Entangled Heart (Ashby Crime Family)

“It’s all right, baby girl. Your daddy will be back soon enough. I promise.”

My cooing didn’t help, and she started to fuss with a little more force, squirming as she tried to work up some tears but she couldn’t. Ava Rose didn’t know exactly what was wrong in her world, but she knew something was, and that tore at my heart.

“How about some mashed potatoes? They are one of the seven wonders of the world, and I know you’ll love them.” The bowl with a few scoopfuls remained to be cleared away, and I stuck my finger in before the maid whisked it away. I let Ava Rose taste it, tentatively at first and then she began licking the soft, buttery mash in earnest until she quieted down.

“See? You’re already becoming a woman, soothing your soul with food. Just wait until you find ice cream!”

The food helped, but nothing would soothe her until Cal came to get her. It was a new development over the past few days, this attachment to her father, but not totally unexpected considering she was trying to figure out why the familiar sounds and scents of her mother were no longer a part of her daily life. Hoping the deep timber of his voice would help, I paced in front of Sadie’s office, working hard to tune out any details I shouldn’t hear, but that, of course, was impossible.

“We need to get that footage before law enforcement does,” Jasper growled. “Our people were crawling all over that hotel, following Bonnie and Mueller, and that will draw questions we don’t need. Not right fucking now, anyway.”

I leaned in closer, eager to hear more, but Ava Rose grunted a familiar song that meant she was filling up her diaper.

“All right, I guess we’ve heard enough.”

We made our way upstairs to Cal’s suite of rooms where I bathed the little girl, changed her into pajamas and read to her until she fell asleep, between taking appointments for work on my phone.

This was my life, and I imagined it was no different than what Molly thought she’d be doing for the church, which made me think that maybe, just maybe, I was in the same level of danger as my sister, just in an altogether different sort of way.

Chapter Ten

Jameson

“This is Agent Marshall and I’m Agent Beck.” The redheaded woman was extremely attractive, except for the scowl on her face. “You’ll be working with us directly on this investigation.”

“Okay.” There wasn’t much else to say. I’d been scheduled to meet up with this duo last week, but they’d been out of the office by the time I changed out of my patrol uniform. They’d left no information or instructions when I showed up at their office for our appointment. Basically, they wasted my damn time. Two days of training spent answering phones.

Finally, though, we were face-to-face. “What do you need me to do?” Might as well get this part out in the open up front.

Agent Marshall didn’t say much, but I had a feeling his dark eyes missed nothing. He let Agent Beck take the lead, so I listened carefully and kept my mouth shut.

“I already know about your connection to the Reckless Bastards, Ellison, and I don’t really care about that unless I have a reason to. Do I have a reason to give a damn?”

I blinked at Agent Beck’s blunt words and shook my head. “No ma’am.”

“Good. If you have any leads, experience, or connections that’ll help us figure out who murdered the vics, use it to help, otherwise it’s totally irrelevant to me.”

Her words should have brought me comfort, but they didn’t because they didn’t quite ring true. Her words sounded like something she’d rehearsed to put me at ease.

“Got it.”

“I’ll go check out Mueller’s home and his office at the church and connect with you two later.” Marshall shook my hand, gave a short nod, and then left on his own.

“Don’t mind Marshall. He’s all about the grunt work, doesn’t give a shit about the glory of the collar. He’s a good lawman, and more importantly, he’s trustworthy.”

Beck’s big blue eyes looked at me closely, as if she were studying me, and her pink lips pulled into a phony smile I was happy to return while I tried to figure her out.

“Good to know.”

“Ready to look at the crime scene?” This time her smile was genuine and so was mine.

“Hell, yeah. I mean, yes ma’am.”

Beck groaned and rolled her eyes as she slid behind the wheel of the dark gray sedan with the government license plates. “Don’t ma’am me, and we’ll get along just fine.”

“Whatever you say.”

“Music to my ears,” she said with a playful sigh. This woman was all over the place, an implacable hard ass one moment and a playful flirt the next. I’d have to tread carefully with her; I could feel it already.