Gil nodded. “Anything new?”
“Besides the part where Luke’s having to remember his fiancée is an FBI agent and capable of taking care of herself?”
“I said something new,” Gil fired back without pause, and neither he nor Zane made eye contact with the unamused Luke.
“You’re both hilarious,” Luke said.
“We know,” Gil said. Zane laughed. Ivy and Emily exchanged “are they kidding or serious?” looks. Luke muttered nonspecific threats as Gil continued speaking. “But neither your relationship drama nor our comedic skills are news.”
Luke frowned. “No, but Leon Parish is.”
“Is that the guy who grabbed me in the restaurant?”
“It is.” Zane’s response was more growl than speech. “Did you get a good look at him?”
“No.” Ivy looked at each of the men, then at Emily, then back to Gil. “It all happened so fast. I didn’t realize he was a threat until Faith stepped in. When Faith spoke to him, he released me andran. I looked down at my arm and saw his hand, and a bit of his profile, but not his face.”
Luke and Zane exchanged a dark look.
“What’s wrong?”
“He’s claiming he didn’t touch you and the only reason he ran is because Faith chased him. It’s his word against hers.”
“No it isn’t. He had a scar.”
“How sure are you about this scar?” Luke asked.
“It’s on the middle finger of his right hand. Between the top two knuckles, on the inside facing his index finger. It’s about an inch long.”
Luke had his phone out before she finished talking. “Hey, baby. Are you still at the station?” A pause. “Check his right hand. Middle finger.” Another pause. “Yeah, call me back.” Another pause, then Luke’s skin flushed from his neck to his cheeks. “Mm-hmm. Yeah. I love you too.”
Zane and Gil both grimaced. “It never ends.” Zane pointed to Emily. “This is what happens when your buddy falls in love. You get to listen to gushy stuff. There never used to be gushy stuff. We talked about ball games and guns.”
“I’m sure you still do,” Emily said.
“Not the same.” Zane blew out a dramatic sigh. “But at least Faith also talks about ball games and guns. Well, guns. It’s something.”
Luke gave Emily a “what are you going to do?” shrug. “If Faith can identify this guy based on Ivy’s info about his scar, then our next step is to find out who put him up to grabbing her. And why.”
“How hard will that be?” Emily asked the question before Ivy could.
“No way to know. Morris may be able to take care of it. If not,we’ll talk to him. And he’ll give it up as soon as we ask the right questions.”
Gil leaned in and spoke in a loud whisper. “By ‘we,’ he means Tessa and Faith.”
“I bet if we borrowed that guy’s hot poker from last night, we could get answers faster.” Luke’s phone rang, and he answered it before anyone could respond to his observations. “Yeah, baby.” He looked at his feet, then back at Ivy. “Great. That’s exactly how Ivy described it.” He paused, then said, “She didn’t see his face, but she saw that scar. Should be enough.” Another pause. “Will do. Yeah. Love you. Bye.”
“Faith says the scar is distinctive. Her description matched yours. She and Tessa are going to stay and see if Morris gets him to roll, and she asked us to hang tight.”
Ivy blew out a breath. She could do that. She’d use the time to regroup.
“So, Ivy”—Zane’s tone sent a weird vibe through the room—“how do you know Gil?”
11
THIS COULD NOT BE HAPPENING. “Zane, now’s not—”
“Now’s as good a time as any. What else are we going to do? Sit here and stare at each other?” Zane was all innocence, but Gil wasn’t fooled.
