Newt walked over to open the door. "Yes, Jerome?"
"Mr. Knox requests your presence in the living room, sir," the butler replied. "You have guests."
Crap, time to put on a show.
I held out my hand to Dalton. "Come along, fiancé. Time to deal with the police."
Dalton took my hand with his but held the other one up. "I need a bigger engagement ring than this. I'm a stripper. I need flashy."
I gasped as I held my hand to my chest. "What? You don't want to wear my great sainted cousin Newton's ring? It's been in the family for over ten minutes."
Dalton rolled his eyes, but I heard him chuckle.
"You two are a riot," Newt said as he walked out of the guestroom.
I pulled Dalton close to my side. "It's going to be okay, Dalton. Just play along with the plan. Knox, Burke, and Crosby will handle things."
"You have a lot of faith in them."
"I do, but I've seen what they can do when they put their minds to it. They've changed the lives of thousands of people just by doing what they do. They work even harder for those who work for them. I have every faith that they will make sure you're safe."
I just wasn't sure how.
"You just need to play along with whatever they say and pretend to be my fiancé."
"You don't think it's a little weird for them to have me pose as your fiancé?"
"No, not really."
It was kind of how they did things.
We made it out of the guestroom and through the penthouse to the kitchen, and even had time to get a cup of coffee, before the doorbell rang and Jerome announced that the police were here.
Knox shot me a quick look. "You two ready for this?"
We both nodded, although I suspected Dalton was feeling a lot more unsure than I was. I'd seen Knox, Burke, and Crosby work. I knew what they could do. I was just grateful that they were doing it for Dalton and me.
I scooted my chair a little closer to Dalton's and then rested my arm along the back of his chair while I drank my coffee with the other hand. Dalton leaned back against me and drank his own coffee.
I think we looked pretty casual when two uniformed officers and a man in a suit walked in, but I did feel Dalton stiffen against me. I threaded my fingers through the hair on the nape of his neck and then rested my hand there.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" Knox asked.
"I'm Detective Jones. I have a warrant to search one of your apartments, sir." The detective held out a piece of paper. He had obviously been told to handle this case with caution. He was very courteous.
Know took it and scanned it over before holding it out to me. "You want to take a look at this?"
I set my coffee down and then reached for the paper. I started to smile as I glanced it over. It was indeed a warrant. It specified that the police had the right to search my apartment, but only my apartment.
I dug into my pocket and held the keys out to the detective. "It's apartment twelve B, two floors down. Try not to break anything."
The detective eyed the keys. "You're Andrew Lancaster?"
"I am. Andrew Thomas Lancaster, Esquire."
"What's this all about, Detective Jones?" Knox asked. "Lancaster has been the in-house counsel for Silver Spoons Inc. for a very long time. I doubt he'd be involved in a crime that would warrant you searching his apartment."
"My apologies, Mr. Knox. We received a report that Mr. Lancaster kidnapped an employee of a...uh...a club over on the east side. The video surveillance showed that Mr. Lancaster was the last person seen with the victim and left the building with him."
