Maybe Baby (15 page)

They paused to look at him. Finn tried to replace his grimace with a smile.

“Right. Lady present. Sorry.” They continued to stare at him. Finn nodded encouragement. “Don’t mind me, really. Continue with the discussion. Please.”

She turned back to Leather Man and let out an exasperated sigh. “So, what are you saying? That this is a coincidence? Wrong place, wrong time?”

“Let me put in a vote for that theory,” Finn said, staring down at the tape on his arms. It was definitely time to start bartending again. Maybe Aldo would hire him back at the Liar’s Den. Finn bit the inside of his cheek and slowly turned his wrist under the tape, causing more prickles of fire.

Leather Man put his hand on her arm. “If he was with whoever took Babs, he’d know who we were. Also, it was a man and a woman on the phone, and already I can tell that this guy is smarter than the guy I talked to on the phone.”

Probably not by a wide margin,
Finn thought as he struggled against the duct tape. Christ. He should have listened to his guidance counselor and become an accountant. Finn yanked the last hairs off his wrist and gained a little mobility, but the tape was still too tight for him to slide his hand under.

Shit.

The woman sighed. “So, maybe this guy is a lackey.”

“Lackey?”
Finn muttered under his breath. “What is this, a Bogart film?”

“Maybe.” Leather Man glanced at Finn, then back to the woman. “But why send the lackey in to steal the bird they’re getting tomorrow anyway? Why would they go to that trouble?”

She threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t know. Despite my association with you, I’m not an expert in the deranged workings of the criminal mind.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” His eyes narrowed. “You think I’m a criminal?”

Finn pulled his arm up as far as he could. The tape stretched a little, which was good, but not enough, which was bad. And there was still the problem of his ankles…

The quiet got his attention. He looked up to see them staring each other down,
High Noon-
style. This could be good. If they took it to the bedroom, Finn just might have a shot of getting out of here without major bodily injury. He decided to keep still. His chances were greatest if they forgot he was there.

Leather Man was the first to speak. “I’m not a criminal. What I do—which I do for
your mother,
by the way—is almost always perfectly legal.”

Great. So Mrs. McGregor was a crime boss now?

“Fucking birds,” Finn muttered.

“I know.” She sighed, still talking to Leather Man. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…”

“All I’m saying,” Leather Man said slowly, “is that we can question this guy all night, but I don’t think it’s going to get us anywhere.”

“So then… what?” she said, sounding helpless.

“We trade the bird in the morning, just like we planned,” he said, running his hand down her arm. They watched each other in silence as Finn watched them, starting to put the pieces together.

Babs Wiley McGregor was being held with the bird as ransom.

Babs Wiley McGregor, by all appearances an extremely wealthy woman, was in need of some assistance.

Finn relaxed a bit. Whatever he’d stumbled into tonight was not going to be easy to get out of. But there was a quarter million dollars of bird out on that porch and a very rich woman in jeopardy. One way or another, Finn felt it was a good bet he’d be getting something out of this deal.

And he was definitely a gambling man.

***

Dana threw a glance over her shoulder at the bird thief, who was casually inspecting his bound wrists. She got the feeling he was paying close attention to her and Nick, though. Something in his eyes made her feel like he wasn’t someone you turned your back on. Nevertheless, she turned her back, looked up at Nick, and mouthed,
What now?

“Excuse us,” Nick said to the thief, then placed his hand lightly on the small of Dana’s back and guided her down the hallway into the guest room. Once inside, he flicked on the light and shut the door.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

Dana sat down at the edge of the bed and nodded in the direction of the living room. “You think it’s safe to leave him out there by himself?”

“Unless he’s got lasers that shoot out of his eyes and eat through duct tape, I think we can steal a quick moment, yeah.” Nick leaned back against the door. “You okay?”

“Me?” Dana shrugged. “Let’s see. My mother’s been kidnapped, I’m the proud caretaker of a big, fat, smelly green chicken, and I’ve just duct-taped a bird thief to an office chair.” She pulled on a grin. “I’m super. You?”

Nick gave a small laugh, and Dana couldn’t believe she’d gone six years without making him laugh. It felt so good just to amuse him. How could she have forgotten how good that felt?

“Believe it or not, this is not out of the ordinary for Babs.” He paused. “Well, minus the kidnapping.”

“And she wonders why I don’t come down more often.” As soon as the words were out, Dana regretted saying them. Whatever was between her and her mother didn’t matter now; she just wanted her home safe. “So, what’s next?”

“You go out there and good-cop him.”

Dana feigned a shocked expression. “Isn’t that illegal in some states?”

Nick shot her an unamused look. “Take him out on the terrace. Give him a smoke. Talk to him. Be his buddy. See if he knows anything about Babs.”

“And if he does?”

Nick shrugged. “If he can tell us where she is, we go get her. Otherwise, we make the trade in the morning, as planned.”

“In which case I have to find a socially graceful way to de-duct-tape a strange man. And me without my Emily Post.”

He grinned. “If anyone can do it, you can.”

“Damn straight.” Dana pushed up off the bed, then paused, deciding to address the thing that had been bugging her. “You know, what I said about you being a criminal… I didn’t mean…”

Nick made a dismissive face. “Oh. Yeah. I know.”

“It’s just that we have to be divided in order for good-cop, bad-cop to work, right?”

“Yeah. Right. Absolutely. So when you go out there—”

She touched him on the arm. “I mean it. I didn’t mean it.”

He smiled. “I know.”

She smiled back. “Okay. So while I’m out there charming the figurative pants off our little friend you will be…?”

Nick’s eyes got serious. “I’ll be right inside ready to beat the hell out of him if he gives you any trouble.”

“Good plan.” She put her hand on the doorknob, but Nick didn’t move. “You can double-check me on this, but I think I need to be able to get out of this room in order for your master plan to work.”

Nick watched her, still not moving.

“About before,” he said finally, the sides of his mouth quirking up as he kept his eyes on a point decidedly to Dana’s left.

Dana pulled her hand off the doorknob. “I thought you said you weren’t mad about that.”

“I’m not talking about
that
before.” His eyes raised to hers, the little sparkle lighting them at the edges. “The
other
before.”

“Oh.” Dana blinked, couldn’t help but smile a little. “Which before are you talking about? By-the-elevator before? Hotel-room before? Or out-on-the-terrace before?”

He let out a small chuckle. “Good point.”

Dana sighed, thought for a moment. “I don’t know what to say about before. Any of the befores. I think I need to sleep and eat and get my mother out of quasi-mortal danger before I’ll even begin to know what to say about the befores.”

“Yeah,” he said. “That’s what I meant. I just wanted to say, don’t worry about it.”

Dana raised her eyebrows. “
Don’t worry about it?
What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just what you said. We’ve got other things—”

“Let me tell you something, Nick. There are a lot of perfectly acceptable things to say about a kiss.
We’ll talk about it later
works.
I just couldn’t help myself because you were so irresistible
is a start.
Don’t worry about it
is basically the post-kiss equivalent of
Assume crash positions.”

Nick thunked his head against the door and looked at the ceiling. “I had to open my mouth…”

“I mean, if you tell me not to worry about it, then there’s obviously something to worry about, and granted, our whole situation here makes Courtney Love look stable, but—”

He reached behind her neck with one hand and kissed her, long and deep, then pulled back, resting his forehead on hers as he caressed her jaw line with his thumb.

“So,” she said when she got her breath back, “was that because I’m so irresistible you just can’t resist me, or because you wanted to shut me up?”

“Little of both. Now go do your thing so we can get rid of that guy and”—he paused, his fingers still on her face, making Dana’s knees go weak—“start worrying.”

She laughed and looked up into his eyes and thought,
I love this man.
It felt less like an earthshaking revelation and more like someone finally took the blinders off. It was at that moment she knew she absolutely had something to worry about.

“Oh, God,” she said under her breath.

Nick’s eyebrows quirked together. “You okay, Diz?”

No. I’m assuming crash position.

“Sure,” she said, nudging him out of the way and pulling the door open. “Never better.”

***

Babs knelt in front of her door and leaned one ear against the wood as she fiddled with the bobby pins. It had been a while since she’d picked a lock, but her understanding was that it was a lot like sex.

Or riding a bike.

She still couldn’t believe Vivian had actually brought her bobby pins. Idiot. For someone so manipulative, Viv sure did have her blind spots.

Click.
One tumbler down, three to go. Babs angled the second pin while holding the first where it was, smiling as she worked the lock. Despite the fact that she was thoroughly pissed off at Gary and Vivian, and she was worried about Dana being worried about her, she had to admit that part of her was enjoying the adventure. She’d always said, a little danger and intrigue was good for the soul.

Click.
Babs chuckled to herself. She’d forgotten how much fun picking a lock could be. She’d found someone to teach her how a few years back, and it had become something of a hobby since. She’d successfully gotten past all the locks in her home and had even taught Nick.

Recently, she’d given it up for knitting, but she had to admit, it was coming in a lot more handy right now than a pair of baby booties would. Especially considering the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot of hope for grandchildren at this point. But that was a worry for another day.

Click.
Three tumblers down.

One to go.

She worked the lock for another moment, then there was a click and Babs smiled as she stepped out of that stupid room and padded out into the hallway.

Oooh,
she thought to herself as she headed down toward Vivian and Gary’s bedroom,
I’m gonna enjoy this very, very much.

Sixteen

Dana pulled the last of the tape off the bird thief’s right arm, then glanced through the window at Nick, who sat on the couch with his arm over his eyes. He wasn’t sleeping, she knew. He was listening. Not that he could hear what they were saying out there, but all Dana had to do was yell his name and he’d be out there bad-copping that thief right over the terrace wall.

It was nice to know.

The thief raised his newly freed arm and shook it out.

“Ah. The joy of circulation.”

He grinned at her, and Dana couldn’t help but smile back. He was younger than her and Nick, although probably not by too much. Mid- to late twenties, maybe. Light red hair spiking out from his head in product-induced gravity defiance. The subtle beginnings of laugh lines at the edges of his eyes. The whole bird-thief thing aside, he seemed nice, not scary like the big, bald guy. As far as break-ins went, they definitely could have done worse. Dana shook a cigarette out of the pack and handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he said. “I owe you one.”

Dana flicked the lighter and held the flame to the tip of the cigarette. “Then tell me what you know about my mother.”

The thief watched her as he inhaled deeply, then released a stream of blue smoke before smiling at her. “I’m Finn, by the way.”

He tucked the cigarette into the hand of his still-bound left arm, then held his right hand out to her. Dana stared at it for a moment, shrugged and shook it.

“I’m Dana. That’s Nick. Where’s my mom?”

He gave her a sympathetic smile, and Dana felt like a bit of a sucker for totally buying it.

“I really don’t know. She came in, ordered supplies, and left. I didn’t see anyone take her. That’s all I’ve got. Sorry.” He grabbed the burning cigarette with his free hand and lifted it to his lips, motioning toward the bird with his head. “I do, however, know something about that bird there.”

Dana looked over her shoulder at the bird. “Really? Does it taste like chicken?”

“Doubt it.”

“Looks like chicken.”

He chuckled. “Can’t argue with you there.”

“Smells like fruitcake on fire.”

“You’re really big on the tangents, aren’t you?”

She turned back to face him and raised an eyebrow. “I’d have myself diagnosed with ADD, but I don’t have the patience for the testing.”

Finn chuckled and took another drag off his cigarette, eyeing the bird as he did.

“If you don’t mind my asking, how did you get a hold of a Kakapo in the first place if you don’t even know what it is?”

The very thought of explaining it all exhausted Dana. “It’s a long story.”

Finn smiled, glanced down at his taped arm. “Doesn’t look like I’m going anywhere.”

Dana let out a small laugh. “Guess not. My mom, she does these favors for people and… I don’t know. I don’t really understand what she does or why she does it. I never have.”

Finn nodded. “No one ever understands their parents.” He grinned at her, shrugged. “For what it’s worth, she seemed like a nice lady.”