that’s wrong. I want to do that for you and your mom because I don’t want you worrying about her. I don’t want her stressed. I want peace of mind for both of you.”
“I must have saved a nation in a previous life to deserve you,” I whispered, my eyes burning with unshed tears.
He snorted, amused. “Other way around, honey. Now, is there something else needing to be fixed?”
“We probably don’t have the time for it.” Despite what he said, I really felt like a burden at the moment, and the feeling rankled. He was already doing so much.
“Okay. What is it?”’
Not letting me off the hook, was he. I eyed him but he held his ground, meeting my gaze steadily. I knew he wouldn’t let it go until he had an answer. “Mama wants to repaint some of the rooms. We had black mold in the house when she first bought it. We got rid of the mold, but the stains remained.”
“Then let’s pick up paint while we’re out. Even if we don’t get to it, she’ll have the supplies to do it herself.”
I felt that was a good compromise. After all, I’d be paying for all of this. I nodded in acceptance. “Can we surprise her?”
“We can sure try. She’s got, what, another six hours before she gets home? If we move quick, I can get the water heater and kitchen sink fixed.”
I blinked, surprised by this estimate. “You think? What’s wrong with the kitchen sink, then?”
“Faucet’s just old. It’s lost its seals.” He kissed me again, quick and light, then urged me toward the door. “Let’s shop quick. You think you can guess what colors she wants the different rooms painted?”
I owed this man kinky sex later. I didn’t know when or where I’d find the necessary privacy to do that, but he definitely deserved it. I shook my head and got my mind back to the present. “I don’t need to guess. She’s been talking about it for years, daydreaming about colors.”
“Good. I know better than to try to guess a woman’s taste in either decorations or perfumes.”
I laughed. “You are wise.”
We stepped back out and into the car. As we moved, my phone rang and I pulled it free to see the screen. Oh good. “Hi, Sylvia.”
“Mack. How are things going?”
“I can sense the ghost but it’s not coming out so far. Cali—that’s my young cousin—she said the ghost told her it’s his house and she was to get out.”
“Oh-ho. That’s good intel. What else?”
“I have a bad suspicion he’s attached to something in the house, or something buried in the walls of the house. House is at least sixty years old by the look of it. Boss, we might have to tear into it.”
“I’ll put in an expected expense report ahead of time. We can fix what you have to break.”
I breathed out a sigh of relief even as I buckled in. “We can do that?”
“You’re new to the PADs division of the FBI, so you probably don’t know this yet. But we break a lot of stuff.”
She was so deadpan I busted out laughing. “Do tell.”
“Next time, when we have time to swap stories. Alright, take pictures of the area for me. That’ll help me write up the expense report. I actually called to not only check in but tell you I’ve got a team heading your direction. They’re wrapping up a case now, but I expect them to be at the campus in about three or four days. I’ll give you a better ETA when they leave.”
“That sounds mighty fine, Sylvia, merci. This expense report, does it cover us buying tools down here to work with?”
“It most certainly does as long as you give me the receipt.”
“We’re on our way to a hardware store. I’ll shoot you a picture of the receipt shortly.” I had an idea in mind that we could possibly do some less invasive investigation. If nothing else, possibly rattle the ghost enough it chose to come out and face me.
“How are you and Brandon doing down there?” Sylvia sounded honestly worried.
“So far, so good. No trouble to report.”
A soft sigh of relief. “Good. Let me know if that changes. I don’t think anyone sane would get in Brandon’s face, but you never know.”
“Truly,” I agreed fervently. It would be like tackling a sumo wrestler. Took a special brand of crazy to do that.
“I’ll let you go. Report in regularly so I know what’s going on.”
“Roger that.” I hung up and said to my partner, “There’s another hardware store in town, cher. How do you want to play this?”
“I don’t want to buy the fridge, fan, or water heater from your mom’s hardware store. Let’s surprise her. But we can buy a few diagnostic tools from hers and give us a chance to see her.”
“Not to mention some business. Alright, let’s do that.” And perhaps I could sound her out a touch on where that money I’d sent her had gone.
6
I had to buy more than the elements to replace things with, of course. I had no tools on me so we had to buy those as well. It came out to a pretty penny but Mack paid it without a flinch. I had a feeling he’d been saving up to do this very thing. He might not have intended for me to do the work, but he’d always intended for the work to be done.
As we pulled into the driveway, I saw the side door leading into the kitchen propped open, which was strange. We’d locked up before leaving for the store, so why...?
Mack didn’t look all that surprised. Growling, he snapped the belt off and got out of the car before I could even put it fully into park. That wasn’t a good sign either and foreboding rolled in my stomach as I quickly followed him inside.
I heard them before I could get eyes on the situation. Mack sounded like a kettle going off.
“Georgie, I just knew it was you. You will not steal the food out of our mother’s mouth. Put that back in the fridge immediately.”
Oh hell. I cleared the two steps up into the kitchen in a single bound and stopped there, getting my bearings.