“No, no, no. Stay here,” she said, patting him into place.
“Tessa, I’m just waiting for the discharge papers. And my clothes,” he said pointedly to me.
I reached for the bag of his clothing on the counter. The nurse had cut off his shirt, but his pants remained intact. And Nick, being Nick, had slid the engagement ring and wedding bands into his pocket before turning to face the armed Cupids. “Everything’s in there.” I handed over the bag.
“Good.” Relief crossed his face.
Heavier footsteps sounded in the hallway, and Detective Grant Pierce walked in, taking in the scene. “Did you really get shot by a Cupid?” he asked unceremoniously.
Nick sighed and reached for his pants before sliding more to the edge of the bed, his muscular legs bare. “Yes.”
I averted my eyes. I mean, the guy might be hot, but he was about to be my brother-in-law. Probably.
“You were there, I take it?” Detective Pierce asked, looking at me with no surprise on his face.
I held up both hands. “This wasn’t my fault...not this time, anyway.”
He shook his head. “I find that hard to believe.”
Not very nice words, yet I kind of understood. “Hey, I haven’t gotten shot at, blown up, or attacked since before Christmas.”
“It’s only the beginning of February,” Pierce said slowly.
I had to admit, he was a pretty good detective. He was about six foot two with sandy-blond hair and piercing green eyes. And he’d gotten me out of trouble more than once. He had to be in his late thirties or early forties, but his eyes showed that he’d seen too much in this life. He’d once asked me out, and I had no doubt he thanked the gods every day that we hadn’t made it to that picnic.
He reached for a notebook in the back pocket of his jeans, his green sweater stretching over his broad chest. Apparently, the detective had been off duty when he was called in. “All right. Run me through what happened.”
Nick did, and I corroborated, asking if Duke was okay.
“He’s fine. I’ve already taken his statement,” Pierce said.
“Were there any witnesses on the street?” I asked.
“No, the blizzard’s too bad. Most people had already taken off.” Since it was early February, darkness fell around three in the afternoon. It wasn’t a surprise that not many people had been out in the swirling snow.
Sometimes, we had decent weather in February that turned wintry again afterward. But we had yet to see any sunshine this year. Well, there was sunshine sometimes, but it still snowed.
“How much jewelry did they steal?” I asked.
“Duke is still taking inventory,” Pierce said. “They hit the diamond, opal, and emerald cases as if they knew what they wanted.”
I shook my head. “I can’t believe it. I wouldn’t have thought arrows would be a way to rob a jewelry store. I mean, it’s still armed robbery, so using an arrow instead of a gun doesn’t help their case any.”
“They were making some sort of statement,” Nick muttered. “Hence, the Cupid getups.”
“Pretty modern-day Cupids.” I thought back. The masks were modern, and they wore jeans instead of togas. But yeah, the whole Cupid vibe was there. “Have there been any similar crimes in the outlying areas?”
Pierce shook his head. “Not that I’ve found, but I’ll keep looking.”
Nick finished buttoning his pants and tore off the offending hospital gown. “I don’t suppose there are some scrubs around here I could borrow?”
“I’ll find some,” Tessa said, patting his arm. “Be right back.” With a nod at me, she squeaked out of the room in her black snow boots that matched her puffer jacket.
Nick pushed a hand through his hair before reaching into his pocket. “The rings are good.”
“That was smart,” I said.
“I’m not letting these go,” he said. “I’ll need to plan another proposal, though.” He turned toward Pierce. “Do you have anything on these guys?”
