Page 114 of Lawbreaker

He laughed as he put the phone away. He shook his head. “I guess we’d better start thinking about what we’d like so we can keep your father away from the birth certificate.”

“Good thought,” she agreed.

He pulled her close with a long sigh and they went back to sleep.

Tony had one last secret that he’d been keeping. But late one afternoon after Mrs. Murdock had gone shopping and Ben was working with his men, Odalie heard the opening strains of Puccini’s “Nessun dorma” from the operaTurandot.

It was coming from Tony’s study, where he kept his library of books and a desk. She walked toward it, entranced. The voice was pure honey, perfectly pitched, full of emotion. Beautiful. As the beautiful melody ended in its highest tone, and that was perfectly done as well, she pushed open the door and saw Tony as his voice lingered on that last, resounding tone.

Her mouth fell open. He grinned at her as he turned off the speaker. “You know my great-great-grandfather sang opera. But I didn’t tell you that I inherited his voice.”

“Wow,” she said, spellbound, as she went into his arms. “You are incredibly talented! Why didn’t you ever tell me?!”

“A man has to have a few secrets.” He bent and kissed her tenderly. “So now we can sing duets in the shower,” he whispered.

She laughed and kissed his chin. “I’ll love that. So will the baby,” she added gently. “We can sing lullabies to him.”

“You said him!” he accused.

“Her,” she corrected. Her eyes twinkled. “There’s one set of twins on Mama’s side of the family.”

“My great-grandfather and his brother were twins,” he said. “Do you think...?” His smile was radiant.

“We’ll have to wait and see. But wouldn’t it be awesome?” she exclaimed.

He kissed her hungrily. “Awesome,” he whispered, and kissed her again.

Several weeks later, Tony and Odalie were having dessert and coffee at Tony’s cousin’s restaurant when Dane Hunter walked in.

He ordered cappuccino and joined them at their table.

“It’s been an age,” Tony chuckled, shaking hands.

“At least!” He smiled at Odalie. “And I believe double congratulations are in order?”

“Exactly,” she said with a grin. “We’re on the way to becoming parents!”

“Any word on what’s happened over at Justice?” Tony asked.

“Just that Phillip James is trying every trick in the book to keep off the investigations roster.”

“Is he having any luck?”

Hunter grinned. “Not so far.”

“Good.” He pursed his lips. “Any news on Agent Peters?”

Hunter stirred his cappuccino. “Now, how would I know about that?” he asked innocently.

“Just a wild thought. You do work for the US Marshal’s office. Although I sincerely hope he’ll be willing to testify when James finally has to answer for Iraq.”

“I have no knowledge,” Hunter said. “However, I might be willing to bet that he will. If I were a betting man.”

“How’s your phone?”

Odalie glanced curiously from one to the other.

“Government salaries aren’t what they should be,” Hunter said sadly. He pulled out his phone with the battered case and the still-cracked screen.