Page 86 of Cross & Crown

wasn’t the type you paraded into a police department without

expecting trouble—and probably the CIA—to follow close

behind.

“I thought you were some sort of camp counselor,” Julian

finally said to Kelly. “Work with troubled kids and all that.”

Kelly pursed his lips. “Yeah. It’s called Camp Asskicker.

I’ll give you a ‘you tried’ badge next time I see you.”

Julian snorted and actually smiled before meeting Nick’s

eyes in the mirror. “The handcuffs aren’t really necessary,

Detective.”

“Humor me,” Nick said. “You’re lucky you’re not in a cell.

Why are you in Boston? Who’s your mark?”

“I don’t have a mark. I’m retired, didn’t Grady tell you?”

“Seeing is believing, babe. And I’ve seen you at not one

but two crime scenes in the past two days. So I’ll ask you

again, why are you in Boston?”

Julian sighed, and his eyes darted to JD. “I’d rather speak

in private, if it’s all the same to you.”

“Fine,” Nick growled.

87

They pulled into the marina parking lot and Nick swiped

his security card to open the gates. He could feel the tension

pouring off everyone in the car, including himself. It was days like this he sort of wished he’d pulled anchor on his yacht and just sailed into the Atlantic when he’d gotten home.

They got several double takes and glares from Nick’s

neighbors as he led Julian, still handcuffed, toward his boat

slip. TheFiddler’s Greenwas the largest vessel in the marina, and it sat on the very end of the very last dock. They had to

walk past basically every other boat in the marina. Nick didn’t care, though. Whenever any of these fuckers had a problem,

they came to Detective O’Flaherty to fix it. They could

deal with dangerous international criminals being led by in

handcuffs every couple of years.