Free Cross & Crown by Abigail Roux Page A

think he’d know?”
    “Hell no. Ty spits nails when you mention Cross’s name. He says Cross stole his kitties.”
    “That’s what I figured,” Nick said with a sigh. “That’s why I called you.”
    “Is it?” Zane asked pointedly.
    Kelly tensed and couldn’t stop himself from glancing toward the framed photo of their team, Ty’s arm around Nick’s shoulders as they smiled. The state of Nick and Ty’s fracturing friendship was a topic only the bravest of men would touch on. Zane had balls of brass to do it.
    Kelly cleared his throat and leaned closer to the phone. “We figured with your Bureau contacts, you’d be the better source. Since Ty is all… wild card now.”
    “Right,” Zane said wryly.
    “You got a lead on Cross, or no?” Nick asked, his words more clipped than they had been.
    “No. Want me to put out some feelers? Or get Ty on it? Please God, let me put Ty on it, he needs something to do besides remodeling that damn building.”
    “No. Fuck no. I don’t want Cross to know I’m coming.”
    “If you’re looking for him, he already knows.”
    “Right. Hey, thanks Garrett. We’ll talk to you later.” Nick ended the call and slammed his hand onto the desk. “Damn it!”
    “That mean Cross is a dead end?” Kelly asked gently.
    “For now. Next thread.” Nick tapped the evidence photos of the books that had been recovered at the scene. “We follow your books.”
    “My books? No. No, you’re not pinning those on me for when they go bust.” Nick smirked. Kelly snorted. “You’re enjoying this too much.”
    “Come on, babe, it’s a treasure hunt,” Nick teased.
    “You
hope
it’s a treasure hunt, or you’re going to look stupid.”
    “You’re the special consultant.”
    “You’re the detective who called in the special consultant.”
    Nick glanced over Kelly’s shoulder, then stood and stole a quick kiss. “Come on. Let’s get some lunch before Hagan gets back and I have to buy his food.”
    They didn’t even make it to the stairs before Hagan caught them trying to sneak out. “Fuck no, I get to interrogate the boyfriend, damn you,” Hagan called to them. He grabbed his coat off his chair, making it spin around and bang into the desk.
    They stopped to wait for him. Nick was chuckling softly.
    “I like your partner,” Kelly said quietly.
    “Yeah, don’t tell him that though.”
    Kelly nodded, but Nick’s eyes were straying to the break room, where the uniformed officer was still standing guard. Kelly’s brow furrowed as he thought about JD sitting in there alone, his mind turning over everything he couldn’t remember. He knew Nick was thinking the same thing.
    “Hey,” he murmured. “Is it legal and shit to take your witness with us? Maybe new surroundings will get him remembering faster.”
    Nick chewed on his bottom lip, frowning, his eyes lingering on the break room door. He took a deep breath and then sighed before heading over there.
    Hagan was fighting with his coat when he joined Kelly. “He bringing the stray to lunch?”
    “Did you expect anything less from him?” Kelly asked fondly.
    Hagan grunted. “You should see the last stray he convinced me to keep around. Teeny tiny little puppy he found in a storm drain, half-dead and starving in the middle of the night. All the local shelters were closed up so we had to take it in for the night. Bastard told me he couldn’t have it on his boat ’cause it’d fall off and drown. Fucking thing was too weak to walk and he convinced me it’d take a header off the side of a boat!”
    Kelly couldn’t stop his grin.
    Hagan appeared almost sheepish. “I still got that damn mutt. Weighs a hundred pounds. Best friend I ever had.”
    Kelly laughed. “Well he can’t keep this stray either. You have room for an amnesiac with great bone structure?”
    “Not if he pisses on the carpet like the last one,” Hagan grumbled as he headed for the elevators.

    They sat at a booth in a local pub near the precinct house