Gabe glanced at his phone when another text came in. True to his word, Jasper had been in constant communication, letting him know where he and Spencer were at all times, which had done a lot to ease his mind.

But he could have done without the lame cop jokes.

Picking up his phone, he rolled his eyes when he saw the latest one. How was Jasper even coming up with these?

“Whatcha looking at there, partner?” Emerson asked, leaning forward as he tried to peer at Gabe’s phone.

“Nothing.”

“It doesn’t look like nothing. Maybe you should let Jasper know a cop’s phone is city property and can be confiscated at any time without warning. I doubt Mrs. Belmont would appreciate knowing her son’s, umm, assets had been logged into police evidence.”

Gabe rolled his eyes. “He’s not sending me nudie pics.” At the scoffing noise Emerson made, Gabe opened up his texts and read one that had come in a couple of hours ago. “Did you hear about the celery who got arrested?”

Emerson squinted at him. “What does celery have to do—”

“They charged him with stalking.”

Emerson blinked, then he leaned across his desk and snatched the phone from Gabe’s hand. He started scrolling through the long list of jokes Jasper had been sending to Gabe all day, making a face as he went. “Jesus. Doesn’t he have anything better to do with his time?” He handed the phone back to Gabe. “I think I’d have preferred it if he’d sent dick pics than those.”

Gabe would have too. But with the amount of exposure Jasper’s dick had seen lately, he understood why that would be the last thing Jasper would do.

When Emerson turned back to his computer, muttering under his breath about cop jokes being worse than dad jokes, Gabe snorted and returned to his report of the bizarre call the Captain had tapped him and Emerson for. Gabe hadn’t understood why they’d been sent to investigate a public disturbance until they’d gotten there and realized the sensitivity of the situation.

According to witness statements, Stan had been hosting an all-day backyard BBQ and pool party to celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. What had started as a gathering of friends, food, and music had, through the course of the afternoon—and a hell of a lot of spiked punch—deteriorated into a raucous, clothes optional, drunken bash, with most of the celebrants choosing the nude option. That might not have been so bad—other than the not inconsiderable amount of wrinkly skin on display—except that the party had left the confines of Stan’s backyard and spilled out onto the streets.

Even then, it’s possible the situation might have been salvaged if not for the fact that the Starfall Grove Church Ladies Auxiliary were holding a meeting in Jennifer Quigley’s back garden, sipping tea and eating cucumber sandwiches while they discussed plans for their community outreach efforts for the following month.

Gabe chuckled to himself as he typed out the highly detailed statement an indignant Mrs. Quigley had given him—along with photographic evidence—about the way Mrs. Phife had yelled, “Hallelujah. Come on, girls. It’s time to leave this snoozefest and par-taay.” Then she’d ripped off her blouse and started Walking Like an Egyptian with an inebriated and very naked Stan in the middle of the street. Even worse, according to Mrs. Quigley, was that Mrs. Phife’s shameless ways had tempted four other ladies of good standing into joining her in her wickedness.

Mrs. Phife had been completely unrepentant when Gabe and Emerson had confronted her and had even tried to lure Emerson into doing the electric slide with her and the other ladies, looking amused when he’d stammered out a no as he’d tried to get her to put her blouse back on.

Gabe grinned as he finished off his report, making sure to include a full description of the way the ladies had swarmed his partner until Gabe had extricated him from their clutches.

And roaming hands, according to Emerson, who’d offered to buy Gabe’s lunch for the next week for saving him.

After attaching the numerous photos of the event that Mrs. Quigley had forwarded to him, Gabe saved his file and sent it to the Captain so that he and his good buddy Mayor Edwyn Phife, grandson of dancing queen Mrs. Phife, could get in front of what would be a public relations nightmare before it could get started.

When something hit him in the ear, he looked up, then scowled at his partner when a paperclip bounced off his nose.

“Why are you throwing shit at me?”

“We gotta go,” Emerson said, pulling on his jacket. “The hospital just called. Lucas is awake again and asking for us.”

“About fucking time.” Gabe locked down his computer, then stood and grabbed his jacket off the back of his chair, putting it on as he and Emerson hurried out of the precinct.

As they neared the parking lot, Gabe grabbed his car fob from his pocket. “We’ll take my car. You drive too damned slow.” He pressed the button.

Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the world exploded around them.

First was the ribbon of water that shot out from the puddle they were walking past, hitting Emerson in the face. Gabe was turning to ask him how that had happened when Emerson had shouted at him to get down, then jumped and tackled Gabe to the ground.

As they were falling, a loud explosion rocked the area, sending them flying. They landed yards away, with Emerson on top of Gabe. Then an intense wave of heat passed over them, hot enough to sear the hair from the backs of his hands when he covered his head with his arms.

When the pieces of burning metal and debris had stopped falling around them, Gabe pushed Emerson off of him and staggered to his feet, looking for the source of the explosion. It didn’t take long to find it. “Motherfucker. Someone just blew up my fucking car.”

Emerson got to his feet, stumbling into Gabe as he looked at the flaming remains. “Holy shit. Someone blew up your car.”

Gabe turned to him, catching Emerson when he staggered to one side, then snorted when he got a good look at his soot-covered face.

“What’s so funny?” Emerson asked. “Someone just blew up your car.”

“I know,” Gabe said, laughing, feeling a bit punch drunk. He reached up and poked Emerson’s blackened forehead, pulling his hand away when his partner hissed. “Your eyebrows are gone.”

“Oh shit. I must look like an idiot.” Emerson touched his forehead, his fingers moving frantically over his scorched brow ridge.

“You do.”

When Gabe laughed again, Emerson scowled at him. “I wouldn’t laugh too hard if I were you, partner.”

 Gabe blinked, then quickly reached up and touched over his left eye, letting out a sigh of relief when his fingers found hair. Then he cursed a second later when he realized there was nothing but frizzled ends over his right eye.

Fuck. He probably looked even stupider than Emerson did.

——

It took over four hours before they made it to the hospital. As they headed down the long hall toward the nurses’ station, they were intercepted by a tired-looking doctor in blue scrubs.

“Detectives. I was afraid you weren’t coming.”

“Sorry about that, Doctor…” Gabe looked at his tag, “Henderson. We had a situation that needed to be taken care of first.”

“I see that,” Dr. Henderson said, looking them over, a frown on his face.

Gabe could only imagine what he was thinking as his eyes moved over their scorched clothes, reddened skin, missing eyebrows, or eyebrow in his case, and hair that had been burned on the ends.

“Has anyone checked you two to ensure you haven’t sustained any internal injuries?”

“We’re fine,” Emerson said.

Which was a miracle in itself since he’d taken the brunt of the explosion. But the paramedics attending the scene had said that except for some superficial burns and hair loss, they were good to go.

Dr. Henderson didn’t seem so sure. “I think I should have a look at you anyway.”

“We’re good,” Gabe said. “Lucas Johnson. Can we see him now?”

Dr. Henderson hesitated.

“I promise we’re fine, Doctor,” Emerson said. “But we really need to speak with Mr. Johnson.”

After another quick scan of them, Dr. Henderson nodded. “Alright. But before I take you to him, we need to set some ground rules first.”

“What kind of rules?” Gabe asked, hoping the good doctor wasn’t going to put up any roadblocks that would impede their investigation.

“The kind that will protect my patient.”

Gabe scowled. “Protect him from what? We’re here to talk to him.”

“I know that. And as much as I would like you to find out who hurt Mr. Johnson, if I had my way, Detective, you wouldn’t be here. But Mr. Johnson was quite insistent on speaking with you, and as it’s in my patient’s best interests to keep him as calm as possible, I reluctantly agreed to allow you to be called in. That being said, I need your promise you’ll go easy on him. My patient has been through considerable physical and mental trauma and is extremely fragile. Any further distress could set back his recovery, undoing all our efforts to get him where he is now.”

“We’ll do our best not to upset him,” Emerson said.

Nodding, Dr. Henderson brought the clipboard he was holding up against his chest. “There’s one more thing. When we were unable to produce the police quickly enough for Mr. Johnson earlier, he became quite agitated. So much so that when we were unable to calm him, I had him sedated.”

Gabe looked at Emerson, then back to the doctor. “How long ago was that?”

“About two hours ago. He should be waking now, but he’ll be groggy and disoriented. Don’t be surprised if he drifts in and out on you.”

Gabe frowned. “Is he aware enough for us to question him?”

“I believe so, yes. But you’ll need to be patient with him and not push him for answers he’s unable to give.”

“We won’t,” Emerson said. “I promise.”

Dr. Henderson looked at Gabe and waited.

“We’ll be nice,” Gabe said.

That seeming to satisfy him, Dr. Henderson turned and led them to Lucas’ room.

Gabe scowled at the officer who was sitting in a chair next to the door, playing on his phone instead of standing guard.

The officer looked up when Gabe cleared his throat, went pale, then jumped to his feet and immediately started stammering out an apology. “S-sorry, Det—”

“Save it,” Gabe barked. “Your job is to keep Mr. Johnson safe, not check on your social media accounts. Ignore your duty again and you’ll be answering first to the Captain, then to me.”

There was an audible gulp as the young officer nodded. “Yes, Sir. It won’t happen again, Sir.”

“See that it doesn’t.”

Dr. Henderson gave Gabe an approving look, then led them into the room. “Try to keep your questions to a minimum, Detectives, and stop the moment Mr. Johnson shows any signs of being upset. I’ll be just down the hall if you need me.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Emerson said, smiling at him. “I promise we’ll handle him with kid gloves.”

The doctor nodded, then left the room.

As Gabe approached the bed, he couldn’t help the flicker of excitement that sparked to life, knowing Lucas held the information that could bring his and Emerson’s case to a close. And more importantly, identify the person who’d almost killed Jasper.

And when he found out who it was, Gabe was going to make sure that person never saw the light of day again.

The nurse tending to Lucas turned to them when they stopped next to the bed. After checking their credentials, she said, “Lucas is just waking up, so you’ll need to be gentle with him. Don’t start peppering him with questions right away.”

“We won’t,” Emerson said, going around to the opposite side of the bed from Gabe.

“What about him?” the nurse asked, pointing her chin toward Gabe. “He looks like he’s ready to shake answers from him.”

“Don’t mind Gabe. He always looks that way.”

The nurse stared at Gabe, her lips pursed, looking like she wanted to say something else. Instead, she leaned down and rested her hand on Lucas’ shoulder. “The police are here to see you, honey.”

Lucas groaned, his eyes flickering open, then falling closed again. Patting his shoulder, the nurse said, “You take your time, sweetie. They’ll wait for you to be ready.” Then giving Emerson and Gabe a warning look, she said, “I’ll be just outside if you need me.”

Gabe waited for her to leave the room, then looked at Emerson. “Why does everyone think I’m going to terrorize Lucas?”

“Because you look like you want to kill someone. And the missing eyebrow makes you look even more terrifying.”

Gabe glanced in the small mirror on the wall next to the bed. “That’s just my normal expression.”

Emerson snorted. “I know. And it scares the hell out of everyone.”

Everyone except Jasper, Gabe thought with satisfaction. He thought Gabe’s cop face was hot. And Jasper’s opinion was the only one that mattered.

When Lucas groaned again, they turned their attention to the bed.

“Lucas,” Emerson said, leaning down, “I’m Detective Trewitt and this is my partner, Detective Prescott.”

“Puh…leez,” Lucas breathed. His eyes slid closed.

“Yes, we’re the police. Can you tell us who did this to you?”

“Ahwoo…” Lucas whispered, not opening his eyes.

“Can you say that again, Lucas?” Gabe leaned closer, squinting as he tried to hear his broken words.

“Ahwoo…no…Ahwoo…”

Gabe stood and frowned at Emerson. “Ahwoo? What the hell is an ahwoo?”

Emerson shrugged. “No idea.”

“Ahwoo…no.”

Gabe frowned at Lucas, turning it over in his mind. Then it hit. “Son of a bitch. He’s saying Elwood.”

“Carlisle? The guy we talked to yesterday?”

“You know any other fucking Elwood?” When Emerson shook his head, Gabe said, “Then it has to be him.” He leaned back over the bed. “Lucas. Is Elwood Carlisle the one who attacked you?”

“Ahwoo…hurfs…Ahwoo…no…puh…leez.”

“Lucas, I need to be sure. Is Elwood Carlisle the one who hurt you?”

“Yshhh. Elwoo…hurf. Elwoo…no. Doon hurf…puh…leez.”

Alarms started going off on the machines at the head of Lucas’ bed.

“Fuck.” Gabe pulled his phone from his pocket.

“What’s wrong,” Emerson asked.

“Jasper and Spencer were following Elwood around today.”

“Why?”

“Jasper said he was acting strange.”

“And you let him go after him?”

“It’s not like I had any fucking choice. He’s a grown man and can chase some idiot around town if he wants to. Even if I asked him not to,” Gabe muttered as he pulled up Jasper’s number.

“You should have stopped him from interfering in a police investigation.”

Gabe pressed the call button and glared at Emerson. “Elwood wasn’t part of the fucking investigation until right this minute. “Jasper,” Gabe barked out when his call connected. “Where—”

“Gabe? It’s Spencer.”

Gabe scowled. “Why are you answering Jasper’s phone?”

“Because it was ringing.”

Biting back his automatic response, knowing Jasper wouldn’t want him swearing at his friend, Gabe gritted out, “Where is Jasper right now?”

“Home. Or he will be soon. He left a few minutes ago.”

“How’s he getting there?” Gabe asked, his mind flooded with images of Jasper getting into an Uber and Elwood being the driver.

“I lent him my car.”

“Okay, good.”

“Is everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine.” Especially if Jasper was at home. “But if you see or hear from Elwood, I want you to call me immediately.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so. Do not approach him and call me immediately.”

“Oh fuck. It was him, wasn’t it? I knew he was the one who attacked Lucas.”

Gabe glanced at Emerson, who looked as surprised as Gabe was. “How do you know that?”

“Because I knew something was off with him. Jasper didn’t think so. That’s why we were following Elwood today.”

Gabe nodded, everything suddenly making sense. Jasper wouldn’t believe Elwood was guilty without proof. “Did you guys see him doing anything suspicious?”

“Not unless you count a lot of over-the-top humanitarian acts as suspicious. Which I did. But Jasper said it only proved Elwood was a good guy.”

Because Jasper always expected the best from people. And while Gabe didn’t want to change that fundamental part of him, he needed to fucking start reading people better before he got himself killed.

“Spencer, I’m going to check on Jasper. You stay where you are and call me or Emerson immediately if you see Elwood.”

“I will.”

After giving Spencer Emerson’s number, Gabe shoved his phone in his pocket and motioned his head toward the door. “Let’s go.”

“I’m right behind you,” Emerson said as the nurse came charging into the room, throwing glares at both of them.

“You two need to leave right now.”

“We’re going,” Gabe said.

Lucas’ soft pleas of, “Elwoo…no. Doon…hurf,” followed them as they raced from the room.