the way I did. He made fools of us, Mac, betraying those he swore to protect and humiliating those he represented.”
“Atcliff will erase his stink. And after him, maybe you.”
“I don’t like politics.”
“All the better.”
Cee Cee fidgeted then finally asked about the elephant trying to hide in the room. “How’s Babs doing?”
Ever candid, MacCreedy stated with all the diplomacy of a baseball bat to the knee, “He’s wondering what the hell he did to piss you off. First you have me send him to Colin Terriot for a Come-to-Jesus talk, and now you’ve got Schoenbaum sniffing around like he’s a dumpster after Fat Tuesday. Wanna fill me in on that?”
“Not just yet.”
Expressive eyebrows soared. “Really? Alain Babineau? The Fraser kids are stashed in his basement. He’s risking his career going after Brady, and his marriage manning up over Amber James, the one damned fool thing he’s probably ever done. He’s a good guy, Charlotte. I’d want him next to me in any fight and trust him with the life of my wife and child.”
“He was working with Cummings against Max.”
He snorted a laugh. “Trying to keep you from ruining your career.”
“By endangering his?”
“Yeah.” When she continued to stink eye him, MacCreedy threw up his hands. “To protect you from throwing your career away getting horizontal with a two-bit hood.”
Her veneer slowly cracked. “He’ll be ticked to find out that’s all you think he’s worth.”
Finishing the last bite of his po’boy, he dabbed the corners of his mouth rather delicately with his napkin and cleared his throat. “I’d rather we keep that between us. I’d like to see my first born.”
She struggled to hold back a smile, losing that battle, and fearing she was about to surrender the war. “We both want that, Mac. How we gonna make sure that happens?”
His hand fit over hers for a tight squeeze. “I don’t know, other than having each other’s backs and taking it one rung at a time.”
– – –
One rung at a time. Starting with the first difficult step.
After she’d pressed in her partner’s code the imposing entrance opened, inviting her into the Babineau’s upscale plat. As she followed the esthetically pleasing streets, her brain calculated list prices. How had he gone from not being able to pave his driveway to . . . this?
The gate across that new drive was open, her approach already radioed by the not so inconspicuous Rent-a-Cop on duty. Babineau’s ratty police issue stood parked in the drive like a poor relative denied entry to the posh three-bay garage. Tina, wearing a chic chevron-patterned sweater over leggings, her recently-styled black hair swinging playfully at her jawline like an upscale book clubber, stood on the front steps, her big smile of welcome a stab to a traitorous heart.
“So nice to see you, Charlotte. Everyone’s out back. Alain just put burgers on.”
“I can’t stay. Max is meeting me for dinner in the city.”
Pretty features constricted, moisture pooling in her dark eyes. “I heard about his assistant. I hope she’s all right.”
“Just bruises and a mild concussion. Max’ll have a hard time keeping her away from her desk.” She came up on the porch, enduring the effusive hug with light return pats of her own. When welcomed inside the soaring foyer, Cee Cee couldn’t help herself. “Quite a jump in zip code from the old place.”
Tina laughed a bit nervously and confided, “It’s so big, I find myself getting lost.”
There it was, a slight flicker of discomfort as her partner’s wife turned to lead the way through the banquet-sized dining room onto the equally extravagant back deck with its shaded nooks, a jungle of potted green plants, elegant seating around a huge glass-inlaid table instead of warped porch steps and two ratty lawn chairs. And a gurgling water feature for extra glam factor like on one of those trendy cable home makeover shows. All that was missing was a damned Jacuzzi big enough to fit all the other book-clubbing and possible husband-swapping moms in the neighborhood!
Savory smells rose from a humungous grill as Babineau, clad in baggy chinos and a bright blue polo that made the color of his eyes go nuclear, lifted the lid to reinforce his call to the kids playing Frisbee toss on a golf course lawn to come and get it. He was still grinning wide when he turned, that expression catching slightly when he saw her.
“Heya, Ceece. Wanna make up a plate?”
“Not this time. Can I talk to you for a sec?”
He passed the spatula