All familiar characters belong to Janet.
"Tack ..." Vince began.
"Who?" Steph asked me, getting to her feet as Kane whispered an expletive.
"My coastal contact. First name's Ali."
"So he's 'A. Tack'? Maybe like an attack?"
"Only when provoked. Finish the report," I ordered Vince.
"The body is a male in his late thirties/early forties. It was discovered by a hunter and called in. Tack says the location is in a wooded area not far from Henry's home," Vince told me. "Over in Monmouth County in Oceanport."
"It's Aubrey's husband, isn't it?" He asked.
Vince looked at him, then to me. I nodded over Olive's head which is the abbreviated version of my 'Talk' command.
"Fits the description we have on him. The condition the body's in also points to it being him rather than Tipple."
"The condition the body's in?" Steph asked. "What do you mean by that?"
He suddenly looked nervous. "Ummm ... I don't feel comfortable discussing that with ladies present."
"Oh for crap's sake," my wife so eloquently said. "I've seen and heard everything by now and my Olive doesn't blab. Now that she wrangled Uncle Kane's cross off him thanks to a walking-assist from her daddy, I don't think she's paying any attention to us." She paused. "Then again, in case she is ... I'd prefer she never hear the details. How far away are we talking here?"
Kane shrugged, his expression still stuck on pissed off. "About an hour ... hour ten minutes, depending where the actual crime scene is."
"Let's get going then."
"Olivia's not going to a crime scene, Babe. If we aren't even talking about it in front of her, she isn't seeing one."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course she isn't. It's almost time for her nap, so if we get going now, we'll be back before she wakes up from it, and before she's hungry again. Being a walking 24/7 diner changes my plans and I have to strike when I can."
"I get dibs on Dollface," Santos said, reaching for my daughter.
"Jeez, stop with the nicknames already," Steph told him. "Olive's heading to the double-digits when it comes to endearments ... and she's not even a year-old yet. If Ranger lets you, you can hold her until Ella gets here. Her I trust to make sure a nap happens. You not so much."
"You wound me."
"She won't," I said, "but I will if you wind Olivia up too much that a nap is impossible."
"As if."
I swear my daughter's eyes rolled under her thick lashes, but she went to Santos with no problem. He wouldn't be here if I didn't trust him, but he acts more immature than I'm comfortable with at times. I've known him since Basic and he knows I can and will skin, disembowel, and then promptly dispose of, him if he hurt my children or Stephanie, so I was alright with him acting as a very temporary babysitter.
"Did someone say babysitter?" Ella asked, coincidentally walking into the control room right after we mentioned her.
I cut my eyes to my wife who gave me a smug smile. "You have fancy tracking gizmos and a planet-wide information desk. I at least have a mental connection to Ella."
"Shit. This kid thing is getting more complicated the longer I stay here," Kane noted. "It's just Harper and I at home. We don't have a fucking fifty-person team to watch one miniature person."
I cuffed him on the back of the head as Steph gave our daughter a goodbye kiss and a raspberry to her neck to inspire a smile. "Watch your mouth, retrieve your cross from Olive since you'll likely need it for this, and then move your ass. We're working on a timer now," I said, making sure I gave Olivia a moment of my time before we try to beat a body bag to the body.
She and Julie are the reasons I feel it's my duty to solve another fucked-up crime. The world has to be better before they go out into it.
