Chapter 36

Kelly felt his phone buzz. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. He punched in his code, and saw that a text had come in from Parker. He frowned at the phone. Parker never bothered him when he was on shift. He opened the text:

Parker

Any number any street Bucktown If link doesn't work look it up on Zillow. Love it! Love you.

He smiled and pressed the hyperlink. The page loaded. He was looking at the info when Joe sat down at the table with the paper. "What's up, Lieutenant?"

"Parker found a house. She wants me to check it out."

"You staying in Bucktown?"

"She wants to. She was raised there and Mary Alice likes the Bingo at the Moose club."

"Mary Alice is a howl. I wish she was my Grandma."

"Everybody wishes she was their Grandma."

Kelly hit the link and waited for the link to load. He looked at the pictures. He could understand why Parker loved the house. He typed in a text

Call realtor and ask if we can go see it.

He sent the text and pocketed his phone.

"You gonna go see it?"

"I sent her a text and told her to call. It's a nice house. After the last one we looked at, I'm surprised she started looking again."

"She didn't like the house?"

"No, she liked the house. She didn't like the asshole trying to sell it to us. He made comments like we should have gotten married before we had Philip. There was also a bedroom on the first floor, and he made a comment about that room would be perfect for Mary Alice just because she's old."

"Sounds like a real asshole."

"He was. That's why we stopped looking for a while."

"Looks like you found your house, Lieutenant, whether you want it or not."

"Yeah, I know. Parker likes it, so we're probably going to wind up buying it. That will be okay because house hunting sucks."

"It's a frustrating experience sometimes," Cruz agreed. "I don't know how many houses we looked at before we finally found one."

"You need a big house, Cruz. You have a ton of kids."

"Hermann still has more than me, Lieutenant. And you're just getting started. I'm sure you're gonna wind up with more than one."

"Maybe. Maybe not. We will see."

"And how many bedrooms does this house have?"

"4."

"So Parker's planning for another one. Or two."

"We'll see, Cruz. You and Taylor planning on any more?"

"Nope. That ship has sailed. We got our girl. We're done."

"Seems to me, Cruz, I remember you saying there would be no daughters at Castle Cruz."

"Yeah, well," Cruz admitted sheepishly.

"Isabella came along and wrapped you around your little finger."

Kelly laughed. "She did, Joe."

"God help me when she becomes a teenager," Cruz muttered. "I'm gonna have to meet potential boyfriends at the door with a shotgun."

"Nah. You don't need a shotgun, Cruz. You have Taylor. She'll keep any potential boyfriend in line," Capp reminded.

Cruz nodded. Taylor was a whiz with organization and keeping the kids in line. "She enrolled Izzy in Karate. Now the boys want to take lessons too."

"Might not be a bad idea," Kelly said as he reached in his pocket for his phone again.

Cruz opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he heard the tones drop. Everyone rose from the table and headed for the squad. Talk of houses and kids were forgotten as they pulled on their turnouts and slid into the squad. They had more important things to do.