Mismatch - By Nana Malone Page 0,51

get close enough to snag the bracelet to identify its authenticity…”

Eli ground his teeth. “Of course, we want to do that legally with a warrant.”

Vince shrugged. “Eh, legal, shmegal. If your girlfriend grabbed it for you and brought it forward as a concerned citizen, then there is no problem.”

Eli narrowed his eyes at his partner. “You want me to use her to get us the evidence you need.”

“Use is such a strong word, but yeah.” He shrugged. “It's the only way we'll get something good enough to stick on him, unless you have a better idea. What do you suggest we do?”

“Shit. Vince, I don’t like it. I'm already on thin moral ground here.”

“Look, I know you like the girl, and frankly, I don’t like you doing field work, but you kind of fell into this on your own. It's a lead. Better than we've had in months.”

Vince was right. He might have to ask Jessica for help. Anything was better than letting that douchebag close to her mother and thereby close to Jessica. “I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, did you get anything on any of the other artists at the party? Anyone with a past that's not too shiny?”

“We’re about halfway through. Some of them have already popped for minor things. Some theft, some prostitution, but nothing nears the scale of grand larceny. Maybe we'll get lucky and one of them is his accomplice.”

It still made Eli nervous to think that Michael had recognized him. Since he didn’t know him, he could only assume Samson did, and that meant trouble. Not to mention Samson’s signatures were all over some of the pieces. He gritted his teeth. He'd have to talk to Samson about Fenton. In the meantime, he had to get his shit together. “Okay. I'll stay in with Jessica. If this is the guy we've been hunting for, then the last thing I want is him anywhere near her.”

“I'm glad to hear you say that, because the bosses want you to stay in. If anything, it at least keeps us in play with this guy. We'll see how things pan out for a couple of weeks.”

In the meantime, Eli had some cleanup work of his own to do. He needed to make sure the past he'd constructed with Samson stuck. If any of the threads he'd woven started to unravel, or anyone tied those signatures back to his brother, the whole facade of Samson Marks would crumble.

“One more thing. I pulled some cases trying to figure out the deal with that signature we found. It popped on some sealed case from over a decade ago.”

Eli froze, unable to breathe. “A decade ago?”

“Yeah. Means there is probably a minor involved. I’ll have to work a judge to get the records unsealed.”

It wouldn’t take Vince long to put two and two together. Eli needed to talk to Samson.

***

“Okay, I really have to stop with this whole grinning like an idiot thing, wouldn’t you think?” Jessica peered in the rearview mirror at the chubby toddler in her car seat.

Kara just beamed a toothy grin at her and shook her head. The motion had the little girl’s curly afro catching the light and infusing it with shades of auburn and blonde to match the light brown.

Maybe Kara was right. Nothing wrong with a smile. Just something wrong with the way it got on her face. As she hunted down a parking spot, Jessica’s skin hummed as she thought of Eli’s strong hands gripping her thighs open as he slid into her. God that man knew how to—

“Jaja, Jaja. Cah,” Kara squealed and pointed.

Sure enough, a large SUV had just vacated its prime location right by the entrance to the Grove. “Hot damn, you’re like my little parking Karma Buddha doll aren’t you?”

“Damn,” Kara repeated merrily. She clapped her dimpled little hands and grinned.

Shit. “Darn, I meant darn.” The running joke with Izzy, Jason, and Nick was that it would be Jessica who would have Kara dropping her first F bomb. As she parked, she mumbled, “Can’t have you swearing yet, kid. Apparently, that’s bad parenting.” And while she was only Kara’s godmother, she took her godparenting skills seriously. Not to mention she adored Kara and wanted to be granted babysitting privileges again. If she kept it up with the potty mouth, Izzy would ban her from talking to the kid.

“Okay, kiddo. Do you want the stroller? Or you feel like walking? We’ll only be a minute. Mommy wants