My heart warms. “You would’ve moved?”
Merlin nods. “We’ll all move with you if you go somewhere. So consider it, all right?”
My heart thumps. It feels good to have family. I miss my grandpa every day. “All right, I’ll keep that in mind.”
Wally clears his throat. “We’re going to try to gather enough funds to up your security system, just in case.”
I shake my head. “We’re all too low.” In fact, several of them still owe me rent. Apparently, retiring from the mob and MI6 doesn’t lead to great amounts of wealth. I wonder, fleetingly, if anybody really knows where these men are, and if they’re truly retired. Perhaps their businesses were such that disappearing was the only way to go.
“I’ll see you all later,” I say. “Thank you for worrying about me.” I stop to kiss each man on their weathered cheeks. They all three blush, and it’s freaking adorable.
My heart feeling lighter than it has in days, I walk down to where Garik opens my door.
“What was that all about?” he asks.
I smile. “Just normal renter stuff. We need a new air conditioning system.” I slide into the luxurious vehicle, and he shuts the door. When he enters the driver’s side and starts the car, I give him directions. “I have to go by the police station,” I say. “I set up a meeting with the detective from Alexei’s case.”
Garik’s eyes meet mine through the rearview mirror. “The police station?” He doesn’t sound too happy about it.
I smile brightly. “Yep. Feel free to come in with me, Garik.”
He shakes his head. “It’s all right. I’ll leave you at the door.”
“Yeah, I figure. So are you like Alexei’s bodyguard or something? I’m not all that familiar with how the Russian mob works.” I’m still not sure I’m okay with any of this.
Garik returns his focus to the traffic suddenly surrounding us. “One of the ways it works is you don’t talk about the Russian mob,” he says calmly.
“I can’t get any details from you?”
He makes a right turn down to Main Street. “None whatsoever.”
I have to admit, it’s interesting having a bodyguard. “I’m thinking that you and Alexei go way back?”
“We do,” he says. “We became friends a long time ago when we opened that bar.”
“So you know a lot of the women he has dated.”
Garik makes another turn. “I wouldn’t consider anybody to be really somebody he dated.”
“What about Blythe Fairfax?” I ask. “He was with her at least three months.”
Garik slows down to let a school bus pass us. “If you want details about Alexei’s love life, or lack thereof, I suggest you speak with him.”
I can admire a loyal friend. “He says I can speak with you.”
“Huh,” Garik says, clearly not believing me as he pulls up to the front of the police station. “Go in the main door that is in my sight and come out the same place,” he says. “Please,” he adds at the last minute.
“I can walk from here to my office.”
“No.”
I shrug. “All right. I’ll go in the front door, and I’ll come out the front door, Garik.” Rolling my eyes, I scoot from the vehicle, my computer bag over my shoulder. I feel his eyes watching me and the surrounding area as I lever up the stairs to open the gleaming glass doors.
Instant coolness hits me as I walk inside, and I head over to the reception desk to give my license and credentials. They accept them, check some sort of list on the computer, and then call up to the detective before handing me a visitor’s badge. “All right, go ahead. Third floor. Go right,” the burly guard tells me.
I walk toward the elevators, quickly landing on the third floor, where a pretty dark-haired woman meets me.
Her skin is a deep brown, and her eyes alight with humor. “Hi there. I’m Louise.” She’s dressed in casual clothing. “I’ll take you back to Detective Battlement.”
