She really was a beautiful woman. He’d always had a thing for more reserved women. She had big brown eyes that could suck a man in in an instant—like all the other women in her family—almost black curly hair that made a man want to bury his fingers in it. And a small line of freckles across her cheeks that were adorable.
She eyed him like he was an interloper, though. Like she didn’t trust him one bit. Like she was a bit afraid of him, too.
If every inch of his body didn’t hurt at the moment, he wouldn’t mind being with her right now at all. It was no wonder Murdoch’s brother had a thing for her. Murdoch had already warned him to keep his hands off or Murdoch would rearrange his fingers for him. Daniel was supposed to behave himself withallthe Colesons—or else. Murdoch would handle the ‘or else’ personally, Daniel had been informed.
He hurt too much right now to even think about misbehaving with a beautiful woman. And once he was back on his feet, he had a job to do.
That damned crime ring they were after—it was still out there. It had almost killed people Daniel cared about. He wasn’t going to take that lightly. Dom had said something the last time he’d been there to talk to Daniel. About…just how far back this ring went back. Decades—Kimball had said decades that night. They were looking for generational connections now. Dom was the one in charge of the case almost exclusively now, while Jake and Charlie tried to keep the entire Major Crimes division afloat. From what Daniel had heard, everything at the TSP right now was a damned shit show.
Samia parked and killed the engine before looking at him again. “Most everyone is here, it looks like. They usually arefor dinner, unless we’re working. We tend to stick close…since…what Eastman did. It’s just safer that way.”
Someone had broken into her apartment and attacked her—and her twenty-three-year-old cousin. She’d spent the night in County Gen, with various injuries. He’d read over the police reports after…Heather. He’d wanted to know. He’d seen photos of Samia’s bruises, and read her statements. Nothing had been found yet to identify her attacker yet. Daniel was going to look for that bastard himself. As soon as he possibly could. “I understand. I really appreciate your family inviting me to stay.”
He could have gone to the home of his friends, the Barratts. That would have actually made the most sense. Houghton and Melody had more money than most of the world. They’d had an on-staff physician as long as Daniel had known them. He wouldn’t have had to worry about a thing if he’d gone there. And he’d have had access to some of his team—he’d have had an idea of what was going on with the investigation.
From outside appearances, they were exactly who they were supposed to be.
Damn the governor for asking him to do this. How in the hell was he supposed to find out what these women did or did not know about what was going on in Finley Creek?
32
The people werein the Snotty Garlic all the time. At least since like October and everything. Riely loved reading the Snotty Garlic. The stuff in there was so funny. There was one writer who insisted the governor of Texas was an alien and everything. And the mayor of Finley Creek was a god of some type.
Riely had seen photos of the mayor, of course. He really was hot, even if he was kind of old. He was aBarratt.Riely had read everything she could find about the Barratts in the Garlic. Just for fun, mostly. And because those guys were beyond amazingly smoking hot. And there were a bunch of them, too.
Back when she still did things like that.
Before…
She shook off the memories. That wasn’t why she was here. She…had questions. She wanted to seethem.To see…what kind of people…
Hughes Heights felt different now, though. Ever since those people had been shot and everything. By the playground. She’d played at that playground hundreds of times since she’d moved here when she’d been ten.
There were TSPeverywherein Hughes Heights right now. Her grandfather had told her to stay home, to stay away from whatever was going on.
Riely had had to see…She really wanted to see them. To just…make sure they were okay. And not afraid. That was all.
She was standing in front of the big pink house by the turn off to Jude Way when a cop car pulled up next to her.
Her first instinct was to run. But…if she ran, wouldn’t they chase her? Like a guilty conscience kind of thing, or something?
Riely just stood where she was. She’d snuck out of the house without Bo. He’d been acting even weirder lately and she hadn’t wanted to be around him. He’d lost her—again. He never told her grandfather that. She thought he was afraid of making her grandfather angry or something. Even though he was like a really big man and her grandfather wasn’t.
The window rolled down. It was a really pretty blond woman and a seriously hot man inside.
“Hi, is there something we can help you with?” the woman asked. For a moment…Riely remembered hermom.This woman looked like her mom had—really blonde hair, bright green eyes. And a pretty smile. Tears hit her eyes.
“I…am just taking the long way home. I don’t really want to go home yet. I need to think.” Riely forced herself not to stutter. Sometimes, she still did that. She’d had a speech impediment when she was little, but she’d mostly outgrown it. It just…came back sometimes. Like when she was really nervous and everything. “I’m not doing anything wrong, am I?”
“No, of course not. We’re just doing extra patrols in Hughes Heights, that’s all. What’s your name?”
She didn’thaveto tell her. But…this lady reminded her of her mom. Her mom had had really bright green eyes too. “I’m Riely.” She didn’t tell them her last name. Her grandfather knewso many cops, she just didn’t want to. “I just live over there on Harrison Avenue.”
“Hi Riely, I’m Off—sorry,DetectiveMiller. I was just promoted. I’m with Major Crimes. We’re just looking into some of the stuff that’s been happening around Hughes Heights lately. Can you answer something for me?”
“Uh…I guess?”
“How often do you normally see the security patrol go around this neighborhood? Do you see them a lot?”
