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“What do you want?” Charlotte asked.

“Take Bruce and Marlene.” She pointed to the dogs.

“What?” Charlotte stood.

“You heard me. That’s the deal. My nephew, Bradley, said he’d take care of them, but he will have those dogs at the pound the second I blow my last breath.”

“He seemed nice enough,” Charlotte said.

“Oh, they’re all nice when the rich, childless aunt is on her deathbed. You want the locket? The dogs go with it.”

“Fine,” Finn agreed. He could take them to a shelter just as easily as nephew Bradley. He looked at Bruce, who was gnawing on his stupid sweater. At least the dog had the good sense to be embarrassed by the ridiculous outfit.

Fern looked at each of them for a long moment, then nodded toward the dresser. “Top drawer has a false back. The necklace is behind it. Take it and go. I’ll keep the dogs for now, but don’t forget your obligation.”

Finn crossed to the dresser and extracted the locket from its hiding place. When he turned back to the bed, Fern had closed her eyes. “I never understood it. I had so much more than she had, but she was always the happy one. I had the fancier car, the bigger house, but it’s impossible to win a contest when the other person isn’t playing your game.”

Charlotte came to Finn and led him by the hand out of the room.

After waving goodbye to Fern’s nephew, who thankfully was occupied with the tardy nurse, Finn and Charlotte stood on the walk in front of the house.

Finn leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “That was some impressive detective work.”

She lifted a finger. “Elementary, my dear McIntyre.”

God, this woman. Finn took her hand and dragged her toward the car.

“Finn?”

“Yeah?”

“What Fern said back there? About winning and losing? That’s just like what Samir Vogel said to me when I won HackAttack.” Charlotte stepped closer.

“When?”

“At the award ceremony, right after we took the pictures, Samir got in my face and said, ‘You don’t get to win playing by your own set of rules. You’ll see.’” She shuddered. “It scared me a little.”

“You wanted to leave right after the photos. I thought you wanted to be alone with me.” Finn wrapped his arms around her.

“Well, that too.” Charlotte mirrored his movement.

His hands wandered down her body. “Let’s head back. I think you need a nap.”

“Only if you’ll lie down with me.” She pressed her body against him. “And there’s no sleeping involved.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Finn kissed her, twined their fingers, and walked her to the pickup.


Tags: Debbie Baldwin Bishop Security Mystery