Target by Lisa Phillips Read Free Book Online

same house now. My dad was an FBI agent too, so she pretty much raised me. I went to kindergarten calling a sweater a jumper and chips, crisps.” Caisey grinned. “Some of it still pops out every now and again.”
    “That’s cool.” The first smile he’d ever seen from Andrea, and she gave it to his partner.
    Liam didn’t want to be mad, but that was what happened. Plus it took him six months to learn all that about Caisey and Andrea had just found it out in thirty seconds. What was it with women that they just shared like that?
    Caisey went back to pulling stuff out of the bags. White paper sacks, cardboard cartons, little tubs and finally two pints of ice cream and a bottle of Liam’s favorite soda he never bought because it had way too much sugar and caffeine in it.
    His stomach rumbled.
    Caisey shot him a grin. “Fried chicken, potato wedges, coleslaw. I got you a bag of salad too.”
    Then he realized she hadn’t taken her coat off yet. “You’re not staying?”
    “There’s a football game at the high school. So I’m going to go watch Jake do his trumpet thing in the marching band. I’ll be back later. A lot later.”
    “Oh, okay.”
    “Plus they do this hotdog with grilled onions that’s really good.”
    Andrea turned away to get out plates, so Liam followed Caisey back to the front door. When they got out of earshot, he said, “I can’t believe you’d stoop so low as to use your godson as an excuse and leave me here.”
    “You don’t need me being a third wheel.” She grinned. “I’m giving you alone time, and the chance that maybe one of us could be something other than desperate and single. You should be thanking me.”
    “It’s not appropriate. And I was never desperate.”
    “You won’t be, if you get in there.”
    She wasn’t even going to respond to the question of it being appropriate? “I can’t believe you just said that.”
    “There’s a sappy movie in the bag too, maybe she’ll let you comfort her.”
    “You need to stop talking.”
    “I’m going to do one better, I’m going to go.” She opened the front door, a satisfied smile on her face like the time she’d spent all morning calling in to a radio station and finally won rodeo tickets. “I’ll be back at bedtime with my PJ’s to relieve you.”
    “Okay.”
    “Be nice, yeah?” Caisey glanced down the hall behind him. “I know you don’t want to mislead her, but you can’t just be silent. If she’s looking at you, but she’s not saying anything, that means you need to talk. Got it?”
    “I can’t believe you’re giving me advice.” Liam pushed the door, but she held it open. “Go already. You’ll miss the game.”
    “There isn’t a game, it’s not until tomorrow. I’m going back to the office to look over the files and see if I can figure out where he might dump Kiera’s body. I just didn’t want to bring all that here.”
    Liam nodded. “Okay, good. Andrea d oesn’t need to see the photos.”
    Caisey waved him away. “Now go, before your dinner gets cold.”
    “Sure, mom.”
    “What can I say? Jenna’s parenting rubs off on me. Besides, you should try it.
    Sometimes it even works.”
    Liam laughed. Caisey’s best friend and her son didn’t just live with her and her Grams, they kept her grounded. “Goodbye, Caisey.”
    “Remember, be nice.”
    He shut the door. Caisey had some crazy ideas, thinking she needed to remind him to be nice of all things. He was a perfectly nice person; he just didn’t know why women couldn’t tell you what they needed. They just figured you’d understand intuitively why they were shutting you out.
    It was why he’d given up on second dates a while back. Meeting people was easy enough, but Liam didn’t have time for a heavy relationship that he’d have to give a ton of time and attention to. Not in the middle of a serial killer investigation.
    The microwave beeped, and Andrea pulled out a steaming plate. She handed it to him.
    Liam smiled. “Smells