Bite Me if You Can (16 page)

Straightening, Leigh glanced around the room. Her gaze landed on the phone and paused there. It was noon according to the clock on the desk, which meant it was more than a day since Donny and Morgan had kidnapped her. Her absence would definitely have been noticed by now and people would be worried. She should really call Coco’s and assure Milly—her day manager and best friend—that she was fine. She would also have to make arrangements for someone to replace her as night manager at the bar until she returned.

Her gaze slid back to Lucian and her mouth twisted. Even without asking, she suspected he wouldn’t be pleased if she made the call, but Coco’s was her business, her responsibility. Turning away from the sleeping man, she headed for the door.

Julius immediately got to his feet and lumbered after her. The dog followed her out of the room and along the hall to the kitchen, where he dropped to lay by her feet while she made coffee. There was just enough to brew one more pot, and she was still weary enough to need it.

Leigh’s gaze slid repeatedly to the telephone on the wall by the door as she worked, her thoughts distracted by the call she would need to make. Her staff at the restaurant were the closest thing to family she had. A motley crew of runaway wives and abandoned men, they seemed drawn to Coco’s and considered her family in return... which could be something of a problem at times.

Leigh smiled to herself faintly as she poured water into the reservoir. Troublesome as their affection and attitude could be, she wouldn’t have it any other way. They worked together, played together, and celebrated the holidays together, closing off the restaurant to share a big meal and to open gifts. More important than all that, they cared about and looked out for each other like a family would. Which was rather ironic, she thought now. She hadn’t been looking for family when she’d arrived in Kansas, she’d been fleeing the only family she had left—Kenny, her abusive husband.

She’d actually chosen Kansas City because Kenny had always denigrated it, but in the end she loved living there. With a population under 450,000, it was big enough to have everything, but small enough not to be as dangerous as New York and the other really big cities. She’d found the people warm and welcoming.

Switching on the coffeepot, Leigh turned away, her eyes landing on the doughnut bag sitting in the center of the kitchen table. Crossing the room, she peered inside to see that there were still a couple of walnut crunches left.

When the coffee was ready, she doctored it with sugar and the powdered milk they’d used that morning, then carried the mug to the table and pulled the bag of doughnuts toward her. Julius was immediately at her side, and Leigh smiled faintly at the dog.

“Hungry?” she asked.

Julius inched closer and sat on his haunches as he licked his chops. A sucker for the big-eyed, begging look, Leigh shared the doughnuts with him and decided he was a nice dog. He was a little silly looking with his wrinkly face, was as big as a small horse, and seemed to drool an awful lot, but he was also friendly and well-mannered.

“That’s it,” Leigh announced as she gave him the last bite of doughnut.

Julius accepted the offering, then immediately dropped to lie on the floor as he consumed his last bit of food.

Leigh watched him, then glanced toward the phone, knowing she couldn’t put off the call any longer. Moving to the telephone, she wiped her hands nervously on her borrowed joggers, picked up the receiver and dialed the number to the restaurant.

While eating, she had tried to come up with an excuse to explain her sudden absence and being in Canada. She could hardly leave Canada out of it when she’d have to leave this number with Milly in case there was an emergency, and it was obvious this wasn’t a Kansas number. Since Milly knew she had no family left, claiming she’d been called north by a family emergency wouldn’t work, so she’d settled on the lie that her best friend from Harvard had been in a terrible car accident and she’d rushed up here to offer her support. She hated to lie to Milly, but couldn’t think of any other way to explain her sudden absence.

Unfortunately, when the phone was answered and Leigh told her tale, the silence that followed was so long she knew her lie hadn’t passed muster. She didn’t understand why until Milly finally announced, “The police came to the restaurant with your purse yesterday.”

Leigh felt her heart lurch. Her purse hadn’t burned up in the fire. Donny and Morgan had left it where it fell. The idiots.

“Some lady a block over from your place let her dog out to relieve himself, and when he came back, he brought your purse with him,” she continued. “The woman called the police.”

The German shepherd, Leigh recalled. He must have found it just moments after she was knocked out. He must have carried it home like Lassie. Great.

“Leigh?” Milly sounded concerned.

She forced a laugh and lied. “It was stupid of me. I got the call on my cell phone and was so distressed I guess I dropped my purse when I hurried home. I didn’t even realize it was missing until I got inside, and then I thought I left it at the restaurant and didn’t want to take the time to go back for it.”

Silence echoed down the phone line until Milly finally asked, “How did you buy a ticket to Canada without your credit cards?”

Leigh stiffened, but had always been a quick thinker; living with Kenny had taught her well.

“I have a backup credit card at home. An old habit from when I was on the run from Kenny,” she said. While she’d been on the run, no one had known her circumstances, but Milly now knew all about her past. The woman shared a similar one.

“Uh-huh,” Milly said. “And how did you get in your house? Your keys are still in the purse.”

Leigh licked her lips nervously. “I keep a spare under the flowerpot on the front porch.”

“Your cell phone was apparently in your purse, too. Hard to be distracted by a phone call if your phone is in the purse you leave behind in your haste.”

Leigh sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. Milly was smart. It was why she’d promoted her to manager after buying Coco’s.

“And just how did you cross into Canada without some form of ID?” Milly asked.

Game, set, match, Leigh thought unhappily. Releasing her breath on a sigh, she let her hand drop to her side and straightened her shoulders. “Milly, I’m fine. Really. And I am in Canada, and I’d appreciate it if you’d overnight my purse to me here.”

“The police have it,” Milly said quietly, the tone of her voice saying she was still worried and wasn’t happy.

“The police?” Leigh echoed dully.

“They seemed to think it was all pretty serious. First Donny went missing, then you disappeared and your purse was found lying in the middle of a sidewalk in the early morning hours. Everyone here’s been a bit shook up, wondering who would be next.”

“Of course,” she murmured, her mind racing.

“In fact, the police told us that if you or Donny made contact, we were to find out where you were and have you call them... then we were to call them ourselves,” Milly informed her.

Leigh clenched her fists, hardly aware of the way her nails were digging into her palms as panic crept up on her.

“Do you want the officer’s name and number?”

“Just a minute, I need to grab a pen and paper,” Leigh said, then pressed the phone to her chest. Her mind bounced wildly around inside her head as she tried to figure out what to do. It wasn’t until her gaze landed on the labels beside the speed dial buttons on the phone that her thoughts cleared. The first button was labeled BASTIEN, the second read BASTIEN NY and she distinctly recalled Lucian saying that Bastien was the man to go to when there was a problem.

Well, she couldn’t wait until later in the day. Breathing out slowly, she snatched up the pen that hung from a cord attached to a message board beside the phone, then put the receiver back to her ear.

“Go ahead, Milly. What’s the officer’s name and number?” she asked, then wrote it down as the woman read it out. Leigh made her repeat it once, then told her she’d call her back and hung up. She then lifted the receiver again and immediately pressed the speed dial number for Bastien in New York.

The phone began to ring at once, and Leigh took a deep breath to steady herself, then winced when a sleepy male voice growled, “Hello.” She’d woken him up.

“Hello. Bastien?” she asked.

A grunt of acknowledgment was her answer, and Leigh took another deep breath then plunged in, “I’m sorry I woke you, but it’s important. My name is Leigh Gerard. I’m... er... ” She paused, at a loss, then asked, “I don’t suppose you’ve heard of me?”

“I have if you’re the Leigh my uncle brought back from Kansas,” Bastien answered, sounding suddenly awake and alert. She heard the rustle of material and suspected he was sitting up in bed to take this call.

“Yes, that’s me,” Leigh said, relieved she wouldn’t have to explain who she was.

“Has something happened, Leigh?” Bastien asked. “Are you or Uncle Lucian hurt?”

“Oh, no,” she assured him quickly. “I mean something has happened, but no one’s hurt.” Feeling guilty for waking him and then making him worry, Leigh explained about her phone call and what she’d learned, as well as the unfortunate events she’d set into motion.

“So you see,” she said at the end, “whether I call the police or not, Milly will, and I’m not sure what to do. If I call, they’ll ask all the questions she asked, and I just don’t know how to answer them. But if I don’t call, she’ll no doubt tell them what I said and—”

“I understand, Leigh.” Bastien sounded soothing, then cleared his throat and asked, “Can I ask you how you knew to call me?”

“Oh... ” She hesitated. “Well, Lucian said you were the one to go to if there’s ever a problem. So when I saw your number on speed dial, I... well, I called. I thought you might know what I should do.”

“I see.” There was a pause and then he asked, “Where’s my uncle?”

“Asleep on the library couch,” she answered.

“Right.” She heard more rustling, a lot of it, and suspected he was getting up and getting dressed. “You did the right thing by calling me, Leigh. I’ll take care of this.”

“Oh.” She blinked at the phone. Just talking about it had calmed her and made her feel more in control. Frowning, she said carefully, “I appreciate that, Bastien, but I didn’t mean for you to solve this for me. I was just hoping you might have some idea how I should handle it. I didn’t expect that they’d have left my purse behind so I wasn’t prepared for the questions and—”

“It’s all right, Leigh. Lucian was right when he said I handle these kind of situations all the time.”

“Not for me,” she said quietly. “I’m used to handling my own difficulties.”

Bastien was quiet for a moment, then said, “Leigh, I don’t want to take away your independence, but this is not a situation you’re equipped to deal with yet. A phone call won’t handle this. The officer and Milly and probably several other people at your workplace are going to have to have personal visits. Their memories will have to be altered and partially erased, and your purse retrieved. You’re just starting to turn and can’t do that. I’m afraid you’re going to have to let me help you this time.”

“But—”

“This isn’t just for your sake, but for all of us,” Bastien interrupted. “Anything that draws attention to one of us, draws attention to all of us. Do you understand?”

Leigh let out a slow breath. “I understand.”

“Good.” The tension left his voice at her assent. “Now, you just relax and let me deal with it, and have my uncle call me when he gets up. All right? I may be in transit so have him call my cell phone.”

“All right,” Leigh said quietly, and wrote down the number he rattled off to her, writing Bastien’s cell beside it. “Thank you, Bastien.”

“You’re welcome, Leigh. Keep a copy of that number yourself in case you need me again, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed, then said good-bye and hung up.

Leigh then stood there for a moment, frowning to herself. She really was used to handling her own problems, and wasn’t terribly comfortable passing this one on to someone else. On the other hand, she knew he was right and she wasn’t yet equipped to deal with it.

She considered the phone for a minute, recalling that she’d told Milly she would call her back, then picked up the receiver and dialed the restaurant again.

“Did you call the police?” Milly asked the moment Leigh identified herself.

“I... Yes, but he was on another line when I called,” she lied. “He must have been on the phone with you.”

“Not me. I was caught on the phone myself,” Milly told her. “Donny called.”

“Donny?” Leigh asked sharply.

“Yeah. He called and asked for you.”

“What did you say?” Leigh asked.

“I said you weren’t here, you were visiting a friend in Canada, and then told him to call the police just like I told you.”

“You’re sure it was him?” she asked with a frown. Leigh had assumed that she’d heard the last of Donny.

“As sure as I can be. He’s got a pretty distinctive voice, Leigh.”

She nodded to herself at that comment. Donny wasn’t originally from Kansas City either. He was a transplant from New Jersey with a thick Jersey accent. He’d never told her why he’d moved, and she hadn’t asked. She’d learned during her time hiding out from her husband that it was best not to ask questions of others that you didn’t want asked of yourself. It was a habit that was hard to break now that she was no longer on the run.

“He’s not with you, is he?” Milly asked, and Leigh stiffened in surprise, her hand tightening around the phone.

“No. What would make you think that?” she asked with amazement.

“Well, he went missing, then you did—”

“No, he’s not here. But he’s obviously fine. Don’t worry about him, Milly,” Leigh said, then shifted the conversation to the restaurant. She gave her instructions on who should fill her position as night manager while she was away, discussed expected deliveries and bill payments, as well as orders that would need to be put in over the next couple of days.

It was a long call, made longer by Milly’s constant attempts to pin her down on when she’d be returning. Leigh was evasive and just kept steering the conversation back to business. She had no idea how long this would all take. She hadn’t thought to ask either Lucian or Rachel and Etienne how long a turning took. In the end, she told Milly she’d call her back the next day with a date for her return, then said she was getting off to call the police and hung up.