Defending the Duchess (7 page)

The man had sounded nervous. Relieved to hear from her, pleased to meet with her, but distinctly anxious. Why? Because he was planning something? Because he already had tried something and was afraid of getting caught?

She told herself not to worry too much about it. She’d meet with him and find out what he wanted. If nothing
else, she could see for herself if he fit the description of the man who’d attacked her, and if she didn’t feel safe approaching him, she and Linus would walk away.

Linus had already said he wasn’t going to let her take any more risks. So there was no reason for her to feel frightened. She was getting closer to ending the craziness. Then she could go back to Lydia and be there for her sister
until Monica was back to her usual happy self again.

The drive to her office went quickly. Some of her associates’ cars were parked in the small lot behind the brick and terra cotta three-story law office converted from a townhome. Rather than take the time answering questions about why she was back so soon, she went around to the side door that led to the old servants’ stairs. They reached
her office door and she pulled out her key, unlocking it. Both of them slipped inside before anyone appeared.

She let out a relieved breath.

“You have a knack for clandestine ops.” Linus smiled at her.

“Thanks.” Julia turned her attention to the file cabinet in the corner rather than dwell on the way his compliment sent a rush of warm feelings coursing through her. “This is the
drawer.” She pointed to the bronze handles with their darkened antique patina. “See how these tiny marks have scraped off the finish to the bright brassy color underneath?”

Linus gave the handle a long look. “Amateur job.”

“How can you tell?”

“Do you have a needle or a pin?”

Julia opened the center drawer of her desk and pulled out the emergency sewing kit she’d kept there
ever since the hem on her favorite pencil skirt had started unraveling. She handed Linus the needle.

He winked at her as he took it and slipped it into the keyhole of a different file drawer. A moment later, he pulled the once-locked drawer open. “See? Not a scratch.”

“Impressive. Where’d you learn to do that? Part of your royal guard training?”

To her surprise, Linus looked genuinely
embarrassed. “To be honest, I didn’t always work on this side of the law.” He met her eyes and breathed out slowly, as though it pained him to say the words. “I went through a rebellious phase during my teens.”

Julia realized his implication, though she found it somewhat difficult to believe. “You were a criminal?”

Linus hung his head slightly. “I have a criminal record.”

“I thought
royal guards had to have spotless records. Monica talks about the guards as though you guys are perfect.”

“I’m far from perfect.” Linus caught her eyes again. “Your sister doesn’t know about my record. It all happened when I was a juvenile. The old head of the guard didn’t check records that far back, or he’d have found it.”

“What about the new head of the guard?”

“He knows. He
also respects my service record and the fact that the guard is shorthanded right now, so he hasn’t said anything yet.”

“Yet?” Julia tried to reconcile her feelings with the circumstances. Even though her convictions told her that King Thaddeus and Queen Monica ought to know if one of their guards had a criminal record, at the same time, she feared what that might mean for Linus. What if they
let him go? Who would guard her then?

Linus pinched his lips in a firm line. It took him a moment to say the words. “Jason has promised to raise the issue the next time I come up for review—which won’t be until next spring, unless I do something that would prompt a review before then.” He shook his head as though to shake off the ominous tone of their discussion. “It doesn’t matter. Right
now we need to focus on who’s after you.”

Julia wanted to protest, to insist that it did matter, very much so, but she didn’t know how to explain why she felt so strongly—not without confessing that she preferred him to the other guards. And those were complicated feelings she wasn’t certain of herself.

Besides, Linus seemed eager to change the subject. “None of the other drawers were
tampered with?”

She let him redirect their conversation. “Not that I could tell. There were no other marks or broken locks.” She gave the handle in question a hard tug, and the drawer came open. “See? Whatever they did messed up the internal mechanism. This one has been loose ever since.”

“But it wasn’t loose before?”

“Definitely not. These drawers came with the office. They can
be pretty hard to open, even unlocked. I spent my first couple of months here getting used to opening them. I sometimes needed help.”

“Who helped you?”

“Other lawyers. Whoever was around. Usually Doug Palmer or Scott Gordon from across the hall.” She pulled a framed picture from the shelf. Taken at the law office Christmas party, the enlarged snapshot showed everyone involved in their
practice. “Doug—” she pointed to the salt-and-pepper-haired older lawyer “—and Scott.” The younger man was closer to her age.

Linus looked at the picture for a long moment. “Do Doug and Scott know how you arrange your files?”

She nodded and pointed to the label on the drawer front. “Each case has a name. I keep them alphabetized.”

“Very straightforward,” Linus said musingly. “Does
anyone else have keys to your files?”

“No. Each lawyer has a unique set of file cabinets with their own key. I keep mine on my key ring. I would have had them with me.”

He nodded slowly. “If they’d had a key, they wouldn’t have scraped up the lock or broken the mechanism. What about a key to your office?”

“The secretary has a spare key to all the offices. She keeps them on a set
of hooks inside a cabinet of her credenza. We all know where they are.”

“And your door didn’t show any sign of forced entry.”

“Not that I noticed. But then, I didn’t realize anything was amiss until I saw the violet.” At that reminder she turned to her windowsill, but of course, the plant wasn’t there. She’d taken it home for Mary to water with the others. From what she’d seen of the
toppled pots and dirt, the cheery flowers that had brought her so much joy were now crushed.

Her thoughts on her ravaged plants, Linus caught her by surprise with his next words.

“So, one of your coworkers could have used the spare key to enter your office. They would have known which drawer to search, but they would have had to break into the drawer. Correct?”

Julia stared at him,
trying to come to terms what he was suggesting. “One of my fellow lawyers?” She looked at the picture she still held between them and examined the smiling faces of her peers.

Was the break-in at her office connected to the attacks in Lydia and the damage at her home? Could one of these people—who she worked alongside and trusted—really have acted so violently?

With newly opened eyes,
Julia examined the picture of the eighteen people she worked with at the practice. The tallest men stood in the back row. She wondered if any of them were six-foot-two, or close to it. Probably three or four of them, though she’d never thought much about their heights before. She might pay more attention in the future.

She let out a long breath and finally admitted, “Yes. Any of the people
in this picture could have entered my office and broken into this file. But why would they?” She met his eyes.

Linus looked at her apologetically. “I don’t know why anyone would want to hurt you.” His voice was soft, caring. Maybe even the tiniest bit in awe of her.

Why would Linus be in awe of her? She searched his face, wondering if she’d misunderstood. If anything, she was in awe
of him. If it hadn’t been for Linus, she’d have been carried off from the Lydian beach. A shudder raced through her at the memory.

Linus saw her shiver. For a moment, he looked as though he was about to extend his arms, to draw her against him.

She’d welcome that.

But instead, he broke her gaze and turned to the files. “Your attacker mentioned wanting a file. Let’s look in the file
drawer.”

“Yes.” She pushed back the longing to be held by him, and instead pulled open the drawer. Everything she had on the Seattle Electronics case was inside a file in the drawer, along with many other cases she’d covered that began with similar letters.

She flipped through the files, providing Linus with a concise summary of each until her fingers touched the
Seattle Electronics
vs. Pendleton
file. “I suppose we should scour the contents?”

“Please.”

Julia laid out the file on her desk, pulling out the contents and explaining each one. “Here’s the engine design in question.” The document was pages and pages long, with a complicated blueprint attachment dizzying in its complexity. There were more pages of the patent information, along with a copy of Fletcher Pendleton’s
contract which specified that everything he designed for Seattle Electronics was owned by Seattle Electronics. “Here’s a brochure about Motormech.” The glossy full-colored pamphlet slipped easily between the pages.

Linus picked it up and paged through it. “Motormech is a huge company. Wouldn’t they know better than to try to buy a design from one of Seattle Electronics’s engineers? Or did
Pendleton approach them under the understanding that he owned the rights?”

“I never thought to ask who started it.” Julia shook her head, wishing she’d been more suspicious then. But she’d been new to the practice and so focused on all the legal details of the case that she hadn’t thought about the larger story. Maybe she could ask Pendleton about it when they met with him that evening. She
glanced at the clock and sighed. “We should get moving if we’re going to meet my parents.”

“Can we take this file with us?”

“Sure.” She scooped them up. “You can look these over. I can drive this time—I need something else to think about to get my mind off all this.”

“Sure thing.” He took the file as she handed it to him. “Julia?” He asked as she pushed the file drawer closed.

“Hmm?”

“You’re handling this all very well.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of his words.

Linus added, “You’re going to get through this just fine.”

Much as she appreciated his kind words, she was still processing all that she’d learned, including the revelation that the guard who seemed so perfect had a criminal past. “I sure hope so.”

SEVEN

“D
o you think it’s wise to let my parents help us at the house?” Julia asked as they neared her home. “I don’t want to put them in danger.”

Linus could hear the fear in her voice and wished to calm her, but at the same time, he couldn’t ignore the danger of returning to the house—especially now that they’d let on to Fletcher that Julia was back in town. If Fletcher suspected
anything about their meeting plans that night, he might try to strike ahead of time.

But Linus saw no need to scare Julia with that possibility. There was nothing to be gained by letting her get upset. He tried to assuage her fears. “There’s strength in numbers. Whoever broke into your house has already left, and they’re not likely to return with the four of us here. Besides, if the intruder
has been watching the place, then they’ll know the police came by once already. They ought to think twice about approaching us for fear that the police might return.” Even as he spoke, Linus realized how hollow his reassurances sounded. The simple truth was, the house wasn’t completely safe. But until they caught whoever was after her, no place would be safe.

He’d just have to be extra watchful.

“My folks are already here.” Julia’s voice trembled slightly as they pulled up to the house.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Linus asked.

“Not really,” she admitted, “but waiting won’t help anything.” As Julia climbed from the car, her mother met her with a hug, followed by her father, who embraced her, as well.

Linus approached slowly, giving them space. He’d seen Dr.
and Mrs. Miller when they’d visited Lydia previously, but they hadn’t been formally introduced. Julia took a step back and made the introductions.

Richard Miller’s hand closed over his as he pumped his arm with a firm grip. “I hear you saved my daughter’s life. Thank you.”

“Just doing my job.”

Sheila Miller stood by her husband. “We’re so very glad you did. I’ve been so worried
about both my girls.” The doctor’s wife looked as if she might cry.

“We’re going to get everything sorted out,” Linus assured her quickly, wishing he had a more concrete guarantee to give her.

He trailed the family into the house and offered to take care of the rotting food in the kitchen. It wasn’t the most likely spot to find a clue, but he wouldn’t know what was out of place or missing,
and he didn’t want Julia dealing with the nasty mess. Besides, the intruder had avoided the front door before—it was in full view from the street. An attack would most likely come from the well-shaded rear of the property. By cleaning up the kitchen, Linus positioned himself between the Millers and the most likely line of attack.

While he cleaned, he couldn’t help hearing the Millers’ conversation
in the next room. Sheila Miller was as concerned about Monica as Julia had been, and wanted an update from her daughter on how the newly crowned queen was faring.

“I’m so worried about her.” Julia’s voice was full of regret. “I was supposed to be in Lydia making this transition easier for her. Instead I’ve given her more to worry about.”

“You didn’t choose this,” her father consoled
her.

“I know, Dad. But I’ve got to make it stop. I keep thinking about Monica and how radiant she looked the day she and Thaddeus renewed their wedding vows. I want the world to see her that way.”

“They will, Julia,” Sheila said with forced confidence, then made a sound that was nearly a giggle. “You don’t think she’s pregnant, do you?”

“Monica?” Julia sputtered. “She and her husband
have only been reunited for a little over two months after six years apart.”

“It’s possible. She was pregnant with Peter after only being married for a matter of weeks.”

“True, but don’t you recall how vibrant she looked when she was pregnant with Peter? And that was even with her husband gone into hiding, and Monica not telling anyone about him.”

“That’s right.” Sheila sighed.
“Maybe I’m just eager to have more grandchildren.”

There was a slight pause, and then Linus heard Julia’s almost-exasperated voice. “Don’t look at me! I’m in no position to bring a child into the world.” A hint of desperation carried through the last of her words, and Linus could imagine her looking at the chaos inside her house, and wondering how she’d ever get her life back on track so
she could move forward.

He wanted so much to help her get her life back. She didn’t deserve all the trouble that had come her way.

“We’ll get this mess cleaned up,” Richard Miller assured his daughter. “And we’ll keep praying. We got Peter back,” he referred to the young prince being kidnapped by Lydia’s enemies at the start of the summer and held for two days before they’d brought down
the conspirators who’d taken the boy. “God will bring us safely through this trial, as well.”

Linus felt the challenge behind Julia’s father’s faithful words. He, too, wanted to give Julia her life back. They’d be meeting with Fletcher Pendleton in a matter of hours. And then?

Maybe then they’d have some answers.

* * *

“Where is he?” Julia’s impatience increased as they circled
the park for the sixth time. She checked her watch. Fletcher Pendleton was over fifteen minutes late.

If nothing else, they were getting some decent exercise after sitting on their flight and in the car. But the sun dipped low in the west, and bats began to circle overhead. She’d been nervous enough about meeting the eccentric engineer in daylight.

She didn’t want to face him in the
dark. How would Linus be able to tell if Pendleton’s eyes were the right shade of brown if it was too dark to see the man clearly?

“That’s the third police cruiser that’s gone past,” Linus noted.

“Good. Maybe if they’re patrolling the area, they’ll be nearby if we have to call for help.”

“I think they’re headed somewhere. They’ve all gone that direction.”

“Pendleton’s house
is that way.” Julia stopped walking and looked up at Linus. She still had the engineer’s address among her records and had selected the park in part because it was close to where he lived. But why were police cars swarming that direction?

Linus looked wary. “Why don’t we swing by Pendleton’s house?”

“Good idea.” Julia hurried back to the car, telling herself there was no connection and
no reason for haste. There were dozens of houses along those streets. The cruisers could be headed to any of them or none of them. And yet, her heart had started thumping with such force that she struggled to get the key in the ignition of the car.

Linus leaned toward her and touched his fingers to her hand. “Lord, protect us and keep us safe. Amen.”

His bass voice rumbled with steady
reassurance, and Julia’s fingers stilled their trembling enough for her to start the car. “Thank you for that prayer. I’m starting to fall in love with that Psalm. Which one did you say it was?”

“The twenty fifth.”

“I wonder how the rest of it goes.”

Linus’s low chuckle caught her off guard.

“What?” She glanced at him as she turned onto the long street that bore the same name
as Pendleton’s address. A few blocks more and they’d be there.

“I could almost recite it for you,” Linus explained, but his voice tensed as they neared Pendleton’s house.

Police cruisers sat silent in the street, their lights piercing the night.

“Which house?” Julia asked.

“Eighty-two fifty-three, eighty-two fifty-five,” Linus read the numbers of the houses as they slowed to
a stop short of the house where the cruisers sat.

“That’s got to be Pendleton’s house.” Julia watched in horror as an officer took a roll of yellow crime scene tape and cordoned off the yard. “Oh, no,” she nearly groaned, turning to Linus in vain hope that he might tell her she’d misinterpreted what she saw.

But the frustration in Linus’s brown eyes told her he feared the same thing.

A middle-age couple hovered on the sidewalk in front of the house next to Pendleton’s, peering from a distance at the activity beyond the crime tape.

“I’m going to find out if they know anything.” Linus gestured to the couple. “Want to come?”

“Sure.” Julia wasn’t eager to hear what she feared the couple might tell them, but she needed answers. And she didn’t want to be alone in the
car, especially not with the foreboding activity that was unfolding like the yellow crime tape in front of them.

Fortunately, the woman on the sidewalk seemed bursting to tell what she knew.

“Noreen called it in. She heard the shots,” the woman began without preamble, pointing to a salty-haired woman who stood near the rear garage, deep in conversation with one of the police officers.

“Shots?” Julia clarified, her stomach sinking.

“Yes. Three of them. She was in her kitchen when she heard them. When she came out to see, a car drove off. Had me on the phone by then. I told her to call the police.”

“Did she get a look at the car?” Linus asked.

“Blue Toyota.”

“Any idea of the model or year?”

“I don’t think Noreen knows her cars enough to say model
or year. She couldn’t see the plates, either, because the bushes were in the way,” the woman explained. “Then she went to see if Fletcher was all right and found his body by the back door.”

“No!” Julia had feared as much since the moment she’d seen the police at Fletcher’s house, with no sign of the engineer himself. Still, she shook her head slowly and fought against the denial that rose
up inside of her. Fletcher couldn’t be dead. How were they ever going to learn why he’d wanted to meet with her? How could he answer her questions if he was dead?

Unanswered questions flooded her thoughts with a cascade of dread. She’d feared Fletcher had wanted to harm her, but if he’d been murdered, that didn’t likely mean she’d be safe now. No, it likely meant Fletcher hadn’t been the
one after her at all. Had the same party been after them both? Was that why Fletcher had wanted to meet with her?

The middle-age man had been glowering the whole time the woman told her story. Now he spoke, though Julia only listened with half an ear, as if everything was happening on a television program she wasn’t sure she wanted to watch anymore.

“It’s a shame, but maybe now all this
nonsense will end,” the man pronounced.

“What will end?” Linus clarified.

“Police here all the time.” The man waved his hand at the cruisers as if to erase them.

“The police have been to Fletcher’s house before?”

“Oh, yes,” the woman explained. “I didn’t understand why at first. I tried to get Fletcher to explain it to me. He said he thought someone had broken into his house,
but nothing was taken. Just a few little things out of place. I thought he was going off his rocker. His eyes looked shifty, like a crazy person. The whole thing gave me the creeps.”

The man grunted. “But the last couple times whoever broke into his house tore the place apart. He had to buy new furniture. When they broke in again, they sliced that up, too. I bought a new security system for
my house, but no one’s ever bothered us.”

“I think they were after Fletcher, dear.” The woman placed her hand on the man’s arm. “I think they finally got what they were after.”

“Maybe.” The man didn’t seem the least bit comforted. “They went to a whole lot of trouble to get it. What’s this going to do to property values in the neighborhood?”

More curious onlookers approached, and
the couple shuffled over to meet them and repeat their story. Julia turned to Linus. She couldn’t keep the fear from her face. Her office had been disturbed, but nothing taken. Then her house was ransacked. Fletcher’s experiences had followed a similar pattern.

Was Fletcher’s murderer going to come after her next?

“Let’s get back in the car.” Linus took her arm and turned her back toward
the vehicle.

She didn’t realize how much she needed his support until she tried to take a step. She wavered unsteadily and Linus wrapped an arm around her waist to prop her up.

The warmth of his touch stilled the cold dread inside her. She looked up and met his eyes, grateful to have him there. In spite of his revelation about his criminal past, she trusted Linus completely. Right now
he was the only thing keeping her from melting into a sobbing puddle.

“I can drive,” he offered, taking the keys she still gripped in one hand.

“Thank you.” She sank into the passenger seat as he lowered her gently down.

“I’m not going anywhere in particular,” Linus confessed as he turned onto a busier street.

“That’s okay. I don’t want to head to my parent’s house. What if
Fletcher’s murderer—” Her voice caught, and she found she couldn’t muster up any more words.

Linus cast her a commiserative glance before returning his attention to the road. “The neighbor said the killer fled in a blue Toyota. I don’t see a car like that right now, but I’ll keep my eyes open in case one starts to follow us. In the meantime, can you get on your phone and look up the flights
to and from Lydia in the next twenty-four hours?”

“Sure.” Julia felt grateful to have something to do besides sit there and worry. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking you need a double guard 24/7. Either we need to get some more guards over here, or you and I need to get back to Lydia where you’ll have some protection.”

Though going to Lydia hadn’t kept her completely out of
harm’s way the first time around, Julia nonetheless felt drawn to the idea. If her attackers had taken the next flight out of Lydia, they could have made it to Fletcher’s house in time to pull the trigger. If she and Linus left quickly, maybe they could stay one step ahead of whoever was after her. She’d be safe—if only for the time it took until the next flight arrived in Lydia.

She pulled
up the flight information, but as the words and numbers filled the screen, another thought occurred to her. “Linus?”

“Yeah?”

“Scott drives a blue Toyota.”

* * *

Linus clenched the wheel a little harder, imagining the smiling face of Julia’s fellow lawyer from the staff picture in Julia’s office. The man would have been able to break into Julia’s office easily. He had access,
but what might his motives be? “Did Scott ever interact with Fletcher that you know of?”