Hell Is Burning (55 page)

Greyson grinned.

His brother was definitely a Croft to the core.

“Marry me. Please take me into your heart and never let me go. I can guarantee that it’ll be the best thing in both of our lives.”

With that, he dropped to his knee.

“Be my husband.”

There was a hush over the entire room as everyone waited to see what the man would say.

Steele could barely breathe. The man he loved just proposed in front of two hundred strangers. If that didn't mean something, nothing did.

“Dante.”

“Say yes.”

He held out his hand to the man on his knee. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”

There was a cheer as everyone began clapping around them. Steele pulled Dante into his arms, and they kissed. When they broke apart, both men were teary eyed.

“I meant it. I’ll be everything you need.”

They rested their foreheads against each other.

“Looks like I get another brother,” Greyson said as the music started back up. “We were wrong. This was a good week. I adopted a grown man-child, and a man I respect is marrying into the family.”

Emma kissed them both. “Welcome, Steele. It looks like you’ve just made it permanent.”

He couldn’t believe it.

This was something he’d waited for all his life, and it was happening. The man he loved wanted him, he’d made it official and public, and the family he’d admired from afar was about to be his.

It was a damn good day.

And he knew it.

Croft grabbed more champagne, and they all made a toast. “To the gay men in my life. It wouldn’t be the same without you.”

They all laughed.

It was a really great moment.

From across the floor, he watched them celebrate. It pissed him off to no end. He hated the Crofts, and they had to pay for the hell they’d raised in his town.

Tapping his employee on the arm, Dominic Marianna was ready to play dirty, and he knew just how to do it.

“Kenneth, call in that guy we spoke about the other day,” he stated.

“The one you wanted to take Croft out?”

“Yes. He’s got a different job first. I think I know how to destroy that family.”

Kenneth pulled out his phone and made the call.

“Tell him there’s a new target.”

He did just that.

As Dominic Marianna planned a murder, surrounded by cops and rich people, he didn't care. He was going to break the Crofts, and get what he wanted one way or another.

He was done fucking around.

Dominic meant business. He knew a way to get into Terrace Glen, if it was the last thing he ever did.

       
         
* * *
  Croft & Croft  * * *

When Greyson snuck off to talk to the commissioner, he left his prized possession with people he could trust. If Emma wasn’t safe with the captain of homicide, then who would she be safe with? At least he could trust the man to keep her protected while he was trying to convince the commissioner to throw his weight in their favor.

As they watched everyone dance, Chris knew it was time to discuss the matter at hand--the condo. While he told Greyson he’d take it, his intent was to try and convince Emma that it was completely insane. Croft was unmovable, but Emma might compromise.

“Want to dance, Emma?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “I’d love to. Let’s go.” Emma pulled him out to the floor and went into his arms. “Thanks for asking,” she stated. “I love dancing.”

“Yeah, me too, but that’s not why I asked you. We need to talk, Emma.”

She heard his voice go serious. “What’s wrong, Chris? Are you okay?”

“What the hell were you thinking giving me a freaking condo? Are you out of your mind?”

Emma laughed. She’d forgotten about it, but her husband must have handled the situation.

She was glad.

No one deserved it more.

“I’m being serious. That’s an insane gift! People don’t hand out these kinds of things in everyday life. Why can’t you just buy me a coffee mug that says
‘World’s Greatest Boss’
?”

If he was that worked up, she had a solution. “Well if the timing is the issue, then it’s for your birthday.”

He shook his head. “You buy a guy like me a baseball hat, not a two thousand square foot condo in some luxury high rise.”

“Why not?”

“Emma! Because.”

She stopped dancing and stood her ground in the middle of the dance floor. “Chris, you deserve it. I want you to sleep safe at night, and being there will ensure that. You’re not some rough around the edges cop who deserves less than everyone else. I know what you did for Curtis. You talked him down from the ledge. That alone earned you a place in our lives, and a safe place to call your home.”

“Hey! That’s still not a reason to buy a guy a condo, Emma. I did that because I know how hard it is to be divorced. I know what he’s feeling. I like the kid. I would have done it for anyone.”

She didn't buy that.

Emma knew that Christ Ford was loyal to them.

“Because of it, I want to give you something for doing that. I know you’ve had your heart kicked around too, and that makes me want to level the playing field for my friends. Would you prefer money?”

He got red. “Emma! I’m the captain of the homicide division. If people find out I live there, they’re going to think I’m dirty.”

There.

He said it.

And the second it came out of his mouth, he knew it was the worst thing he could ever say. In anger, he’d just hurt her.

Shit!

She stepped back in horror. “I see. So, this isn't about the gift, but all about how people will see you when they find out that it’s from me. It couldn’t possibly be for a man I call friend. It has to be a bribe from a dirty cop to one with power.”

He closed his eyes. “Emma, I didn't mean it to come out that way. I was frustrated…”

She stopped him. “Don’t. Please. You’ve said enough. I never expected you to hurt me, Chris. I misjudged you.”

“Emma.”

“It’s okay. I get it. You can keep your apartment then. I don’t want anyone you respect to think you’re dirty, and on the take like we are. You’re right. It was inappropriate. I crossed a line, and I’ll be sure never to do so again, Captain Ford.”

He grabbed her hand as she went to move away.

“Emma!”

“Please release me. You made your decision, and I’m going to respect it. I’ll also stop dancing with you too. We wouldn’t want any of the upstanding citizens of Vegas to think you’re in cahoots with some lowlife cop whose husband is on the take.”

She walked away.

Chris stood there unsure what to do.

He’d made a mess.

A huge one.

       
         
* * *
  Croft & Croft  * * *

Mace and Paris were eating Chinese as they worked on running the data. A new batch of information had come in, and they needed to sort through it before regrouping tomorrow afternoon.

Paris didn't see anything that connected the crimes, so he passed the papers off to his data partner. Maybe a fresh set of eyes would be beneficial.

To him, there was nothing there.

“Thanks for letting me crash here, Mace,” he stated.

The detective looked up. “It’s no problem. I don’t mind the company. It’s lonely in the apartment all by myself.”

He was well aware.

“I can’t believe I’m getting married tomorrow. I really never thought this day was going to come. After I got shot, all my hopes and dreams went away. I never thought this could come true.”

He completely got that. “My one piece advice, if you’re interested, is to always put her first. In this line of work, it’s easy to get sucked in. Even though she’s a Fed, too, make time for each other. It’s why my marriage failed. My wife thought my work came first, and she was right. It did.”

He made a mental note. “Thanks. I can use all the advice I can get. I’m starting at a disadvantage here.”

Mace knew he was talking about being in a chair. “You’ll walk again if you believe you can.”

Paris believed that. He was already able to stand up, and he couldn’t wait to surprise Tessa at their wedding. That was his gift to her. He wasn’t going to give up. They were going to walk together again, and he was going to have children with the woman he loved. Odds weren’t all that mattered.

He believed in himself.

Fate wasn’t keeping him down.

As they went back to reading the papers, Mace got quiet, and suddenly saw something.

“Wait.”

Paris glanced up. “What?”

“I need to get a file for you to take a look at. I just realized something that I’ve never seen before.”

He raced from the room and came back with the Thomas Booker file he’d been working on before he and Emma teamed up.

“What’s wrong?”

He passed it to Paris.

“Let me read you something, and you scan that file. I want a second set of eyes to tell me if I’ve lost my mind.”

“Okay.”

Mace began, “On Brynn’s body, they found a fiber that they couldn’t explain.”

“Okay. They found fibers on Thomas Booker too. It’s damn hard not to leave some kind of trace at a murder scene.”

Yeah, he got that, but this was the first time they were able to connect them--or that was what he was hoping was happening.

“In Lana Dumas’s home, they found one on her too, right?”

“Yeah, I remember, but we didn't match it to anything. Max tagged it as just a random thread.”

Mace looked up. “We just did. It’s a very expensive dyed wool. It’s unique to a certain brand of clothes.”

He stared openmouthed. “Really? We did?”

“There is a pink Channel wool fiber on Thomas Booker from his wife.”

Paris was still with him. “I need more. I’m not seeing it.”

“Lana Dumas had that same fiber.”

“Well, she and Trudy Booker were friendly. Lana was her family attorney. She was the one who hired that hit on Emma and Randall Mason.”

He pointed to the report on Brynn and the man shot in the black Caddy. “The same fiber was on Brynn. It matched. She didn't associate with the woman.”

Paris got it.

“And the shooter?”

“There was a pink fiber in the car stuck in the seatbelt. She must have sat there, and when she stood up, it got caught on the clip that locks the seatbelt.”

“Are you saying Trudy Booker is the one who is behind all this?”

He stared at the profiler. “Behind every great man is a better woman, right? We all thought her husband was the mastermind, but what if he was just the front man, and his wife was the trigger woman?”

They pondered that.

Paris flipped through the papers. “When they went to the storage locker, after the cop who abducted Emma was killed, they found it was rented by T.B.”

“Yeah, and I bet it’s not a coincidence that those initials also match Trudy Booker. Her husband was dirty, but the woman behind the man was as crooked and evil as the day is long.”

“You gotta call Greyson, and fast. Trudy Booker goes to all these functions. If she’s there, she has a shot at Dante, Steele, Chris, and Emma too. Greyson won’t see it coming. It’ll blindside him. He’s thinking that there’s some lag time since we found the dead shooter. He’s not going to see an older woman as a killer. No one will.”

Mace picked up his phone and made the call.

This was a bad thing.

They’d been snowed since the beginning, and by a cop’s wife.

Who better to commit a string of heinous crimes?

       
         
* * *
  Croft & Croft  * * *

Commissioner’s Party

Emma headed for the ladies’ room. She was so mad at Chris, that she needed a moment to get away. The women’s bathroom sounded like the safest place. That way, neither man could follow her. Besides, she was pretty sure her makeup was a mess from the tears he’d caused.