4 Arch Enemy of Murder (24 page)

Unfortunately, she was now facing the wall.

“You look like a little kid in time out,” Michael said. He sidled closer and leaned beside her.

“Maybe I should be,” she said. She felt wretched.

“Cheer up, love. There’s nothing that can’t be gotten over with enough time and distance.”

“Michael, I really don’t want to hear clichés and platitudes right now,” Lacy said.

“What do you want?”

“I want to get out of here,” she said.

“So what’s stopping you?”

“Them,” she said. She turned, only to realize that most of the people were gone. She was afraid she would have to stay and help clean up, but Riley had apparently hired a crew for that. “Oh.” Her grandparents and Riley were nowhere in sight. They must have assumed she would be leaving with Jason.

“So let’s go. I’ll take you, but you might want to change.”

She looked down at the beautiful green dress, suddenly feeling like she was Cinderella wearing a stranger’s gown. “My clothes are downstairs.”

“I’ll follow you,” he said. “Do you find this building a little creepy at night when it’s dark?”

“Yes,” Lacy admitted, especially after the harrowing event with Detective Brenner. Michael stood outside the bathroom while she changed. She had no idea what to do with the dress, so she just left it. Maybe Riley had borrowed it from somewhere and needed to return it. Either way, they could get it tomorrow. With the return of her own clothes, a little of the tension eased away. She emerged from the bathroom, and Michael led the way outside.

“Oh,” Lacy said, stopping short in front of his motorcycle. “I forgot about this.”

“Is it a problem?”

“I’ve never ridden one before,” she said.

“Then that is a problem.” He handed her a helmet. “You’re going to love it.”

“If you say so,” she said, but she was unconvinced. She wasn’t one of those adventure-seeking people who liked to live on the edge. Motorcycles were definitely edgy, at least in her mind. She fastened the helmet and watched while Michael straddled the large machine.

“Now or never, boss,” he said. “What’s it going to be?”

Lacy plucked up her courage, gave one reassuring pat to the helmet, and climbed on the bike.

Lacy didn’t like to admit that Michael was right about anything, but he was right about the motorcycle; she loved it. Even though she had always been a safety-conscious rule follower, she had the mad desire to rip off the helmet and let her hair tangle in the wind. She leaned around him to get the full impact of the wind on her face. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought she felt him chuckle beneath her fingers on his back. He didn’t take her straight home, but that was fine with her. They drove to the country, and he let the throttle go full force. She wasn’t sure if they were speeding, and she didn’t care. The feeling of freedom was wonderful.

She lost all sense of time and space as they drove and drove. It might have been ten minutes or ten hours, and she had no idea where they were. All she knew was that she was having fun. As soon as they stopped, she was sure her troubles would return en force. That was why she never wanted to stop.

Either Michael sensed her pending despair, or he was enjoying the ride, too, because he showed no signs of stopping. Lacy was still leaning around his shoulder, so they both saw the animal slink across the road in front of them. There was plenty of warning; Michael was in no danger of hitting the animal, but he still downshifted and slowed. Gradually the motorcycle came to a stop. He hit the kick stand, jumped down, and lifted Lacy off.

“Did you see that?” he asked.

“Yes,” she said. She was disappointed that they had stopped.

“Do you know what that was?”

“A dog or something.”

“No, that wasn’t a dog. Dogs don’t move like that. It really looked like a…”

Lacy interrupted. “Don’t say it because it wasn’t what you thought. Believe me, it never is. The other day, I thought I saw one, too, but it turned out to be a deer. Joe thought he saw one, and it was a cat. The eyes play tricks.”

Michael looked around, scanning the horizon. “That was some trick because that was the most realistic-looking non-lion I’ve ever seen. Are you sure that wasn’t what I think it was?”

“I’m sure,” Lacy said. “I have it on good authority that these types of sightings are common and always turn out to be something else. It was probably a raccoon. The old ones can get pretty big.”

“If you say so,” Michael said. He didn’t sound convinced, but he seemed willing to let it go because he smiled. “So how do you like the ride?”

“I like it,” Lacy conceded.

“You like it. That’s it?”

“I love it, okay? Where can I get one of these?” Her hand smoothed lovingly over chrome.

“No offense, but I think you should stick to being a passenger,” he said.

“Why?” Lacy asked.

“Because it takes good motor skills and balance to be able to drive one of these things, and I’ve seen you try to walk a straight line.”

She couldn’t argue with that logic.

“The good news is that you can have a ride whenever you want,” he added.

Lacy thought Jason wouldn’t like that, and then she remembered it might not matter anymore. How done was done? Her thoughts were abruptly ripped away from Jason when Michael stepped forward and kissed her. She shoved hard at his chest and backed up a step so that they both tripped and landed on the ground.

“What was that?” she asked.

“That was me taking advantage of the moment,” Michael said.

“Well don’t. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that it’s a moonlit night, we’re in the middle of nowhere, and we’re both available,” Michael said.

“I’m not available,” Lacy said.

“But I thought…”

“I’m not available,” she interrupted. “I’m very much not available, not now, and not anytime soon if I have any say in the matter. And even if I were, I wouldn’t want to kiss you.”

“Be frank, love,” Michael said.

Lacy took a breath and realized she sounded harsh, but he was smiling. She picked up a rock and chucked it at him. “I wasn’t trying to sound like an ice queen. You took me by surprise, but I’m really not interested.”

“I’m not quite daft enough not to understand that point. Truth is, I’m not interested in you, either. But I think we could have chemistry if we wanted to give it a go.”

“We don’t,” she assured him.

“So you’ve said. But I’m weary of arguing with you. I would like to be friends.”

It was a sweet admission, and she felt herself softening toward him. “I think that would be nice,” she said. “I’m more comfortable being friends than combatants anyway.”

“I know you are,” Michael said. “You’re a nice person.”

She sifted the words to see if he was making fun of her, but he still sounded genuine. They sat in silence for another minute. “I should go,” she said. She stood, and so did he. He helped her onto the bike and took off. They drove through Barbara Blake’s neighborhood, and Lacy tapped Michael on the shoulder. “Stop.”

He stopped in front of Barbara’s house. Lacy hopped off the bike and stared in dismay at the gathering of garden gnomes on her front porch. She didn’t remember Barbara owning one gnome, let alone the two dozen now standing in a circle on the porch.

“That’s funny,” Michael said. He was chuckling as he came up to stand beside her. “Whose house is this?”

“It’s mine,” Lacy said, adding, “Long story,” when he looked confused.

“I didn’t take you for a gnome collector.”

“I’m not,” Lacy said. “These aren’t mine.”

“How did they get here?” he asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said, and then she saw a skulking figure in her peripheral vision. “Hey!” she called, and the person ran. Lacy ran after him. Whoever it was must not have been very athletic because even with her tender arches she was able to overtake him. She caught his sleeve and spun him around.

“Ow,” he said.

“Sean!” Lacy exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing,” he said. Furtively, he clutched something behind his back.

Lacy’s heart sank. Was Sean behind the gnome pranks? True, they were innocent, but he was bound to get caught and in trouble for them. “What’s behind your back?”

“Nothing,” he said. He took a step away.

“Sean, please let me see what’s behind your back.” She had never used an authoritative tone with him before, and she felt guilty about doing it now. But she was the grownup, and she had a pressing need to know what he was up to. Reluctantly, he withdrew his hand from behind his back and held it out to her.

“It’s a telescope,” she said. Michael caught up with them, but hung back to allow some privacy. “What are you doing with a telescope?”

“Extra credit for my earth science class. I didn’t ask Grandma if I could do it, and she would freak if she knew I’ve been sneaking out every night to make star charts. But this extra credit is really important to me. Are you going to tell?”

“Of course I’m not going to tell, but I don’t feel good about you being out without Gladys’s approval. Especially because there have been a lot of people shooting lately,” Lacy said.

“I know. It’s been loud and a little scary, but this is the last night. I just finished. I promise I won’t do it again.”

“Everything okay here?” Michael asked as he stepped forward.

“Everything is fine. I’m going to walk Sean to his house, and then I’ll jog home.”

“I can follow behind and take you home,” Michael volunteered.

“That’s nice of you, but I’m afraid the motorcycle would wake Gladys and Sean would be in trouble. I’ll be fine.”

“You’re sure?” Michael said. He seemed unreasonably concerned about leaving her.

“Positive. I live just a few minutes away, and I’ve made the trip many times. Thanks for the fun ride, Michael.”

He nodded, but he watched them walk away until they were out of sight.

“Is he your boyfriend now?” Sean asked. “I thought you liked Jason.”

“I do. Michael’s a friend.”

“If I had a girl who looked like you, I wouldn’t want her to be friends with a guy like that. Jason must be really nice.”

“He is,” Lacy said, but even he had a limit, apparently. She didn’t want to think about Jason or their troubled relationship. Instead she asked Sean about his science project and listened while he told her more about astronomy than she had ever wanted to know. They said goodbye in whispers. She watched while he sneaked back into Gladys’s house, and then she turned to make her way home.

It wasn’t quite midnight, and yet the neighborhood was eerily silent. Somehow the silence was more disconcerting than noise, and Lacy wondered why that was. Her overactive imagination began to tell her that she was being watched. Her skin prickled as she felt eyes on the back of her head. She paused and whirled, but of course no one was there.
Whoever is watching me is as real as the lion,
she thought. Once when she was a child, she swore she saw a rattlesnake coiled behind her grandmother’s shed. After screaming bloody murder and retrieving her grandmother for a look, it turned out to be nothing more than a coiled length of hose. It was amazing what a fertile imagination could conjure.

To get home, she had to pass by Barbara Blake’s house once more.
 
Her gaze rested on the gnomes as she passed, and then she stopped short and turned. Had one of the gnomes been moving? As she walked up the short length of driveway, the sense that she was being watched increased, but this time it was real. At least a dozen pairs of gnome eyes watched her every move, their red, cherubic cheeks glowing eerily in the dim light from the neighbor’s porch. “How did you get here?” she whispered. She bent to inspect them to see if she recognized them. Not that she had ever paid attention to anyone’s gnomes before, but maybe some of them were marked.