“The kids are having fun. And you said you wanted pizza.” The sirens and lights didn’t seem to bother Georgia at all. She folded a greasy slice into her mouth while I tried to keep one eye on Delia and Zach in the climbing structure that wound above our heads. “How’s the book research coming along?”
“Is that why you sent Nick to my house? So I’d have somebody else to bug with all my weird questions?”
“I sent him to your house,” she said around a mouthful of pizza, “because Steven’s fiancée is a person of interest in a high-profile missing persons investigation, and I don’t like the idea of my niece and nephew spending too much time over there until we figure out how Theresa’s involved.”
“So you sent Nick to keep an eye on me?”
She washed that down with a mouthful of soda. “Let’s just say Nick volunteered.”
I slumped back in my bench. “Great, so now I have a babysitter.”
“He’s not a babysitter. He’s a detective. And a damn good one,” she said, pointing her straw at me. “And since you both have a vested interest in making sure Theresa’s not a felon, I figured you could help each other out.”
“Is that all?”
“Consider it a favor to me, if it’ll make you feel better.”
“Since when do I owe you any favors?”
“Since I babysat two weeks ago.” I opened my mouth to argue but closed it at Georgia’s withering look.
“Nick’s partner’s going to be stuck in the hospital for a while. The big C,” she added solemnly. “Nick’s lonely. He could use the company.” My sister had always been a terrible liar.
“So this is a setup.”
She shrugged. “He’s a nice guy, Finn. He’s single, he’s honest, and he’s gainfully employed.” She licked pizza grease off her fingers. “Cops get good health care and retirement, you know.”
“I don’t need a babysitter or a husband. I’m doing just fine.” Georgia wore her skepticism like a favorite shirt. I jutted my chin at her. “What about you? When are you going to find yourself a wife? It’s been like a decade since you went out on a date, and you don’t hear me giving you grief about it.”
“Don’t be hyperbolic. It hasn’t been a decade.” I raised an eyebrow as she shoveled the last of her pizza in her mouth, tapping a finger against my crossed arms as she chewed. She pushed herself back in her bench and wiped her hands. “It’s been eighteen months, if you must know. And I don’t need a wife. I have my own retirement and health care. You, on the other hand—”
“Seriously, Georgia. I’m fine.”
“How fine?”
“I got a book deal.” Georgia made a face. She bumped her fist against her chest, releasing a soft belch. “Nice. Keep doing that in public and it’ll be a decade before you know it.”
Georgia rolled her eyes. “I thought you already had a book deal.” I’d had plenty of book deals before, and after Sylvia took her commission and Uncle Sam took his cut, there’d hardly been enough left to buy dinner and a decent pedicure.
“I got a better one.”
She took a long, disinterested sip of her soda. “Yeah? How much?”
“A hundred fifty thousand for two books.”
Georgia’s mouth fell open. A dribble of grease slipped down her chin. “Shut the fuck up.”
“I’m serious. I’ve got less than thirty days to get a draft to Sylvia, and I don’t have time to entertain your friend on his wild goose chase.”
Georgia smacked the table. “Holy shit, Finn! You did it!” I shrank in my seat as the mom in an adjoining booth turned to scowl at us. “I can’t believe it. That night you asked me to watch the kids, I figured you just wanted a night to yourself. I didn’t think you were actually working or anything.”
“Thanks for your vote of confidence.”
She crumpled her napkin and tossed it at me. “I mean it, Finn. I’m seriously proud of you.” She was. I could see it in the shine in her eyes. The last time Georgia had looked at me that way was the day Zach was born. And Delia before that. It was the same way my parents had looked at Georgia when she’d graduated from the police academy, and with every promotion she’d earned since. My throat burned with bittersweet pride, and I hid it behind a long sip of soda. I had finally written a worthwhile story and it would probably land me behind bars. “Have you called Mom and Dad to tell them the news yet?”