“There’s eight pounds of butter in the fridge,” Hugo informs me.
I shoot Phil an incredulous look, even as my hands start to get restless.
“Well…I have a vested interest in getting you up and running as soon as possible,” she announces, getting up off the stool and making her way to the front door where she stops and looks back.
“And just so you know, I’ll be happy to taste test anything made by your very talented hands.”
Then she slips out the door before I can even form the words to thank her.
Hugo chuckles.“That’s not all, she brought over enough food we could hole up here for a month and wouldn’t have to come up for air.”
I’m still eyeing all the goodies she left me in the pantry when Hugo comes up behind me and slips his arms around my waist.Then he drops his chin on my shoulder and his gaze follows mine at my baking bounty.
“What are the chances I can drag you away from here and back into bed?”
I bark out a laugh.
“Yeah,” he mumbles, dropping a light kiss on the shell of my ear before letting me go.“I was afraid of that.Cockblocked by a bag of flour.”
Hugo
“I’m listening,”I assure Savvy.
But only barely, because the sight of Bess in the kitchen in her element, her face flushed as she hums some vaguely familiar tune as her hands create magic, is a tad distracting.As are the unbelievable aromas filling the house.There is not a chance in hell I’ll ever get back the six-pack of my youth if this is my future.
My boss texted me a few times this morning, demanding to know if Bess was all right after last night’s scare, which I assured her she was.But this time she called with some updates on the case, which I was eager to hear.
I already spoke first thing this morning with Carson, making sure I caught him before he’d hear about what happened at the house through gossip.He was obviously upset, but I was able to assure him we were both fine and any damage to the house would be fixed.Last night, Roy Battaglia had already offered to talk to Nate about replacing the back door.I also talked with Cody’s dad, Larry, who very kindly offered Carson could stay as long as needed, which was a weight off my back.
But I hadn’t spoken to anyone other than Phil and Bess since then and started feeling quite disconnected from what was going on in the world out there.
“What’s happening?”I prompt her.
“Well, other than the fact I haven’t had a fucking wink of sleep, there’s been no luck so far on the subjects.That vehicle left down the street from your place turned out to be stolen earlier last night from the employee parking lot at a fast-food restaurant in Winston.The theft wasn’t discovered until the end of the owner’s shift.My guess is the goons had a secondary vehicle somewhere else in your neighborhood.One they could get to in an emergency if, for whatever reason, they needed to split up or the first vehicle was made.I’ve got a few deputies canvassing the neighborhood for anyone who may have seen something or security cameras that may have picked up their movements.”
“It’s pretty much a moot point though,” I suggest.“Whatever vehicle they may have used will have been discarded by now.In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were a couple of getaway vehicles ahead of us.”
“I know,” Savvy agrees, “it’s likely, but they’ve made mistakes before, and I don’t want to risk skimming over steps and potentially missing something important.”
I can’t argue with her on that, but sometimes I hate how slow the wheels of justice can turn.Although, you won’t hear me complain about having Bess to myself while we wait.
“But they haven’t shown up at the motel yet.Your decoys are going to hang out there for a bit longer and Mancuso’s team is monitoring.If anyone shows, they’ll be all over them.”
I hope they do, but at this point I don’t think they’ll simply walk up and knock on the door.I’m pretty sure they’ll be a lot more careful in their approach than they were at my place.
“One interesting development though,” she adds.“Apparently, Mancuso had a talk with his supervisor and got approval to offer Ken Choi a deal.”
At that, my ears perk up.Bess’s brother could do a lot of damage to the Lotus Squad if the feds could convince him to roll over on his former gang members.
“Think he’ll take it?”
“Don’t know,” Savvy returns.“I haven’t been able to get a word out of him.Heck, he even refused to speak to Bess last night.”
“Priceless.The asshole blabs to a fellow inmate, putting himself and Bess on a hit list, and now he wants to blame her for trying to save them both?”
“I know,” Savvy soothes.“He’s a dick, but I’m hopeful Mancuso can get somewhere with him.Give the guy a chance to get himself and his sister out of this situation.”
“I sure hope so.”
