He just wished he had someone who would listen to this. To understand what he had to say now. To tell him what God would wish him to do now.
He had never struck someone down with his own hands. He had never physically harmed anyone, and never even killed someone line-of-duty. But his actions, his inactions, they had led to the deaths of innocents.
But for the cowardly, the faithless, and the murderers…
Melvin bit back the nausea as he left. Riely, his friend’s granddaughter, was in the living room. Usually, she was hidden in her bedroom.
Riely had gotten taller since he had last seen her. Her grandfather kept her away from his TSP associates, for his own reasons. Melvin understood—he did not want Skylar around his friends or some of the others. He just did not want her seeing that part of his life.
“Hello, Riely. It’s very early, honey. You should probably be in bed.”
It was a school day for her—or maybe not. Spring Break might be this week or possibly next. He did not know, and she was still in pajamas.
She just blinked at him, with her father’s bright blue eyes. She was a beautiful child. No denying that. She would be a beautiful woman someday. But there was a broken, ethereal quality about her that always made him want to be gentle with her.
Not his Skylar—that girl was as tough as old shoe leather and always had been. She’d come out of the womb that way, he was sure of it. She’d be a wonderful doctor someday. She was his greatest accomplishment.
He did not agree with how her grandfather was raisingthischild though. She always seemed so sad and heartbroken.
“Goodbye, Riely. I’ll see you next time, okay?”
She just nodded, toying with the necklace she wore. “Good—goodbye, sir.”
And then she turned. And was gone.
76
Madison came backin after Dom had informed Daniel what had happened and what he could remember about what happened. They would both have to give official statements this morning, at some point, too. Daniel called in the rest of the troops he could get there. Including Gunnar, who was just up the road somewhere, with that woman of his and her family. Jake grabbed Gunnar on his way. The other man was unsteady as hell, but he was up and moving around. Planning his damned wedding, from what Dom had heard lately.
Gunnar had his woman at his side. The future Missus Gunnar was giving him orders about not overdoing it. Gunnar just gave a smirk, when she had her hands on him. Gunnar looked at her like he was the luckiest man on earth.
Dom understood—he had a shrew of his dreams floating around this mansion somewhere. He definitely understood.
Gunnar sent Powell off with Bonnie, then turned toward Dom. “Heard the TSP has been looking for your ass all night. Where the hell were you?”
“Got ambushed after we left here last night. We footed it to Madison’s; she drove us out of town. Here I am. We snuck inthe back way.” A basic rundown, but hell, that was exactly what had happened. It was damned frustrating to not have more than that.
“Glad to see you alive. Got a bit worried there,” Jake said.
“Hell, I’m fast on my feet. Did just fine.”
“Now…let’s figure out what this is all about,” Gunnar said.
“It’s…probably the dead cops thing,” Madison said behind him.
The room got silent. Dom shifted, and looked at Madison, who stood there in borrowed sweatpants and a softball T-shirt, holding Miguel’s baby on her hip and looking beyond beautiful. “Whatdead cops thing?”
“Probably the missing or dead cops in Texas going back thirty-five years.” Madison looked at them all like they were clueless. “Hope put it together already. Like over a year ago.”
“Forty-five,actually. I thought I was the only one who knew,” Hope added. “You were the one who hacked my private server, weren’t you? I made a list of possibilities of people who could and would know about it. You were pretty high on the list, you know.”
“Yes. I am seriously sorry about that. But…well…I needed to confirm something against what I had onmyprivate server and I found what I needed, too. Your security was really tight, I only got in because you told me your password…that night.”
“You owe me one later,” Hope told her.
“Noted.”
“If you two ever get involved in a life of crime, I am so moving to another planet,” Jake told them both. Dom agreed. “What exactly do you nerds know that we don’t?”
