Page 68 of Criminally Yours

“Of course.”

“When?”

He hesitated, and she smirked at his pout. “About five seconds ago.”

“We can’t all be as smart as me.”

“Whatever, Doc,” he replied. “I may not be as clever as you, but I’d beat you at an arm wrestle, especially because I know your ticklish spots.”

“Want to put that to the test? I know yours, too.”

Liss gasped. “Oh my god, Bear, they’re flirting.”

“Shush,” Bear replied.

Strike grumbled.

“Shit, we sound like teenagers, don’t we?” Millie giggled.

“You do. I sound like a bad-ass robot,” Strike replied.

“Is he smiling?” Liss chattered. “I love it when he’s cute and smirky.”

“Back to business,” Strike said sullenly. “Cam must bedevastated the lawyer told the shooter. His brother referred him.”

“He is,” Bear replied. “He learnt ten minutes ago that the lawyer isn’t squeaky clean. He has a history of hiding money for rich people.”

“That could be his connection to Hugo, although I can’t imagine Hugo keeps his money long enough to hide it,” Strike mused. “I’ll call Cam and ease his worries. Are they investigating provable connections between Hugo and the lawyer?”

“Yes,” Liss replied. “I’m going over all the detailed information Millie sent us about Hugo’s previous workplaces. I can’t find anything yet, so Casey can’t bring the lawyer in for questioning, either.”

“Then we wait,” Strike grunted. The sound thrummed through Millie’s body, and she stared at the green fields they passed to hide her surprise. One night with him and her hormones were all over the place.

“I don’t remember anything about a lawyer in his companies, either,” Millie explained. “I was waiting on a couple of callbacks, but I’ve got a new number now. Look at the spreadsheet I sent. There’s a tab with people I was going to call again. Start there.”

“Great plan. Thanks, Millie. You’ve saved us so much time already,” Liss said.

“She’s brilliant, isn’t she?” Strike praised.

“The best,” Bear agreed, making her cheeks warm. “Get yourselves safely to Cornwall. It’s a waiting game.”

Millie opened her socials account and found a message from her friend.

Rylee: Are you doing okay? Everyone’s missing your book updates.

Millie smiled. It was nice to be missed.

Millie: I’m travelling. I lost my electronics.

She sent Rylee a photo of the tree with her and Caleb’s initials, which she’d taken as Cam and Strike were packing the vehicle.

“One last thing,” Bear said.

“Stop gritting your teeth,” Liss replied. “You’ll hurt your jaw.”

“But I don’t want to tell them.”

“Bear?” Strike growled.