Learning to Drive... Him Crazy (15 page)

"That sounds good. Thank you, Cal," Alana
said.

"I appreciate it, too," John said. "Knowing
how uneasy she feels about being here, I'll feel much better
knowing she's with you at your house."

"Not a problem at all, big brother."

Kelli looked at him and said, "I wondered
which one of you guys is older. I knew you had to be close in age.
So John's the older one, huh?"

The brothers laughed and Cal explained,
"Nope, it's kind of our joke since we were in high school. He's a
year younger than me, but he's half an inch taller than me. He
pointed out that technically he's the big brother, being
bigger."

The girls giggled as Alana said, "So big
brother isn't necessarily synonymous with older brother?"

"Not in our family," John answered with a
smile.

That was just the thing the four of them
needed to lighten the mood a bit, which was a good way to end the
night.

After Cal and Kelli left, John took Alana in
his arms to say goodnight. "Hey, don't look so worried," he told
her, kissing the end of her nose. "I'll be fine."

"I know you're a good officer, but I—" She
grinned at him mischievously and tried to make her voice sound like
his as she repeated something he'd told her a few times. "I
wouldn't worry about you so much if I didn't care about you."

He laughed out loud at her antics. "I have
to say I know how you feel," he said quietly. "But I'll be careful,
I promise. Then you and Kelli can be the heroes that overheard
something you knew wasn't right and went to the police department
with it, which led to us catching the jewel thieves that have been
alluding everyone for some time now."

"I don't want to be a hero," she said.

"We can keep you and Kelli anonymous if you
want."

"I'd much prefer that, and I'm sure she
would, too."

"We can do that," he assured her. "I'll bet
there's something else you won't want, either."

She cocked her head to the side, thinking.
"What's that?"

He had a stern expression on his face as he
answered, "The very sound spanking you're going to get after this
is all over, for being at Newjangles that day to begin with."

She laid her face on his chest and burrowed
into his arms, liking how they felt wrapped around her. "I really
am sorry, John."

"Sorry you went or sorry you got
caught?"

"Both," she said honestly, "but mostly sorry
I went. Especially after all this happened," she admitted.

"We'll talk about it more after this is all
over," he said, "but first things first. I say we don't even think
about it until tomorrow night's over."

"I agree. Please call me as soon as you can
when it's over tomorrow."

"I will, honey, I promise. And I'll go over
to Cal's as soon as I can, as well, so you can see for yourself
that I'm fine."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." He leaned down and kissed
her, taking control of the kiss from the beginning. He knew it made
her feel secure when he took command of a situation, though he
wasn't sure she'd realized it yet. He felt her relax in his arms,
and transfer her worry to him. When he ended the kiss, he held her
a moment to be sure she was steady before saying, "I'll be fine
tomorrow, honey. Don't worry." She looked much more at ease when he
left.

Alana was glad they weren't real busy at
work Friday because she was having trouble concentrating again. She
woke up early with a weird feeling that she was missing something.
The odd thing was she couldn't figure out what kind of something
she was missing. She wasn't sure if it was something at work,
something she was supposed to do and forgot, or something about
what would be happening tonight. And that's the part that had her
so upset.

John called her shortly after she got back
from lunch. "Hi, honey. How's your day going?"

"It's going okay, except I keep thinking
about you today instead of work."

He chuckled and said, "I mean that much to
you, huh? You can't get me off your mind. A statement like that
does a lot for a man's ego, honey."

She chuckled. "You know what I'm talking
about." Getting serious then, she added, "But you do mean that much
to me, John."

"Thank you, honey, I appreciate hearing
that. You mean just as much to me, too, you know."

"Thank you."

"I don't have long, we're getting ready to
go, but I just had to call and say hi. Don't worry. I'll call as
soon as I can, and I'll see you at Cal's."

"Okay. Thanks for calling, John."

Alana stood staring at her phone after he
hung up. She made it through the afternoon somehow and went home.
She was ready when Cal and Kelli came to get her, but stopped as
she was going out the door. "Just a minute, I forgot one thing.
I'll be right back." She went back and retrieved the ruby from the
wastebasket.

"Why are you taking that?" Kelli asked.

"It makes me feel closer to John
tonight."

Kelli nodded. "I understand. Put it in your
pocket or something, though, to make sure you don't lose it."

Alana thought a moment, then pulled her red
hair back into a ponytail as she went into her bathroom. She came
out a minute or two later with her hair up in a bun on top of her
head. "Okay, I'm ready to go," she said.

Kelli shook her head. "I've always liked
your hair like that, Alana. You know I think it's really cute, but
tell me you didn't."

"Yep, it's in the middle of it," Kelli
assured her. "As thick as my hair is, it'll never fall out."

Cal looked skeptical. "Are you sure?"

"Trust me, Cal. It's safer there than it is
in my pocket."

"Okay, if you're sure."

Twenty minutes later they were at Cal's
house, setting out the meal they'd stopped to pick up.

Alana was quiet during their meal, even
though Cal and Kelli both tried to involve her in the conversation.
Cal asked her, "Do you suppose if we put your meal in the
refrigerator you'd eat it later, after John gets back?"

She looked up at him vaguely. "I'm sorry,
did you say something to me?"

Cal studied her a minute and said,
"Something's bothering you, isn't it? I mean, not just that John's
at that stakeout tonight. What's wrong?"

Giving up any attempt at hiding her concern,
Alana got up and started pacing as she explained, "I'm missing
something."

"What do you mean, you're missing something?
You've misplaced something?" Cal asked.

"No. There's something important that I've
forgotten or overlooked."

"Something about the stakeout tonight?"

"I don't know! And it's driving me
crazy!"

Cal thought a few moments. Okay, I've got an
idea. We haven't talked about what you two heard for a couple days.
Why don't you tell me everything you remember happening and
everything you remember someone saying. If there's anything you've
forgotten, if you mention it now maybe it'll jump out at me."

Alana looked leery, but Kelli suggested,
"What do we have to lose? Besides, maybe it'll make the time pass
quicker."

"That's a thought. Okay, sure. I always seem
to start the story, Kelli. You start this time."

"Okay. Jump in there if I forget anything."
Kelli started the story, with Cal and Alana listening carefully.
When she got to the two men's conversation in the back room, right
around the corner from where they were looking at shoes, Kelli
paused.

"What's wrong?" Alana asked.

"I'm trying to remember who said what and in
what order."

"The first thing I remember is when Jansen
said Wilson was supposed to keep looking because The Sarge was
upset."

"Oh, that's right," Kelli agreed. "He said
The Sarge and Dex were not happy at all."

Alana jumped up. "Oh, my gosh, that's it!
That's what I've been missing!"

"What?" Cal asked. "What have you been
missing?"

"He said Dex was upset! Oh, no!"

Alana started to panic, but Cal got up and
went to her. He took her shoulders in his hands and held her steady
while saying, "Calm down, Alana. Take a deep breath and calm
down."

She looked into his eyes and momentarily saw
John. The brothers looked very similar, and for a moment she saw
John's eyes, and it helped her calm down. When she was breathing a
little better Cal said, "That's it, Alana. That's better. Now, what
have you been missing?"

"Dex. Jansen said Dex is upset. Cal, he
could have been talking about John's partner!"

Cal narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking
about? I thought John's partner was Joe."

"It is, but his full name is Dexter Joseph
Decker. He and John grew up together. John said from the time he
started school he went by his middle name. He said he hated the
name Dexter, and he hated Dexter Decker even more. So everyone
called him Joe. When he joined the police force, most people called
him Joe, but some of his superiors that didn't know him called him
Dexter, or shortened it to Dex. John said Joe wasn't about to
correct his bosses, so some of them still call him Dex. Cal, he
could have been referring to Joe."

Alana was starting to panic again, and
pacing. She said, "In fact, they more than likely were talking
about Joe. Who else would be referred to as Dex?" With
panic-stricken eyes she headed quickly for the door. "That would
mean John's partner is in on this! I've got to get down there and
warn him. John could be in real danger!"

Cal took Alana by her shoulders again and
caught her eyes with his. "Alana, listen to me. To help John now,
you have to calm down. Take another breath, and stay calm so you
can help me here."

She knew he was right, and forced herself to
take several deep, calming breaths. "Okay. I'm okay now. Cal, what
can we do?"

"Are you calmed down now? Are you going to
stay here if I let go of your shoulders?"

"Yes, I'll stay here. I'm sorry, Cal. I
panicked."

"That's okay, but promise me you'll stay
calm and stay here. Going down there would put John in way more
danger, believe me."

"Okay, I see that. I'll stay here."

"Okay. Now, the first thing I'm going to do
is call the FBI. I'm sure they'll want to talk to you two, but we
have to do all this very quickly."

Ten minutes later a knock sounded on Cal's
door. He went to the door and opened it after seeing the FBI badge
of the man standing on his porch.

"Come on in, Officer. I'm Cal Humphries,
this is Alana Carpenter and Kelli Anderson."

"Nice to meet all of you. I'm Captain Tom
Wallace. Two more agents will be here within a matter of minutes,
but let's go ahead and get started. We have to move quickly."

They sat down on the couch and Captain
Wallace explained, "We followed this case up until there seemed to
be a connection here locally. Then it was turned over to the local
police department, and they've taken the lead from there. Obviously
that was a mistake on our part. But we do have background
information on the case, so we're not completely in the blind here.
Now, we need to start from the beginning of your involvement to
bring us up to date, but I want to wait for the other two agents.
There's a team of men being assembled even as we speak, and as soon
as we have all the info we'll get them out there."

The doorbell rang again and Captain Wallace
said, "I'll get it, I know who's coming." He went to the door and
came back with two men. "Folks, this is Agent Brad Barstow, and
Agent Larry Kline. This is Cal, Kelli and Alana. Let's all sit down
and get started."

The girls told their story yet again, while
the three men listened and took a few notes. They asked a few
questions, then Captain Wallace made a call. He put his phone on
speaker, and said, "Folks, the man on the other end of this phone
is Lieutenant Ed Berry. He'll be coordinating things from the
office.

"Ed, here's what we have." He relayed
everything to him, along with the ideas he and the two agents at
Cal's house had come up with."

Lieutenant Berry asked, "Is there some way
we can get ahold of John, to let him know what's going on?"

"I can try texting him," Alana offered.

"Texting is probably going to be our most
likely way of reaching him, but I don't want anyone texting
anything that would alert anyone else who saw his phone that we're
on to them. That could put John in danger, if his partner or anyone
else saw it. Is there any way you can get him to call you, but make
sure he knows it's imperative that he's alone when he calls?"

Cal suggested, "When we were kids we used to
play cops a lot and we developed our own sort of code. I could try
that, see if he remembers and picks up on it."

"What was the code?" Captain Wallace
asked.

"If we put something in the message that was
not true but not everyone would know it wasn't true, it meant
urgent. Then the phrase 'when you have a minute to yourself' meant
it was top secret, no one else could know or hear."

Captain Wallace smiled. "You guys were
serious about playing cops."

"John has never wanted to be anything but a
cop. We had quite an elaborate code worked out, and only the two of
us knew it."

"It's actually a pretty good code. Go ahead
and give it a try, see if he responds."

Cal got his phone out and with the help of
the FBI agents they quickly had a text they were all happy with,
and he sent it. It read, 'Call your younger brother when you have a
minute to yourself.' While they waited and hoped for a response,
they talked about their plan, and Lieutenant Berry passed the plans
along to the men they had assembled.

Captain Wallace asked about the ruby, if it
was somewhere safe. Alana offered, "I have it here. I had it hidden
in my apartment, but for some reason that didn't seem right to me,
so I brought it with me."