31. Thousand-Piece Puzzle

Riggs

It was Tuesday, early evening, and Ledger was out somewhere in the woods, showing Gia the lay of the land.

Riggs and Nadia were in the kitchen, making dinner.

And he hadn't asked her, but he knew they were both riding the wave of three days where no irritating shit went down.

On Sunday, after they fucked, cooked breakfast and ate it, they went out into the cold and threatening wet to start looking around her cabin for evidence of trespassers.

They didn't find anything, and Riggs marked trees so they wouldn't waste time going over old ground.

Considering their convo about Angelica the day before, he and Nadia made a deal, so he alone headed back to his place around the time Kirk was returning Ledger from his sleepover.

So it wouldn't be all Nadia all the time, he took his son out on the boat for some bud time, but they had to go in when it started raining. They hung out in front of the TV, until Riggs got a call mid-afternoon from his mom asking them over for dinner.

He called Nadia and had a chat with her about whether she should come or not, since his mom invited her, with Riggs pushing for her to come. She'd be moving back to the cabin the next day, and although they had plenty of time during the day while Ledge was at school to connect, he'd lose her beside him in his bed at night, and he wasn't looking forward to that, for more than one reason.

She wasn't sure, but she caved, walked over, and as was his way, Ledger showed how excited he was to see her the second he saw her.

At that, Riggs had raised his brows to her, because she was the one who suggested she back off and give the Riggs men some time. In response, she had rolled her eyes.

And they went to his mom's.

Monday, they met Hutch at the cabin so they could accept delivery of Gia, and Hutch took that opportunity to do some more training.

This meant Riggs got to see how hopeless those two females were with that.

They had "sit," "down," "stay," "close," "here" and "heel" all set.

But they sucked at anything that started with "go," seeing as going meant Gia couldn't be with Nadia, and being highly trained, Riggs figured part of that was because Nadia wasn't committed to the command because she didn't want her dog to go.

So "go inside," "go ahead," and "go out" were all a bust, though the canine did all of them for Hutch no hesitation, even if she was leaving Nadia standing beside Hutch.

In the afternoon, Riggs had to leave her to get Ledger from school, and they'd decided again to give his son a break from all Nadia all the time. This meant they spent last night without her, even if Ledger was dying to meet Gia. Riggs had told him they needed some time alone to get to know each other and for Gia to get the lay of the land.

The next morning, Ledger was done with waiting and asked in a way that was more like a demand to meet "their" new dog when he got home from school.

And Riggs was done with not having Nadia around.

His head wasn't fucked up about it anymore. He didn't have to consider how she was after Lucille spilled. The way she literally and then verbally took his back when Bubbles showed. Her hilarious fake chartering of a plane after Storm and him talked. How good her stout cake was. How good she was with Ledger. How much his mom liked her. How cool-headed and ice-cold she was with the two dumbasses who were screwing with her. How real she was about how she was dealing with her mother's death. How she hooked her thumb in his beltloop when they walked close. How mind-blowingly phenomenal she was in bed.

He was there. She didn't hide she was there.

But they had to have a talk about it, because she had a life to get back to it was clear she enjoyed, and a lot of people she'd leave behind. But he had a life in Misted Pines he couldn't leave because he had a son.

She needed to know where he was at, what he wanted for their future, that being them looking at getting serious about working on having one together, and she had to think on that, because if she was in, she was the one who'd be making the big sacrifices.

He didn't get into it with her that day.

Instead, he'd walked over in the morning, and they'd spent another hour looking for evidence of trespassers before he took her back to the cabin in order to fuck her.

They'd then gone to his workshop where she'd hung with him while he worked, scribbling in her journal, and she'd walked home to meet Hutch for more training about an hour before Riggs had to go get his son from school.

Which brought him to now.

The only thing of note beyond that was, he'd taken the time to draw out the quadrants before he'd sent them to Cade, Jess, and Jace. The latter two didn't fuck around and texted they were heading out within half an hour of getting his text. And Rus had also gotten in touch, saying he heard about the search, and he wanted to help out, so Riggs needed to send him details of his patch, which he did, along with his gratitude for helping out.

Riggs was pissed he had to spend time doing that shit.

But if their theory was correct, and it wasn't just asshole kids over the years getting bright ideas, instead, it was someone looking for something, and maybe that someone was a person who killed two and possibly three people already, he had his son and his woman on that land.

He needed to know what he was dealing with.

He heard the car pull up before Nadia did, but it didn't take much longer for her eyes to go to the front door, then come to him.

He shook his head, moved from where he was cutting potatoes into wedges to the sink to rinse his hands, and he took the kitchen towel with him as he dried them and walked to the front door.

Harry's cruiser was parked out front and Harry himself was headed up the walk.

Riggs pushed out the storm door and called, "Hey, brother."

"Hey, Doc. I'm not interrupting dinner, am I?"

"Nope. We're in the middle of making it."

"You got a few minutes to take a break for a quick brief?"

"Sure. But wanna stay longer and have dinner with us?" Riggs offered. "We got plenty."

Harry looked to the house and back at Riggs. "What are you having?"

"Homemade, pickle-brined fried chicken sandwiches, slaw and fried potato wedges."

No hesitation from Harry before, "I wanna stay."

Riggs grinned, jerked his head to the door and went in, Harry following him.

"Hi, Harry," Nadia called from where she was mixing slaw.

"Hey, Nadia," Harry replied.

"He's staying for dinner," Riggs told her.

"Excellent," she said. Then to Harry, she asked, "Off duty? Want a beer?"

"I'd murder a beer," Harry told her.

Her head twitched, she gave him a look, then she went to the fridge.

After she did, Riggs gave his friend his own look and kept doing it.

"Everything cool?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah, but on the other hand, it never really is," Harry answered.

No truer words spoken.

"Grab a stool," he bid. "Ledger's outside somewhere with Gia, so beware. He cottons on you're here, you could have a nine-year-old kid and ninety-pound dog that could rip off your arm all over you at any time."

The skin around his friend's eyes wrinkled, and he took a stool.

Nadia put an open bottle of beer in front of him.

Riggs tossed the towel aside and resumed cutting potatoes.

Harry took in Nadia wearing her apron, the beer she gave him, the potatoes, Riggs, and opened his mouth.

Riggs got there before him. "Fuck off."

He felt Nadia look at him, but Harry just hid his smile behind a drag off his beer.

"So what's up?" Riggs asked.

"Pertinent to you," Harry began, "Evan Pugh's parents want to know if you and Nadia are good with him coming out here accompanied by them so he can apologize formally for being an asshat."

Pugh was one of the boys who'd fucked with Nadia, the shorter one she landed her brand of ice on.

Riggs looked to Nadia.

She shrugged.

He turned again to Harry. "Not necessary, but if his parents think it is, we can work that out."

"Great. I'll tell them. Next up, Casey Grimes is dedicated to the task of remaining a douchebag. He's pissed I got his son in my cells and I'm not letting him go, and he's ticked about the fine levied. He told me to tell you that if you didn't drop charges against his kid, he's going to sue you in civil court for assault."

Bryce Grimes was the other kid, and the ringleader who, Harry found out after they dragged the kids to the station, did it on his own until he corralled Pugh into getting in on the act Saturday night.

And yeah.

His dad was an asshole. He made serious cake. Had some big job for a medical equipment company in Seattle, something everyone knew since he wouldn't shut up about the device he helped design that did something about heart attacks or angina or some shit. But he worked from home in Misted Pines because he saw himself as a mountain man. And as much as he could, he swung his dick and flashed his cash around MP.

He hunted, just sayin', and it wasn't a family tradition and not even close to a way of life.

"Maybe banged up a bit, but not a mark on either of them, Harry," Riggs reminded them.

"I know. And I impressed upon him visually, showing him the video you sent me, that you got Bryce dead to rights. He was on your patch uninvited, and you'd walk even if you shot him, which I also impressed on him he should be grateful didn't happen, because in these parts, that's a possibility. So it's highly likely he'll not only lose, but a judge will be so pissed he wasted his time, the judge will make him pay court fees and your attorney's fees. Since he's got money to burn, he doesn't care. He says you laid hands on his son, and he's just a kid, and that's not on."

"His kid is six foot, seventeen years old and was out here not knowing I was here, thinking he was fucking with a woman alone at three nineteen in the morning. He's a kid, but not a kid, and old enough to know better," Riggs returned. "Though, with a dad like his who isn't teaching him that lesson, I can figure out why he doesn't."

"I shared that too. He says it's the principle of it. And I think we can both agree that his principles and ours don't align."

Before Riggs could reply, Nadia piped up.

"I have money to burn too, and access to a team of lawyers, Harry. So you might want to share my maiden name with him, and tell him, if he doesn't back down, I'll suddenly have a case of post-traumatic stress, and be suffering flashbacks and mental trauma. Thus, if he doesn't want to be mired in litigation for the next ten years, whereupon, during that time, I might lay claim to a good deal more than the fine Fret County levies on trespassers, he might give significant consideration to fucking right off."

Harry's brows went up at Nadia, in her girlie fifties apron, delivering her words, before he busted out laughing.

But Riggs had turned his head to stare at her, because it was in that moment, unusually slow on the uptake, he realized the reason he wanted to work at building a future with her was because he was falling for her.

Jesus.

He thought if that shit ever happened, it would scare the fuck out of him.

But it didn't.

It felt great.

She caught his eyes. "Too much?"

"No, honey, you're never too much," he said quietly.

Her brows drew down at his tone, but to get them out of this moment, which unfortunately wasn't theirs alone, and still make it a moment, he bent to her and kissed her softly.

He returned his attention to Harry. "What she said."

Harry was looking at Riggs with such a satisfied expression on his face, Riggs's first instinct was to lean into one of the few things his father taught him, and like all the rest, it was no good. This was to say something in asshole to wipe that look off his friend's face and share he had a dick, don't mistake him for having feelings and being weak enough to show them.

Instead, he just held Harry's gaze steady, because he wasn't an asshole, he had feelings for Nadia and he was proud she returned them, and bonus, if Harry remembered how good Riggs had it, maybe Harry might find his way back to that too.

"Done with those two assclowns?" Riggs asked.

Harry shook it off and nodded.

Then he said, "Other piece of news. Bubbles came into the station yesterday. He suddenly remembered he didn't buy that wine in Sonoma, but instead he was given it by someone who told him to sell it as house red in order to get rid of it. He did the research on it, found how much it was worth, and didn't do as he was told, since he was hoping to sell it and make a lot more than seven bucks a glass on it. Somehow, word got back to who gave it to him, and they weren't thrilled he didn't do as he promised."

Riggs let out a slow breath.

Jesus.

Bubbles.

"This is where his shit gets hardcore, and arguably hilarious," Harry said.

Riggs felt his shoulders tense.

"What?" he asked.

"Apparently, there's some wise guy snitch the US Marshalls placed in WITSEC in Wenatchee. Obviously, he's supposed to keep his nose clean. Instead, he got bored, rounded up a local crew and started hitting decent-sized scores in two counties. One of them was the house of a county judge, which was supposed to be just shits and giggles for this guy. So as to be certain they didn't have anything lead back to them, they essentially dumped everything they took from him, including a case of wine that was clearly a big deal. My guess is, Bubbles has his suspicions of who he told he sold that wine to you, in other words, who ratted him out to a supposed-to-be-retired mafia guy. But there was only so far Bubbles was prepared to go, because he didn't tell me who that was. In the end, it was the big man himself with a couple of his crew who came to deliver the message he wasn't thrilled Bubbles didn't follow through with his orders."

Riggs had stopped moving while he listened to this, and he felt Nadia had done the same thing at his side.

Which was why Harry said, "I know. Only Bubbles could get messed up with an ex-mafioso in witness protection."

Yeah.

Only Bubbles.

But…

Mafia?

Harry kept going.

"So last night, the Chelan County Sheriff, along with the marshals, and a few FBI guys thrown in for fun, rounded up this crew, including the mafia witness, who's already testified. So now he's on his way back to Vegas, seeing as he broke the terms of his immunity agreement. Not to mention, he fucked with a judge, and they take that shit super fucking seriously."

"Mafia?" Riggs finally asked, feeling something strange in his throat.

Nadia shifted closer.

"If you're worried about Bubbles, brother, don't," Harry advised. "This guy has a lot of things he's gotta worry about, the least of which is figuring out who swung him out there. Primarily, staying alive now that he's back in a zone where they know where he is and can find ways to get to him. He survives that, he's gotta answer to the charges they scuttled to get him to testify, since he doesn't have immunity on them anymore and he has to deal with the shit he pulled up here, including fucking with a judge. He's gonna see prison time, so then he has to survive prison as a snitch, and a snitch who snitched on the mafia, and his odds are not good on that."

When Riggs said nothing after Harry quit talking, he started again.

"No one knows Bubbles talked, Doc. One thing Bubbles has a good reputation for is not being a rat, even if he just became one. Even so, they delivered a pretty unmistakable message to him, so they probably won't consider him the prime suspect of who leaked. The brainiac who trusted Bubbles with that wine, one of the names Bubbles did give us, was the weak link in that crew, and we know that because he dropped the dime on every member of his team practically before we could say boo to the guy."

Riggs knew Harry saw he remained unconvinced, because Harry kept going.

"This WITSEC guy doesn't have a lot of friends anymore, Doc, seeing as he squealed on them and is probably going to be doing time alongside them, if he makes it that far. And if they knew it was Bubbles who put him there, they'd probably send him another case of that wine."

"You sure?" Riggs pushed.

"I'm never sure about how people who live those lives are gonna behave. But I'd pull in every marker I had to get Bubbles safe if I thought there was a credible threat," Harry replied. "The man makes a lot of bad choices I wish he wouldn't, but I don't want him at the bottom of one of our lakes."

"And you're sure you got that entire crew?" Riggs pressed.

"If it'll help you feel better, I'll let you watch the interrogation tape. Just to say, we had a clean pair of jail underwear available because it was dicey there for a while. This team was slick, but one of the members was this guy's brother, and he convinced the mastermind to take a chance on his baby bro. And the man even dropped the dime on his brother."

Riggs relaxed, because that shit was stone-cold wuss.

"Any word on other shit that's pending?" he asked as Harry took another pull of beer.

Harry's eyes flicked to Nadia, and he said, "Doesn't leave this room."

"Promise," Nadia replied immediately.

Riggs smiled, because serious as fuck, she was into this shit.

"Won't breathe a word," he told Harry something he already knew when it came to Riggs.

Harry nodded. "So, Wade had the great idea, since we're doing a quiet audit, not to make it quiet seeing as it's well-known Dern was shit at his job. And instead, let it out in a subtle way that we're just making sure all the I's are dotted and T's crossed because the new sheriff is thorough that way."

At that, Riggs grinned and shoved the potatoes in the waiting colander.

Harry kept going.

"Using that as cover, we can go over old ground with the Whitaker situation, which folks will think is safe, considering he confessed. So we've interviewed some of Roosevelt's old friends, and his assistant. Cade told you his theory?"

"Yes," Nadia said, again immediately.

Seriously into it.

Riggs chuckled and replied, "Yeah."

"Well, we can just say, not everyone in town will think we're just doing due diligence after a spell of incompetent law enforcement supervision."

Having finished the slaw, Nadia shoved the flour coating she was mixing aside, leaned into her forearms to get closer to Harry, and she asked, "Really?"

"Yeah," Harry answered. "No one said anything outright, but some were uncomfortable, others were cagey as fuck, though with all of them, it seemed they had something they wanted to say, they just didn't. The general consensus Rus and I have is that they don't think Lincoln did it. And there's a reason why, and not the normal one where your average person wouldn't blow holes in two people he loves then burn them to dust."

"So the brother-husbands theory holds weight," Nadia pushed.

"Didn't say that, but there's something they're not saying. It's something big, and everyone is dead that was involved. I don't think any of them know who did it. I do know, there's no reason not to talk about anything regarding that family now, so there aren't many reasons why you wouldn't. But one of them is loyalty, and in this matter, loyalty could take the form of not saying shit people might think is whacked and hurting the only thing those three got left, specifically the two brothers, considering their celebrity. That being their reputations."

"That makes sense," Nadia said.

"Any way you can press that?" Riggs asked.

Harry shook his head but said, "Rus and I both left the assistant wishing we didn't have to, in order to keep the cover of this being administrative bullshit. We're trying to figure out another way to come at her. She knows something more than the others. I can feel it."

"Like what someone might be looking for on my land?" Riggs pushed.

"Maybe, brother, I don't know," Harry replied. "She worked for Roosevelt for five years. Both Rus and I sensed she had feelings for him that went unreciprocated, but they're still there. She invited us inside, and to start, she's never been married, so the torch she holds might be lasting. She also has pictures of the two of them together, more than one, but not enough to make it skeevy. Still, my last boss was Dern, so obviously I don't have photos of the two of us decorating my living room. But I don't think that's the norm."

"I'd call my entire crew buds, and I don't think they have pictures of me either," Riggs said.

One side of Harry's mouth went up before he noted, "One thing that might free our hand is that detective in Seattle. Now that he knows we're sniffing around, he's after the powers that be to reopen the case. He does that, it'd give us an opening, which is good. The downside is, I made him promise if he gets the all-clear, he tells me. Not only so we can rip the lid off, but if whoever did this thinks they didn't get away with it, they may make some desperate moves. Especially if we're right and they're the ones who've been coming back to this land. They might go into overdrive to find whatever they're looking for."

Fantastic.

"You got my word, Doc, you'll know so you can take measures, and I can too, to make sure you're good," Harry promised.

Riggs jerked up his chin.

Harry huffed out a sudden laugh and kept going.

"And, brother, you gotta know, you've made Rus's year. Not like he isn't settling into the quiet life, seeing as he's got Cin and Maddy to go home to. But he's all over this case. In his element. I think Cin has had to call Delphine three times in the last week to send his ass home, and the woman works late at the club. And can't say Cade isn't a dog with a bone either."

"Saw the stack of papers he got through in four days," Riggs noted.

Harry lifted his chin and the corners of his mouth. "They're like kids with a thousand-piece puzzle. They're not gonna get up from the table until the last piece of that fucker is set in place."

"Don't pretend you wouldn't be right there if you didn't have shit like Pugh, Grimes and Bubbles to deal with," Riggs scoffed.

"I'm not," Harry returned. "Which means, I'm glad the Haunting of Weaver Cabin and the Mystery of the Missing Fancy Grape Juice is solved so I can get stuck in."

All three of them laughed at that.

While they were doing it, they heard Ledger come in the back, shouting, "When's dinner? I'm dying here!" He stopped when he came out of the back hall, then shouted, "Yo, Harry!"

The second mother and child reunion Riggs had witnessed earlier as pertains to Gia—this time with Ledger being the child—asserted itself right then, when she headed him off on his dash to Harry to the point, she nearly knocked Riggs's son over.

She then took position in front of him, barked ferociously three times at Harry and settled into a scary-as-all-fuck growl aimed his way.

"I think she works," Harry joked.

"Gia! Friend!" Nadia commanded in a voice she didn't use at all when Hutch was working with them.

Gia immediately relaxed her stance, whined, then, her tail wagging her body, she went to Harry, sniffed the hand he bent on his stool to keep low for her before she licked it.

Harry petted her head.

Ledger dropped on his knees beside her, declared, "She's so awesome," and hugged her full around her middle.

This confused Gia because she couldn't get Harry's scratches and lick her boy's face at the same time.

She didn't take much time to decide.

She twisted her neck and slobbered all over her boy's face.