Zane snorted as he read them.
He glanced up when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Ty was striding across the great hall, Amelia riding on his shoulders and gripping his hair like the reins of a horse. He had Amelia’s favorite stuffed animal stuck in the back pocket of his jeans.
Zane lowered the iPad and notebook, relaxing his shoulders and watching his lover. Ty would take a few steps, then stop and weave to the side, then stop again, making a sound like brakes screeching, and then he’d veer in another direction. Zane realized that he was letting Amelia steer him by pulling on his hair.
They were never going to get wherever Ty was heading if they kept on like that. Zane gathered his things and stood, coming up beside them and putting a roadblock in their path.
“Uh oh!” Ty said to Amelia. “Brake!”
Amelia was laughing, her tiny fingers clutched in his hair.
“Brake!” Ty called out again.
She leaned forward instead, and Ty walked into Zane, making the sound of a nasty crash when they collided. Amelia howled with laughter and crawled over Ty’s head, sliding into Zane’s arms. Ty gave Zane a quick kiss, still grinning.
“How’d you wind up with this?” Zane asked, tossing Amelia up and turning her upside down to hold her by her feet. She squealed in delight.
“I don’t know. I’m easily duped, I guess.” Ty took her back from Zane, turning her right side up. “The nanny isn’t doing too well with finding that body; she’s MIA. I took Amelia so they could have an hour to get stuff done.”
“Makes sense. Poor girl. You missed breakfast, by the way.”
Ty grinned. “Was there venison involved?”
“Actually, yeah.”
“Gross. Are those Nick’s notes?”
Zane nodded. “I’m still trying to make sense of them without asking him what they mean.”
“Where is he?”
“Probably curled up in a corner hissing at people as they pass by.”
Ty’s laugh was a surprised one. “Bad mood, huh?”
“Very. Last I saw him, he was still in the kitchen cleaning up.”
“Let’s go find him. I want to sit down and hear what we all know, see if we can connect some dots.” Ty headed off, carrying Amelia under his arm like a sack of potatoes. Her giggles echoed off the ceiling of the great hall.
Zane hurried to catch up. “Wait, Ty, you want to do that with her with us?”
“She’s a year old. She won’t understand death and destruction for at least another year.”
“If we ever decide to adopt, you’re a mute in any interviews.”
“Understood.”
They found Nick and Kelly outside, sitting on the patio with Emma and Marley. Kelly had a stick in his hand, and he seemed to be drawing things in the dusty brick. Nick had his sunglasses on even though the day was overcast, and he was sipping from a glass that Zane doubted was tea. Emma and Marley were talking animatedly, but Zane couldn’t tell if either Nick or Kelly was listening, much less responding.
Emma glanced up when she noticed Ty and Zane there, and her face transformed into a bright smile. “My baby!” she cried, and she held her hands out for Amelia.
“No!” Amelia shouted, clinging to Ty’s shirt.
“What did you bribe her with?” Emma asked him.
“Unicorns and rainbows and fun,” Ty said with a grin. “What are you guys doing?”
“We were pregaming the next murder,” Nick said before taking a sip of his drink. Emma and Marley both raised their own glasses and drank with him.
Kelly glanced up. “I over-drugged him last night. He may be a little cranky.”
“A little,” Emma agreed, snorting.
Nick lowered his sunglasses, squinting at Zane. He looked like he was completely done with everything on this island. “Any new leads?”
“That’s why we came out here, actually. It’s time for all of us to sit down and figure out what we know.” He pointed at Emma and Marley. “You too.”
Nick gave that a curt nod. He pushed his sunglasses back up and hefted himself out of his chair. Amelia immediately lunged for him and grabbed his sunglasses. Nick held on to them, and after the ensuing tug of war he somehow wound up with Amelia in his arms, wearing his sunglasses on her little round face.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” he asked.
“Do what it says, no one gets hurt,” Ty said, putting her lamb on top of Nick’s head before going to retrieve more chairs.
“Ty, you know I don’t do well with kids!”
Kelly stood to take Amelia from him, but the little girl clung to him just as she had to Ty. Nick rolled his eyes and sat back down with her.