“What’s confusing?” I asked, much less interested in his thought processes than I was in the towel hanging precariously from his hips.

“It’s one of those times where a normal man would wonder if a woman was laying naked on the bed because she was trying to seduce him, or because she was trying to cool off. Fortunately, I’m not a normal man.”

“Praise Jesus for that. So what conclusion did you come to? Am I trying to seduce you or cool off?”

“First of all, you seduce me with every breath you take.”

I snorted out a laugh and he grinned, dropping the towel.

“Well now, I can see you were telling the truth and you have, in fact, recuperated.”

He grabbed my ankles and pulled me toward the edge of the bed. “Stop trying to distract me, woman. I was in the middle of telling you the conclusion of my hypothesis.”

“I apologize. Carry on.”

“Thank you.” He cleared his throat and said, “Second of all, I know you well enough to know that you’re too lazy to dig out pajamas from the suitcase, so you’ve just decided to go naked until I either dig them out for you or give you one of my shirts to wear.”

“I don’t like being pigeonholed like that,” I said primly. “There could be any number of reasons for my nakedness.”

“Oh yeah?” he asked, pushing my knees apart with his hands and crawling between my thighs. “Like what?”

My breath hitched as he came down on top of me, taking a nipple between his teeth. My hands grasped his biceps and my legs twined around his hips. “What was the question?” I asked.

He laughed and then slid deep inside of me. “I’ll tell you later.”

*     *     *

Jack’s cell phone rang and my eyes opened slowly. I was completely disoriented and so tired I couldn’t remember where I was. But I recognized Jack’s arms around me, and held a little tighter as the phone continued to ring. We’d fallen asleep on top of the covers and I’d finally started to cool off.

“You’re phone is ringing,” I muttered against his neck.

“I know. It’s Carver.”

Jack rolled us so I lay on top of him and he could reach his phone on the nightstand.

“Lawson,” he said and then after a second, “Hold on and let me put it on speaker so Jaye can hear.”

Jack hit the speakerphone button and then set it back down on the nightstand.

“Y’all are not freaking going to believe this one,” Carver said. “I don’t know how you do it. It’s like you’re magnets for the most bizarre crimes of the century.”

“Jesus, Carver. It’s almost three o’clock in the morning.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I wake you? Because I’m just sitting here holding a colicky baby and getting information on one of the most hated men in history. But it’s cool. I’ll call back in the morning.”

“Hello, drama,” I said, snuggling against Jack’s chest.

“I heard that,” Carver whispered. “If I wasn’t holding this child I’ve finally managed to get to sleep after hours of walking the floor I’d give you a piece of my mind.”

“A piece of your mind?” Jack asked, his chest rumbling with laughter beneath my cheek. “Did we time travel to 1955? What did you pick up that’s so earth shattering?”

“Leon Stein is none other than Friedrich Josef Durst of the Third Reich.”

“Excuse me?” Jack asked. He sat up and I came up with him.

I was really wishing I’d dug my pajamas out of the suitcase because I was freezing. Jack had already rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts, and he tossed a T-shirt at me so it hit me square in the chest.

“I’ve never heard of Friedrich Durst,” I said. “Should I have?”

“Not unless you’ve studied Hitler’s henchmen. Durst was a commander of multiple concentration camps, and he’s to this day still considered a Nazi War Criminal. According to his file, he alone was responsible for the deaths of more than half a million men, women, and children. He fancied himself a doctor and experimented on those who caught his eye—mostly young girls from the age of fifteen to twenty. I’ll spare you the details and send it to you in an email. I’ll just say it makes my stomach turn, which is saying something considering I’ve seen about everything there is to see in this job.”

“That seems like a good motive for killing someone,” I said. “Maybe Leon’s old identity wasn’t as well hidden as he thought it was.”

“Possibly. Or maybe the motive has more to do with the ten million dollar price on his head, payable until his hundredth birthday. Dead or alive.”

“Jesus,” Jack said. “You’re fucking kidding me.”

“I wish I was. And let me tell you something else. The minute those fingerprints went into the system things lit up like the Fourth of July. I hadn’t expected that kind of response, so I didn’t have it protected. Every agency in the world knows those are Friedrich Durst’s fingerprints. You’d best prepare yourself for the shit storm.”

“Hell. How long do you think we have before we’re descended upon?”

“You’ve probably got twenty-four hours, and that’s being generous. If you’re going to find out who killed Durst then your window of opportunity is very small.”

“What do you mean if we find out who killed Durst?” Jack asked.

“Come on, man. You think anyone is going to convict someone for killing a man like Durst? They’ll be considered a hero.”

“That’s not for us to decide,” Jack said, stiffly. “Murder is murder.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from saying anything. The thing about Jack was that he believed in the system. He believed in right and wrong. And he believed that two wrongs didn’t necessarily make something right. By Jack’s way of thinking, a man like Durst might deserve to die, but the man who killed him shouldn’t be lauded as a hero. He was still a murderer.

My conscience wasn’t quite as honorable as Jack’s. I had a tendency to bend the line for justice every now and again. I believed in shades of gray and that sometimes people got the justice they deserved. Justice that a court of law couldn’t always deliver. Which was why I was keeping my mouth shut. A honeymoon probably wasn’t the best place for an argument on ethics.

“Settle down, cowboy,” Carver said. “I know you well. Go do what you do. I’m just telling you to expect company, and that not everyone is going to thank you for what you’re doing.”

“They asked for help. That’s all I can do. What did you find out about Father Fernando?”

“He was born on the mainland. Led a very sheltered life. Was raised by his mother after his father was killed in a boating accident. He entered the priesthood at twenty and has been at his current church just over twenty years. He seems to be your every day, garden-variety priest. No skeletons in the closet that I could find. Now the other one, Father DeCosta, is a different story. He’s got a sealed juvie record.”

My brows rose at that. “I don’t supposed he’s handy with a knife?”

“Nope, at least not that he got caught with. Armed robbery and assault for the good Father. Grew up in a rough area. Single parent household. But looks like one of the local priests took an interest in him and got him straight.”

“What about Xavier?”

“He’s scared of his own shadow. I almost fell asleep reading his file. He might be the most boring person on the face of the planet. Not even a smudge on his record.”

“That at least gives us something to go on tomorrow,” Jack said. “Someone is lying.”

“After I found out who Stein really was it wasn’t too difficult to find your murder weapon. It’s an officer’s dagger carried by all of Hitler’s closest advisors. He had them especially made in1937, and the engraving on the blade says Arbeit Adelt, which translates to Work Ennobles. It was a shout out to the Reich Labor Service and all it stood for. They’re a collector’s item and sell for around three thousand dollars each if in good shape.”

“I appreciate the help, Carver.”

“I’d tell you any time, but you pretty much already do that. And all kidding aside, be careful out there. If someone thinks you two are going to get in the way of a ten million dollar pay day then you might be next on the list for a knife in the heart. I’d hate to see that happen to the Doc, especially since I’m probably next in line to marry her if anything happens to you.”