After a moment, Eliana poured the stew into a bowl. While Patience ate, she did the dishes, then tidied the kitchen.
Patience had almost finished by the time she went back over. “Is that why you came to Chicago? Trying to find adventure in the big city?”
“Something like that.” Eliana pointed at the bowl. “Want me to take this? I can make you some tea before I go.”
“I can do it,” Patience said. “You’re a sweet girl.”
“Let me know if you hear of any adventures.” Eliana grinned.
“Good night.” Patience patted her arm.
“Thanks.”
“I don’t know what for. You’re the one helping me.”
Eliana smiled at her from the doorway, grabbed her coat, and went to her own apartment. She saw Patience nearly every day, but today it was a needed distraction from any more talk—or thoughts in her head—about the dead body at work. Or Carlos.
She had enough to do in Chicago, trying to get into the vault, to deal with her teenage crush coming here and making things weird. She hoped he found Luci, wherever his sister had landed herself in this time. But he didn’t need to involve her.
Eliana shed her work clothes in the tiny bedroom, easing between the bed and the drawers to the sliding door of the closet. Sweatpants and a T-shirt were all she needed—plus a pair of fuzzy socks. Soon as she’d changed, she grabbed her tablet from the coffee table and called Maizie.
Eliana folded the cover behind the tablet so it would stand up, listening to it ring.
Maizie picked up. “Hey, Sis.”
Eliana glanced at her over her shoulder, washing her hands at the sink. “Piano lesson day?”
Maizie smiled. “I worked long days all last week, so I took a half day and gave the nanny the afternoon off.”
“Did you close whatever case you were working on?”
“The squad apprehended the suspect, yes.”
There it was. “Great.”
Maizie sighed. “You know that isn’t what I wanted to talk about.”
“I know, I can’t ask about your work. You’re a police captain, but that has nothing to do with me and my safe bubble of zero adventures.”
Maizie made a face. “Eliana?—”
“Forget it.” She waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. How’s things going? How are the girls and Dean? How are things at the hospital? I can ask about his job, right? Not too dangerous for me to know about?”
“Geez, you’re moody today.”
Seeing a dead body will do that.Eliana bit her tongue and didn’t say the words aloud. But the fact was she adored her sister’s surgeon husband. “It’s the weather in Chicago.”
“What is going on with you?” Maizie frowned. “If things aren’t going well, you can come and stay with me in Milwaukee. You know that, right?”
Eliana didn’t know which question she was supposed to answer first.
She didn’t want to make another comment about Maizie’s picture-perfect life, so she said, “If I split, Carlos will have to relocate as well, once he finds Luci. After all, he can’t babysit me if he’s on the Chicago PD and I’m back home.”
The idea coalesced in her mind as soon as she said it aloud. He’d come here to watch out for her, not even knowing the reason she was in Chicago.
He wasn’t just here for Luci, though it was a good excuse. He was here to protect Eliana—probably because the family had ordered it.
“Wait,” Maizie said. “Luci is missing? And Carlos is in Chicago as well?”
