Brazen Virtue

of it and the hell with the details?”
    “No. If you do that, you’re always searching for the loose ends, that one elusive piece that ties it all up and makes it right.” After tacking in the last nail, he stepped back to be sure he’d done the job right. “There’s a tremendous satisfaction when you put in the last piece and see the full picture. This guy we’re after now—we just don’t have all the pieces yet. But we will. Once we do, we’ll shuffle them around until everything fits.”
    “Do they always?”
    He looked down at her then. She had the damn compound smeared on her face, and her expression was so earnest. Ed rubbed his thumb over her cheek to remove the worst of it. “Sooner or later.” Setting down his tool, he framed her face in his hands. “Trust me.”
    “I do.” Kind eyes, strong hands. She leaned closer. She wanted more than comfort, needed more. “Ed—” The banging on the door downstairs made her shut her eyes in frustration. “Sounds like we’ve got company.”
    “Yeah. With luck I can get rid of them in five minutes.”

    Her brows arched. There was an edge to his voice that pleased and flattered her. “Detective, this could be your lucky day.” She took his hand so that they walked downstairs together. The minute Ed opened the door, Ben pulled Tess inside.
    “Christ, Ed, don’t you know people could drown out here? What were you—” He caught sight of Grace. “Oh. Hi.”
    “Hi. Relax. We were playing with drywall. Hello, Tess. I’m glad to see you. I never had a chance to thank you.”
    “You’re welcome.” Tess rose on her toes and pulled Ed down for a kiss. “I’m sorry, Ed. I told Ben we should call first.”
    “No problem. Sit down.”
    “Sure, pull up a crate.” Ben eased his wife down on a packing box, then held up a bottle of wine. “You’ve got glasses, don’t you?”
    Ed took the bottle, then lifted both brows. “What’s the occasion? You usually bring over a six-pack of Moosehead or sponge off me.”
    “That’s gratitude for you, especially now when we’re making you a godfather.” Ben took Tess’s hand and held it in both of his. “In seven months, one week, and three days. More or less.”
    “A baby? You guys are having a baby?” Ed swung an arm around Ben and squeezed. “Nice going, partner.” He took Tess’s free hand almost as if he were going to monitor her pulse. “Are you okay?”
    “I’m fine. Ben nearly collapsed, but I’m fine.”
    “I didn’t nearly collapse. Maybe I babbled for a couple of minutes, but I didn’t collapse. I’ll get glasses. Make sure she stays sitting down, will you?” he said to Ed.
    “I’ll give you a hand.” Grace took the wine from Ed and followed Ben to the kitchen. “You must be on top of the world.”

    “I don’t think I’ve taken it in yet. A family.” He started to rummage through cupboards while Grace found a corkscrew. “I never thought about having a family. Then all of a sudden there was Tess. Everything changed.”
    Grace stared at the bottle as she began to draw out the cork. “It’s funny how family can keep everything focused.”
    “Yeah.” After setting out glasses, Ben laid a hand on her shoulder. “How are you holding up?”
    “Better, most of the time better. The hardest thing is believing she’s gone and that I won’t ever see her again.”
    “I know how you feel. I do,” he said when he felt her instant withdrawal. “I lost my brother.”
    After drawing the cork out, she made herself look at him. There was kindness there too, in the eyes. He was more intense than Ed, more restless and wired, but the kindness was there. “How did you handle it?”
    “Badly. He had everything going for him, and I was crazy about him. We didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but we were tight. He got shipped to Nam right out of high school.”
    “I’m sorry. It must be horrible to lose someone you love in a war.”
    “He didn’t die in Nam, only the best parts of him did.” Ben picked up the bottle and began to pour. It was funny; even after all the years, he remembered too well. “He came back a different person, withdrawn, bitter, lost. He turned to drugs to wipe it out, fog it up, but it didn’t help.” He saw she was thinking of her sister, and the bottles that had been stashed throughout the house. “It’s tough not to blame them for choosing an easy way.”
    “Yes, yes, it is. What happened to him?”
    “In the end, he couldn’t take it