“No,” Conall said, staring at the ceiling. “Daire sent out a text to everyone earlier today, telling them to hold steady. I’m not sure if he did that on his own or if Sloan asked him to do it.”
“It’s creepy that Sidorov knew what was happening before everyone else,” I grumbled.
Conall sniffed and rubbed the heel of his palm against the corner of his eye.
A rapid knock had us all swinging our attention to the door, which popped open. Irving stuck his head inside. “Mr. Hopper told me to find you. The police are here, and they want to talk to someone other than staff. They think no one important is home.” He waggled his eyebrows. “You’re on, sir.”
Conall snorted and flashed around a smile. “This is something I have plenty of practice with.”
“What’s that?” Irving asked, then snapped his mouth shut as Conall strode toward him.
“Telling the police to fuck off. It’s one thing you learn to do fast when you run a whorehouse.” He winked at me in a way that was nearly playful as he breezed past Irving. We all followed him.
The second Conall hit the brightly lit entryway he called, “Do you have a warrant?”
The two men standing there gawked all around. The guy on the left had curly blond hair and a wide smile to go along with his gray trench coat, and the one on the right had a winter hat pulled low on his head, two-day old stubble, and a scowl.
“Are we sure they’re cops?” I whispered to Rowen. “Where are their uniforms?”
“They’re detectives,” Conall said, obviously catching my questions. He didn’t bother to keep his voice down.
“Detective Spitz,” the blond on the left said. “This is Detective Fauchard. Do you want us to get a warrant? Wouldn’t it be a lot nicer if you just invited us in? Things will get a lot more tenuous for Mr. Killough if we need to get a warrant. You don’t want him to get in even more trouble than he’s already in, do you? We have enough men to conduct a search waiting outside.” He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb, and my heart almost stopped. How many cops were with them?
Conall laughed and it wasn’t nice. “Are you stupid or maybe do you think I am? Get out of this house. Now. Don’t step foot on this property without a search warrant. I don’t have to tell you how much people who live on estates in the Hamptons value their privacy.” Conall looked like he wanted to flip the men off and only barely restrained himself.
“Sloan Killough is in custody, and his nephew is in the hospital. Since the homeowners aren’t here—”
“I’m Sloan’s partner, and I’m not sure how many times I’ll need to say this but listen up. No one is coming in here to dig around in our home. I live here. This is my legal residence, and you will leave.” The steel in his tone left no room for argument.
“Are you two married?” Detective Fauchard asked. He didn’t sound like he thought that would be a good thing.
“No, but we share finances and a bed. It’s my house. Get the fuck out.”
The detectives shared a look and shrugged at each other. “We’ll be back with a warrant,” Spitz said, tone nasty. “We tried to play nice. You’ll wish you had let us search the house the easy way.”
“You can try. Your tricks won’t work. Your excuse for arresting him has nothing to do with the house.” Conall stalked toward the detectives, and they turned and left quickly. Mr. Hopper didn’t slam the door after them, but Conall glared like he wished the old man had. Conall walked over and pounded his fist against the closed door.
“Our men will make sure they leave the property and don’t poke around,” Rowen said.
“Can we do anything right now other than wait?” I asked.
Rowen shook his head.
Conall turned around and knocked his head back against the door. “I want to go visit Fionn.”
Rowen shook his head again. “That’s a bad idea. Let’s have dinner so Fallon stays healthy.” He winked at me.
“You want me to eat while Sloan’s being harassed by cops?” Conall asked. His jaw ticked.
“Did someone die?” Vail asked, and he came padding across the entryway toward us in rumpled jeans and a hoodie. His reading glasses were perched on the end of his nose and he looked like he was still half asleep.
Conall shook his head. “Sloan is going to be officially under arrest soon.”
Vail walked over and hugged Conall, and he didn’t seem to care who was around to see him do it. Conall gave him a big squeeze back. I slid over and wrapped my arms around Vail’s back. After a few seconds, Rowen hugged me, and I smiled. Lor came to a stop near us and stared at the floor with his hands shoved in his pockets. He didn’t look any better than Vail and had obviously only woken up a few minutes ago, since there was a red crease on his round cheek.
“Everything will be okay,” Conall said, but he was staring directly at Lor as he spoke, as if he needed to reassure him personally.
Confused, I glanced at Lor.
