and kill… The smell of breakfast became less appetizing, but he dug in anyway. Bacon would make everything better.
There was a loud knock on the door as he was finishing his food. Nick, who’d been keeping him company with a cup of coffee, jumped up but called, “Who’s there?” without turning the deadbolt.
“Me, jerkface.” Charlie’s voice was clear.
Nick said, “Come in, fuckface,” and stepped back to let in Charlie and Lori with the sleeping baby in a car seat.
Lori looked at Brian with a raised eyebrow. “Nice shiners, Bry. Are you okay?”
“Been worse.” He couldn’t help looking at little Josh, sleeping peacefully in the carrier. The pull to Find was muted, resistible. “He’s grown.”
“I don’t think they change much in a few days.” But Lori smiled as she said it, setting him down and rocking the handle gently.
Brian thought the baby had more hair, but maybe it just stood up more. His tiny hands had uncurled and looked more relaxed, his eyes seemed less scrunched up, but his skin was as pale as ever, white, almost shining— Brian jerked his attention back to Nick, and there was that faint amber aura around him. So weird how Josh opened his Finding sense in a new way. He locked it down until Nick was just Nick, and realized he’d missed a bit of the conversation. Maybe more than a bit, because both Lori and Charlie were sitting down and Charlie was saying “—and pulled the trigger, which was not where any of us thought the night was going.”
Lori twirled a bit of her hair in her fingers. “I don’t suppose there’s a reward for catching the vandals, is there?”
“Not as far as I know,” Nick said.
“We should check the insurance companies. They might’ve offered one.”
“I’m just glad to get that bunch off the streets,” Nick told her.
Charlie nudged him. “But Gannet was not pleased with us, even though we did her job for her. For a while there, I thought she really was going to charge us with trespassing and anything else she could throw at us.”
“I think she’s fairer than that. Although she definitely was pissed. Not specifically at us so much as at everything.”
“Can’t blame her,” Charlie said. “All that work to get rid of her bent cops, and her second-in-command was burning down barns to make her look bad. She must be shitting bricks right now.”
Lori cocked her head. “Someone’s coming. Damon?”
They all went quiet enough to hear a car pull up to the house. Nick looked out the kitchen window. “Gannet.”
Quickly, Lori scooped up the baby carrier. “I’m heading to the bedroom. The less contact with the law, the better.” She vanished into the spare room, pulling the door shut behind her as Gannet knocked out front.
Nick took his time opening the door, but swung it wide. “Sheriff. To what do we owe the pleasure?”
“Can it, Rugo.” Gannet strode past him. “Hey, Connors, that’s handy. I was looking for you too.”
“What for?” Charlie didn’t get up, just watched as she came right to the table and set a locked case down with a thump.
“Returning your weapons, for one thing,” She pulled out two handguns, each in a plastic bag. “Sign for receipt of property here and here.”
Charlie picked up the pen. “That’s awful nice of you. You always take time out of a crazy day to do a property return?”
“Of course not.” She tapped the other form. “Rugo, you too, on the lines.” As Nick bent to obey, she added, “I have a couple of things to say, in private, and then I’m out of here, because this day isn’t crazy, it’s fucking insane.”
Nick set the pen down and folded his arms. “What do you want to say?”
She frowned. “I’m not impressed with you acting like I’m incompetent. I had a legal GPS tracker on Sam and was only minutes behind you cowboys.”
Brian flinched, but Nick drawled, “Pretty important minutes.”
“Yes.” She met Nick’s eyes steadily. “I admit, if I’d come up on McNaught shooting Sam for setting fire to his parents’ old cabin— if he told me it was necessary— I’d have believed him. So I’m going to give you all a pass for the laws you bent last night. Despite everything, I’m grateful you called out McNaught before anyone got killed from his schemes.”
“Nick left you a message first,” Brian put in.
She flicked a look his way. “I was knee-deep in toxic chemicals.” Her tone softened, eyes still on him. “That nose looks painful. I heard about