Alexa walked back over to her house almost dancing in joy at her major stroke of luck. No doubt Hawk thought he was the one making out in this deal having her watch Damian, but she was the real winner. She would have direct access to Hawk on a regular basis, and more importantly, to his house.
She had done some poking around today while Damian was sleeping. But he had been fussy in the morning, and she had to do some paperwork and other things, so she didn’t get as much time as she wanted to look around. Now she would have several days at least, maybe even weeks, to look around. All day without him there.
He even left his computer there. This would make things almost too easy for her. One email or incriminating correspondence, one particular charge on his bank statement, could give her plenty of information.
And to make it even better, he was going to pay her? She could still work just fine and be there for Damian. She didn’t need that income. But now it was like Hawk was paying her to investigate Hugh’s murder.
She stood in her living room, looking around. The place was a mess of boxes, some closed, some half unpacked, and other random items sitting around, needing a place to be. Tonight, she would put in a frozen pizza, drink a glass or two of wine, and focus on the house. She wanted this place to be put away quickly, especially if she wasn’t going to be there all day to work on it between doing other work.
She made it through three boxes of kitchen items when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw her sister’s name.
“Hey, Cait,” she said, tapping on the speakerphone so she could continue to work while talking.
“Hey, Lex, how’s the new place?”
“Coming along. I still have tons of boxes to unpack, but I think the kitchen is almost done.”
“Good, glad to hear it,” Caitlyn said. “I hope to get out there soon to see it.”
“Come anytime. You’re always welcome, you know that.”
“Duh. So… dare I ask?”
Alexa rolled her eyes and opened the next box. Here it comes. “What?”
“Have you met the neighbor?”
“I have.”
“And?”
“It’s actually gone much better than I could have hoped,” Alexa said.
“How so?”
“Well, you know he has his nephew. Just so happened that the baby got sick and he didn’t know what to do. I helped him out. Then, today, something happened with his babysitter. So, long story short, I’m his new babysitter and I’ll be in his house alone all day every day.”
Caitlyn blew out a long sigh. “Well, that’s great,” she said sarcastically.
“Cait. This will allow me to poke around safely. He’ll be gone for hours at a time. I can find out what he knows and see if he was involved in any way.” She opened the drawer and searched for a spot to put her cooking utensils.
“Yeah, until he comes home unexpectedly and catches you.”
“You don’t think I’m better at snooping than that?”
“I know you are,” Caitlyn said. “You used to snoop around my room all the time.”
“Exactly. And you never caught me.”
“But I wouldn’t have shot you if I had.”
“You would have yelled and screamed and maybe stuck gum in my hair.” Alexa put a stack of bowls into a cabinet.
“That’s hardly comparable to killing you. Or worse.”
“He trusts me to take care of his baby all day. He’s not going to kill me.”
“You can’t assume that. He might be extra pissed that he trusted you and you did something untrustworthy. That could actually make it worse.”
Alexa shut her new junk drawer after dropping in a roll of tape. “Then I guess I just won’t get caught is all.”
“Or you could just give it up already. You have no lack of real, paying clients.”
“Technically, Hawk is paying me.”
“What?” Caitlyn asked.
“Well, to watch the baby. But while I’m watching the baby, I’ll be researching, so he’s kind of paying me to investigate.”
“Lex, this is stupid. And dangerous.”
“We’ve been through this. You know I can’t let this one go.”
“Yes, you can, and you have to. It’s going to get you killed. Is that really worth it?”
Alexa blew out a long sigh and leaned back against the edge of the counter. “I know being an administrative assistant might not mean the same to you as me being a cop. But I dedicated my life to that work. When my lieutenant told me to drop the case it just wrecked me. It was like everything I worked so hard for was nothing.”
“But you solved lots of other cases.”
“I don’t know how else to explain it. This happens with detectives, ask any of them. You stay in it long enough and there will be that one case. The one you got close to solving, but couldn’t for some reason. The one you dream about, think about constantly. The one that haunts you. And you can’t just let it go.”
“Maybe you should seek therapy.”
Alexa pushed off the counter and bent to pick up a can opener. “No, I just need to solve this case. Then I’ll be fine.”
“But this is taking over your life. You quit your job, and might I point out this was a job you said yourself two seconds ago that was so important to you. You bought a house near the guy’s brother, and now you’re babysitting all day just to figure out who killed some guy on the street in the city? There have to be hundreds of these murders every day. Why this one?”
“There was something about it. We got so close. The evidence was weird. It’s hard to explain if you’re not in the field, but something just felt weird from the start of this one. We always knew it was a homicide, but there were red herrings, fake evidence, tampered with evidence, false leads, cleared suspects. It wasn’t the open and shut murder it should have been. And this guy had kid. That baby deserves to know why he doesn’t have a daddy anymore.”
“What about the kid’s mother?”
“She died of a heroin overdose when Damian was only a month old.”
“Quality family you got there.”
“No,” Alexa said. “I mean, yeah Hugh was involved in the drug scene, but everyone around him who was interviewed said he didn’t use. I’m hoping Hawk can shed some light on that.”
“Please, I’m begging you. Find a way to let this go. That baby is going to grow up thinking Hawk is his dad. He’ll have a father.”
“So, you think that means he doesn’t deserve to know the truth?”
“I don’t think it will matter much to him,” Caitlyn said.
“Well, you can’t make that assumption for him. That’s not fair.”
“Who’s this really about? Damian or you?”
“Both.” Alexa stopped and shook her head. “No, it doesn’t matter. It’s about bringing a killer to justice and getting him off the streets before he can kill someone else.”
“There are plenty of murders that go unsolved every year.”
“Not on my watch, and not when I’m the one investigating. It’s one thing when there’s no evidence, no leads. But this case had too much evidence, too many leads. Whoever did it, did a good job of covering up the real tracks and pointing to everyone else. It makes sense that it would be Hawk. And if it was, then I have to make sure Damian has a safe place to go. You don’t want him being raised by a killer, do you?”
Caitlyn sighed. “Is there anything I can say that will change your mind?”
“Do you know me at all?”
“I hope you have your gun on you when you’re over there. And pepper spray and whatever else you have to protect yourself.”
“I’m always armed.”
“Alexa. One more thing.”
“What’s that, little sis?”
“Whatever you do, do not go falling for this guy. That would only complicate things, and if he did it-”
“Don’t worry.” Then Alexa added for emphasis, “I am in no way attracted to Hawk.”
“Right. I hope you mean that at least a little bit. I’ve seen the photos. He’s hot.”
“Are you trying to talk me into having feelings for him or out?”
“Out. Definitely out,” Caitlyn said.
“You’re doing a terrible job then.”
“Whatever. I love you, butthead.”
“Love you, too, dumbass.”
She hung up and took a long sip of wine, emptying her glass. Her sister knew her too well. She was attracted to Hawk. Of course she was. Caitlyn was right about him being hot. But she’d already decided to ignore those feelings. And that was what she was going to do.