“Okay, I might sound a lot like you sometimes, but I’m not wearing fucking skinny jeans,” Gabe groused, reading my mind.
“Colored streak in your hair?” I asked.
“Nope.”
“Hair gel?” I asked.
“Nada.” I could feel Gabe’s chest vibrate with laughter beneath my cheek.
“Colorful jock straps?” I waggled my brows in the dark even though he couldn’t see them.
“Not under dress pants. Too obvious,” Gabe replied, catching me by surprise. The idea of Gabe in a jock was mouthwatering.
“Hmm, I can teach you to work my pole,” I offered.
“Now we’re talking.” I could tell by the drop in his voice that he wasn’t referring to my pole in the attic studio. It wasn’t the first time that Gabe suggested he was versatile.
I had never topped before, but that didn’t stop me from replying with the kind of brash cockiness that I showed to the world. “Not sure you’re ready for the thrills I would bring you.”
“There’s only one way to find out,” Gabe said sleepily before he dropped a kiss on the top of my head.
I narrowed my eyes in the dark over the challenge he unknowingly issued. My mind immediately went to making big plans while my guy drifted off to sleep. I could either chew my bottom lip off with worry over my possible inadequacies or I could make it a night Gabe would never forget. I knew the choice that old Josh would’ve made, but I was no longer that guy. I ate meatloaf on a Wednesday if I felt like it, I found the words in a word search puzzle out of order, I shared a life and a home with a man I loved, and if he wanted to be fucked, then I would do it!
“IKNEW YOU’D BEin early,” Adrian said when he found me at my desk at six thirty the next morning. “Find anything yet?”
“Not much,” I replied. “It’s like the guy didn’t exist until a few years ago. There was no property ownership, federal tax or employment information available until 2014 when he surfaced in Louisiana.”
“What do you think it means?” Adrian asked, clearly as puzzled as I was.
“Well, it could be that Jonathon Silver isn’t his legal name,” I told my partner. “Maybe he’s a criminal with a new name, perhaps he’s living in the Witness Protection Program with a new identity, or he’s former CIA or one of the other alphabet agencies. The only thing I can find attached to him is a company called Gemelos Properties Inc., which just happens to be the name of the company who purchased Vibe. Gemelos is Spanish for twins.”
“Too much of a coincidence,” Adrian replied. “Sibling rivalry? Jealousy?”
“We won’t know until we get more information about Jonathon Silver’s background. I’m dying to know when Nate found out about his twin and what his reaction was. Maybe Jonathon was jealous of Nate’s success and decided to take it for himself,” I told Adrian.
“Damn, I wish I was working this case with you,” he replied.
“I wish you were too, partner.” I felt dread creeping in as I thought about the week ahead and hoped that the interviews revealed new leads. Adrian and I made an excellent team, and I missed working with him. He was the good cop to my bad, and we had one hell of a track record together. “You can bet I’ll be asking your feedback on what I find out.”
My temporary partner, Detective John Dorchester with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department, showed up about thirty minutes later. Adrian and I were split up when it was determined that the man responsible for bringing the largest amount of drugs into our county was also Josh’s ex. Billy also stalked and harassed Josh while trying to make it look like Nate’s killer had shifted his attention to Josh. The captain decided it would be best if I worked on Nate’s homicide case while Adrian worked on wrapping the loose ends locally when the DEA took Billy Sampson off our hands.
Adrian and I were both assigned temporary partners. John Dorchester was cool and funny while Adrian’s partner, David Whitworth, was uptight and asshole-ish. Luckily for Adrian, his time to work with Detective Stick In His Ass Sideways was over.
“Good morning, fellas,” Dorchester said, tossing the green apple that would be his breakfast in the air. “What’s going on?” His apple hit the floor along with his jaw when Adrian and I told him what we learned over the weekend.
“Shit! This could be the break we needed,” Dorchester replied excitedly.
“It could, but right now it just leads to more questions,” I told him then explained how Silver just appeared in 2014 out of nowhere.
Dorchester blew out a sharp whistle before saying, “This is some complicated shit.”
“We’ll find out just how complicated when we re-interview Nate’s attorney and former silent business partner this afternoon,” I told him.
“I want all the details later,” Adrian said to us as we were leaving. The slight pout in his voice made me smile.
“You got it, partner,” I hollered over my shoulder.
During the ride to Cincinnati, we speculated about Jonathon Silver’s identity and the timing of his appearance in Nate’s life and questioned if it had something to do with his death. Most of it was legitimate discussion about questions to ask, but things started to go awry as we got closer to the city.
