aisling grimlock 03 - grim discovery (29 page)

Griffin was nonplussed. “I see,” he said. “You couldn’t have followed her for very long. You weren’t gone more than a half hour. What did you see?”

“Are you going to yell at me?” I asked, studying the pleasing planes of his face. “If you’re going to yell, I almost wish you’d just get it over with.”

“I haven’t decided whether I’m going to yell yet,” Griffin said. “Keep telling your story. If I’m going to yell I’ll give you fair warning so you can start running. Does that make you feel better?”

Not really. “Um, sure,” I said. “Well, we followed her for about two blocks. She went to a bar on … well, I’m not really sure what street we were on. Redmond could probably tell you if that’s important.”

“Andrea went to a bar on a Friday night? Is that what you’re telling me?” Griffin asked. “I’m shocked. There are no words for how troubling this is.”

I scowled. “There’s no need to be sarcastic,” I said. “I’m not done yet.”

“Oh, good,” Griffin said. “If this story gets any more boring I’ll need a nap.”

“She met someone at the bar,” I continued, ignoring the snark. “They greeted one another in front of the bar by exchanging kisses on the cheek and … well … they seemed to know one another.”

Griffin leaned forward, intrigued. “Who was it?”

“Everett Grimpond.”

Griffin rubbed the back of his neck as he considered what I said. “She didn’t act as if she knew him at the restaurant yesterday. Why would she be meeting him now?”

“Well, see, this is the other part you’re probably going to be angry about,” I said. “I didn’t want to tell you what we saw until we knew more because … well … I was convinced you’d think I was jealous and I didn’t want to look petty.”

“Yeah, you have nothing to be jealous about,” Griffin said. “I’m not the type to cheat on a woman and, quite frankly, you’re more than I can handle as it is. I don’t care about that. Tell me what you found out.”

“I’m still kind of worried you’re going to yell,” I admitted.

“If you don’t tell me what you found out, I’m definitely going to yell.”

I sighed. “Cillian ran Andrea through his computer. We made up, by the way. Well … kind of. We hugged.”

“I’m happy you made up with Cillian,” Griffin said, his patience clearly starting to wear thin. “Tell me what you guys found.”

“It seems Andrea Black isn’t her real name,” I said. “According to Cillian, and he can show you proof in the records, your boss knew that wasn’t her name because one of his biggest political supporters – who gave a hefty donation to his new city council campaign, by the way – is Fox Grimpond.”

“How is Fox Grimpond tied to Andrea?”

“He’s her father.”

Griffin stilled, surprised. “But … wouldn’t you have recognized her?”

“Amber Grimpond was a little older than me,” I explained. “She was mousy and she had a huge crush on Cillian, if I remember correctly. She kind of faded into the background because Everett was such a snake and sucked up all the attention whenever he was around. When we were younger she had brown hair. She’s obviously dying it now. She also had Everett’s unfortunate nose, which she’s clearly had fixed. If I had to guess, those boobs are fake, too. I knew they were too perfect.”

“Yeah, I … don’t even know what to say to that.” Griffin was conflicted.

“I didn’t recognize her. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t understand,” Griffin admitted. “Is Andrea … er, Amber … even a police detective?”

“Yes. She went through the academy in Monroe County under her own name. Other than changing her name, all of her credentials appear legitimate.”

“Why would she come to Detroit?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “Maybe she didn’t have ulterior motives. Maybe there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for why she changed her name.”

“We both know that’s not likely,” Griffin said, patting his lap. “Come here.”

“I … are you going to yell at me now?”

“No.”

I crossed over to him, lowering myself so I could sit between his legs. He wrapped his arms around me and rested his head on my shoulder. I could practically hear his mind working.

“What are you thinking?” I asked.

“I’m thinking that Andrea purposely wanted to be paired with me because she wanted dirt on you.”

“I … how would that benefit her?”

“Andrea showed up after Genevieve Toth admitted that your mother survived the fire,” Griffin reminded me. “Maybe the Grimponds somehow got wind that we were closing in on something they’ve been trying to hide for ten years.”

“How?”

“The wraiths could have told them. Heck, Genevieve could’ve been closer to them than we realized. We might never know how they figured out what we were doing. I think Andrea’s appearance is a little too convenient.”

“Are you angry with me because I didn’t tell you what we were doing?”

“No. I know you didn’t want to upset me unless you had to.” Griffin smoothed my hair so he could kiss my cheek. “You didn’t run off and spy on our own. You had Redmond with you. I’m not angry. I’m just … baffled.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Right now I want to think about it,” Griffin replied. “We have knowledge on our side for a change. I don’t want to screw this up when we can use this to our benefit. We need to share this information with your father, too. He might have insight we don’t have.”

“You know he’ll want us to stay here again tonight, right? He’ll be worried about the gargoyles returning and he’ll want all of us under one roof.”

“I can live with that,” Griffin said, tickling my ribs. “I’m growing on him. He actually called me part of the family. He’s putty in my hands.”

I giggled and tried to escape from Griffin’s arms. He was too strong, and he wrestled me down and trapped me beneath him and mercilessly continued his tickle assault.

“It’s nice to hear you laugh,” he said. “You haven’t done that in days.”

“That’s starting to hurt,” I complained, my cheeks burning as I fought to catch my breath. “You’re going to be in big trouble if you’re not careful, mister.”

“Oh, I’m terrified,” Griffin teased. “I’m not going to let you up until you admit I’m the master of your universe.”

“No way.” I was laughing so hard tears pooled in the corner of my eyes. “Your ego is too big as it is.”

“Tell me I’m the master of your universe,” Griffin prodded, burying his face in the hollow of my neck to make growling noises and kiss the sensitive skin behind my ear. “Tell me.”

“Oh, this is exactly what I want to see when I walk into my office,” Dad grumbled, rounding the corner and stepping over us as though we weren’t even there. “There’s nothing a father wants more than to see his daughter and her boyfriend rolling around on the floor.”

“She can’t get up until she tells me I’m the master of her universe,” Griffin replied, unruffled.

“Oh, good luck with that, son,” Dad said. “You’ll find that women are always the masters of our universes. They have all the control, whether we want to admit it or not.”

“See,” I said. “I’m the master of your universe.”

“You’ve been the master of my universe since I met you,” Griffin conceded. “That doesn’t mean I’m letting you up until you bow down and tell me what I want to hear.”

“Yes, I just love watching a good bout of foreplay between my daughter and her boyfriend,” Dad muttered. “I still don’t understand how this happened. How did the handsy cop go from terrified to tyrant under my own roof?”

“You’re the one who told him he was part of the family,” I reminded him.

“I think I must be getting soft in my old age,” Dad said. “There can be no other explanation.”

“That must be it,” I agreed. “Ow! Griffin, let me up.”

“Not until you tell me what I want to hear,” Griffin pressed.

“Fine. You’re the master of my universe.”

“Good girl.”

“You’re also a big schmuck,” I muttered, screeching when Griffin started tickling me again.

“Seriously,” Dad complained. “How did my life come to this?”

Twenty-Eight

“Where is Barbara?” I asked, glancing around the dinner table an hour later. “Has she already bolted because we’re nuts?”

Dad rolled his eyes. “Barbara is checking on files at the main office,” he replied. “I invited her to dinner, but I think the promise of another fight is too much for her to bear. On top of that … well … I think she wants to give us time to deal with the idea of your mother being alive.”

“That’s nice of her,” I said. “She probably just doesn’t want to date a married man.”

“Eat your dinner, Aisling,” Dad ordered, agitated. “Just so there are no misunderstandings right now, my relationship with Barbara is not up for discussion. Not now. We have other things to deal with before that even becomes a consideration.”

“That’s probably smart,” Jerry said. “No one wants to broach the subject of you becoming a polygamist.”

Dad opened his mouth to respond and then snapped it shut while everyone dished dinner out onto their plates. After a few moments of silence, Dad decided to change the subject.

“Do you guys want to tell me what you were working on up in the east parlor today?” he asked, not wasting time once his dinner plate was full.

“How did you even know we were up there?” Redmond asked.

“I have five children. I know when three of you are hiding and doing something hinky.”

“Hinky? When did we enter an episode of
Scooby-Doo
?” I asked.

“You’re on thin ice as it is,” Dad warned. “After having to watch you and Griffin roll around on my office floor, I’m seriously considering locking him in the dungeon.”

“That sounds like it could be kinky instead of hinky, Bug,” Jerry said. “You might want to consider letting him do it.”

I snorted. “He’s exaggerating. No one was … rolling around.”

“Yes, I must have imagined all the squealing and giggling,” Dad deadpanned.

“Well, I’m glad that Aisling is having a good time,” Braden snapped. “I guess that means all the lying was worth it, huh?”

“Shut up, Braden,” Dad countered. “That was the first time I’ve heard your sister laugh – I mean really laugh – in weeks. It was a nice change of pace, despite the kissing that accompanied it. We’re not talking about Aisling right now – well, not completely. I want to know what Cillian, Redmond and Aisling were doing in the east wing.”

“We’re not hiding anything,” Redmond explained. “We … found something and we needed to conduct some research before we told everyone.”

“Well, we’re all here now,” Dad said.

“We went to the spot where the apartment building used to stand, but it wasn’t there any longer and there was nothing there for us to discover,” Redmond said. “Griffin mentioned that there was a file room where old reports go to die, and he thought there was a chance that maybe the missing portion of Mom’s file was there. We went to the precinct with him.”

Dad narrowed his eyes as he glanced at Griffin. “Is that what you were looking at in my office before you started groping my daughter?”

“I would argue about the groping but … well … there was a little groping,” Griffin conceded, smirking as Dad’s expression darkened. “Yes. I haven’t found anything yet. I’m not going to lie. I don’t like it. No matter what television or movies say, files don’t just go missing. Someone had to take the parts of that file that are missing. There’s no other reason to leave the rest of the file behind except to cover tracks.”

“Maybe it was Andrea,” Cillian suggested.

Braden furrowed his brow. “Who is Andrea?”

“My partner,” Griffin replied.

“Is she the woman you’re convinced has the hots for Griffin, Bug?” Jerry asked. “You said she had fake boobs and you wanted to pop them.”

“Thank you, Jerry,” I muttered.

Griffin slung an arm over my shoulders. “I’m starting to get the feeling that you were a little more worried about Andrea than you let on.”

“I wasn’t worried,” I clarified. “I was … observant. I watched her because I knew she up to something.”

“She was trying to steal your man,” Jerry interjected. “Did you beat her up?”

I had the distinct impression this conversation was starting to get away from me. “Just to be clear, I wasn’t jealous.”

“Of course not,” Jerry said, clucking sympathetically. “She’s evil. We get that. Tell us what evil thing she did to you so we can start planning our retribution.”

“I’m still confused about what Griffin’s partner has to do with this,” Braden said. “Other than stealing Aisling’s man, which she quite frankly deserves, so I’m rooting for the partner, what has this woman done that’s so wrong?”

“You’re rooting for her to steal my man?” All the sympathy I’d been storing up for Braden whooshed away in the wake of one mean sentence. “Seriously?”

“Is it wrong that I’m thrilled to be discussed like property?” Griffin asked. “It makes me all tingly.”

“I’m pretty sure you were perfectly happy with that feeling on Cormack’s office floor,” Jerry shot back.

Griffin scowled. “That’s not what we were doing!”

“Braden, stop poking your sister,” Dad said.

“Oh, good, now the conversation has gone to an even creepier place,” Cillian said. “I didn’t think it was possible. I was wrong.”

Dad was confused. “What?”

“You told Braden to stop poking his sister,” I explained. “That could have a … sexual connotation.”

“You’re all sick,” Dad muttered. “Every single one of you has a filthy mind.”

“That’s why they’re so entertaining,” Jerry said.

Dad frowned. “Jerry, eat your dinner.” He turned back to Redmond. “Can we get back to the part of the story I care about? As much as I love Aisling, I’m not particularly worried about Griffin cheating on her. I don’t care what this other woman does, she’s no match for Aisling on that front.”

“Oh, you say the sweetest things, Dad,” I teased.

Dad ignored me. “What’s the issue with Griffin’s partner?”

“Well, Aisling and I ran into her when we were at the precinct, and they stopped just short of clawing each other’s eyes out,” Redmond said. “Honestly, I half expected them to get into a soap opera slap fight.”

“I don’t slap,” I countered. “I punch. Just ask Braden.”