Double The Risk (10 page)

“I shouldn’t. It’s a family thing. We can talk to him after.” Diego looked at Regan for back up.

She shook her head. “Nope, Ronan’s right. Come to the party and drag him off to a corner at some point. Pops won’t mind. Hell, it will give him a kick to continue to help with the investigation.”

Diego knew when to give up gracefully. “Fine, if you insist. What does the birthday boy want?”

“No presents,” Regan said.

“My mother would box my ears if she knew I’d gone to someone’s house, let alone a birthday party, empty handed. He must like to get something.”

“Jameson,” the cousins said in unison.

“Of course.” Diego shook his head and smiled indulgently.

“See you around, cousin. Nice meeting you, Diego.”

The two men watched Regan walk away. She did make an enticing sight, with long, lean legs and a high tight ass. Diego’s interests, however, were already occupied elsewhere.

“She’s single, you know.”

“Nice try.” Diego swung his chair around to look Ronan in the eye. “I like Cassidy. I mean I
really
like her.”

Ronan stared back at him, sucking on his coffee for a minute. “Then we have a problem because I
really
like
her, too. She and I went out last night.”

Diego fought to keep the exasperation out of his voice. “I know.”

Leaning forward, Ronan said, “It wasn’t a pity date, either, like she was too polite to cancel on me after going out with you.”

When Ronan didn’t say anything further, Diego understood what wasn’t being said. Shit, Cassidy had slept with Ronan. While Diego had barely known her for more than a day, he was a good judge of character. He was sure she wasn’t the kind of woman that strung guys along or got some sick thrill from playing guys off each other. He could be wrong, of course, but he didn’t think so. Besides, if she were, then both he and Ronan were being played as chumps. Although, he’d known his partner only slightly longer than he had Cassidy, he didn’t think Ronan was the kind of guy who could be manipulated by a woman any more than Diego was.

He huffed out a breath. “I get it. So what’s that supposed to mean? You expect me to back off or something?”

Ronan cocked his head, an expression on his face that Diego couldn’t quite read, yet made him want to smack the guy anyway. “You don’t strike me as the backing-off type. I think it’s only fair to warn you, though, that I’m not either. In fact, I have another date with Cassidy tomorrow night.”

Fuck! Diego’d been trying to play it cool with Cassidy, not be overbearing, so he’d left things a bit vague with her about when they’d go out again. Being the gentleman had obviously been a sucker move. Still, there was perhaps a window of opportunity. “Not tonight?”

“Nah, she’s got some girls’ night out work thing tonight.”

Okay, fine. That left Friday open. Pulling out his phone, he swiveled away from Ronan and shot a message off to Cassidy.
Thinking of you,
querida
. Are you free Friday night?

He plastered a pleasant smile on his face as he turned and found Ronan glaring at him. But his partner didn’t say anything, which was just as well because they really did have a job to do, a murder to solve, even if O’Malley was some low-life creep who may or may not have had anything to do with the Callaghan murders.

Ronan stood abruptly, his coffee clenched in his hand. “Let’s go bug the tech guys. I want to know what was on O’Malley’s computer.”

Diego stood as well. “Okay, but don’t they notify you as soon as they’re done?”

“Yeah. I like to bug them anyway.”

Diego wasn’t so sure that was a productive strategy. He’d learned in New York that the more you pestered the tech guys, the more they seemed to slow down just out of perverseness. He tagged along behind his partner nevertheless. From what little he’d observed about Ronan, he seemed to know a lot of people in the department by name, a real hail-fellow-well-met kind of guy. He was probably good at charming things out of others, especially women.

That thought led to Cassidy. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and took a surreptitious look. He couldn’t hold back the grin when he saw she’d replied.

Yes, I am. My choice on date venue?

Whatever you want.
He texted back and pocketed the phone as they entered the elevator.

Ronan eyed him suspiciously. “You look happy all of a sudden.”

“Do I?”

Diego shrugged. He wasn’t going to tease the other guy about his new plans with Cassidy. Not only didn’t he want to escalate an already difficult situation, it also would be disrespectful to the lady involved. She wasn’t a pawn in a game between the two men, nor was she some prize to be fought over. He’d been serious when he’d told Ronan that he liked her. He hadn’t had a girlfriend in nearly two years, and dating for the last nine months had been out of the question. The stress and depression over the shooting had left nothing in him for any kind of intimate relationship.

They travelled to the forensics department in silence, the only sound being their footsteps and Ronan’s occasional slurp of his coffee. Jesus, didn’t the guy go anywhere without a drink in his hand? Diego was surprised when Ronan approached a young man instead of a woman. He’d been sure his partner was going to flatter someone out of information.

The tech guy was dark skinned with closely cropped hair and horn-rimmed glasses. He looked as if he were trying to epitomize the nerd stereotype. His eyes went wide when he saw Ronan. “Aw, for God’s sake, Callaghan, you have the patience of a two-year old.”

Ronan flashed a bright smile. “Come on, Frankie, you know you love it when I visit you.” Slipping his hand into his pocket, he pulled out what appeared to be a couple of tickets, although for what, Diego couldn’t tell. Ronan handed them quietly over to Frankie, who shoved them into his own pocket.

He grinned widely. “Maybe I do.” He nodded at Diego. “You got stuck with this guy, huh?”

Diego shrugged. “I’m new to the force and beggars can’t be choosers.”

Frankie chuckled and Ronan sneered at both of them. “What’ve you got for us?”

The computer specialist took over Frankie’s demeanor, and he swiveled his attention back to the netbook he’d been checking.

“I don’t have much for you, I’m afraid. The guy had a serious porn habit, I can tell you that much.” Frankie shuddered. “I’ve been wading through smut for hours, and as near as I can tell, his tastes devolved into the more bizarre over the years. So far, though, there’s nothing imbedded in the videos other than the porn itself.”

“I wouldn’t expect there to be,” Ronan said. “The guy doesn’t strike me as being the brainy type. What about email?”

“Other than booking appointments with various escort services, there’s not much there. If he had any friends, they weren’t the type to correspond.”

“Huh,” Diego and Ronan said it together, then glanced at each other warily. It was way too soon in their partnership to start talking and acting alike.

Patting Frankie on the shoulder, Ronan said, “Thanks, man. I appreciate the update.”

“No problem. I’ll let you know if I find anything useful.”

Diego led the way out of the room. “So, we go back to slogging through the files we have and start canvassing his old associates. Maybe we’ll get lucky like we did with his sister.”

“Maybe.” Ronan didn’t look convinced, and Diego understood his partner was really hoping that the interview with his father’s old partner on Sunday would produce better results.

Diego sincerely hoped they’d catch a break somehow, and that it would lead to the solving of the Callaghan murders.

Chapter Five

“Let me get this straight, you’ve gone from dating no one to dating two guys at once?”

Gina, one of the morgue technicians stared at Cassidy a bit glassy-eyed. The others had gotten off work earlier than Cassidy had, which meant they’d had a head start with the cocktails. Because she was on her second dirty martini and was fairly bursting with the need to discuss her dating situation with someone, her double romance was now on the table for discussion.

“Yes, that is correct,” she replied, then took a sip of her drink. “And they’re partners.”

“Who are we talking about?” This was from Keisha, another medical examiner.

Cassidy hesitated to name names, then figured why the hell not? “Ronan Callaghan and Diego Nieves.”

The other two women reared back on a communal gasp. “Ronan Callaghan is a hottie!” Gina exclaimed in a too loud voice. She immediately shushed herself. “All the Callaghan brothers are hot. And Ronan could charm the birds out of the trees.”

“Well, he certainly charmed me out of the morgue.”
And, into bed
.

“I don’t know this other guy, though,” Keisha said, popping a pretzel into her mouth.

“He’s new, like brand spanking new this week.” Gina apparently was wired into the force’s gossip. “I saw him the other day when they were in.” She made an O out of her mouth and groaned. “Gives the Callaghan brothers a run for their money. Looks super sweet, too.”

Cassidy smiled. “He is sweet and romantic.” Plus, he had a wild side given his bike that was especially appealing because it was so unexpected of him.

“And you’ve got both of these guys sniffing around?” Keisha asked, swirling her drink. “Girl, that is so not fair.”

“I know,” Cassidy replied with a sigh. “I don’t know how it happened, but I couldn’t say no to either of them. I still can’t. I have a date with Ronan tomorrow and one with Diego on Friday.”

“Wow, talk about a full dance card.” Gina tipped the rest of her drink in her mouth, then motioned to the server for another round.

“Yeah.” Cassidy tried to finish her drink with the same ease as her companion and only managed to choke herself on the strong liquor. When she’d finished coughing, she wiped her mouth and frowned.

“The thing is, I like both of them equally. I probably should choose between them, though.”

Keisha slapped her empty glass down. “Why would you do that?”

“I’m not sure it’s fair to them.”

“Why not?”

“Yeah, why not?” Gina demanded, too, then smiled brightly as their server, Todd according to his name tag, placed new drinks in front of them. “What do you think, Todd?”

“Gina!” Cassidy was mortified when the young man looked back and forth between them.

“What do I think about what?” he asked as he cleaned up their table.

“Cassidy here thinks she shouldn’t be dating two men at once, that it’s not fair to them and she should choose.”

Todd shrugged. “Seems fine to me. If I were you,” he added with a knowing look directed at Cassidy, “I’d even date them on the same night and fuck them at the same time.” With a wink, he left.

Keisha and Gina whooped at the suggestion. Cassidy sat there with her mouth open. “I am so not doing that.” This time when she slammed her drink back, she didn’t cough one bit.

****

Cassidy was still not willing to take the advice of Todd the Drink Server, who was possibly gay and definitely sexually adventurous. Even so, she found herself in the weird position of riding in a car with both Ronan and Diego. Ronan was driving and Diego was sitting in the back, a place he didn’t want to be, but there was no way the three of them could fit in the front seat. Likewise, Diego’s Harley was out of the question. She could have driven, although it seemed silly for her to drive Ronan to his old neighborhood, and unless both guys sat in the back like a pair of male Miss Daisies while she chauffeured, it wasn’t going to fix the seating problem anyway.

How had she landed in this awkward situation? After a night of soul-searching with her friends, fueled unhelpfully by lots of alcohol, she’d gone out with Ronan, then Diego again, then Ronan yet again. On all three occasions, she’d had a wonderful meal followed by fantastic sex. Yes, her pussy was feeling tender and her nipples likewise had tucked themselves up for a day of rest. And yet, when she thought of how each of these two men made her feel, her body throbbed with anticipation and eagerness. Being cooped up in a car with them did nothing to calm her down, that was for sure.

The idea of her coming to his uncle’s birthday party had been Ronan’s although Diego had seconded the motion once she’d told him of it. It was technically Diego’s day if you counted that she was alternating days between them. The marathon of dating was not only beyond her previous experience, she never would have imagined such a thing in her wildest dreams. She’d fallen into the rhythm of it naturally, though, and it felt right.

So it was Diego’s day, but he had to come to the party to question someone who was going to be here about the murder they were investigating. She wasn’t sure exactly what was going on and, being the medical examiner and not a detective, didn’t feel she had the right to ask for details. It was enough that Diego wanted to spend the time with her so much he’d share her company with Ronan. It was all perfectly civilized if one discounted the palpable tension between the two men. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Ronan pulled up behind another car against the curb on a quiet Charlestown street.

“My uncle’s house is the green two-family down there,” he pointed out.

They all exited the car, Cassidy and Diego carrying their respective gifts for the birthday boy, whom Cassidy wouldn’t know if she tripped over him. They walked down the sidewalk. It was a tight fit, but the guys managed to flank her so they walked three abreast. It was kind of thrilling to have two gorgeous men accompany her, although she wondered what the Callaghans would think of it all. A three-way date was not the norm.

As they reached the walkway leading up to the house, a teenage boy stomped by them. With his hands shoved into the pockets of his jeans and his shoulders slouched, the kid’s emotional state was obvious. He wasn’t looking forward to hot dogs and cake, apparently.

“Hey, Craig,” Ronan called out.

The kid barely grunted in response and kept going around the side of the house. Two men came walking up, holding hands and wearing their own scowls. Cassidy could tell immediately that the younger of the two was a Callaghan.