What in the world? Glancing at the clock, I noted it was five a.m. Was Aiden awake? I fumbled for my phone and took a chance.
“Hi, Angel,” he answered, sounding wide awake.
“Hi,” I breathed. “What are you doing?”
“I just finished a run. Did you have a nightmare?”
I settled back into bed. “I did, and I’m surprised. I figured with Jareth dead, I wouldn’t have nightmares anymore.”
“That’s not how it works.”
I swallowed. “I know. Still, it was a nice hope. How are things in California?”
“Busy,” he replied. “We’ve reopened a case I thought was long closed.”
I curled my toes, happily warm. “Interesting, tell me about it.”
“No, I don’t want to talk about the case. It wasn’t mine to start with anyway, so I’m getting caught up. What’s going on there?”
Snuggling down even more, I told him about Violet and the judge’s idea about her coming to watch him play basketball and then a little bit about Nick’s case. I couldn’t tell him everything because of privilege, but the facts would hit the news soon anyway.
Aiden remained silent for several moments.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. I just hate seeing you get caught up in a potential murder investigation.”
Hopefully Pierce would solve it quickly. “Nick didn’t kill anybody,” I said.
“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t think we know what we’d do when pushed,” Aiden said somberly. “You have to remember that Richard hit Nick’s mom. I can’t imagine what I would do if anybody had hit my grams or you.”
I slowly stretched awake, my mind reeling. “Aiden, you know Nick Basanelli. There’s no way he killed his dad when he was just fifteen years old.”
“You don’t know that. I don’t think he did, but again, sometimes we don’t know people as well as we think we do.”
Aiden’s wisdom was hard-earned from his childhood, his time in the Marines, and then as an ATF agent. More importantly, he’d been undercover more than once in very dangerous situations and once as the leader of a motorcycle club. He had a point, based on that experience alone.
“I’ll be careful,” I promised. “But I trust Nick. He’s going to marry my sister, for goodness’ sake.”
Traffic sounded in the distance, and I heard a door open over the line. “Maybe. He hasn’t proposed yet, has he?” Aiden asked.
“No, and I hope he gets on it soon.” It was surprising Aiden wasn’t more on Nick’s side. I thought they were at least friendly.
“Anyway, what’s going on besides that?” he asked.
Alrighty. No more talking about murder. “Not much. That pretty much sums it up. I think we need to get some furniture for the living room sometime soon, don’t you?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, we should probably get on that. I thought I’d redo those two bedrooms first, but that seems to be taking a while.”
“And a garage would be nice.” I chuckled. “Especially in northern Idaho.”
“You make a very good point. I should be home shortly.”
Surprise caught me. “For real?” Another door shut, and I heard other sounds as he moved through what I assumed was his hotel room. I cleared my throat, picturing him stripping off his jogging gear. I had to bring myself back to the moment. “Do you remember Nick from high school? He and his brothers?”
“I do,” Aiden said. “I didn’t know any of them real well. I lived kind of on the other side of the tracks, if you know what I mean. But yeah, I knew of them. They were nice enough.”
“Did you have any hint that something was wrong at home?”
