“We already did,” he said, turning off the water and reaching for a towel. “Now you need some sleep and I have to get to work.”
I wrapped the towel around myself and stepped out of the shower. “You’re not going to sleep?”
“No.” He dried off, a new glitter in his eyes. An angry one. “We have to find Barensky. Nobody bombs our house.”
I couldn’t sleep.Thunder bellowed outside as the storm hit hard. Rain and wind blew wildly against the windows and tinged off the roof. It was after one in the morning, which meant it was after four in the morning in Detroit. I rolled over and grabbed my phone to press speed dial.
“Morning. Why are you up so late?” Lacey O’Shea answered, her voice chipper.
“Why are you up so early?” I countered like I always did. It was our thing. Lacey was my first cousin and my best friend. “I couldn’t sleep and figured you’d be up doing yoga or something silly like that.” Actually, I liked yoga. I just sucked at it.
Lacey laughed. “I already finished and was thinking of going for a run. What’s up? Nightmares?” She’d been there when I’d been kidnapped, and she’d gotten pushed down but had ignored her broken arm and had run to the campground for help. Without Lacey, I might not have been found.
“Do you have nightmares?” I asked.
She was quiet for a few ticks. “Not about that day, but I have other nightmares. Being a cop in Detroit isn’t the walk in the park that was advertised.”
I snuggled into Aiden’s pillow, surrounding myself with his scent. “Funny. Why don’t you come home? You have to be badass city trained by now.” While I understood why she wanted some experience away from Idaho, she’d gotten it already. It was time for her to return home and get a job here. “This on-again, off-again romance you have going with Ray is getting old, right?”
“Yeah.” Lacey had been dating Ray for a while, then they’d break up, and then they’d get back together. The guy had serious commitment issues, and Lacey deserved better. I’d hoped last time they broke up that it would be the last time. “We haven’t gotten back together. Don’t worry.”
But I did worry. Lacey deserved somebody who thought she hung the moon and then painted it. “Pauley misses you, too.”
“I talked to my brother earlier today, and he’s fine. I’ll come home soon. For now, what’s up?” she asked.
I told her everything. From the moment Sasha had shown up on Aiden’s front porch to right now. When I wound down, she whistled.
“Well, that’s a lot.” Movement sounded across the line. “I know I should concentrate on the fact that there’s a bomb expert in town, but for a second, I can’t believe you’re talking to me from Aiden Devlin’s bed right now. I meanright now. Do you remember the fantasies we used to weave about him?” She chuckled.
I smiled and snuggled deeper. “Oh, yeah. He’s better than any fantasy.”
“Not fair,” she complained. “I had a crush on him, too.”
“Everybody had a crush on him,” I said. He was the bad boy in high school with an Irish brogue. “Part of me thinks that maybe that’s why Jolene keeps writing articles about me.” They’d been pretty hot and heavy junior year.
Lacey scoffed. “Probably. Either that or you keep ending up in situations that make good copy. Maybe both reasons.”
My eyelids grew heavy. “Probably.” I yawned.
“For now, try to see the connections between everything that’s going on. It’s all there. Look at the situation from a different perspective.” A griddle sizzled over the line.
“Okay. I’ll call you with a Tessa and Nick update when I get one.” I clicked off. Then I let myself lounge for about another hour, but I still didn’t sleep. So I got out of bed and padded out of the room. Aiden’s shirt covered me to my knees, so I wasn’t worried about anybody seeing me.
A quiet peek into the extra room showed Chelli on the floor in a sleeping bag with another woman across the room. Five men sacked out in the living room in sleeping bags, two of them snoring.
Maybe it was a good thing Aiden hadn’t bought furniture yet.
I found him in the case room, and I shut the door. He sat with his back to the wall, his long legs extended, looking at the mounted case board. “Hi.”
“Hi.” The shadow across his jaw gave him the look of a rogue. Lightning zagged outside the window. “Why are you awake?”
“I don’t know.” I sat next to him, extending my bare legs. They didn’t go nearly as far as his did. “Why are you?”
He stared at the board. “I’m missing something.”
“What?”
He stood and moved to the board, taking his hand and wiping off the client. “There’s no client.”
