Free Flourless to Stop Him by Nancy J. Parra Page A

prestigious litigation firms in New York City,” Brad said as he stepped into the parlor. “I hope you don’t mind, but the door was literally wide-open.”
    “Oh, hello.” Mindy raised her shoulders and dipped her head to look up at Brad with wide eyes. I knew that look. Mindy could get any man she wanted. It was second nature to her. I really wished I had at least combed my hair and that my stomach weren’t making that obvious grumble sound.
    “Thanks for coming so quickly.” Tim stood and the men shook hands. “This is crazy. Emry’s power hungry.”
    “Mindy says this warrant is weak.” I handed Brad the papers.
    “Are you going to introduce us?” Mindy asked, her eyebrows raised.
    “Oh, right, sorry,” I said. “Mindy McCree, this is Brad Ridgeway, our family attorney. Brad, this is my cousin Mindy.”
    “So nice to meet you,” Mindy said and flashed her perfect teeth. “You’ve heard of my employers?”
    “Sure.” Brad gave a short nod and turned his attention to the warrant. “My law school had a class on their win/loss rate and some of your more well-known cases.”
    “Well, not my cases, exactly.” Mindy touched her chest with her fingers. “I’m only a paralegal, but the firm has been in business for nearly a hundred years and has brought in some of the finest legal minds in the nation.”
    “You must be very busy at work,” I said. “Plus, didn’t Grandma say you had a serious new boyfriend? How did you find time to take off for this visit?”
    Mindy flinched. “We broke up last week. I’d banked quite a bit of vacation. I had to use it or lose it.” She shrugged. “That’s what happens when you work in a busy environment for nearly ten years.”
    “Wow, ten years,” I said. “Has it really been that long?”
    Mindy nodded.
    “You’re right about this warrant being weak,” Brad interrupted and glanced at Tim and I. “This was signed by Judge Loblow. He golfs with the county prosecutor. They’re both up for reelection next fall.”
    “What does that have to do with the warrant?”
    “Capturing a murderer would go a long way toward wining votes.”
    “Politics stinks,” Tim grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets and hunching his shoulders. “I wouldn’t have even come to crash here if the cops hadn’t hounded me out of my own apartment.”
    “The warrant restricts their search to only the open areas,” Brad said. “Unless you gave them permission to look through drawers, etc.”
    I frowned. “I didn’t exactly give them permission.”
    A crash came from the dining room.
    “I’ll take care of this.” Brad hustled toward the sound. Today he had on a pair of dark blue jeans, a white dress shirt, and a dark brown suit coat. His feet were encased in leather cowboy boots. His blond hair was combed back and curled by his ears.
    “Wow, cuz, you didn’t tell me you had a hottie for alawyer.” Mindy stuck her head out of the parlor to watch Brad walk away. “Is he married?”
    “No,” I said. “But he did mention something about a New Year’s Eve date.”
    “We have a couple of weeks until then.” Mindy rubbed her hands together. “All’s fair in love and war.”
    “Exactly,” said Tim. “This thing with Emry is war as far as I’m concerned. Officer Bright, too. Come to think of it, Dan Kelly the prosecutor, is helping harass me. I call an all-out war on them all.”
    “Come on, it’s not that bad,” I said. Another crash came from the dining room. “Okay, is that Grandma’s china? Because a warrant does not give them permission to break things.”
    I took off like a shot and hit the dining room with a full head of steam. “For goodness’ sake, what are you doing? Breaking all the plates?” I asked as I rounded onto the picture of Officer Emry digging around the glass china cabinet my great grandmother had left to my father who had left it to my mother who had left it to me.
    “He claims the door was left open.” Brad had crossed his arms