“You’re the boss,” Cain said, standing and holding her hand out.

“There’s only one clan leader, baby, and that’s you. I love you, and because of you, we’ll be fine.”

“May I always live up to your expectations, lass.”

✥ ✥ ✥

“What’d you do last night?” Joe Simmons asked Shelby Phillips as they sat in the back of the van across from the Casey house.

The only thing coming through the high-powered microphones pointed at the house was a repetitive techno beat. They weren’t sure how Cain did it, but the music seemed to be aimed right at them no matter where they tried listening in, and it was always aggravating. They didn’t think there could be anything more annoying than the song the big purple dinosaur sang, but this was torture.

“Stayed home and tried catching up on this series I’m watching,” she said as she saw the car pull to the front door. “It was hard to leave last night.”

“The series or this?” Joe said, putting binoculars up to his eyes.

“This,” she said. The front door opened, and Cain came out first to open the car door for Emma. “There’s something off, and I can’t figure out what it is.”

“There’s always something off about these people. It’s catching them at it that’s been the problem.” He laughed and she had to smile. Joe had pulled back the hostility aimed at Cain a thousandfold and concentrated on their jobs. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m not sure. It’s like having a bum knee before a big storm. You know something’s coming, but you have no idea how bad it’s going to be.” She belted herself into her seat as they pulled away.

“If the chatter is right, something is going on, but nothing concrete. We need to meet with the other teams in town to see if there’s any overlap with what Casey has going on.” Joe read from his notebook as they turned toward downtown. “Tonight is probably nothing more than the meeting of the evil minds.”

She laughed, thinking that sounded like something her father would say. Her grieving over their murders hadn’t completely ended, but she’d started healing once she knew the people who’d killed them had paid. Cain had given her that gift and had kept her word about leaving her to decide what would happen to the men. On the books, she didn’t owe Cain anything for the privilege, but she knew that wasn’t strictly true. There was always a price. It was a debt she’d gladly pay, but first there was one more person on her list before she paid anyone anything, and that was the man who’d ordered her parents’ deaths to begin with.