“Your call?” Minnie whispered.

“Yep,” Scott stated, walking into the room like there was nothing amiss when there was a lot amiss.

Attitude rolled off Chap in waves, and Minnie was so tense, I felt it across my desk.

Raul and Jimbo stood and immediately shuffled out the door (but Jimbo grabbed the last cookie before he went).

I’d tipped my head back to look at Scott. “You could have called back. I left a number.”

“Babe,” Minnie said low, “I gotta go Professor Higgins on your ass. You called a cop?”

I looked at her and then swung my head to Chap when he repeated, a lot less friendly, “Yeah, you called a cop?”

“It isn’t a big deal,” I told Chap.

Chap ignored me and looked at Scott. “Think you know this territory is off-limits.”

“Chap, I think you know no territory is off-limits,” Scott returned.

Chap’s attitude ratcheted up to tsunami level, and I stood.

“It’s okay, Chap. I called him and it’s not a big deal,” I assured, hoping to hold back the tidal wave.

Chap’s eyes sliced to me. “Cops at Ace, woman, always a big deal.”

“This isn’t,” I returned.

Chap’s thick, gray, needing-a-trim-due-to-wayward-hairs brows went up. “Buck know about this shit?”

“Um…no,” I answered.

“Oh shit,” Minnie muttered, and I looked at her.

“It isn’t a big deal!” I stated, somewhat loudly, throwing my hands up, not knowing why they were acting so weird.

“Clara, why don’t you just tell me why you called,” Scott put in, and Chap moved closer to my desk.

I looked at Scott.

“Rogan’s sick,” I told him, and Scott went from alert to something else, something soft, and it made all that was gorgeous about him beautiful.

I kind of wished he was ugly and a creep. It would make dealing with him and not liking him easier.

Instead, it was becoming clear he wasn’t just a good guy, he was maybe a really good guy.

“You found out,” he muttered.

So he knew.

I wondered how he knew.

Considering the atmosphere in the room, I didn’t ask that.

“Nolan came visiting yesterday,” I shared.

“Bet he delivered the news gentle.” Scott was still muttering now while also being sarcastic.

“Not exactly,” I replied.

“Dick.” He kept muttering.

Clearly, Detective Rayne Scott knew Nolan Armitage too.

“Anyway,” I sallied forth, “apparently, there’s a five-million-dollar life insurance policy and a million and a half in an offshore account,” I informed Scott.

His body went alert, his eyes grew sharp, but Chap exploded.

“Fuckin’ A, woman, what the fuck?”

“Oh shit,” Minnie mumbled, coming off the desk, “I seriously gotta go PH on your ass.”

“What?” I asked Minnie, but Minnie was looking at Scott.

“Can you go?”

“No,” Scott answered.

“This won’t take long,” I told Minnie.

“You’re givin’ info to a cop,” Minnie retorted, her eyes swinging to me.

“No, I’m not, I mean…I am,” I replied. “But Rogan’s already in jail. It isn’t like he can be more in jail.”

“You never give info to a cop,” Minnie returned.

“Damn straight,” Chap growled.

“Jesus,” Scott muttered.

“I can’t rat on someone who’s already doing time for the crime,” I pointed out what I thought was logically.

“Don’t matter,” Minnie replied.

“Can I just do what I have to do?” I asked Minnie, then swung my head to Chap. “It isn’t what you think.”

“Just do what you have to do, Clara,” Scott urged.

I nodded, ignored Minnie, Chap and their stubbornness and launched in.

“Right. Well, anyway, what I wanted to know is…you seized the house, Rogan’s car, the accounts, the portfolios and you liquidated them, giving it to the people who Rogan stole from, right?”

“Right,” Scott answered on a nod.

“So, he dies. If I get that money, can you locate those people again and distribute it fairly?”

Scott blinked at me.

Slowly.

Minnie groaned.

Chap exploded again.

“Are you fuckin’ loco?” he shouted.

“No!” I snapped at him, losing my patience with his attitude.

“Does Buck know about this?” he snapped back.

“No,” I replied. “But what does it matter? That money isn’t mine and it isn’t Buck’s, it’s those people’s.”

Chap leaned in. “Woman, you do not make a move without Buck. You do not utter a word about important shit, like fuckin’ givin’ away fuckin’ six and a half million fuckin’ dollars, without Buck knowin’ and givin’ the go-ahead. And you don’t deal with cops ever unless Buck is in on it.”

“Like I said, it isn’t his money, and it isn’t mine,” I replied.

“Babe, that guy fucked you over as in fucked you over,” Minnie threw in, and I swung my head the other way to look at her. “You earned that money, and Buck pulled your shit outta the fryer so, Aces’ rules, he gets his share. That money is so yours and you, you’re Buck’s old lady. Chap is right. Heads-up on the PH advice, sister, Eliza Biker Babe needs to learn right fuckin’ now that she don’t move on shit like this unless Buck is in the know.”

Were they serious?

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“You got bill collectors on your ass, credit cards to pay off and you’re on the back of Buck’s bike or your ass is in his ride because A, you’re his woman, but mostly ’cause, B,” she leaned in, “you ain’t got no ride because it’s been repoed.”

“I know that,” I told her softly.

She leaned back. “So, my guess is, you talked to Buck about this, he’d say take care a’ you. And what I know is, an old lady takes care of her old man. He’s swung his ass out there for you, you hit a windfall like this, you can find six and a half million ways to pay him back and you’re gonna give it away?”

Oh dear.

I saw her point.

“Minnie—” I started.

She threw up her hands. “Even if you didn’t look out for him, babe, you need to learn to start lookin’ out for you.”

“She’s right.”

That came from Scott and everyone turned to him, but I suspected only I did it with my lips parted.

“Sorry?” I whispered.

“She’s right, Clara,” he repeated. “The million and a half, that’s dirty money. Kirk stole from a lot of people. We recovered a good deal, he didn’t piss it all away, but there was a major deficit. That won’t cover it, but somethin’ is better than nothin’. You give that back, they could use it and they’d be grateful. The five mil,” he tipped his chin to me, “that’s yours. You feel like bein’ generous, you give a little back. But you cover yourself before you do that. Pay your bills, get yourself a car, buy a house, put some away, make certain where you were is a place you’re never gonna be again.”