Mr. Big Deal (Mr. Big 4)

“I love you,” Luke said, his voice warm and deep.

“I love you back,” I said and smiled. I ended the call and glanced at Leif, who was shoving a light green toy into his mouth. It was the Baby Yoda that Candace gave him earlier in the week.

I tried to calm myself as I waited for Luke to return from his trip into the city to meet with John. He would have some good news to report, and so I wanted our night together to be relaxed and happy.

“There he goes,” Jeb said and opened the sliding door. I stood up and glanced outside. Sure enough, some young man dressed in a black hoodie and jeans was hightailing it down the beach. A cop in a black uniform ran after him. It looked like both were struggling. Running in the sand wasn’t always the easiest, and as we watched, the two ran out of sight.

“You stay here, Ma’am,” Jeb said and left the house, closing the sliding door behind him. He went to stand at the end of the yard, watching the beach. I wanted to go out and join him, maybe watch the takedown, but stayed where I was as he commanded.

As I watched, Jeb put his hand to his ear and spoke. Then, he came back to the patio and opened the sliding door.

“The bad guy is in police custody,” Jeb said, a smile on his face. “Preliminary thoughts are that they are some local hoods cruising for a place to break into and not a person of interest to you and Mr. Marshall personally.”

I nodded and went back to the living room and the sofa, glad that that was over.

I knew exactly what he meant by a ‘person of interest’ to me or Luke.

Eric or Blaine.

I was hopeful that Eric was no longer a threat to us, at least physically, but Blaine was and as long as he was free, we had to stay on guard.