Don't Say a Word by Beverly Barton Page B

too early to drag yourself out of bed.” She started to make a crack about his redheaded “friend” but decided against it. He wasn’t in such a jovial mood anymore. But neither was she.
    â€œGood, that’ll give us time to go over the videos for the last two weeks. I’ll take half and you can take half. Do you have the equipment to play these kinds of DVDs?”
    â€œI have a laptop.” Julia grimaced as he handed her a handful of DVDs. “Great, I do love the movies.”
    Will smiled. “Then you’re in luck. Have fun tonight.”
    â€œSame to you, Special Agent.”

    J.D. Cass didn’t make it home to his rental house on Signal Mountain until almost six o’clock. If Julia was already there, he hoped he wasn’t in the doghouse with her for not picking her up himself. God knows, he’d made her wait often enough when she was a young kid and he was responsible for her upbringing. He regretted that sometimes, now that he was older and had a teenage daughter to raise. Zoe was a handful, a lot more headstrong than Julia had ever been. But now, now that he had Audrey Sherrod in his life, everything was better than he ever could have dreamed. Even his daughter was behaving herself, following Audrey’s very ladylike example.
    Smiling, he realized that he was ultra-eager to see Julia. Until he’d met up with her when she was in town to interview for the CPD detective position, he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his sister. In the last couple of years, they’d had just a time or two together. It had been way too long. They called on birthdays and holidays, of course, but no long talks, no quality time together. He’d been shocked when Julia told him of her decision to relocate to Chattanooga, but he couldn’t have been more pleased. He wanted her around. He wanted her to be part of his new life. Now that he’d met Audrey, he hungered for a close-knit family, for a normal life for him and Zoe and Julia. He entered the kitchen from the garage and dropped his keys on the counter.
    â€œWell, it’s about time you got here, J.D.,” complained Zoe, from where she was sprawled out with her iPod on the living room couch. “Where’s Aunt Julia? I thought she’d be here by now. I made a Roman-style pizza with all fresh ingredients. It’s Audrey’s recipe, so it ought to be really, really awesome!”
    â€œGood idea. And I don’t know where she is.”
    â€œYou said you were going to pick her up. What, did you stand her up? Like you used to do me?”
    Zoe had not yet forgotten that J.D. often put his work before her. He was a cop; it was going to happen from time to time. But now, Audrey was usually there to fill in for him, which had ended a lot of the animosity between him and Zoe. She loved being with Audrey, anyway. But not as much as he enjoyed it. He looked forward to getting her back in bed as soon as he had the opportunity.
    â€œWill picked her up for me. I couldn’t leave the criminal court. Judge’s orders.”
    â€œYou should’ve called Audrey and me. We could’ve gone out to get her.”
    â€œYou were at school. And Audrey’s got a successful grief-counseling practice. She can’t just drop everything the minute I call. She had a full day of appointments.”
    â€œWhy isn’t she coming tonight?” Zoe complained. “I haven’t seen her in two whole days.”
    â€œShe’s having dinner with her father. Just the two of them.”
    â€œReally? Why? I thought they didn’t get along.” Zoe rushed on without waiting for his answer. “Is Aunt Julia pissed off that you didn’t come pick her up? It really sucks that you sent a complete stranger out to get her on her first day in town.” She suddenly smiled. “Even if he’s more smokin’ hot than about any guy I know. My girlfriends think he looks a little