Hearts and Aces (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 7) by Kaylie Hunter (dar e dil novel online reading txt) 📕

three o’clock rope pulling contest too.” Wild Card pulled a beer from one of the coolers. “It should be quick. We’ll take at least third place.”

I raised an eyebrow. “How do you figure?”

“Rules say the winner is the last group holding the rope. Doesn’t say anything about wearing fireman’s gear and lighting the rope on fire. Since the competition is single elimination, that means after one bout there’ll be three winning teams and three losing teams. Thus, we take third place if we lose the next two.”

“If my husband asks, I knew nothing about this,” Lisa said, sitting in the yard chair next to me. “But just so you know, there’s extra lighter fluid in our garage.”

“Uh, I might need to steal some of that,” I said. “I have some bags that need to be burned.”

“I can take care of it,” Nightcrawler said, dumping an empty beer bottle into a box and pulling a new one.

“No need,” Tyler said, taking Nightcrawler’s beer from him. “I lit the burn barrel during the race. We’re all set.”

“We really do need to clone you, Tyler,” I said. “You did good tonight.”

“Right back at you, boss,” Tyler said, clinking my beer bottle.

“Am I the only one who doesn’t know what you guys are talking about?” Katie asked.

“Consider yourself lucky,” I said, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

“Aunt Kelsey?” Sara said, giggling. “Remember that guy who called you misfits?”

“Yeah,” I said, opening my eyes and looking over at Sara. She was watching her laptop.

Tech moved behind her, looking over her shoulder at her computer. “Casey’s beating the crap out of him in the parking lot at Headquarters.”

I grinned, pulling my phone. “Tyler, let security know that Casey’s been invited back for a beer.”

As Tyler jogged off, I texted Casey and extended the invite. Twenty minutes later, Donovan, Bones, and Casey walked across the highway and joined us for drinks. All three of them were slapping mosquitoes away. We all looked at Katie.

“I’ll get a fresh bucket of soapy water,” she said as she jogged into the garage, giggling.

My attention turned to the end of the street. Six cop cars drove down the street with their lights on and parked alongside the road. I glanced over at Bridget.

“I swear,” Bridget said, not turning her attention away from the cops as she talked to me. “That storage room is so spotless, I’d willingly lick the walls.”

“We used a sprayer to soak the walls, ceiling, and floor in bleach. They won’t find any DNA,” Tyler said.

“Then we washed everything in Lysol so it didn’t smell bleachy,” Bridget added. “But then it smelled like Lysol, so we washed it again with dish soap. Just smells clean now, but not too clean.”

“I think you're getting the point,” Tyler said. “Bridget went overboard again.”

“This time, I’m grateful,” I said, standing and drawing the attention of the officers who were gathering. “What can we do for the police officers of Kalamazoo this evening?”

“Sorry to bother you, Kelsey,” Steve said. “We got an anonymous tip that there were bodies in the basement of Alex’s house. I’m afraid we need to check it out.”

“Bodies?” I laughed, looking at Wild Card who laughed with me. “How odd someone would call and say we had bodies in the basement. I’ll be glad to open the house and allow you access.”

“You sit and rest,” Wild Card said to me. “She hasn’t been feeling well,” he explained to the group of cops. “Donovan and I can let you inside to look around.”

They shuffled as a group across the front yards toward Alex’s house.

“They’re not going to find any bodies, are they?” Dave asked as he and Steve walked over alone.

“Nope,” I said, leaning my head back and closing my eyes again.

~*~*~

I woke with a start, sitting up to find myself fully clothed in bed. I looked at the clock, discovering it was almost five in the morning. I couldn’t remember anything past sitting in the lawn chair on the trailer the night before.

I heard someone stir and turned to find Wild Card sleeping on the other side of the bed. He was fully dressed, including his running shoes. I slid out of bed and into the bathroom, shutting the door before I turned on the light. Making quick work of a shower, I grinned when I stepped out and saw a cup of coffee sitting next to the sink. Wrapped in my robe, I walked into the bedroom with my coffee to an empty room. I dressed in jeans, a tailored button-up blouse, and my favorite pair of boots. I checked my gun and secured it in a belt harness. Grabbing my coffee and phone, I walked out to the dining room, surprised to find Tech already up.

“First text messages went out to the bakery employees. So far, eleven of the fourteen have read the text.”

“Who’s next? The mill employees?”

Tech nodded, not taking his eyes off his computer. Wild Card set a cup of cocoa next to Tech, before sitting beside me.

“Why are you up so early?” I asked Tech. “I thought you had the messages programmed to go out automatically.”

“They are automatic, but you weren’t the only one who went to bed early last night. Most of us drank a beer or two before calling it a night. I think I was asleep before ten, which means I woke up before dawn.”

“A good night’s sleep works in our favor,” Wild Card said.

“How so?”

“Scavenger hunt this morning. Half the guys at Headquarters will be hung over.”

I laughed, sipping my coffee.

The garage door opened and Tyler walked in, stopping to look at me. “What’s your mood like this morning?”

I grinned at Tyler. “I’m good. It’s safe to let Tweedle inside.”

Tyler smirked, stepping back to