“I freely admit, my motives weren’t entirely selfless.” He leaned back against the bay of lockers across from me, his smile kicking up on one side as he arched a brow. “So what was that Vero was saying about research?”
I felt every ounce of blood turn hot in my body. “It’s nothing. I’m just … having some trouble with a scene.”
“What kind of trouble?” His grin was a little rakish, as if he knew.
This was the part where the heroine was supposed to be bold. Where she was supposed to admit how hard she was falling for him. How much she wanted him. That she was tired of running. She was supposed to be fearless and take his hard, wet body to the ground and get a sand-rash in her nether regions while the storm raged around them.
“I should probably go,” I croaked, backing out of the locker room. The knot in his towel looked as precarious as my willpower. “I should probably find Roddy. And Ty. And my shoes. And Georgia will probably make me do push-ups if I’m late. I’ll see you after class.” I turned and ran through the door, fleeing into the hall where Vero and the kids were waiting for me.
CHAPTER 25
I burst out of the men’s locker room like my ass was on fire. Vero was waiting with the kids by the vending machines, my gym bag slung over her arm and the children’s luggage propped against the wall. She frowned and checked the clock on her phone.
“We still have fifteen minutes until class. What are you doing out here? I was expecting a long and detailed report.”
“You’ll have to settle for the SparkNotes.” I took my bag from her, picked Zach up off the floor, and slung him onto my other hip.
“What the heck have you been doing for the last ten minutes?”
“Arranging for someone to watch the kids so you and I can go to class.”
“Great. Who’s babysitting?”
I nodded toward the vestibule doors as Roddy’s patrol car pulled into the emergency fire lane in front of the building.
“Oh, shit,” Vero muttered as Tyrese stepped out of the passenger side. Ty was moving slower than usual, his FCPD-issued sweats a stark contrast to Roddy’s crisply pressed uniform as he followed his mentor into the hall.
Roddy peeled off his sunglasses. “Ladies, I understand we have two delinquent minors in need of surveillance.”
“Right here, Officers.” Vero patted Delia’s head. Zach burrowed his face into my shoulder, wiping donut crumbs on my sweatshirt.
Roddy knelt in front of Delia, bringing them almost eye to eye. He held two apple juice boxes out to her in one of his massive hands. “Okay, kiddo. You’ll be hanging with me and my partner for a few hours while your mom and Vero go to class. Think you can handle that?”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Can I have one of those?” she asked, ignoring the juice boxes and pointing to his badge.
“Nope. But how about one of these?” He took off his police hat and dropped it onto her head. The bill slipped down her forehead, covering her eyes, and Delia pushed it up to squint at him.
“Can we ride in your police car and chase bad guys with the sirens on?”
Roddy smiled sideways at his partner. Tyrese hung back, darting covert glances at Vero. He shifted discreetly, making me wonder if he might still be wearing her undergarments. “Officer Governs has a pretty bad headache this morning, so maybe we should skip the sirens. How about we play in the gym instead?” He handed Delia a juice box. Her hat bobbed back over her eyes with her satisfied nod. Zach reached for the other juice box as I set him on his feet.
“You’re pretty great with kids,” I told Roddy.
“I’ve got two of my own. Sixteen-year-old twins,” he said. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, Finn. This isn’t anything we can’t handle.”
Ty didn’t look entirely sure as Zach squealed and sped off down the hallway. “What are you staring at, Rookie?” Roddy barked.
“They didn’t cover this sort of thing in the Academy,” Ty stammered.
“What do you need, a manual? The kid’s a 10–80. Get on it!”
Ty loped down the hall after Zach. I caught a flash of pink lace over the waistband of his sweatpants. Roddy tipped his head, squinting at his partner’s backside.
“We’d better go. We’re going to be late for class. Thanks, Roddy,” I said, grabbing my gym bag. Tyrese returned, carrying Zach by the back of his jacket like a sack of potatoes. He held Zach aloft in front of me as I knelt before my children. “I need you two to be on your best behavior for Officer Roddy and Officer Governs. Can you do that for me?”
Delia nodded. Zach laughed, his feet dangling a foot off the ground. I gave them each a kiss, handing over their luggage and diaper bag to Roddy as Ty herded my children into the gym.
Vero and I hurried to the academic building, consulting her schedule.
“What’s our first class?” I asked.
“Mock trial in the courtroom,” she answered, leading us around a corner, where a line of students was filing into a classroom.
“Hey,” Max said, abandoning her place in line to join us at the back, “did you two see the news about that burned car out near Culpeper yesterday?” I gave a noncommittal nod, wishing she would keep her voice down as we entered the mock courtroom. “Riley and I were talking to one of the forensic techs here. He knows a guy who knows a guy who’s an investigator in Culpeper County. Apparently, the guy who owned the car worked for some seedy casino in Atlantic City.”
Riley nodded fervently as he joined the conversation. “I’m getting major foul play vibes. We’re going to see if Detective Anthony can help us land an interview with the investigator on the case.”
“Speaking of interviews,” Max said, “we never got to finish yours, Finlay. Maybe we could do it over dinner?”
I kept my head down as we slunk into the last two empty seats behind them. “Wow, I wish we could, but we have other—”
“We’d love to,” Vero said. Max and Riley gave us two thumbs-up as they turned around to face the front of the room.
“Why did you agree to that?” I whispered to Vero.
“They seem to know an awful lot about Ike’s case. If we play our cards right, we can interview them, too.”
“Good morning,” Nick said, addressing everyone as he counted out handouts and passed them down the rows. The classroom had been made to resemble a courtroom, complete with a witness stand, two tables from which the defense and prosecution could present their cases, and a dais for the judge’s bench at the front of the room. “I hope you all got some rest after your crime scene exercise last night. As police officers, we spend a lot of time in courtrooms, usually as witnesses for the Commonwealth. Some of you will be presenting testimony in today’s criminal trial based on the discoveries made during last night’s investigation. As promised, we have some volunteers from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office with us today to assist us with our mock trial.”
Vero elbowed me in the ribs as Nick invited the volunteers to join him. A blond man in a suit and tie rose from his seat in the front row. A red-haired woman stood beside him, smoothing back her chignon. They shook Nick’s hand as he thanked them for coming. Then Julian Baker and his roommate, Parker, turned around to face us.