The lawyer, Ernest Harper, had flipped—as expected—and Clayton Spencer and his men had been apprehended and arrested and were also talking to the police.
With the danger and high drama over, the two teams of additional Troubleshooters operatives had gone back to San Diego. They’d stayed over a few nights at Janey’s big house—Sam’s wife Alyssa and his son Ash had driven up, too—and it had turned into an impromptu “Welcome to California” party, which had been really nice for Jules.
But now that things had settled back down, Robin had hoped to take a look at the “freaking piece of art.”
Emily was happy to accommodate, and they were meeting here at the estate, both for the final debrief and for Jules and Sam to return their set of keys.
“You weren’t even in the car for any of those... events,” Robin pointed out to Jules now. He was about to sayaccidents, but having the car shot to pieces on the street outside Emily’s house had been no accident. And, as it turned out, the destruction of Jules’s rental car on the street near the Ralph’s supermarkethadbeen the result of Harper and Spencer’s men attempting to stop the investigation, so that too was an intentional demolition—the black SUV had been impounded by the LAPD, and it had traces of young Denise’s Toyota on its damaged rear bumper.
As for the third car, it had been destroyed by Jules’s old friend Kevin as a very effective means of preventing Ernest Harper from making a get-a-way.
“I think that should be your new case rating system,” Sam said with a laugh. “You know, I checked out that list that Lys sent up from San Diego.” Jules had already received several interesting options to choose from for his next assignment. Work abounded in the Greater Los Angeles area—which wasno real surprise. “I’m pretty sure they’re all simple one-car cases.”
Jules laughed. “I’d prefer zero-car cases, please.” He sat down on the sofa that was part of a grouping of comfy furniture positioned in front of the library’s gorgeous old fireplace.
“We kinda thought this last one was,” Sam pointed out.
“True.” There was a coffee table in the center of the U of sofa and chairs and Jules used it as he took his laptop and his notepad out of his computer case.
Even though Sam was dressed down in what he called his Navy-SEAL-civvies—jeans and a button-down shirt, sleeves rolled to his elbows, top buttons undone—Jules had worn a dark suit and tie for today’s client interface. Old habits were hard to break, although Robin had to admit that his man looked damn good in a suit. His authority and expertise as a former FBI agent rolled off of him in quiet waves. To be fair, the effect was exactly the same when he was wearing little more than his Mighty Mouse swim trunks, but he was more comfortable in a suit. And certainly happy.
Happier, anyway.
Way far away, down the hall in the foyer of the estate, the front door opened with a clunk and a clatter, the sound echoing through the huge house.
As Jules looked up from his computer, Sam went over to the door and leaned out, calling, “We’re here in the library.”
It was quite the hike back here from the front foyer—this place dwarfed Janey’s house, which was saying something—and Robin and Jules both stood as Emily and Mick came into the room.
Mick had obviously retired his wig for good—he was a hundred percent Sweater-Mick today. And Emily was as sparkling and vibrant as she’d looked in her photo, her longdark curls loose around her shoulders and her smile wide as she said her hellos.
According to Jules, the pair were already going to couples therapy—even though it was highly unlikely the therapist had ever encountered a situationquitelike theirs. But deceit was deceit and if Robin knew anything about human nature, he would bet a large amount of money that if they could survive this, Mick and Emily would forge a successful, long-lasting future together. Of course, hewasa dedicated fan of second chances and forgiveness.
“Oh, my God,” Emily said, her pretty brown eyes dancing as she approached. “You really are Robin Chadwick.”
“Chadwick-Cassidy.” Robin smiled back as he held out his hand for her to shake. “I’m slowly working my way toward being just plain Robin Cassidy. I’m a lot like Mick—very ready to leave my asshole-of-a-father’s name behind.”
Emily glanced at Mick. “There was a time I would’ve saidI’m sorry, but...” She looked from Robin to Jules and smiled. “Cassidy’s a fine name.” She sat down next to Jules on the sofa, and Mick sat beside her, leaving the two chairs for Robin and Sam. “I was hoping Rod and Kevin would be here, too,” she added. “Are they okay?”
“Yeah,” Jules told her. “They’re back in Palm Springs. Rod got an offer on the house about an hour after he listed it.”
“Whoa. That’s great.”
“Yeah. It’s in cash, so the closing date is soon. There’s a lot to do in not a lot of time.”
Rod and Kevin both were moving to LA to join Jules’s office here. Kevin—Jules still called him Hobbit—apparently had mad organizational skills. Plus it was always a bonus to have someone with medical training on staff.
Bottom line though, Jules was looking forward to havinghis high school friends back in his life, and everything that made Jules happy these trying days made Robin happy, too.
“First things first, here’re the keys to this property,” Jules said, handing them over to Emily.
“Thanks,” she said. “Although, yikes. It’s a little daunting.” She glanced at Mick. “I’m still not sure exactly what I’m going to do with this place.”
“You’ve got plenty of time to figure that out,” he told her, and she nodded.
“I’ve found a really good lawyer,” Emily told Jules. “She’s very thorough. In fact, she’s checking to see if there’s anything we need to do—health department-wise—about the fact that the garden here was used as a graveyard.” She shuddered. “Yeesh.”
Yeesh, indeed.
