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Marsh leaned forward and captured his husband’s lips, pleased when Levi relaxed into the kiss, the two of them lazily making out until the portafilter gurgled.
Levi drew back but not far, resting his head against Marsh’s shoulder. “Thank you for always pulling me back from that edge. It’s just tough when there are so many moving pieces and so much evidence but none of it connects.”
While they hadn’t solved the case yet, Aidan and Brax had turned up more clues in their interviews with Cousins and the neighbors, and they were continuing to turn up leads on Ward too. As Levi said, they just needed to find the piece that tied it all together.
But not tonight. Tonight was for them and their family, all of them gathered to get a jump start on the celebration of their love, all of them instrumental in nurturing that love into what it was today. The most important connection of Marsh’s life. He palmed his husband’s cheek, thumb skating across his sun-warmed skin. “I love how hard you work, how good you are at your job, and this is part of mine, as your husband.”
“It’s appreciated.” Levi lifted his chin and met his gaze. “I just want this done by Friday so we can fully enjoy ourselves.”
“Oh, I intend to fully enjoy every minute of our wedding weekend and every inch of you on our wedding night.”
“Then we gotta finish this case.”
“Which is why,” he said, kissing the tip of Levi’s nose, “we’re gonna make your mother’s affogato.” Marsh paused because after a year, he knew what was coming in three, two, one...
“Levi, Marsh, where’s my dessert?”
Levi lost it, falling against his chest in a fit of giggles, the sound one hundred percent welcome, one of Marsh’s favorites.
“On its way!” Marsh shouted back, then to Levi, leaned down and spoke next to his ear. “Which is why we’re gonna serve our guests dessert, we’re gonna spend some more time with them, and then while you spend some time with your son and family tonight, I’m going to do some hacking.” Levi lifted his head, mouth open to object, and Marsh kissed him quiet. “You put in the extra time the other morning. Now it’s my turn.”
“Are you sure?”
Marsh laced their fingers together, their wedding bands catching the evening light streaming into the canyon. “As sure as I am that I can’t wait to marry you again in front of all these people and more on Saturday.”
Eleven
While Levi got to spend the rest of the evening with his family, he and Marsh were up and out of the house before sunrise, called back to Press’s place by an early morning security alarm, a glass break set off on the lower level. On alert this time, Hines apparently taking them seriously, a sheriff’s deputy was already on-site when they arrived. He’d done a complete look around and saw no evidence that the burglar had made it inside. Only broken the lower-level window, then fled when the alarm had sounded.
Levi asked the deputy to keep watch outside while he and Marsh checked inside, clearing each room, confirming what the deputy suspected. No one had been inside the house, the alarm doing its job. Levi texted the deputy that he was off guard duty, then slid onto a metal stool at the dining bar beside Marsh. “They’re still after something here.”
“Yep.” Marsh angled his phone toward Levi, footage from the traffic cam displayed. “Different car this time.” A light-colored Prius. “Probably another rental, but I’ll have Farmer run it. This time of morning, there’s nothing else around. That’s gotta be them.”
The gray car Press had spied had been a dead end. So had all the other maybe-suspect-cars that the neighbors and Cousins recalled. No one car was the same and not all were caught on camera, the stoplight only recently installed. Of those on camera, some were rentals, some were owned by local folks, and a fair few belonged to real estate agents. No one with a rap sheet.
Levi drummed his fingers on the stainless steel bar top, counting the bright, multicolor backsplash tiles of the kitchen as he cycled through possibilities in his head. He kept coming back to the same ones. “It has to be something in the walls, ceiling, or floor. Or in a panic room–type space.”
Marsh shook his head. “Cousins looked for the latter.”
While he, Marsh, and Jamie had been in Newport Beach the other day, Aidan and Brax had questioned Cousins. The prior homeowner had thought this place would be his dream home; it had turned into a nightmare. Hang-ups, drive-bys, lights in windows late at night, unexplained power and Wi-Fi outages. Cousins had worked from home, leaving little opportunity for break-ins, but he’d had the sense someone was always watching for the opportunity. He couldn’t handle constantly looking over his shoulder, being uncomfortable in the place he spent most of his time. He’d wanted out, no matter the cost.
Marsh tapped again at his phone, bringing up the floor plans. “I don’t see anything here like a panic room or secret space.” Levi leaned in, peering over his shoulder, as Marsh spread his fingers, zooming in room by room, spending extra time on the in-home office.
“Me neither,” Levi said. “All the corners and dimensions line up. What about the floors, walls, or ceiling?”
“CSU didn’t find anything up or down. As for the walls, short of busting into them, we can’t know for sure. But?—”
“The break-in didn’t go that far either,” Levi said, following Marsh’s train of thought. The place had been tossed but not destroyed. A matter of time? Or if it wasn’t in the floors, walls, or ceiling—whatever it was—was it in something that had been removed? Without the burglar’s knowledge? “Do we have the sales contract to Cousins? And the one to Press?” Marsh nodded, scrolling once more. “We need the Bills of Sale. What carried all the way through?”
“Looks like most of it,” Marsh said after a moment. “Couch.”
“Tossed.”
“Beds.”
“Shredded. What about in the office?” Levi said, sliding off his stool and heading in that direction, Marsh on his heels. He stepped into the smallish room, took a moment to admire the view out these windows too, then rotated toward Marsh, who’d posted up against the doorjamb. “All right, what’ve we got?”
“Desk.”
