Framed Shadows: Shadows Landing #6, Kathleen Brooks [great novels of all time TXT] 📗

the way they had come into the storage area—through the front door of the church and behind the altar—Buttercup led them out the back door, down a long, dark dirty hallway, and out a back door of sorts that led them to the cemetery. Her nose never left the ground as she walked behind the buildings and turned left at the art gallery. She headed straight for the gate to the small courtyard, through Tinsley’s back door, and through the gallery to the front door. Tinsley opened it and Buttercup shot through the door, crossed the street, and pawed at the front door to Harper’s bar. Paxton opened it and Buttercup trotted through the bar to where Ridge was leaning against the kitchen door talking to Harper. Buttercup sat down and bayed again.

“What the hell?” Ridge yelled as he jumped in surprise at finding a Bloodhound sitting directly behind him.

“Good girl!” Bridget said, tossing Buttercup a treat.

Paxton was impressed, but it also gave him an idea.

“Can you wipe down what our suspects have touched in the gallery and use Buttercup to track them in Atlanta? They had to pick up the artwork so their scent should also be there,” he asked Bridget as Tinsley told Harper what was going on.

“Of course. You’ve seen what she can do.”

“Let me show you where Maurice touched the most.” Paxton led Bridget back across the street while Harper and Ridge talked to their aunt and played with the dogs.

An hour later they’d collected all the samples, had an early lunch with the Faulkners, and then Annie, Bridget, and the dogs were on their way to Atlanta.

Paxton’s phone rang and he answered it as Tinsley drove him back to her house. “Connor, is there any news?”

“Cy is one scary-ass dude. But then I met Ahmed last night and almost crapped my pants. Your girlfriend has some very scary friends. You should remember that if you’re serious about her. These guys could make you disappear in a second. Cy and Ahmed are having a contest to see who can make the gang members cry the fastest. I’m simultaneously petrified and encouraged. We’re getting leads left and right now.”

“Bridget, Ahmed’s wife is on her way with Cade’s wife, Annie. They have scent-tracking dogs with them. They have your number but you have to swear you don’t tell the men the women are in town. They’ve decided they’re going to find the art before their husbands do,” Paxton told Connor, feeling as if he were living in an alternate universe even as he said it.

“You’re kidding, right? This is nuts. They’re having fun. They brought in a military helicopter so they could fast-rope into a warehouse last night. They raced down the ropes. Then there’s this guy named Pierce who keeps using our computers to doctor pictures of the guys to make it look like they’re fishing. I’m at a loss for words, but there’s no way in hell I’ll send them away. I want to keep them forever. They’ve taken down more gang members, confiscated more guns and drugs, and destroyed more meth labs in one week than we did in the past eighteen months.”

“I guess that’s good, right?” Paxton said, not knowing what else to say since Connor sounded dazed.

“Yeah, I guess so. I just thought you should know if I disappear for some reason, it was probably this Ahmed guy. I’ll be on the lookout for the wives. They’re nice, right? They won’t dismember me for fun?”

“Annie might,” Tinsley whispered with a huge smile on her face.

“Nope, great ladies. Oh, and Connor, get the dogs some pie and they’ll love you. Call me if they get anything.” Paxton hung up the phone and stared out the car window, taking it all in. “I really don’t know what to say.”

Tinsley pulled into her driveway and parked her car. “Good, what I’m thinking of doesn’t involve words.”

She got out of the car and stepped out of her shoes the second she hit her patio. Her shirt followed and then Paxton was running after her. Paxton didn’t know what to make of her Keeneston family, but when Tinsley’s bra was tossed onto the couch, all thoughts of her family fled and he knew exactly what to do.

24

Neither Maurice nor Murray called Tinsley over the weekend. They had lain low Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Saturday, Tinsley’s family had come over for dinner and game night. Somehow Paxton had ended up with baby Chase for most of the charade game. His finger was chewed on, there was drool down his shirt, and Paxton had to admit he loved it.

Tinsley, marriage, babies, and family—those thoughts were consuming him even as Connor and Annie kept him up to date on the case. The days he and Tinsley were able to spend together only made his feelings for her to grow and deepen. He felt as if roots were being laid deep in his heart for both Tinsley and Shadows Landing. Which was what had him wide awake at four o’clock Sunday morning.

Paxton had wanted that promotion in the FBI. He wanted to rise in the ranks and while he was technically now a higher rank as the head of art crimes than when he was in gangs, it had felt like a punishment. Until now.

Paxton lay in the bed with his arm around Tinsley and punishment was the complete opposite of what he was feeling. He needed to sit down with Peter and talk about his career. He needed to pull the transfer he’d had Peter put in for New York and Chicago the day before this case had started. Instead, he was determined to grow in the agency, only this time he was going to expand the art crimes division here in Charleston so he could stay with Tinsley. It felt right.

The screen to his cell phone lit up and Paxton had to untangle himself from Tinsley to answer it. “Hello?” he whispered into the phone.

“It’s Annie. Buttercup hit