"About what?" Pierce asked. He was scowling now. So pretty—even with the scowl. Maybe Payton would give her a picture of him to keep? Wow. And she’d heard they had other brothers?
"He wants to. He’s being annoying about it. This really matters to him—even if he won’t come right out and say it.”
“I’ll talk to him. After I wrap up this case. However…it ends.”
“Thank you. It means a lot to me, too.”
Pierce just scowled even more deeply. Well, he was a bit of a grouchy bear now. Dani had so many questions.
"Anything else?" Miranda asked.
"The rest of the box contents are still processing," Dani said. "Receipts and the notebook should be done by tomorrow. The work gloves might take a bit longer."
"What about the phone number in the notebook?"
"I ran it. Disconnected, not really a surprise. It was a landline, belonged to a house in Kentucky that's changed owners twice since then. Dead end, at least for now." Dani wasn’t surprised in the least. Most people didn’t have landlines any longer. There really wasn’t a need for it. “The number was for an older woman out of Kentucky. She was close to ninety, and passed away two years ago, six days before her one hundred and fourth.” Dani had read the obituary—no connection to the names in the Gibson case could be found. She had no clue why Derek Gibson had had that number. But she was going to try to find out.
"Let me know as soon as you have more," Miranda said.
"You'll be the first call."
"We're heading to Poseyville tomorrow," Miranda said. "Pay Mr. Graves a visit. See what he has to say for himself."
"Good luck," Payton said.
"Thanks," Pierce said.
The call ended. The screen went dark, cutting off the gorgeous guy she’d been admiring again.
"Wow," Dani said. “Just like…wow. You so should have told me.”
Payton looked at her. "What?"
"Your brother is seriously hot. Are they all like that?"
Payton just blinked light gray eyes at her. Like Dani was crazy or something. "How am I supposed to know? They're my brothers. They're mostly just pains in the rear ends."
"That doesn't answer my question. Do they all look like that?"
"I am so not answering that.”
"It's a legitimate inquiry—it’s for science. I swear."
"Yeah, right.” Payton started gathering her gear. Dani checked the clock. Wow. They had both worked a bit late tonight. And Dani had some things to do online herself tonight—a big guild meeting was at the top of the list—while she waited for more instructions from her teammates that were out there somewhere right now. If nothing, well…she’d get other results in the morning. "I'm going back to my lab now, to clock out. Before you ask me anything else that's going to make me need therapy. My brothers do not get to be called hot. They just don’t.”
"You didn't answer about the other ones, though. There's like six of them, right?"
"Seven. Used to be eight, but we lost Patrick several years ago in an accident. And no. I'm not doing this. Brothers are not and will never be hot.”
"Just a general assessment. Scale of one to ten."
"Goodbye, Dani."
"You're no fun."
But Dani was a woman with the internet. Maybe she could google? Luc and Payton’s wedding photos were all posted online. Tabloids had had a field day. She’d seen the photos and she’d been living in Texas at the time. Everyone had been talking about the billionaire falling for an ordinary FBI girl like Payton. Talk about romantic.
Dani was a romantic at heart. Even if she wouldn’t ever tell anyone that.
