again. She didn’t think she’d ever get the sight of Sean in so much pain out of her mind. In a cage. Sobbing, bloodied, nearly broken.
“Family, Lucy. We’ll always be here.”
Patrick came over and handed Lucy a plate of food. “Eat, or else.”
“Yes, sir,” she said and smiled. He sat across from her with his own food. “How long can you stay?”
“As long as you want,” Patrick said. “But you and Sean might not want a full house.”
Jack waved his hand. “This place is huge. There’s an apartment over the garage, that’s mine and Megan’s right now. Kane and Siobhan always take the pool house. Nate practically lives in the downstairs guest room.
“We have another bedroom upstairs,” Lucy said. “It’s all yours.”
Family, Jack had said. And really, that was all anyone needed.
* * *
On Tuesday morning, Lucy slipped out while Sean was still sleeping and went to her office.
Rachel, her boss, had insisted.
Nate was also there. Before she went in, she asked, “What happened?”
“Suspended without pay for two weeks. I knew that already, but I had to brief the team on my active cases. I’m fine with it. Honestly, it could have been worse.”
“What did you do? You weren’t suspended for helping me, were you?”
“No. I disobeyed orders and worked a case after being suspended. The drug case. Seriously, I could have had to go in front of OPR. I could have lost my job. I might the next time.”
Lucy was stricken. She knew that was a possibility … but she didn’t want to think about it. “Nate, I don’t know what to say.”
“Lucy, it’s okay. Aggie and I saved Brad’s life, I’d do it all again. In fact, if I lost this job, I’d be okay.”
“As long as you’re okay,” she said, hoping that he wasn’t lying to her.
“I am. But what happened to Sean—how everyone here was slapped down if they wanted to help you, I’m not okay with that. We have to be there for each other. We’re supposed to be a team.”
“You are, Nate. I would never have gotten through this without you.”
“Something good came out of it.”
“What? I can’t be happy about all the bloodshed. It didn’t have to end that way.”
“No, it didn’t, but it did and we’ll get through it. We saved Brad. He’s being released from the hospital tomorrow.”
“Good. I’ll go over to see him. Is he really okay?”
“I don’t know—he has a long road ahead of him. Physical therapy. Plastic surgery. But he’s a tough guy. I’ll join you when you visit him. Aggie will, too.”
“Aggie?”
“That’s the good thing that happened. I asked Aggie to go out with me.”
She blinked. “Like on a date? You never talk about dating anyone.”
He shrugged. “Never found anyone I was interested in enough to share with my friends. She’s smart. She’s not intimidated by me, she’s willing to stand up for what she wants. I like that. She’s not perfect—she needs some training.”
Lucy started to get angry. “Training?”
Nate laughed. “You should see your face. Tactical training. She’s good at the gun range, but she made a tactical error at the house and put herself in the line of fire. Fortunately, she’s a quick study and I’ll have her up to speed in no time. It’ll be fun.”
Lucy was embarrassed. “I can’t believe I thought anything else.”
“She got suspended, too. One week, but with pay—Brad vetoed Salter on that one. We’re going to visit her family in Dallas. Flying out tonight. I’m just going to stop by and see Sean again first, make sure he doesn’t need anything.”
“You’re already visiting her family? That was fast.”
“Is it?”
“I’m really happy. I like Aggie a lot.”
Rachel opened her door. “Lucy.”
“It’ll be okay,” he said.
Lucy walked into Rachel’s office and closed the door behind her. “You’ve already talked to Nate, I see.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Two weeks, unpaid leave. A mark in your file. And OPR wants to interview you.”
Her heart sank.
“Sit.”
She did.
“I understand that this was an unusual and difficult situation. On the one hand, Houston FBI wrote up an accommodation and I heard the recording. There is nothing wrong with what happened at Paxton’s. Except for the fact that you weren’t supposed to be there in the first place. If anything had gone wrong—this would be a far more serious conversation.
“The problem is your investigation into Mona Hill’s murder. Your brother as well, but he’s not an FBI agent, and I have no authority over him. Houston PD is livid. They feel we kept information from them, and that you and