"I haven't."
"You have. I counted." He crossed his arms and leaned against the rig. "I've known you for years, Stone. You don't check your phone on shift. You barely remember you own one sometimes."
"I'm expecting an update on the case."
Shane took one look at me and stopped chewing.
"What?" I said.
"You're in a good mood." He said it like an accusation. "That's unusual."
"I'm always in a good mood."
Brian snorted. "No, you're always in a controlled, vaguely intimidating mood." He exchanged a look with Shane. "This is different."
"This ishappy," Shane said. The grin spreading across his face told me exactly where this was going.
"I'm going to finish eating."
"You've barely started eating. You've been too busy looking at your phone."
I felt the corner of my mouth twitch. "I'm monitoring the situation."
"It's the journalist," Shane said. "Isn't it? Sloane Harper."
I took a bite of chicken parm. Chewed slowly. Didn't answer.
"That's a yes," Brian said. "That's definitely a yes. He's not even denying it."
"I'm not dignifying it with a response. There's a difference."
"How's the case going?" Shane leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Lots of late nights? Reviewing evidence? Sitting close together on her couch?"
"We're working."
"Sure you are." Brian appeared on my other side. Flanked. Nowhere to retreat.
Not that I was trying very hard.
A soft laugh came from the kitchen.
Becks was wiping down the counter, her back half-turned, but she was smiling. The warm kind. The kind that said she'd been listening and couldn't help herself.
"Sorry," she said, waving a hand. "I'm not eavesdropping. But you boys are not subtle."
"We're interrogation specialists," Brian said. "Subtlety is overrated."
She dried her hands on a dish towel and crossed to the table, started collecting empty containers. Her movements were unhurried. Easy.
But when she passed behind my chair, she paused.
"You know," she said, her voice dropping into something quieter. Conspiratorial. Like a favorite aunt cornering you at Thanksgiving. "I noticed it, too. That look on your face when you walked in today."
She tilted her head, studying me.
"Is there a special someone putting that smile there, Lieutenant?"
The crew went dead silent. Every pair of eyes swiveled to me.
