“So give me a steel bowl to put her in. Here.” She thrusts my niece—the second one I ever got, considering Mia came first—my way. “Please, Archer. I haven’t even had coffee yet.”
“You’re a coward.” I fake an irritated sigh, but I eagerly scoop Zora straight out of her arms and bring her to my chest. “You've doubled in size since we last saw you, haven’t you, pretty girl?” I brush dark wisps of hair over her scalp and study every inch of her plump little lips. Her hands scrunch tight, long nails threatening her perfect skin if she swipes wrong. “How does it feel to be living in New York with those animals,huh?” I draw her higher and kiss her temple. “Felix is your daddy? Tough break, kid.”
“Keep it up, and I’ll play a game of egg roulette, Detective.” Felix snags a pan from the cupboard and sets it on the stove. “I’ll boil all twelve and inject just one with something that’ll knock you dead. Then I’ll watch you eat every last one of them.” He spins to the fridge and takes out a stick of butter, clapping Cato on the shoulder when they cross paths.Felix is at his best when his family is in one place. “Can you make a pot of coffee? Can’t you see the chief is out of sorts until she’s had her hit?”
“I’ve been living with her long enough to knowexactlyhow long we’ve got till she blows.” He smacks the button on the front of the coffee machine and turns, resting against the counter. “We still have a little wiggle room yet. You wanna ask for a raise, Doctor Raquel? Now’s the time.”
“Don’t ask me for a damn thing,” Minka growls, her gaze shooting from one corner of the kitchen to the next. “And where the hell is Steve? The whole reason—theonlyreason—I agreed to come here was so he could recuperate after major surgery. Instead, I’ve got all of you clowns, a baby with judgy eyes, and a lesbian tox tech, who, by the way, isallowedto be a lesbian. It’s fine! I’m not weirded out by it.”
“You sound completely not weirded out by it.”
“I’m not! It caught me off guard, but unlike her,” she points an accusing finger toward the eight-week-old infant in my arms. “I’m not judgmental. Steve?” She cups her mouth. “Steven Morris?”
“Doctor Mayet!” Mary storms through the back door and burns my wife where she stands. And maybe I made a vow to protect her always… but I never truly considered a world where I could have to defend her from Mary.I’m not sure I’m capable. “I would appreciate it if you didn’t escalate an already chaotic and loud morning.”
“Where is he?”
“Out here. With me. If you’d like to turn the volume down, you’re welcome to join us on the patio.”
“Told you to go out there already.” Smug, Felix cracks eggs into the pan—all twelve of them—before he takes a fork and scrambles the lot. “Why don’t you ever listen to me?”
“Shut the hell up.” Minka raises her chin and drops her shoulders back, proud and petulant. Then she strides past me and the judgy baby and heads toward the back door. “I’ll take my breakfast on the patio, Archer.”
“Yes, honey.” I choke on my laughter. “And I’ll bring your coffee, too.”
Felix watches her go, only half of his attention on the eggs sizzling in the pan and the spring onion Cato slices with fast, vicious snaps of a sharp blade. The other half of his focus goes to Mary as she turns and follows. Finally, he looks at Raquel and holds her stare.
One Mississippi. Two Mississippi. Three.
“You wanna go out there, too?”
“Yep!” Raquel bounds off the counter and clutches her sister’s hand, dragging her across the kitchen and out the door.
Tension falls on the room like a blanket draped over a person’s lap. But it’s not comfort I feel. Not the good kind of warmth.
“What?” Instinct has me turning and finding an unhappy Micah, his arms folded and his lips pressed into firm lines. Then I swing back around and search Felix’s face, and beside him, an oddly silent Cato. “What happened?”
“Tiia and Roscoe still outside?” Felix’s playfulness is gone, like it never existed, now that the women are out of the room. “Not within listening range?”
Micah shifts toward the door and glances outside, then he comes back again with nothing more than a drop of his chin.
“What the fuck?” I wanted brunch… and Sunday swimming… and fun with my brothers. Notthis. “Say it now, Lix.”
“Cordoza called about an hour ago.” He adds the onions to the pan and kills the flame from beneath, setting everything aside and bringing dark, dangerous eyes up to mine. “Says he’s gonna swing by later to talk to us in person.”
“Okay…?” I cast questioning eyes to Cato. Then to Micah. “Not ideal, but it’s hardly the end of the world. What’s the problem?”
“Anthony Agosti turned up dead a few hours ago.” Felix sets his hands on the stone countertop, his jaw flexing under unshaved stubble. “It hasn’t hit the news yet, but Agosti was found swimming in his own blood in the bathtub of his hotel room downtown. Slit wrists.”
“What!?” I stride toward the counter and drop my voice to a low, deadly snarl. “Suicide?”
“Cordoza wants to talk to you,” Micah rumbles, checking the door again before he wanders closer. “He says you and Agosti were having words last night.”
“So?”
“So, if you popped the prick, then we really need to figure out what the fuck we’re gonna say. Cordoza’s pissed because this is messing with business. He’s not gonna sit down and accept this.”
“I didn’t touch the fucker!” I swing my eyes back to Felix. “I didn’t go near him.”
