Joaquin chuckled. “That look on your face right now—that was all of us when we heard. None of us had aclue.”
“I feel like I know themnow.”
“Hang with me long enough, and you’ll meet them. You’ve already met Darcangelo andHunter.”
After that, he showed her his family’s private website with its birthday tracker, events calendar, and message board. “There’s a spot for family recipes here. This is where my mom and dad updated everyone yesterday to let them know I wasokay.”
It took him a moment to remember that it was all inSpanish.
“What’s your middle name?” Mia’s cheeks were flushed from sex andsun.
“My middle name? Um… ” All this fucking must have shorted out his brain because he had to think. “I have two. Joaquín Cristián DelgadoRamírez.”
“Wow. That’spretty.”
“Spanish is a pretty language. What’syours?”
“Mine is nothing that fancy. Just Rose. MiaRose.”
“I like it. It fits you. No wonder you likeflowers.”
After sunset, snow started to fall. Joaquin and Mia accepted an invitation to join the West family for Sunday dinner and a movie, good food, good wine, and good company putting a perfect end on a perfect day—or a day that might have been perfect had the threat of a killer not been hanging overMia.
“I’m afraid to fall asleep,” Mia said as they crawled into bed. “I’m afraid real life is going to catch up withus.”
Joaquin drew her close. He knew exactly how she felt, but he didn’t say that. She didn’t need empathy right now. She needed someone to be strong for her. “Whatever happens, Mia, I’ll be righthere.”
Real life caught up with them at eight in the morning, when Joaquin’s cell phone buzzed. He fumbled for it in the darkened room. “Ramirez.”
“You’re still asleep? Must benice.”
“Darcangelo.” He sat up, saw that Mia was awake now, too. “Iwasstill asleep. What’s goingon?”
“I wanted to give you a heads up. Wu is going to call you two soon with an update. Right now, he and the two special agents are in one of the interrogation rooms with that asshole Powell. He’s saying some offensive stuff about Mia—dark, hateful stuff. He says he hasn’t had anything to do with the murders or the attempt on Mia’s life, but he’s cheering on whoever is behind this. He says he can’t wait to read about her murder in thepaper.”
“Hijo de puta. Putmein an interrogation room with that son of a whore. I’ll take the bastardapart.”
“Hey, if I were running this show and it weren’t against the law, I just might give you thatchance.”
“Do they have any real evidence againsthim?”
“Not yet, but Wu says everything in this investigation is pointing to him right now. He has clear motive, at least where Mia is concerned, and he lives within easy driving distance of all the victims. They’re trying to get something out of him that will justify a search warrant. I expect you’ll be hearing from Wu or Shoals the moment they’re done questioning thebastard.”
“Okay.”
“Also, speaking of papers, that reporter is sniffing around the building again, sidling up topeople.”
“I’m not surprised.” Joaquin had known Cate wouldn’t giveup.
“Old Man Irving would ban her from the building, but he doesn’t want to have to deal with your dickheadboss.”
“I can’t blame him for that. Hey, thanks for the headsup.”
“De nada.” Darcangelo ended thecall.
Joaquin turned around to find Mia standing in the doorway to the bedroom, barefoot and in her bathrobe, worry plain on her face. “That was Darcangelo. He says Wu and the FBI guys brought Powell in for questioning. They don’t have any real evidence yet, but everything else seems to point tohim.”
He refused to tell her the rest of it. That son of a bitch had hurt her enough with his vile bullshit. She didn’t need to hearmore.