Cries in the Night (16 page)

It was almost six o’clock before she left and already dark outside. Her car was parked in the police lot, and she walked out with half a dozen others. Traffic wasn’t too bad, so it didn’t take long to get home. She was surprised to see lights were on inside her house and Rusty’s SUV was still in the driveway. Again, she maneuvered around it to get into the garage and walked into the house, not really knowing what to expect.

She had been a little uncomfortable leaving someone she barely knew in her house this morning. It was more unnerving to have him still there when she returned.

This first thing she noticed was a new back door. Rusty, now fully dressed but still looking incredibly good, was screwing on a new, heavy-duty deadbolt.

“Hey, how did it go today?” he asked, looking up at her with a grin.

“It went fast,” she said. “You didn’t have to do all this.”

“I know, but I like doing stuff like this. My condo is pretty new, so it doesn’t need a lot of maintenance.” He stood back and admired his handiwork. “What do you think?”

Julie studied the new steel door that had replaced her flimsy wooden one. But even more than that, he had taken out the entire wooden frame and installed a metal one that would resist all but the most professional assaults. The lock had an extra-long latch and a keypad on the outside.

“Now you don’t need a key, so you can’t lock yourself out.”

“Really? That’s cool. What’s my code?”

“You set it. Right now it’s on the default, so if you punch in your four digits twice, it’ll change to your numbers.” He looked away while she entered her new code.

“Okay,” she said. “All done.”

“Good. The instruction book and a key to use in case the battery runs down are on the table. I changed out the front door, too. You’ll need to set that code. Oh, and you have an alarm system.”

“What?” She looked around and noticed a control box mounted on the wall by the back door. “How …?”

“I called in a favor, and they were able to make room in their schedule to install it today. There are sensors on every window and both doors. Let me show you how to use it.”

She took her checkbook out of her purse. “How much do I owe you?”

Rusty waved it away. “Nothing. I did this for you.”

“No, really. I want to pay you. I know that heavy doors like this aren’t cheap. Plus, all your time. I’m sure there were a lot of things you’d rather have done on your day off.”

He shook his head. “I help out my friends all the time. Consider this a gift.”

She scribbled some numbers on a check, tore it out and held it out to him. “It’s too much for a gift. I have some extra cash this month. I’ll pay you the rest next month, if you don’t mind.”

He hesitated for a moment, but he must have seen the determination in her eyes, so he reluctantly took the check, folded it and put it in the pocket of his jeans. Then he spent the next fifteen minutes demonstrating the system and calling in to set up her password and testing the alarm. Again, she had to choose four numbers to arm and disarm the system and four more for the front door.

“Wow, I can’t believe you did all this in one day,” she told him. “I felt bad leaving you here without any breakfast, and then you do all this. Now I feel awful because I don’t have anything for dinner either.”

He stretched and yawned. “No problem. I’m beat. I’m going to head home, take a hot shower and hit the sack. Your couch wasn’t horrible, but it’s a little small for me.”

A rush of disappointment surprised her. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how glad she had been to see him and think that the evening wouldn’t be as long and lonely as all the others.

“I could open a can of chili or something,” she offered hopefully.

“Nah, I’ll pick up something on the way home.” He flashed her that sexy smile that always made her breath catch in her throat. “Now that I know you’re safe, I’ll get a good night’s sleep. I’m on shift at seven-thirty tomorrow morning.”

Short of begging, which was definitely not an option, there was no way to keep him there. Julie looked at all the work he had done for her and shook her head. “I don’t know how I’m going to be able to thank you for all this. I never thought I needed an alarm, but after yesterday, I’m really glad to have it.”

“Helping people is my job,” he told her, his eyes twinkling.

“I’m overwhelmed,” she admitted, still taking in all the changes.

“You should feel comfortable in your own home,” he told her seriously. “And now I’m going to go feel comfortable in mine.”

Julie stood awkwardly as he passed her. If he had been a handyman, she would have paid him. If he had been her father, she would have given him a hug. If he had been her boyfriend, she would have thanked him with a kiss. She felt like something more was needed, but nothing seemed appropriate.

Rusty seemed to understand and gave her a grin. “Goodnight, Julie. Sleep well.”

She relaxed and returned his smile. “I will, thanks to you.” She stood in the doorway and watched as he backed out of her driveway, then she shut and locked her door, immediately feeling safer at the resounding click of the deadbolt. Cat came up to her and twined through her legs.

“Do you want to go out?” she asked.

As if he understood, he walked away from the door and squatted down next to his food bowl and started crunching on his dinner.

“I guess that means you’re staying in tonight,” Julie said. “I agree. Dinner, first.” She punched in the code on the alarm and felt herself relax as the female voice said, “
Armed, Stay, Instant
.”

Across the street, the white car idled. A man picked up a cell phone, punched in some numbers and said as soon as the other person answered, “She’s home. And she’s alone.”

Rusty’s apartment was dark and cool. He turned the lights on and raised the thermostat by a few degrees. Even though he hadn’t awakened until eight this morning, he hadn’t felt rested. Of course, he slept briefly in other beds, but not for a whole night. And he never slept on anyone’s couch, especially alone.

He took a Styrofoam container filled with a double order of hot wings, opened a beer and flopped down on his favorite recliner. A few clicks of the remote settled on a popular cop show on the TV. As he ate, his attention wandered around the room, touching briefly on the football and bowling trophies and framed photos on the mantle before moving on to a large family photo on an end table his mom had put there when he moved in as a housewarming present. He’d kind of forgotten it was there. Looking at it now made him realize what was missing from Julie’s house.

He hadn’t nosed around. During the course of his inspection of her house when they’d first arrived yesterday and then while he helped the crew install the alarm system, he had spent some time in each room of her house. Something had struck him as odd, but it wasn’t until now that he’d been able to actually put his finger on it.

Julie’s house was completely devoid of any personal items. There were no photos, no mementos, no awards or diplomas. Other than a few pairs of pierced earrings in a small tray on her dresser, she had no jewelry. Her closets weren’t full to overflowing like all the other women he knew. The clothing appeared to be good quality, but not flashy or too dressy. Stranger still, there had been only six pairs of shoes, two neutral pairs of high heels, two pairs of mid-heel everyday shoes, one pair of tennis shoes and a pair of flip-flops. Even he had more shoes than that.

Bottom line, she had left no personal stamp on the house. Any one or no one could have lived there. It wouldn’t take much for her to pack up and move, leaving no sign of herself behind. Or simply disappear and leave it all. Like she had said, there was nothing of any value other than the TV.

It wasn’t normal in his experience for a female to live so simply. He didn’t know what that meant. Was she starting over from something or someone who had left her with nothing? It was unimaginable for him to think that she didn’t spend anything on herself. Was she saving for something special? A trip to Europe? A new car? A wedding?
Her
wedding?

That would explain a lot about her total lack of flirtation. He was used to girls who were all over him, touching him, both innocently and inappropriately, rubbing their bodies against his, flipping their hair and passing him provocative looks. Julie was friendly, but she met his gaze without pretension. He had been a
little disappointed that she hadn’t thrown her arms around his neck and given him a big kiss as a thank you. He certainly wouldn’t have pushed her away.

Of course, he hadn’t done it for her gratitude. He was genuinely concerned for her safety. Being alone in that house made her vulnerable to any nut job out there. And there were plenty of those in Denver.

There were many pieces of the Julie puzzle that didn’t quite fit. Rusty liked puzzles. But he needed to find out about the wedding thing. The one thing he didn’t do was to mark another man’s territory. There were plenty of women out there, and he didn’t need to trespass.

Why then wasn’t he on the phone right now calling Kim or Ava or Lisa? Why was he sitting here, watching reruns and eating hot wings all by himself … and wondering what lucky man was in Julie’s life?

The only male in Julie’s life right now was short and gray with black stripes with fishy breath. He was curled up on the pillow next to her when she woke up the next morning. For several minutes, Julie lingered in the warmth of her bed. She had slept better last night since … well, since as long as she could remember. Finally, a look at the clock reminded her that she had a lot to do today to get things together for the meeting tonight.

She grabbed a granola bar for breakfast, fed Cat and punched in the security code to disarm the system. After putting on her coat and gathering her things, she entered the code again to re-arm the system. As Rusty had explained, she had forty-five seconds to exit, so she didn’t have to hurry. The door closed solidly behind her, and she put a code into the lock pad and turned the bolt. No one would be walking in and out of that door without making some noise.

Julie backed her car down the driveway and stopped at the end. There was a plastic bag with what looked like a phone book in it. She didn’t want to leave it out where the pages would blow litter all over the neighborhood, so she got out to retrieve it.

She noticed the neighbor across the street picking up his newspaper and phone book bag, so she called out, “Need an extra phone book?”

He laughed. “I was about to offer you the same thing. I never use them.”

“Me either. This will go straight to the recycle bin. Too bad we can’t opt out.”

“Yeah, save a tree … or a whole forest,” he agreed.

“I saw you got a new car,” she mentioned.

“Me? No, I’m still driving my old Toyota. And Sue loves her Prius. She drove it to Omaha to visit her mother.”

“Oh. She’s out of town?”

“Yes, since last Friday. She’s supposed to be back on Saturday though.”

“That’s good. I’m sure you miss her.”

He nodded. “The house is quiet without her and the kids.”

“I can imagine. Well, I’ve got to get to work. See you later,” Julie said.

“Me too.” He headed back toward his house.

Julie was frowning as she got back into her car. If the car wasn’t his or his wife’s, then who had been parking across the street from her house? Maybe it had something to do with her break in.