a Touch of Ice (26 page)

On her way back from the bathroom, Shelly stopped dead in the middle of the room and fingered the ring with brusque, stilted movements.

She pointed to the storyboard.

“Why do you have a picture of Marcus pasted there?”

Twenty-seven

I spun around, focused on the storyboard. “Which one is Marcus?” Dread spread through my body and my stomach turned over.

Her eyes were huge, her mouth open. “You know who Marcus is, what he looks like.”

“How would I know that? I’ve never met him.”

Total disbelief passed over her face. “The picture. I included his picture in the invitation I handed you.”

“What?”

She sighed, impatient. “In your driveway. The invitation. The other day.”

I slammed the heel of my hand against my forehead. “Oh, no. Damn it how could I have been so stupid?” I sent her an apologetic smile. “So much has been happening that I haven’t opened it yet. It’s here.” I frantically sorted through the papers on my desk. “I’m sorry, Shelly, more than you’ll ever know. Believe me, if I’d seen the picture we’d have had this conversation days ago.”

Curiosity sizzled through my veins. I had to see this picture. Now. Triumphant, I pulled out the thick cream envelope, slipped my finger under the seal, and tore the invitation open.

Delano West’s icy gray eyes stared at me from the matte surface.

“We need to go next door, Shelly, and share your story with some friends of mine.” I grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind me.

“What’s the matter with you?” She tried to tug her hand free.

“This is much, much more serious than you can imagine.” I tucked the storyboard under my arm and hustled Shelly out the door and toward Annie’s.

“Annie? Pierce?” I called, pushing open Annie’s front door without waiting for an invitation. “Where are you? Now. I need to talk to you now.”

“El? What’s wrong?” Annie asked as she came downstairs to greet us.

I pulled Shelly up next to me. “This is Shelly Summers. She lives across the cul-de-sac in the white townhouse with dark green trim.”

“Nice to—”

I stuck the storyboard in Annie’s face, effectively cutting off her greeting, while I madly tapped my finger on West’s picture. “This is Shelly’s fiancé.”

Annie’s gaze moved between Shelly and the picture of West. Her eyes dilated to intense black with the barest rim of green, and her breath caught. If I hadn’t been watching carefully, her reaction would have been almost unnoticeable. A tribute to her training, and a reminder that Annie was so much more than my friend and a PI. “Pierce,” she called over her shoulder.

I set the collage down, caught her eye. “He’s sending someone to pick her up. They’re supposed to fly to Paris this evening.”

I stopped to catch my breath. Shelly filled the gap. “Who are these people, El? What’s going on?” She looked about ready to take off running so I tightened my grip on her arm, turned to reassure her, and realized she’d caught sight of Pierce moving up behind Annie.

His mouth was set to grim.

It didn’t inspire confidence.

Annie reached over, pried my fingers from Shelly’s arm, and gently clasped her hand. “I’m Annie Stone, Shelly, a private investigator and Delano West is key to one of my cases.”

Shelly’s forehead wrinkled into a stack of creases as she pulled her hand away from Annie, crossed her arms, and tucked both of her hands flat against her body. “Who is Delano West?”

I spoke up hoping to prevent another melt down. “Delano West is the man you know as Marcus Stefano. I gently touched her shoulder, smiled. “I know this is a lot to understand in such a short time, but he’s…not a good person.

Pierce stepped up, extended his hand. “I’m Tynan Pierce, Shelly,” he said softly, laying on a soft Irish brogue. “I work with Annie and we need to ask you some questions.” He guided her to the sofa, sat her down. “We’ve been interested in Mr. Stefano for quite some time.” He caught my eye, mouthed “scotch,” then turned his attention back to Shelly and hunkered down next to her. It decreased his size by a considerable amount. “Tell me about Marcus,” he invited.

Shelly talked for about thirty minutes, with the occasional interruption to take a sip of scotch or to clarify a point for Annie. I settled into a chair, out of the way but close enough not to miss anything.

It was amazing to watch Annie and Pierce at work, to listen to the bare bones explanation they gave Shelly that somehow gained them her complete cooperation, calmed her enough to stop her tears, and reduced her frantic movements to the occasional fidget.

Pierce stood, gave Shelly’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry we had to put you through this, and I want you to know we appreciate it.” He winked at her and backed out of the room as he pulled his cell out of his back pocket. Smooth, very smooth. No surprise there.

Annie sat next to Shelly on the sofa, reached for her hand. “Stefano’s car is going to come for you soon. Do you understand that we can’t let you leave?” She waited for Shelly to nod. “In fact, we can’t let you go home at all. Not until we know it’s safe.”

Shelly jerked her hand free. “No. Really, as long as I don’t get in the car I’ll be fine. I need to…pick up my luggage.” Her voice broke. “I guess it doesn’t matter. When I decided not to go with Marcus, I thought I’d spend some time on Emerald Isle. To get away, you know.”

I sent her a slow, reassuring smile. “You can do that, Shelly. Just not today.”

“Detective Stone will be here shortly to take you to a safe house,” Annie explained. Shelly’s gaze met mine, panicked.

“It’s a precaution.” I leaned forward to rest my elbows on my knees. “Annie and Pierce need to know you’re safe so they can do their job.”

“Their job?” A visible shudder passed through her body and she looked directly at Annie. “You’re going to kill him, aren’t you?”

Annie nodded, holding her gaze. “Not if we can help it, but yes. If it comes to that, we will. If we don’t, he
will
kill us. The man you know as Marcus Stefano is a known criminal, psychopathic.”

Shelly blew out a wisp of air, slammed her eyes shut. “I know. I know you’re right. Just…” She opened her eyes, focused on Annie. “Make it quick. End this nightmare. I wondered why I had started feeling claustrophobic around him. I guess he’s not…right. Not…my knight after all.”

Annie angled her chin toward me and I took her place on the sofa, wrapped Shelly in a blanket, and let her cry it out.

When she was down to hiccups and dry sobs, I handed her another bottle of water, “Drink. This has been a shock. What you did today? It took courage.”

She gave me a watery smile. “You’re drowning me in water. I’m going to be all right, Everly. It’s just too much, all of a sudden like this. I still haven’t faced the lesbian experience, worked through that.”

Adam stuck his head around the front door, took in the situation, nodded. “Annie and Pierce?”

“Upstairs.”

He pushed the door open, reached back to take the elbow of the woman standing behind him. “Shelly,” he said as he approached, moving cautiously. “I’m Detective Adam Stone and this is Dr. Lisa Shaffer. She’s our staff psychologist and will be staying with you as long as you’re in our care.”

“I…sleep, Detective Stone. I just need a place to hide and sleep until this is over.”

Lisa Shaffer stepped forward. “Think of me as a body guard with benefits, Shelly.” Her smile was genuine and warm.

It was hard not to like Dr. Shaffer. She looked like everyone’s favorite grandmother with her white hair and rounded body; plus she carried an air of calm, capable warmth. I had no doubt Shelly would feel safe with her as soon as the shock wore off.

A uniform appeared at the door, signaled to Adam.

“We have to leave now.” He tapped his watch.

Shelly took a few steps then turned to me. I held my arms out for a quick hug. “We’ll talk later.”

She slid the ring out of her pocket, handed it to me, turned on her heel, and followed Adam and Dr. Shaffer out the door.

As soon as the front door closed, Pierce and Annie came back downstairs.

I barely recognized them as they ran through a weapons check.

They were dressed to kill.

Literally.

And it scared me.

Annie grinned. “We’re the same people, just in a role you haven’t seen before. The plan is for Pierce and me to take Shelly’s ride to the airport.” She shrugged. “Seemed silly to let a perfectly good limo go to waste.”

“Ready to roll?” Pierce asked.

He took my shoulders, turned me to face him. “You need to stay in. Lock the doors and don’t open them unless it’s me or A.J. Unless there’s somewhere else you can go that would be safer?”

He was thinking of my childhood home, I could tell by the timbre of his brogue, but I didn’t want to be tucked away while everyone I cared about was in the thick of things. My curiosity would go berserk. And I seriously did
not
want to bring this mess into my retreat. Way too much drama.

“I’ll stay here. Locked up tight, I promise. Be careful, both of you.” Annie locked her door behind us, and I gave each of them a hug. Hugging Tynan Pierce? An experience to remember. The man gives good hug, and the twinkle in his eyes and the trace of satisfied male in his smile told me he knew it.

“You should be safe here since we’re taking the action to West, but I’m still going to have Adam send a patrol car around the neighborhood a couple times every hour.”

I started to object to Annie’s decree, but thought better of it. This situation was way out of my league, and part of being an adult is knowing when to accept help. They watched me until I closed and locked the door to my townhouse and waved them off from the window. A shudder caught my body, then calmed. It had been a rough hour. I made a pot of coffee then wandered through my house, testing every window for the best vantage point to watch what happened at Shelly’s. It was a toss up between my office and the bay window in my bedroom. The office gave me a slightly better view, but I had to crook my neck and decided that would get old within minutes. I dragged a chair, pillows and blankets to the bay alcove and settled in for my first surveillance gig—watching the pros in action.

Cops drink coffee on a stakeout for a reason.

It’s boring. Not just a little bit boring, a whole lot boring.

Shelly’s house didn’t do anything but sit there in its white paint and dark green trim. I must have nodded off, because the deep purr of an expensive motor startled me into spilling cold coffee down the front of my shirt. I jerked to attention, peered out the window.

A black Town Car had parked in front of Shelly’s house, and a uniformed driver stood at her front door. Shelly answered.

Whoa.

How did she get back here? Must have been when I nodded off. Damn. I kept watching, ticked that I’d missed such a major switch in plans until Shelly tucked her hair behind her ear.

I schwinched up my eyes, taking in every movement. It was Annie, not Shelly. Had to be. The way the woman moved wasn’t all Annie, but not all Shelly either. If Annie’d had more than an hour to observe Shelly, I bet she’d have pegged the minor nuances perfectly.

The driver took her bag, circled to the trunk, bent over, and crumpled to the ground. So that’s what Annie-in-action looked like. She glanced up, winked at me, and I was able to relax for the first time in hours.

Moments later, two Crown Vic’s slid to a stop on either end of the Town Car, spilling out official looking people. When they collected the crumpled driver, his cap fell off and I recognized Messy, a.k.a. Arnie Scott. Hmm, that was interesting. One down and accounted for. I’m not sure exactly what happened after that. There was some movement in the car holding Messy, then Pierce exited wearing the chauffer hat and jacket. He helped Annie into the back seat of the Town Car and they all took off.

End of show.

My phone signaled. I snatched it out of my pocket and answered without checking caller ID. It had to be Annie.

“Hey, Sunshine.”

Not Annie.

“I just landed and I’ll be there in an hour, if that works for you. Want to grab dinner?”

“You’ve only been gone twenty-four hours. How can you be back already? Oh, damn, that sounded all wrong. You know how I totally lose my ability to talk when I get excited. Thank God you’re back. Seriously, you won’t believe what’s been going on. Dinner sounds good, but I can’t leave the house for reasons you won’t want to hear about until you get here. Why don’t you pick up Chinese on your way home, or pizza if that sounds better, maybe some beer? I can tell you about what’s happening when you get here.”

“You’re babbling. That’s a bad sign, and I’m having trouble with the connection. Exactly what are you telling me? Do I need to get Adam or Annie?”

“No. No. They’re working. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. We’ll talk when you get here.”

“Un-huh. How about you call in the order for a pizza, whatever you want on it, and make pick up time at six. I’ll make that easily, but we have to be clear on this one thing—is twenty-four hours too soon? Want me to go home for a few days? We can have dinner later this week?”

“No. Now. Tonight is wonderful. I’m just surprised you’re back already. It’s a long trip…in fact, you couldn’t have made it there and back—”

“My assignment was cancelled partway through. Weather played a big part in the decision. Other than that, no comment.”