Solene groaned and headed to the sink. “I swear, you’re such a pain in my ass.”
“Oh, honey. That’s one thing I truly aspire to be.”
She blushed. “I’m ignoring that comment. Now, I realize I don’t have your expertise with stuff like this, but why don’t you run through the locket, the baby situation, heck, everything all over again. Maybe fresh eyes will help.”
“Good idea.”
“Just one thing.”
He raised a brow, and she lost her train of thought. She wished she could ignore how handsome he was. Solene had been around top models, for God’s sake. But Deacon put them all to shame. His dark eyes glimmered with a lighthearted humor—on the surface. The depths swirling in the layers beneath intrigued her to no end.
“One thing?” he prodded.
“Oh, right.” She cleared her throat. “You really think the daycare will be safe?”
“Yes, or we’d sic a protection detail on the place. You need to stay away from it, okay? That’s what’ll keep them safe for now.”
“Gotcha.” What she’d needed to hear. “So, this locket. It came with Noel Jr.?”
“You mean Little Dee, and yes. To recap, Noel comes home from an assignment, all eager to stalk his pretty neighbor, unbeknownst to her. You should see the file he kept onher. It’s got colored tabs and everything.” Deacon shook his head. “Anyhow, he comes home and finds Addy holding a baby—hisbaby, or so the lady said who dropped him off. She also tucked a note in with the kid.”
“And Addy’s description of the woman didn’t help at all?”
“Yes and no. The chick was too average. If it was the mom, with all her efforts to remain anonymous, she would have doctored her appearance before dropping off Little Dee. But we think she hired someone…who recently turned up dead.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Hammer called me this morning. We ran Addy’s description through some databases and did the legwork. The island isn’t that big, and folks in Lynwood remembered a woman with a baby matching our description. They found her in the Sound, drowned. We’re still trying to dig up info on her. Either way, the woman is a dead end.” He paused. “No pun intended.”
Another dead person. Great. Solene cleared her throat. “What else do we know?”
“ThatLittle Dee,” he emphasized, “arrived in nothing more than a cheap baby carrier, folded in a blanket and wearing a tiny hat, both of which you can get at any baby store. And he wore the locket. One side says Angel, the other a five-digit alphanumeric code. Hammer and I have run the code up, down, and sideways. We got nothing.
“The few leads we have on anyone who might want to take the three of us out came down to four dead guys, a few ex-pats with grudges who can all be accounted for, and possibly a missing handler. That’s it.”
“Oh, come on. You’re pretty annoying. I’m sure you’ve aggravated a bunch of other people,” she taunted as she washed the dishes.
He huffed. “I’ll have you know that of the three of us, I’m the charming one.”
“Uh huh.” On a more serious note, she added, “You guys do all sorts of dangerous things around scary people. How can you not have an endless list to choose from?”
“One, we’re good at what we do because we’re discreet. Clandestine, even.” He brightened. “Yeah, all cloak and dagger mysterious. Two, because whoever has targeted us has targetedallof us: Noel, Hammer, and me. We all might work for the Business, but we’re solo contractors. We rarely work together. I can name on one hand the number of ops I’ve done with both Hammer and Noel.” He paused. “But the one I keep coming back to is Mexico. Has to be that one, on account of Little Dee.”
Solene washed the last dish, wiped her hands, then turned to Deacon as she dried them on a towel. “What exactly did happen in Mexico? Or is that classified?”
Deacon stood leaning against the counter next to her, so she stepped back to give herself space. Subtly of course.
He smirked but didn’t comment on her movement. “First off, a lot of what we do is confidential. Not classified. I donotwork for the government.” He was very concise. “We’re a private clean-up organization. Period.”
“Who works on a contractual basis,” she added.
“Exactly.”
Semantics. “Fine. Mexico?”
He shrugged. “I was there to get info for a client. Noel and Hammer came as diversionary measures. Bottom line, we knocked off a small-time drug cartel that had threatened to grow bigger.”
She stared, slack-jawed. “A cartel?” She’d watched her share of crime shows. Drugs, gangs, cartels? Dangerous stuff.
