“I’m gonna break out in hives any minute,” Mikey promised her, with a belligerent expression.
She just grinned.
Just then, the front door opened and booted feet came marching in.
“Well, we got the new cameras installed, finally,” Barton, the broader of the two bodyguards, announced. “Hey, is that grits? You made them just for me, didn’t you, you sweetheart!” He caught Mandy by the arm and kissed her cheek.
She blushed. “I did not! I made them for her!” She pointed at Merrie.
“Welcome home, Miss Grayling.” Rogers, the taller of the bodyguards, greeted her with a smile.
“Thanks. I hear I had company up in Wyoming,” she added. “I did a really dumb thing. I used my credit card at a store.”
“Nobody’s perfect,” Barton assured her as he sat down with his companion.
“Except me,” Mikey said, sipping coffee. He glowered at the bodyguards when they looked at him.
“Absolutely perfect,” Rogers said abruptly.
“Model of perfection,” Barton agreed.
Merrie looked astounded.
“He took down both of them in hand-to-hand combat in less than thirty seconds,” Paul said complacently.
Merrie pursed her lips and hid a laugh. “Spec ops, Middle East,” Mikey explained with a grin. “I was a bad boy.”
“You must be, if you could take them both down,” Merrie agreed.
The bodyguards managed to look sheepish and charmed all at once.
Paul chuckled. “They were in the same unit, believe it or not. Afghanistan, and then Iraq.”
“Hard times,” Mikey said.
“Steel needs tempering, I guess,” Paul said.
“I guess,” his cousin agreed.
“What sort of cameras?” Paul asked Barton.
“Classified cameras,” Barton replied with pursed lips. “Sorry.”
“I’m with the FBI, for God’s sake,” Paul exclaimed.
“We outrank you,” Rogers said brightly.
Paul glared at him. “Nobody outranks the FBI. We wrote the book on classified!”
“Oh, yeah?” Mikey said. “Then why don’t you know about the flying saucer that crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, and all that technology they found on it? I’ll bet they know,” he added, nodding toward the bodyguards.
“I know nothing,” Barton said blithely.
“I know even less,” Rogers seconded.
“They probably even know where the bodies are,” Mikey scoffed.
Rogers and Barton exchanged amused looks but remained silent.
“See?” Mikey said, pointing toward them with a fork as he stared at his cousin. “And what do you know?” he added. “How to track down bank robbers!”
“Hey, somebody’s got to catch common criminals,” Paul shot back. “It’s your money we’re protecting.”
“I don’t even have enough money to afford good shoes,” Mikey said.
“Oh, my heart bleeds,” Paul scoffed. “Sell your Mercedes and buy a pair.”
“I like the Mercedes,” Mikey said. He looked thoughtful. “I guess I could sell the Rolls. I never drive it anyway. It’s too pretentious.”
“Too pretentious?” Paul exclaimed.
“Well, it gets you noticed by the cops, anyway,” Mikey said. “Really noticed.”
“Gee, that could be bad if you’re stalking somebody, huh?” Paul chuckled.
“Cut it out,” Mikey muttered. “Baby doll over there will think I’m as bad as you tell people I am.”
Merrie laughed, because he was pointing at her. “No. You’re only as bad as you think you are,” she returned. She cocked her head and looked at him warmly. “You’re not bad unless people hurt somebody you care about.”
A faint dusky color burned along his high cheekbones. “You’re sharp.”
“Like a tack,” she teased.
He smiled. His eyes smiled along with his mouth.
She read so many things in his face. Pain. Terror. Love. Death. Hope. Anguish. Loneliness. “You were very hard to capture in oils,” she remarked, thinking out loud.
“Try a net,” Paul prodded.
“Stop that,” Mikey said. “Or I’ll tell them what you did to Grandmama when nobody was looking.”
“I was ten!”
“It was still bad,” Mikey retorted.
“Not that bad.”
“You got such a whipping,” Mikey said, smiling as he reminisced. “Poor little Paulie.”
“You told.”
“I never!” Mikey chuckled. “I just pointed, as you shot that hand up in the air.”
“Same difference. I was doing it behind her back!”
“Not after I pointed, you weren’t,” Mikey replied.
“You bad boys!” Mandy chided.
They grinned at her, looking so much alike that Merrie and Sari exchanged amused glances.
*
SEVERAL DAYS LATER, Merrie was still brooding about Ren and worried about the killer. Cash Grier had come to the house to talk to Mikey. They went off in a room together. It had seemed ominous, but soon there was muffled laughter coming from the study. They learned later that Cash had been with a spec ops group near where Mikey was stationed during his time in the military. They were exchanging memories, not all of which seemed to be traumatic, judging by the laughter.