"Who is?" Ethan said as he opened the door to her office.

"Doesn't anyone knock anymore? Damn. And none of your business."

"You must be talking about me then," he said smugly. Adria laughed.

"I think we need to pick this up later. How about I pick up lunch, and we eat in today?"

Anna glanced up at Ethan and saw the slight shake of his head. Damn he was going to press her to go see the sketch artist. "Umm..."

Ethan cut her off, while she tried to figure out how to respond. "Actually, I called dibs on lunch first thing this morning. But tomorrow she can be all yours."

"Oh, I see how I rate. Gotcha," Adria said but couldn't hold her straight face. "See you at the meeting. Bye Ethan. Have a nice lunch with my best friend."

"What's up? I have a meeting."

"I wanted to make sure you got in okay."

"Unless I'm wrong, you have a phone with text messaging that works just fine." The look on Ethan's face proved she was right, he had an ulterior motive for being there.

"I was hoping you'd let me talk to your staff at the meeting. Steele and I think that stirring the pot might help trigger a response if one of your employees is involved."

"That might not be such a bad idea. Does that mean you didn't get the warrant?"

"We don't know yet. Oh and Steele is here too."

"Is he here for the meeting or to dig up dirt on my employees?"

"Relax, we're not going to cause trouble-yet. But if something or someone doesn't seem right all bets are off."

"Do I have a choice?"

"Of course you do. We can't force you to help us, but I'd think you'd want to know as much as we do. Especially if all of your people are innocent, then they're in danger too if it escalates. We've been lucky so far that no one's been hurt or worse."

She'd been thinking that herself, and he had a point. "Okay. Let's go it's meeting time."

He'd taken a chance by just showing up, Ethan hadn't wanted to give her a chance to say no. After what she'd told him about the guy watching her, he was more convinced than ever that someone in this office was involved. And he wanted to close this case as soon as possible before it got worse.

When they'd told the LT everything they'd found out he called the DA himself and asked him to get them a warrant, but he hadn't lied either. He didn't know if they'd been successful or not in getting one. Until then, he and Steele were going to work every angle they could. That meant showing up at Anna's office and hijacking her staff meeting.

They decided Ethan would do the talking and Steele would use his keen sense of observation on everyone in the room, his words not Ethan's. It was as good a plan as any. When everyone was gathered, he explained about the robberies, and what they needed to do to make sure they stayed safe. They were recommending that no agent go out alone until the culprits were caught.

A low rumbling in the room let him know they didn't like the idea. He understood they were in competition too, working on commission, but there was money, and there was safety, and most if not all of Anna's employees were probably innocent. Although he really liked Hugh Johnson for it, even if he didn't seem like the brainiac type.

"I'm going to leave our cards at the front desk with Jenny. If any of you see anything suspicious, or you think of anything give either myself or Steele a call. It's imperative that you all are careful until we catch these guys. So far no one's been hurt, and we don't want that to change."

He leaned against one of the walls as Anna finished her meeting, going over the sales stats and delegating some work. He couldn't have been happier to hear that either. It meant she was going to ease up, and that was a plus as far as he was concerned.

After the meeting, he and Steele talked to Anna for a bit before they headed back to the station. She'd agreed to come over and work with the sketch artist, he told her she'd be rewarded with another Dixie's roast beef sandwich and he'd been rewarded with a million-dollar smile. All in all, even though he was worried about her and the case, he couldn't remember when he'd been happier.

It turned out she remembered more details than he'd expected and the sketch turned out well. Lunch went well until Rob Martin, the assistant DA, showed up with the warrant. Apparently, the judge wanted this cleared up quickly since it was an election year and both he and the DA were up for reelection. Gotta love politics.

Anna wasn't happy but by now she'd accepted that they needed to do anything in their power to solve the case. He reminded her to watch for anything suspicious in the office with any of the employees, not just Hugh or even Adria. They were all suspects until they weren't at this point. Before she went back to her office, he pulled her into the breakroom.

"I'm really sorry you have to deal with all of this, baby."

"Me too, but it'll work out, right?"

"Of course, we always get our man," he said with a laugh and false bravado. There wasn't a lot of high crime in Willow Haven, some minor drug busts, stolen cards and shoplifting were the majority of his cases.

She looked tired, and it was his fault, but he wasn't one bit sorry. Every minute he'd spent loving on her last night had been magic. Which reminded him.

"Are we staying at your place again or mine?"

"What?"

"Did you forget what I said last night? I'm not going to leave you alone until we catch this guy or figure out what's going on."

"Aren't you overreacting a bit?"

"Nope. Nothing I do to protect you would ever be too much."

"Damn, you're tough. Fine. My place is bigger and has a better kitchen, so you come over."

"You got it. We can go out for dinner, or I can cook."

"I'll let you know when I have a better idea how late I'm working tonight."

"Okay, that works. Text me when you get back to the office." He slid a finger along her cheek and under her chin, tilting it to kiss her. He hadn't intended to do anything but give her a light kiss, but she was a witch, and all it took was one small touch to set him off. Only when Steele came looking for him did he break off the kiss.

He wanted to go all Tarzan when he saw the dreamy expression in her eyes which had gone all molten chocolate with desire.

"Um, the LT is looking for you," Steele said after clearing his throat to let them know he was there.

"Okay."

"I need to get back to the office. I'll see you later."

"Don't forget to let me know you got back."

"Yes, dad," Anna replied as she shook her head.

"Bye, Anna."

"Bye, Steele. Do some real work will you?"

8.

Monday became Tuesday and then Wednesday and soon the entire week had passed and they'd fallen into a routine. Anna was surprised how quickly she got used to having Ethan around. As much as she wanted him to solve the case, it would mean he could go home. She had a decision to make about their future living arrangements. But she wasn't sure if she was ready to take the next step. Although really there wasn't a decision to make, since he'd been staying with her since last weekend. And if she were honest, she'd have to admit she didn't want to go back to seeing him a few times a week instead of waking up in his arms every morning. She'd forgotten how wonderful being in love felt. And yes, she was definitely in love with Ethan, she just hadn't said the words out loud. She had a pretty good idea he knew whether or not she actually said the words.

Ethan and Steele were both disappointed that their visit to her meeting hadn't turned up anything, and it was looking more and more like it wasn't an inside job after all. Anna wanted to tell them I told you so, but she still had a niggling feeling she was missing something. She also hadn't seen Mr. Creepy Pants again, but she could have sworn she'd caught the truck in her rearview one or two times. She was a good girl too; she'd told Ethan as soon as she'd gotten home. It was too bad Florida didn't require front license plates, or she might have had a chance to get more than just the first two letters.

The week flew by, and they still hadn't solved the case. Now it was Saturday again. Would there be another break-in? Or had Ethan's investigation scared them off? Hoping for a nice quiet evening, they decided to stay home, order pizza and watch the movie Deadpool. Unfortunately, their luck didn't hold out. The phone rang at eleven-thirty. Anna was half asleep leaning on Ethan, but the ringing was like an instant 'On' button.

"Damn."

"I know. I was hoping, too." It was Steele, he'd gotten the call first and was passing on the news which wasn't all that good. Again it was a Willow Haven Realty listing that had been hit. That much she'd figured out from listening to half of the conversation, but the look on his face scared her. An ominous feeling turned the pizza and beer in her stomach into a roiling bucket of acid.

"Got it. I'll be there in about ten minutes. I don't have to tell you if the press shows up we have no comment, right? Did someone tell his wife? Okay.

Tell his wife? It really didn't sound good. What the hell happened? Had one of their clients been home? But why would the wife have to be notified then?

Ethan disconnected the call when his eyes met hers she knew. She wasn't sure how she did, but she knew.

"It's Hugh, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so. Did he have an open house today?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Apparently, he didn't bring a 'buddy,' and his wife called the station when he didn't come home for dinner or answer his phone. It was too soon for her to file a missing persons' report, but given the circumstances, they'd decided to check it out. Before they could send a unit to his house, they got a call from one of the neighbors who had just returned from the movie. The lights were on, and the front door was open."

Dizziness hit her like a wave and if she hadn't been sitting she'd probably have fallen over. "Why was he there alone?"

"That's what I'd like to know. Did you assign partners or leave it up to them?"

"I left it up to them, but they were supposed to tell Jenny so she could keep track of everything."

"Good. If he followed the rules, then we should know who was supposed to be with him." Words wouldn't form, so she nodded. Hugh Johnson was dead? It didn't seem possible, she'd seen him earlier in the day, and he was as obnoxious as always, but that was him. It had been for as long as she'd know him. Poor Betty. They'd been married forever, all their kids were grown and gone. She would be devastated.

"I should probably go over and see Betty." When he looked at her oddly, she clarified. "Hugh's wife, umm widow now. I guess. She's the sweetest thing, and the complete opposite of her husband."

"I'd rather you didn't. At least not until someone can go with you. He was murdered, and we don't know who's behind it. I'd prefer you stay here and set the alarm as soon as I close the door."

Anna understood his reasoning but she wasn't a child, and she was trained in self-defense too. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, whether he wanted to admit it or not.

He got ready and headed out. She knew he waited outside until he was sure she'd set the alarm. She watched him drive away then got dressed. Yes, he was worried about her, but this was getting out of hand. If she didn't put her foot down soon, he'd have her wrapped in cotton so she didn't break, and to use one of his expressions, "fuck that noise."

Double-checking the address, she left a note on the kitchen counter for Ethan in case he returned before she did. She disabled the alarm, went through the mudroom door and opened the garage. She'd just opened the door when something hit her hard on the back of the head.

Ethan arrived at the house as CSU finished and released the scene. Steele was conferring with the LT, and there were several uniforms spread out to keep the press and public away. This is exactly the scenario they'd been hoping to avoid. Violent death brought back visions of Iraq, but he pushed them away. He needed to stay focused on the scene.

Steele waved him over, and their grim looks didn't bode well. "What do we know?"

"Not much yet. CSU dusted for prints but from what the coroner said, the victim was killed with a blunt force trauma. But it looked like he fought back, so we still don't know whether it is more than one person. It's not like the victim was in the best shape or young. He was sixty-five according to his driver's license."

Ethan nodded. It wouldn't have taken too much to subdue him so it could have been one man, although he was convinced it was a group. They got in and out too efficiently for it to be only one or two.

"We'll know more when we get the autopsy report but don't look for that until Monday," Lt. Mark Watson stated. It wasn't often he came to a crime scene anymore, so the fact that he was here meant it had gone all the way up the food chain, and no one was happy.

"Did the coroner say anything else?"

"No, liver temp indicated the victim had been deceased about four hours. It was still light when it went down. I'd say that pretty much cements your theory that they really know the neighborhoods they're hitting."

"Exactly."

"Does Anna know?" Steele asked after their lieutenant walked away to speak to the press.

"Yeah. She wanted to go see his widow, but I told her to stay home until I had more information."

"You told her? You really don't listen, do you? No wonder you've been single for so long. You don't tell a woman like Anna what to do. You ask her or cajole her. But anything remotely like an order will only get you the opposite of what you want."

Ethan looked from the house, crawling with police, back to Steele. Was he right? He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed her cell. He didn't want to wait for her to text him back. Except she wasn't answering. One ring, two, three, four, voicemail. What the fuck?

"She's not answering, is she? What did I tell you! You really do need to get on Facebook more."

"So you're telling me the handbook on how to deal with women is stalking Facebook?"

"Yup. Just do it, you'll see."

"First I have to find my woman. She was half-asleep when I left so maybe she went to bed and didn't hear the phone."