“Where does that leave us, then?” Cooper asked.
Marlee tapped her finger on the map as her mind raced through the different scenarios. She slid off the stool. “My evidence. It’s like the two of you said, it’s what got me here. There’s a reason for that. While I’d like to end the kidnapping of children and the killing of pregnant women, right now, I want to find the assholes who brought me here.”
“I’m willing to help,” Cooper replied.
Jace cracked his knuckles. “Try and stop me.”
Marlee winked at Cooper and went to get her shoes on. She didn’t care that she was in the same clothes she’d worn the night before. She was with someone she liked a great deal. That in itself was something new to her. For the most part, Marlee enjoyed being by herself. Few people understood her. Once they found out what she did for a living, they distanced themselves. As if it were too morbid or something. She didn’t know or care why they did it.
That wasn’t the case with Cooper or any of his friends, though. They wanted to help, and it wasn’t just because they wished to protect Brice and Naomi. It was because they genuinely cared. Which made her like Cooper even more.
The thing was, she really liked him. If she allowed herself, she knew that she could fall for him. That excited her for sure because she’d finally found someone she was attracted to, who treated her amazingly and kissed like he would die without her.
Then there was the fact that she wasn’t working alone. The one thing she’d done for most of the last ten years was the very thing she didn’t want to do any longer. She knew a lot of that had to do with Cooper and their attraction, but she didn’t care. All this time, she’d shouldered the load of her work herself, and she’d done all right. Nothing spectacular. She’d solved cases and managed to bring back a few babies to their families. But the toll had been severe.
Now that Cooper—as well as Jace—was taking some of the load from her, she realized how weighty it had been. With it gone, she wondered how she would ever shoulder it on her own again.
“Hey,” Cooper said as he walked into the bedroom after her and closed the door. “You can tell us to back off, you know.”
“I know. I’m actually looking forward to the help. I was just thinking about that, by the way. You two are looking at the same data as I am, but you’re seeing it differently. That is an asset I’ve been without—probably to the detriment of some of my cases.”
Cooper shook his head as he approached her and pulled her into his arms. “Don’t be too hard on yourself, especially with things from the past. It’s done and over. You can’t change it. All you can do is be in the here and now and change the things before you.”
“I want to change them. You’ve helped me see that. And, yes, I do regret taking so long to come to this realization. But now that I have, I’m going to make a change. Right after I finish this case,” she said with a flash of a smile.
His forest green eyes studied her for a moment. “You’re beautiful.”
Warmth spread through her at his words. “And you’re gorgeous.”
“I mean it, Marlee. You amaze me. The strength and courage it took for you to leave your job to become a private investigator is something few would do. That took drive.”
She laid her hands on his chest and shook her head before looking at him. “Actually, it was grief and the need to get answers. I had skills from the police academy that I used to get certified as a PI, but anyone could’ve done what I did.”
“You need to give yourself more credit. You’ve kicked ass.”
“Well, I’d like to kick some more. And I’d like for you and Jace and whoever else wants to help to join me.”
Outside the door, Jace said, “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Marlee and Cooper laughed before Cooper leaned down and gave her a long, languid kiss. When he lifted his head, he met her gaze. “I’m going to steal as many kisses as I can.”
“I expect nothing less.”
“And I’m going to taste that sweet body of yours again.”
Her nipples hardened at his roughened voice. “I’ll demand it.”
“Woman,” he said and rubbed his thickening cock against her. “That’s what you do to me.”
“It’s a good thing because you do the same to me.”
“You shouldn’t tell me such things. I’ll throw you on the bed and strip you bare.”
She rose up on her toes and whispered, “You shouldn’t say such things unless you plan to carry them out.”
“Guys!” Jace hollered from the kitchen. “You got quiet. Please tell me you aren’t, you know … having sexy time. I’m waiting on you.”
Cooper grunted and pressed his forehead to hers. “He’s like a child.”
Marlee laughed. This time when her mind went to her niece, it wasn’t filled with as much pain as the last time.
Chapter 24
This wasn’t how Cooper had planned to spend the day with Marlee, but he wasn’t upset about it. The fact that he was with her was good enough for him. Her gaze sought him out as they walked to the motel room she’d rented. He reached for her hand, and she smiled as she linked her fingers with his.
Jace walked behind them. Cooper glanced back at his friend and found Jace’s gaze on the ground, a peculiar expression on his face. Cooper didn’t get a chance to ask him about it because they reached Marlee’s door. She used the key to get in and walked inside.
Cooper had gotten a quick glimpse of the room when he’d picked her up the night before, but his eyes had been more on her. Now, he got to see it all. The walls were covered with pictures of Brice, Naomi, and the rest of their group. There were pictures of the adoption agency in Dallas, of an older woman in her late fifties walking out of the office with her head turned to the side, and another of that same woman talking to a man with a baseball hat, who had his back to the camera. There were more pictures on the second bed and even some on the floor.
Jace let out a low whistle as he shut the door behind him. “Damn.”
“I like to see things set out,” Marlee explained. “Stuff can get lost in the shuffle in a file.”
Cooper spotted a picture of him and glanced at Marlee. “Makes sense. Tell us what all you have.”
She took a deep breath and went to the wall nearest her. “The first half of this wall is dedicated to the family of the missing infant. Including copies of a few of the crime scene photos.”
“Damn,” Jace said again when he looked closer at a picture of a body covered with a white sheet, blood pooled all around it. “That’s a lot of blood.”
“That’s what they do,” Marlee said. “What they do is brutal. And slow.”
Cooper walked to Marlee and retook her hand. He gave it a squeeze, letting her know that he was there to help in whatever capacity she allowed.
She gave him a nod before pointing to the next section, which was significantly smaller. “I also began making a note of who investigated the crimes to see if I could connect them.”
“You think they could be working with someone?” Jace asked as his head snapped to her.