“I’m sure it will be delicious,” he assured her. “Now, where’s that wrapping paper?”
It was a good thing nobody was there to critique their wrapping job, because it left a lot to be desired. His fingers tangled with Eva’s more than once, and they both ended up with tape and bits of paper stuck to their skin.
Listening to Eva laughing at the final product made Finn realize how little she’d had to laugh about in the past few days. Since the day he’d met her, she’d faced one struggle after another.
He made a silent promise to work harder at bringing her joy.
The atmosphere in the kitchen was homey as he cleaned up the mess on the table and Eva took the cheesy chicken out of the oven.
“Mikey, time for dinner,” Finn called. “Abernathy, come.”
His K-9 partner came into the kitchen with Mikey, grabbing at the dog’s tail, hot on his heels. “Don’t hurt Abe,” Finn warned.
“I won’t. I love Abe.” As if to prove it, Mikey put his arms around the animal’s neck and gave him a kiss. Abernathy licked him in response.
“Up you go.” Finn lifted Mikey into his booster seat. “Don’t forget we have to pray,” he told the child.
“I won’t forget.” Mikey leaned over to see the dog, who’d taken up his usual position as sentry on duty beside Mikey’s chair. Abernathy was too well trained to beg, but he wasn’t going to allow any food to hit the floor for long, either.
In a matter of minutes the table was set and the steamy cheesy chicken bake was in the center of the table.
“This time, I’d like to say grace,” Eva said as she took her seat beside Finn.
“Of course,” he agreed, pleased she’d taken the lead. He took her hand in his and then grasped Mikey’s hand. To his surprise, Mikey reached down to put his other hand on Abernathy’s head, as if including his partner in their prayer.
“Dear Lord, thanks for keeping Mikey safe. Please help Finn and the other officers working the case find the men responsible for their crimes. Please continue to keep us safe. Amen.”
“Amen,” Finn echoed.
“And Abe, too,” Mikey added. “Amen.”
That made Finn laugh, and he was grateful that Eva smiled, as well. Mission accomplished, he thought.
He helped cut up Mikey’s food and then took a bite. “Yum, this is fantastic.”
Eva blushed again and shook her head. “It’s Malina’s recipe, not mine.”
“Better than takeout any day.” He didn’t like the way she put herself down and made a mental note to talk about that later. Her phone chirped and he glanced at her expectantly.
“Pete texted me that he’s on the plane heading home,” she said and set the phone aside. “He probably won’t land here until nine o’clock, though.”
“I can pick him up at the airport,” he offered, thinking it might be a good time to question the guy about his relationship with Malina and the missing package.
“Oh, no, that’s too much of a bother. Pete told me he’ll call a car service.”
“Okay.” Finn figured he’d wait here for Pete to get home and talk to him then. “I may stick around for a while if you don’t mind. I have some computer work to take care of.”
“Fine with me.”
After finishing their dinner, Finn helped clear the table while Eva took care of Mikey. It was beyond Finn how the kid always managed to get food in his hair, but Eva didn’t seem to mind taking him upstairs to give him a bath.
Abernathy licked his chops and sniffed along the floor as if looking for any spare crumb he might have missed. Once Finn had the dishes taken care of, he took Abernathy outside again, looking around to make sure the house wasn’t being watched by anyone nearby. Thankfully, there was no sign of the black sedan. Finn grabbed his laptop from the SUV and carried it inside.
He set up a makeshift office along one side of the kitchen table. Listening to Eva and Mikey with one ear, he booted up the laptop and began organizing his notes.
If the three separate cocaine samples from the upstairs bathroom, Malina’s locker and the apartment Roach was using all matched, that would mean the cocaine had come from the same batch. How could he use that to their advantage? He listed off the questions as they popped into his head.