“Um, maybe not today, but soon.” Eva glanced at Finn and he nodded in agreement.
“I have a day off coming up, I’ll be happy to take you and your aunt to get the picture framed.”
“Can Abe come, too?”
“Sure.”
“Goody!” Mikey clapped his hands. “I love Abe.”
Finn almost told Mikey he and Abe loved him, too, but held back, reminding himself that he wasn’t part of Mikey’s family. A family he’d decided was not meant for him because of his career, but now couldn’t stop thinking about.
He concentrated on navigating the traffic to reach Pete’s home. Earlier that morning, he’d looked into Pete Stallings’s background but hadn’t found anything unusual. The guy appeared on paper to be just as Eva claimed, a dedicated firefighter and paramedic who loved his son. There were some money problems, but nothing too terrible. And if Malina was using drugs, the money problems made sense.
He’d pulled the autopsy results on Malina’s death, too, but surprisingly, the medical examiner had not found any track marks indicating IV drug use. There was some indication that she might have been snorting cocaine, but there hadn’t been any hard evidence of recent use. Damaged nasal passages could be from severe allergies as well as cocaine, especially if the user was early in the level of abuse.
All of which brought Finn back to the immediate threat. Did the two men who’d assaulted Eva know that she was staying at Pete’s place? He had to assume they did. After all, they knew Malina had stolen their mysterious package. What was to prevent them from breaking into Pete’s to look for the package themselves?
Unless they already had? Was it possible they’d managed to get inside the house to do their own search? And when they hadn’t found what they were looking for, had gone after Cocoa and Eva? And maybe, now, Mikey?
His gut told him it was a distinct possibility.
Once he and Abernathy had Eva and Mikey safe inside the house, he decided to go through the entire place one more time. Leaving Eva and Mikey in the kitchen, eating a snack of animal crackers and milk, he took Abernathy and started up in the master suite.
He and Abernathy made their way through the upper level without finding a thing. Downstairs, he went through the living room, the playroom, bathroom, finally ending up in the kitchen.
“I already went through all the cupboards,” Eva said wearily.
“I know.” He glanced over his shoulder at her. “I just feel like I need to do something.”
“Me, too.” Her sad smile squeezed his heart. “All finished, Mikey? You want to play?”
“Yep.”
She washed Mikey’s face and hands, then lifted him from his booster seat. For a moment she snuggled him close, kissing his cheek, before setting him on the floor. He gave Abernathy a pat on the head, then ran toward the playroom, laughing when the K-9 followed.
Eva dropped her chin to her chest for a moment, as if struggling to remain composed. Finn couldn’t stand seeing her distress. He pulled her into his arms once again, marveling at how right it felt to hold her.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing is wrong with you, Eva.” His own voice was low and husky with emotion. “You have every right to be upset. There’ve been nothing but threats and danger at every turn.”
She didn’t answer. He stroked his hand over her long silky blond hair, reveling in the softness against his fingertips and her clean citrusy scent. He ached to kiss her, but had promised himself to offer comfort, nothing more.
Even if it killed him, which was a distinct possibility.
After several long moments, Eva pulled out of his arms, offering a watery smile. “Thanks, Finn. You’ve been incredible through all of this.” She surprised him by going up on tiptoe to press a soft kiss against his cheek before stepping away. “I feel safe with you and Abernathy, here.”
“I’ll stay for as long as you’d like,” he offered rashly, willing to do anything if she kissed him like that again. Yeah, it wasn’t smart to stick around where he’d only get more emotionally attached. If he had one single functioning brain cell in his head, he’d assign someone else to protect her and the boy.