Mati wasn’t sure her family deserved so much consideration, but she couldn’t ignore that her mother was upset.
“Do you think it’s something with their health?” David asked gently.
“No. I think it has to do with the company.”
“Their produce business?”
“Yes. Viveiros and Sons,” she said grimly. “I’m beginning to wonder if it doesn’t also have to do with whatever had Mikey calling me and stopping by the house.”
Reese frowned and reached for his phone.
“Hold that thought, Reese,” Mati said.
He tried to look innocent. “What?”
“You were about to ask your guys to investigate Viveiros and Son’s finances.”
Reese huffed out a laugh. “I was.”
David frowned at him. “Do you think they have to do with the break in?”
“What? No, no,” Reese said. “Different investigators, actually. I keep a firm on retainer to look into any company I do business with.”
David smirked. “You single-handedly keeping the Canadian private investigation industry afloat?”
“Yes,” Reese said dryly. “I live to serve my community.”
David laughed, and Mati left them to their teasing as she drove into Sydney proper and silently mulled over what little she knew. She was tempted to unleash Reese’s team on her family’s company, but she’d devoted a lot of time and effort to separating herself from the business, and she wasn’t going to dive back in without good reason.
She turned the last corner onto her street and forced thoughts about her family and tomorrow away. Soon she’d be in her own house, with Reese and David squished into her queen-size bed with her.
She parallel parked in front of her building. The bridal shop on the first floor was closed for the evening, but the featured gown was still lit up like some confectioner’s dream.
That wasa lotof tulle, she mused as she climbed out of the car and waited for David to scan the street. The wind off the ocean was frigid, ripping right through her layers, but after spending most of the past two days in a stuffy car, she felt rejuvenated. The neighborhood was quiet, just a few people walking toward the restaurants nearby.
Her apartment was above the shop, accessed through a door to one side that led directly to the staircase. She’d rented for the first two years she’d lived here, then had purchased the building when her landlord decided to move south. It had been her first big investment, and her home for years.
“It’s pretty here,” David observed as he looked around. His eyes narrowed on a couple lingering a block up.
“It is,” Reese agreed, standing at his side. “Perhaps tomorrow we’ll take you on a tour. We can go to the harbor and you can bear witness to the world’s largest fiddle.”
David stopped scanning the street to look at Reese. “You’re joking.”
“I am not. It’s not three blocks from here,” Reese promised.
David turned to Mati.
“It’s true,” she said with a shrug.
He’d made the same face when Reese had put his exchanged Canadian cash into his hand. Mati grinned, her cheeks stiff from the cold but her heart warm and happy to have David here.
They quickly unloaded the car. She noted David left his right hand free and considered reminding him he didn’t have a gun. There hadn’t been a way to cross the border with it, not safely or sanely, so he’d left it locked in his safe at home. She could guess he felt naked without it, given the way he kept straightening his coat and shirt at the small of his back.
Mati hurried to her door, eager to get them all inside and warm. She thought they might do take-out from the Thai place around the corner, provided David didn’t mind that they’d have to go pick it up.
She heard footsteps approaching as she dug out her keys. David urged her and Reese closer to the door.
“Mati?”
