“I guess,” Brian repeated. “But I liked saving people, when we could. Maybe I can do some good Finding again sometime?”
“About that.” Nick hadn’t planned to bring this up in a moving car, or in front of Damon, but what the hell. Brian needed something hopeful. “Charles, what would you say to ‘Rugo and Connors, Private Investigators’?”
“Connors and Rugo,” Charlie returned. “Wait, what?”
“Logic, right?” It wasn’t the same as being a cop, but damned if it couldn’t be good. Maybe better. They’d be their own bosses, for starters. He’d spent the drive to Raleigh thinking it through. “We know the work, we have the LEO training, which means we can apply right away. We even have Brian in our pockets as an ace in the hole. Someone comes to us with a missing child, we can solve that sucker.”
“Yes, please,” Brian said. “I want that.”
“You said you didn’t want to chase cheating husbands, Nicko,” Charlie said. “You wanted to be a real cop, not hanging about with me slowing you down.”
Nick was surprised by the note of bitterness. I said that? Well, about the husbands— He vaguely remembered that, but the rest was bullshit. “You don’t slow me down, Chuck.”
“He needs you, Charlie!” Brian leaned toward Lori’s phone, speaking urgently. “Please? I don’t want Nick running around chasing crooks with no backup.”
“He’ll have you.” Charlie still sounded subdued.
“No, he won’t.” Brian turned to Nick, pale blue eyes wide. “You know I would if you really need me, Nick, but it doesn’t make sense. I want to work with the animals. I’m no good with guns and chasing people.”
Charlie chuckled, though it sounded forced. “Being a PI is more about sneaking around with a camera and doing paperwork.”
“I suck at paperwork,” Brian pointed out. “I don’t mind Finding nice people. Like you said, a kid, or someone’s mom. But I don’t want more and more icky traces in my head, chasing bad guys. I don’t want to be a PI. You and Nick, you’re good at that stuff.”
“Come on, Connors.” Satisfaction was rising inside Nick. He could imagine it, a month from now, a year from now, being his own boss with Charlie at his back. “I’m good at the sneaking, you’re good at the paperwork.”
“I’m sneakier than you are, Rugo. Who tripped over the sergeant’s umbrella?”
“Once. Years ago.” For this, he’d happily let Charlie rag on him forever for that fumbled practical joke. “So you have to join me. Demonstrate world-class sneaking.”
“I don’t know.”
Nick was pretty sure that tone meant Charlie was weakening. “Yeah, you do. You want this. I’ll even call it Connors and Rugo.”
“Fuck you.” There was a moment of silence. “All right.” Charlie’s voice went rough. “Yeah, I want that. I— I’ve wanted that for a while. From the moment we came up with the cover story for your move.”
“Oh!” Little moments came back to him with the clarity of hindsight. Charlie’s odd reaction to his fixation on the deputy job, Charlie so ready to come to North Carolina, to tie himself up with the Kerrs and Lori’s baby. Because he hoped I was serious about working together. Shit. I dropped that ball. Apologize? Move on and make it up to him later? Moving on had always been more his and Charlie’s style. “Good. You know I need someone steady, to keep us in the black.”
“And out of jail. The first thing you need to do is report that Glock of yours stolen. If you get tangled up in a murder, they’ll never give you a license.”
“Planning on it.” His brain was racing, thinking of all the things they’d need to do. “We need to look into licensing, and concealed carry rules. At some point, we’ll need an office. Clients coming to my place will think we’re broke, and at your place, Helen downstairs will have their problems solved with knitting and homemade pie before we ever get paid.”
Charlie said, “I’ll start looking at listings.”
A thought occurred to Nick. “Hey, Brian, you want your name on this thing too? If you’re going to be an equal partner—”
“No.” Brian shrugged. “I want to work on the farm, mostly, and just Find if you need me. I like ‘Connors and Rugo.’ It sounds good.”
“You like having his name first? What kind of boyfriend are you?”
For a second, he worried that Brian wasn’t in the right headspace for teasing. A couple months ago, he’d have started apologizing, but Brian grinned. “The sensible kind