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Once Noni Feldman’s death had been announced on the news, the city had mourned her. As had Allyson Meyer, who’d been found dead in the tub of a cheap hotel room, having eaten her own gun. She’d left a letter detailing what had happened and why. Corey had found out about the affair she’d had with a foreign agent in Iraq that had resulted in the deaths of American soldiers. She’d likely be posthumously court-martialed.
Her confession didn’t matter so much from a legal standpoint because all of the players were dead, but it did help answer a lot of questions.
NOPD had finally located the dirty cop Alex Cullen, who’d been feeding Ed Bartholomew information. Cullen had been slinking into a bus station in a tiny town in Arkansas when a sharp-eyed ticket seller had called the local police. He’d also taken a plea bargain and would serve at least twenty years. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Everyone who’d wanted to hurt his little family was either dead or in prison, but Kaj still worried about the psychological effects of the aftermath on all of them. At the moment, his concern was focused on the woman and teenager in the car at Burke’s curb.
“I told you they’d be fine,” Elijah said as he leaned against him, Czar at his side.
Kaj ruffled his son’s hair. “You did and you were right.”
They’d been staying at Burke’s house while their house was being fixed. There were bullet holes in all the walls and blood had soaked into the hardwood floors. Kaj wasn’t sure if he’d be able to live there once the repairs were done, but he’d try. At least Elijah didn’t carry the memory of their friends bleeding—and of Ed Bartholomew’s body.
Elijah had been passed out by then and hadn’t seen anything outside his bedroom.
Small mercies.
Val had been staying in the room across from Kaj’s, but usually only half the night. He’d hear her nightmares and would spend the rest of the night holding her. Czar would hop off her bed and climb into Elijah’s, comforting his son when he inevitably woke as well. From there, he’d move on to Jace. Kaj wasn’t sure what they’d do without the monster dog with the sweet heart.
Somehow, they managed to get through the days on little sleep. It was getting better, though. So was Burke, thank goodness. MaryBeth was still on crutches, but Burke had installed a ramp for Joy’s motorized wheelchair years before, so the house was accessible.
Kaj didn’t know what Val would do about housing. She wouldn’t go back to her brother’s house, knowing how he’d paid for it. She was looking for a place to rent—a place that allowed behemoth dogs, of course. She and Jace would stay with Burke while she sorted things out.
“What’s wrong with them?” Elijah asked, concerned.
Val had leaned across the console of her car, her arm around Jace. “Maybe visiting Rick was harder on Jace than he expected.”
“And he expected it would be really hard,” Elijah said sadly. “I’m not sure if I’ll ever like Rick, Dad.”
“I know what you mean. But we can love Jace, right?”
“Duh.”
Kaj leaned down to kiss Elijah’s head. “I love you, y’big doofus.”
Elijah smiled up at him, eyes big behind his glasses. “Same. Oh, they’re coming. We should wait inside. Jace won’t want us to see that he was crying.”
My sweet boy. Kaj let himself be led back inside, where a party was going on. Burke’s people were there, and Gabe and Patty were cooking for them. They were eating well tonight.
Burke sat in his recliner, hands folded over his belly, his lips curved in an indulgent smile as he watched his houseguests laughing. Lucien and Molly’s sister, Chelsea, were dancing while MaryBeth and Jessica sang—badly—to the song on the stereo. Joy sat next to Molly’s niece, Harper, and they were deep in conversation about Joy’s experiences as a cop, because Harper had apparently added police officer to her very long list of things she wanted to be.
Sylvi was fiddling with a flower arrangement on the table. Beside her, Molly placed bowls filled with the food Gabe and Patty had prepared. Farrah was setting the table and André was arguing with Antoine about how many points the Saints would win by on Sunday. André was mostly healed, but his eyes held a haunted sadness from the betrayal of one of his own men. He’d be all right, though. And he was already rebuilding his team.
Kaj now knew many more NOPD officers that he could trust if he ever needed guarding again. Which would not be happening. He hoped. He’d thought a lot about what Phin had shared that day he’d shown him Elijah’s safe room, how his mother had told his father that having one bad guy come after them was the one plane crash among thousands of safe flights.
That had kept him going for the past few weeks. Only safe flights from here on out.
Phin had run. After they’d returned from Lake Cataouatche, Phin had simply disappeared. He periodically texted Burke to say he was okay, which might be physically true. But psychologically, the man was scarred and there didn’t seem to be much they could do for him other than be there when he came home. But everyone still worried about him.
Finally, Val and Jace came through the door. Both had red eyes, but they were smiling. Val came straight to Kaj, wrapping her arms around him and holding on.
“Hey,” she whispered.
“Hey, yourself. You okay?”
“Yes. And no. He cried all the way back.”
“I’m sorry.” And he was. He was also conflicted because as much as he cared for Jace, he did not want Rick to walk. The kid had tried to kidnap Elijah and if he’d succeeded...
