in my parents’ house.” His voice went high as he mimicked a melodrama. “Oh, Hunter, whatever shall we do? We live a whole three rooms away from each other, and we’ll never feel each other up again!”
“I hate you,” Grace muttered, embarrassed. “That’s not what I was thinking.”
Stirling snorted and continued hooking up his computer.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Grace asked, although from Stirling, it was practically a paragraph.
“It means,” Josh translated, going back to the electronics, “that I’m pretty sure Hunter is prepared to carry this on when we get back to Chicago, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t.”
“I’m too me,” Grace said, hating himself. “He’s probably tired of me.”
It was Josh’s turn to snort. “Have you seen him? He could probably run a marathon tomorrow and then an obstacle course while he shoots bad guys. I think you’re overestimating your capacity to be a pain in the ass.”
“I don’t know,” Grace pondered. “I’ve never topped.”
Josh and Stirling both stopped their fiddling and stared at him.
“What?”
At that moment Hunter walked in, and Grace swung his legs out and rolled off the bed so he could stand up and smile at him.
Hunter looked back and forth from Grace’s smile to Josh’s and Stirling’s horrified expressions. “Do I want to know?” he asked Josh.
“I have a feeling you will eventually,” Josh told him, still looking dazed. Then he glowered at Grace. “But we will not bring it up now. Do you understand me?”
Grace crossed his arms. “Killjoy.”
Hunter let out a little huff of air. “Are you going to tell me what happened and why we’re suddenly in the Times Square instead of the Westin?” He looked around, noting the cotton comforters and clean appointments. “Not that this is bad.” He went to the closet and slid off his duster, looking to where Grace was still standing, because Grace hadn’t thought of anything better to do. “Thanks,” he said, noticing his coat, and then Grace had something better to do, which was smile stupidly at him.
Grace had to work hard to be thoughtful—it was nice when it was appreciated.
“We were bugged,” Stirling said, apparently unfazed by the idea that Grace hadn’t topped. But then, Stirling had told Grace in a moment of candor that he hadn’t anythinged, so Grace figured it was all sorts of talking about visiting exotic places to Stirling, No, I haven’t been to Narnia either. Have you been in some guy’s ass?
Hunter was still on the being-bugged thing, though. “For how long?” he asked, eyes flicking unhappily to Grace.
“Not that long,” Josh said dryly. “You literally caught Jenkins after he’d installed the feed. We just wanted a good night’s sleep, so we moved here, since our plane takes off early. Did you see him leave, by the way?”
Hunter shuddered. “In a manner of speaking,” he muttered, and they all looked at him.
“I do not like the sound of that,” Josh observed, with all the passion of a clinician diagnosing gas.
Hunter sat down on the edge of the bed Grace had vacated. “I heard a boat leaving in the general direction our guy had disappeared, so went in to check it out.” He shook his head. “Let’s say Jenkins was there, but he was no longer with us.”
It took about five seconds for Grace to get it. Five, four, three, two, one—
“He was dead?” Grace burst out, and Josh literally tackled him and put a hand over his mouth.
“Bite me and I’ll shave your head,” he muttered into Grace’s ear. “Now can we do this quietly, please? We’d like to make it harder to hear what we’re saying, not easier.”
Grace nodded, and Josh backed off. “He was dead?” Grace asked, his voice squeaking.
Hunter gave him a kind look. “Yes, Grace. He was dead. His body floated under the pier before I could sound the alarm.”
“Did anybody see you?” Josh asked, concerned.
“No.” Hunter sighed and then smiled, tired. “But good news…. The harbormaster wasn’t in his kiosk. I got a glance at the berth manifest. There were only two berths empty. If we can do a rundown of those names, we might have some people to check out.”
“Awesome.” Josh yawned. “I’ll send them to Mom and the Dads and see if they can look stuff up.”
“Not me?” Stirling sounded hurt.
“You’ve got first shift of watching our cameras, buddy. I’m assuming you’re going to want a nap after that.”
Out of nowhere, Stirling let out a yawn that practically swallowed his head, and Josh laughed.
“Okay, I’ll mind the cameras. You nap.