Tio lit up and stood.
“Where are you going, T?” Jules asked.
“To get a ruler.”
Jules stepped out of his way, and Tio rushed out of the kitchen. Ty immediately started eating the precisely cut squares on Tio’s plate instead.
“Going back to the whole he-picked-the-lock thing,” Grace said evenly—at least as evenly as she could manage.
With an apologetic, yet still amused look, Jules explained. “It’s Hugh’s thing.”
“His ‘thing’ or not, he shouldn’t be using it to get into your house.” It didn’t sound like Theo thought the situation was as funny.
As much as it surprised her to be allies with the perpetually cranky cop, Grace had to agree. “I second that.”
“I’ll talk to him,” Theo promised grimly. “I’m sure he’s going to pop up at the station or on scene in the middle of a call. That’s his ‘thing’ now, too.”
Laughing, Jules patted Theo on the chest, not looking at all intimidated by his threatening tone. “Don’t come down too hard on him. I think he’s just bored. He misses protecting people, especially you and Otto.”
“You’re awfully sympathetic to someone who just broke into your house,” Grace grumbled, poking at her French toast. Once he’d settled in to watch the show, Hugh hadn’t bugged her too much. In fact, she’d been a little disappointed when he and Lexi had left after Tattered Hearts was over. Sitting with him so close had been especially nice, in a confusing way. She hadn’t totally forgiven him for reducing her to a state of helpless fear before she’d realized who’d broken into the house, though.
With a shrug, Jules leaned in to Theo, which seemed to make him immediately less cranky. “What can I say? I’m still grateful for him getting those Rough Rider handcuffs off me.”
“Rough Rider handcuffs?” Grace repeated, but Jules and Theo had locked eyes and were oblivious to everyone else in the room, even when Tio—ruler in hand—squeezed past them on his way back to the table. Theo was stroking Jules’s wrists with his thumbs, and he lifted her hands one at a time to lay a gentle kiss where Grace had to imagine the Rough Rider handcuffs had sat.
Even after a mere eight days in the house, Grace knew it was no use talking to either Theo or Jules when they were in lovey-dovey land, so she turned to make a face at the kids. Dee giggled, Ty pretended to retch, Tio concentrated on measuring French toast, and Sam gave her the tiniest smile—which made Grace want to throw her arms up in victory. It had taken more than a week and an extended game of footer, but the kid might actually be warming up to her.
As she ate a bite of cantaloupe, she felt a tiny spark of… Was it happiness? Maybe her stay in Monroe wouldn’t be the utter hell-sentence she’d expected. Then she remembered the possible kennel job, and her hint of a smile disappeared.
No. It was an utter hell-sentence. One that would most likely contain dog poo.
Chapter 7
There was a Grace Robinson in Bangor, Maine. Apparently, she had a little shoplifting problem.
“Got you,” Hugh muttered, clicking on the link to bring up the first of several mug shots. He leaned forward as the computer hesitated, humming as it uploaded the picture. When the photo appeared on the screen, however, he slumped back. This Ms. Robinson was at least forty-five years older than his Grace. Wait. His Grace?
He pushed the thought out of his head.
Instead, he ran another check, but there were no other Grace Robinsons in Bangor—at least, none that had any reason to be listed in the police database. He widened his search to include the whole county. Except for the sticky-fingered senior citizen, he had no other hits.
Lexi shifted next to him, resting her head right above his knee. He gave her a quick rub behind her ears and then tried a few different search combinations. When Hugh’s focus stayed on the computer screen, Lexi started to whine.
“I know, Lex.” He gave the dog a sympathetic glance, aware that she was as bored as he was with their enforced inactivity. “Maybe we can go give Otto a hand at one of his calls later. It’s possible that someone will run when they see us, and then you can catch them. That would be fun, right?”
Lexi sat up straight, already vibrating with anticipation from her pricked ears to her thumping tail.
“No.”
Hugh jerked in surprise at Otto’s voice, and then braced himself as a wave of agony bolted through his thigh at the sudden movement. “Hey, Otto.” Although he tried to sound casual, Hugh knew he was breathless from the pain. “What’s up? Lexi and I were just discussing you. About how you’re our favorite cop pretty much in the history of the universe.”