Page 63 of Her Righteous Protector

“I like him already.”

“So do I,” Lark concurred. “He can sniff out bullshit a mile away, so this stuff better be bullet-proof.”

“It is,” Max assured her.

“I figured, because I already sent it to him. He wanted to meet with me in person; my guess is he wants to know my angle in all of this. He’s my dinner date. I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to say.”

“Can’t you just tell him the truth? Explain it’s about me?”

Lark flipped through more pages. “I’m ninety percent sure that’s what I’m going to say. I’ve been worried that if I bring your name up, and he knows you’re a SEAL, he might realize that you could have someone doing some fancy footwork on the documentation.”

Max grabbed another file and handed it to her. “Or, all my fancy footwork people spent their time gathering up all of this information…”

“I brung the can!” Zephyr shouted from the living room. “Hannah says that way if you want to squirt cheese on your cracker, you can.”

“I think that is our cue to head in to join them,” Max said.

“I love squirt cheese,” Lark yelled out.

“See, Hannah, I told you,” Zephyr practically jumped up and down as Max and Lark entered the room. He ran over and handed Lark the can. “Do you need me to show you how it works?”

“That would be great,” Lark grinned down at him. “Or better yet, maybe you could fix some crackers for me,” she suggested.

Zephyr’s eyes lit up.

“That was a mistake,” Max muttered.

* * *

Max was rounding the turn to run back home. It was a miserable rainy day, and it matched his mood. He didn’t give a shit if he was pushing himself, he intended to beat his best time since he arrived in Chicago. It had been nine days since Lark had visited, and neither Lark, Elias, or Kane had provided him an update on the status of Meghan’s parents or the court case. He wanted those motherfuckers taken care of!

Simon had been great on the leave time, so that hadn’t been a problem. His time with Zephyr and Hannah was pure pleasure, but Zeph had to sleep and Hannah had to work, and there was only so much HGTV a man could watch. When he thought his brain might atrophy, Simon had sent through a hellish old project his way. Apparently, the last time the SEAL team obstacle course had been completely overhauled was five years ago. Simon wanted to see at least five new obstacles employed by the time Max returned. Shit, this was an evil project, something that was better suited to Cullen Lyon’s twisted brain, but Max loved it.

His feet sloshed through more mud puddles as he turned down the street to the old white house. Today was Friday. I’d better hear something today about the Lancasters he thought as he made it to the front porch.

* * *

After his hot shower, Max checked his phone. Kane had left a message to call him while he’d been in the bathroom.

“This better be good,” Max growled into the phone.

“It is. Yesterday afternoon, warrants were approved for the Lancasters. This morning Bob was pulled out of a skeezy motel where he was found snorting coke off a prostitute’s ass. They’ve got him down at the precinct being processed.”

“And his wife?”

“They’re still looking for her. She has a standing appointment at her favorite beauty salon this afternoon, so they expect to scoop her up then.”

“And the charges? How comprehensive are they?” Max asked.

“Roberts did a fan-fucking-tastic job. If even half these charges stick, they’re going down for fifteen years, at minimum.”

“And their court case?”

“Gee, Max, I don’t know how this could have happened, but somehow a copy of the arrest warrant got over to Wilma Demhurst, their attorney. She should be cutting them loose today.”

Max paused. “You don’t think she’ll represent them, do you?”

“Not a chance in hell. The charges are solid, it would cost money to represent them. She’s an ambulance chaser, she was only willing to go after Zephyr for a piece of the life insurance payout, even though that was illegal as hell. God knows what off-the-books kind of bullshit she was going to have to do to get them to give her a slice of that,” Kane said with disgust.