CHAPTER 2
"Think you're pretty sneaky, don't ya?" CJ leaned over and whispered in Matt's ear as their guests laughed and talked around the tables on the patio.
"Nope." He cut off another piece of steak. "I know I'm sneaky." The pair shared a kiss.
"Alright now, you love birds – enough of that!" Vince laughed.
"Jealous much?" Houston gave him the raised eyebrow look as the other guests began laughing.
"What I want to know is what happened to the beard?" Michael had been surprised when he showed up at the ranch to find the PI clean shaven.
"Got a little too hot down in Texas." Houston grinned. "Poor Catey..." He took a sip of his beer. "She thought I was goin' bald after I shaved it off." The entire group burst into laughter.
Later on everyone was sitting around talking and Houston brought up the conversation that he and Hoyt had that afternoon about the jewelry stores. "Did you find out anything else?"
Shaking his head the cop replied. "Not yet. They're slick – I'll give them that."
"Maybe you need to get Uncle Roy to help you with it." The PI picked up Catey as she came up to him with her arms outstretched and sat her on his lap.
"Is that a reference to my age, boy?" The elder Houston gave his nephew a glare.
"No sir – your expertise." A big grin spread across the younger man's face.
"Better be."
"Want to take a look at the video from today?" The lieutenant looked to the former CIA agent.
"Sure, why not?"
They along with Matt, Vince, and Lee excused themselves, the PI handing Catey off to Michael's daughter Kathy as he went into the den with the others. Sitting down in his recliner he popped the flash drive that Hoyt handed him into a laptop and then pushed a few buttons so that it would appear on the large screen TV. After watching it through the first time, he rewound it and began going through it again.
"You notice the single guy doesn't ask to see the necklace until man number two starts the breathing deal?" Houston rewound it again.
"Uh huh – think that must have been his cue." Roy watched. "They're good. Somebody has been at this type of thing for a while."
"So maybe if we ran them through facial recognition we might get a hit?" Lee looked over at Hoyt.
"Good possibility." The lieutenant nodded.
"What about fingerprints? I see guy number one touching the counter." Matt nodded at the video.
"Just smudges."
"Ah...old age." The statement got a look from Roy. "No seriously, Uncle Roy. Older folks' fingerprints don't always show up like a younger person's – plus there are some medications that can cause it, too."
"He's right." Lee spoke up.
"Hmmm...maybe I need to start up a sideline. Think Rosa would be my helper?" He nudged Vince in the ribs.
"If anybody could talk her into it you could, Roy." The former cop chuckled. "When are you going to convince her to marry you?"
"I've been working on it." Roy turned serious. "Maybe after..." He stopped.
Vince knew what he had been about to say. "After the trial." Vince's brother Michael was set to go to trial on murder charges on New York in December.
"Sorry." The elder Houston knew how upset the whole Novelli family was over the situation.
"No need to be – he was the dumb ass that put himself in the situation. Now he's gotta deal with it." Vince drank down the last of his beer.
"Pop?" Tomás came into the den with a worried look on his face. "Mom's having contractions again."
In a flash the PI had dropped the computer on the couch and was dashing out to the patio to find Sheila kneeling at his wife's side. "How ya doin, Lil Mama?"
"I'm okay." She sounded a little scared but gave him a smile.
"They're irregular." Sheila had been keeping track of the timing on the contractions.
"Maybe you oughta go lay down, huh?" He brushed back her hair as he ran a thumb along her cheek.
"I am kind of tired." She got up off of the lounge and let out a squeal as Matt picked her up. "Put me down."
"Nope." He carried her into the house and straight back to their bedroom.
"Matt, this is embarrassing." She kept protesting all the way back to the room. "We've got guests."
"And they can come back here to keep you company just as well as they can on the patio." Slipping off her shoes he propped her feet up.
"You're getting awfully bossy."
"Comes from living with a lawyer I guess." He gave her a crooked grin and then kissed her. "How about I send the girls back and y'all can chew the fat some more?"
"Okay." They shared another kiss before he turned and walked out of the room, the nanny and his wife watching him as he went.
"Girl, he is one hundred and ninety nine percent in love with you. You're lucky." Sheila patted her friend's hand.
Back out in the den Houston told the ladies that they could go on back and talk to his wife if they wanted. As he sat down in the recliner once again, Hoyt got a good look at him. "Hey..." He sat down next to him. "She's going to be fine."
"Yeah..." Houston rewound the video again as Catey came to him. Checking his watch he handed the laptop off to the cop and picked his daughter up. "Tell everybody goodnight, Lady Bug. Time for you to hit the hay." After making the rounds in the den and then the bedroom, Matt took her on back and got her settled in for the night before returning to the den.
Lee and Bridgette had gone back to say goodbye to CJ and as they walked back through to the den, Matt was on the phone in the kitchen and looking none too happy. Vince and Michael exchanged a look. "Derwin better back off – he's about to lose a partner." The lieutenant gave voice to what Vince had been thinking.
"Yep."
Not wanting to interrupt the PI's phone call, Lee and Bridgette had a seat on the couch with the others. "Roy, can I ask you something?" The young cop spoke softly.
"Sure."
"I couldn't help but notice some of the pictures..." He pointed toward the bedroom that Matt and CJ shared, the walls of which were covered in photos of the two from the past twenty five years.
"There are a few..." The older man grinned.
"I asked CJ about a couple of them and she had Sheila pull a case out of the closet..." Roy nodded, knowing exactly what his niece had shown them. "I had no idea he had won the Medal of Honor."
"He did." Roy didn't elaborate; although he knew exactly how Matt had won the medal it wasn't something that the younger man ever wanted to talk about.
"That's...amazing. He's never said anything about it."
"And he won't; don't ask him." Vince chimed in. "Some things are best just left alone, Lee."
"He's right." Roy looked at the young man. "If you asked about it most likely he would say that was then and this is now...or something to that effect. He doesn't like to think about it too much."
Matt entered the room, the feeling that he had interrupted something coming to him. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, fine. Bridge and I just wanted to say thanks for inviting us over."
"You're welcome here anytime, you know that. I'm glad you could make it." The two shook hands, the younger man with a look of extra respect for the PI that had become a good friend.
"Thanks." Bridgette stood on tiptoe and gave Houston a peck on the cheek.
"Uh oh...Houston's gonna steal her away from him...look out!" Vince did his best to lighten the mood and everyone cracked up.
"Nope – I've already got mine and this lady is spoken for, too." The PI plopped down on the couch as the couple saw themselves out and a dark look came across his face.
"Derwin again?" Michael spoke up.
"Yeah..." After hesitating a moment he continued. "I just told him that I talked to uh..." He stopped. "Well, I told him that the meeting would have to be here and that it had already been approved by the folks on the other end. He's not happy, but I guess he can just get glad in the same drawers he got mad in."
The others in the room burst into laughter. "And on that note..." Michael stood up and shook his friend's hand. "...I'm going to bid a goodnight to our hostess and collect my ladies. Gotta try to catch the heisters tomorrow."
After seeing the Hoyts off, Matt went down to the barn to check on Cricket once more before returning to the house and setting the alarm for the night. As they were curled up in each other's arms, Matt found himself trying to stay awake to keep an eye on CJ but when she went to sleep without anymore contractions he finally settled in and drifted off.