Naughty by Nature (5 page)

CHAPTER THREE

Immediately after
dessert the men headed back down to the den to catch the end of the baseball
game, leaving Tessa and Indie sipping herbal tea at the dining table.  Indie
hardly even gave them time to leave the room before she turned to Tessa.

“So, what do you
think?”  she asked, her eyes eager.  “Isn’t he nice once you get to know him?”

Tessa rolled her
eyes.  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Oh, come on,
Tessa.  Don’t you see he’s not a grump?  Deep down he’s a really nice guy.  You
just have to pull him out of his shell.”

Tessa shrugged. 
“Okay, so he’s not quite the emotionless robot that I thought he was.  But still,
he’s got a long way to go-”

“But at least he’s
trying.”  Indie’s tone said she was getting frustrated with Tessa’s
objections.  “Look how he opened up to us about his past life.”

“I guess you’re
right,” Tessa finally conceded.  “He’s not beyond hope.  In fact-”

She was cut off by
loud whoops coming all the way from the den.  She looked at Indie and shook her
head.  “Men and their baseball.”  But then she noticed Indie’s eyes, which now
gleamed bright with excitement. 

“The game's over,”
her friend said, her voice a whole lot higher than usual.  “Let’s go down and
find out who won.”

Tessa frowned and
stretched a hand toward her teacup.  “I don’t want to know.  I couldn’t care
less.”  But again she was cut off, this time by Indie grabbing her arm.

“Come on, just for
a minute.  I’ve got to see this.”  And then she was up and out of her chair,
pulling Tessa along with her.  And Tessa could splutter and hang back all she
wanted.  Her strength was no match for Indie’s, so like it or not she had to
follow.

“Who won, guys?”
Indie called out even before she got down the stairs.

“The Blue Jays,”
Stone yelled and pumped his fist in the air.

Wolf, too, was
ecstatic.  That much was obvious from his face-splitting smile.

Tessa could only
shake her head.  She would never get it.  What was so great about a baseball
game, anyway?  You’d think their lives were invested in it or something.  Men.

But when Indie
hopped up with a whoop of her own Tessa had to take that back.  Okay, so it
wasn’t just men.  It was men and those really weird women like Indie who lived,
breathed and ate sports.

After all the hopping
and whooping and backslapping were over Tessa finally got a word in.  “All
right, guys, you’ve had your fun.  My turn now.”  She grabbed a seat on the
sofa and reached for the remote control device.

Indie snatched it
up before her fingers even touched the thing.  “Hey, what do you think you’re
doing?”  she demanded.

Tessa frowned.  “I
was planning on surfing channels to see if there are any good shows on.  Before
you grabbed the remote, that is.  Anyway, let’s see if ‘Desperate Housewives’
is on.  Or maybe ‘Grey's Anatomy’.

Indie’s green-eyed
glare was hot enough to scorch Tessa’s face off.  “Hell, no, you’re not
changing this channel.”

“And why not?  The
game's over, isn’t it?”  Tessa glared back.  Her glare could be as hot as
anyone's.

“And there’s another
one starting in two minutes.  So just relax and enjoy the game.”  Indie gave
her a smug grin and slid into the space beside Tessa, making herself
comfortable between her and Stone.  Wolf, who was sitting over in the La-Z-Boy
recliner chair across from them, said nothing but his raised eyebrows and
crooked smile were ample evidence of his amusement.

But Tessa was not
amused.  Actually, she was annoyed with all of them for loving baseball so
much, but especially with Indie for hogging the remote control.  She was sure
that if Indie weren’t there the men would let her change the channel.  But oh
no, Miss Bossy Pants had to take charge.

With a hrmph Tessa
folded her arms across her chest then sat back in her seat and began to think
of all the ways she could make Indie pay for her sin.  She couldn’t very well
punch her on the shoulder.  Indie had a husband to protect her now.  Not that
she couldn’t protect herself but she’d always let Tessa get away with murder. 
Stone might not.

And she should
punish the men, too, for not insisting that she be allowed her way.  After all,
she was a guest, wasn’t she?  But then she also wanted to punish Wolf.  She
didn’t know why, but his sardonic grin was pissing her off big time.

But then the next
game started and she was no longer the center of attention.  In fact, none of
the others even remembered she existed.  Their eyes glued to the television,
they began discussing play by play among themselves until Tessa got so tired of
it that she pushed herself up and out of the deep sofa and padded across the
room.  None of them even acknowledged her departure.  So much for being a
valued member of the group.  She certainly wasn’t the life of this party.

Her mouth set in a
pout, she marched up the stairs and back into the hallway.  Then she trudged
all the way to the distant living room.  She didn’t need Indie or Stone or
Wolf.  She didn’t need any company at all.  There was a TV in the living room
and this was where she would chill out until she was ready to go.

Tessa sank into the
living room sofa which she had all to herself and flipped channel after
channel.  After channel.  Nothing.  Over a hundred channels to choose from and
nothing worth watching?  Crap.

She finally settled
on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition' but she was only half watching it.  She
didn’t want to get too involved with the family and their story although she
always loved the transformation of the house.  Sad stories always made her cry
and she wasn’t in the mood for crying.  Not tonight.  She was too mad.

And so, being both
angry and distracted at the same time, her mind began to wander.  And when her
mind wandered it was never usually toward anything constructive.  In fact, her
wandering mind was more often than not very unruly.

And so that was
how she started thinking of ways to scare the baseball fanatics holed up
downstairs in the den.  Indie had always accused her of being melodramatic. 
Okay, then she’d live up to that description.  And she had the perfect way to
do it.  If it was drama they expected of her, then drama they’d get.

She slipped off
the seat and went to get the purse she’d left on the hallway table.  She knew
she had a red marker in there, a relic from a dinner party she’d attended where
they’d each had to print their names on tags.  She’d accidentally dropped one
of the markers in her purse and hadn’t even realized it till she got home that
night.  Good thing she’d left it in there.  It was perfect for her plan.

Tessa knew exactly
what would get their attention.  The baseball game would be the least of their
concerns when she was done with them.  She was going to fake a food allergy
that would have them flying out of the house so fast they wouldn’t even have
time to switch off the TV.  And it would serve them right for ignoring her.

Tessa had the slim
marker in hand and, peering into the hallway mirror, she was just about to put
the first of several little red dots all over her neck, when something
reflected in the mirror caught her eyes.  It was a small bunch of keys, the
largest of which was a car key for a Mercedes Benz.

Wolf Spencer's car
key.  It had to be.  A black Mercedes Benz had been parked in the driveway when
she pulled up and she’d parked her car right beside it.

Her mind raced as
she thought of all the possibilities.  To hell with the food allergy idea. 
That was old school.  Now this car key opened a whole new world of pranking
possibilities.  She picked up the bunch and, as she thought through her
options, she stroked the car key with her thumb.

Then it came to
her.  A dirty trick, but not too dirty.  Not enough to give a man a heart
attack.  She looked around.  No-one coming.  Quickly, she headed for the front
door and slipped through.  She skipped down the steps and almost howled when
the soft pads of her bare feet slapped the gravelly driveway.  She’d forgotten
about that.

Biting her lips,
Tessa walked slowly and gingerly until she came to Wolf’s car.  Before she
could change her mind and chicken out she clicked the button to open the door,
hopped in and slid the key into the ignition.  The car began to purr like a
very big, very comfortable cat.

Great.  Tessa put
the car in reverse and began to back out of the long driveway.  It had a bend
at one point so she had to be careful but she did it smoothly and then she was
out on the road.  Great going so far.

She put the car in
drive and headed a little way down the road, only to the first intersection,
and then she turned into the side street.  She turned off the engine, hopped
out, made sure the car was locked and ran back the way she’d come.  This time
when she got to Indie’s she ran across the grass back to the house.  No
gravelly path for her again.

Tessa slipped back
in through the front door and, satisfied with the part she’d played in making
the evening a more interesting one, she grinned and returned the keys to their resting
place.  Now for phase two of her plan.

Tessa almost
skipped her way to the den, she was in such a good mood.  As expected, the
three stooges were so engrossed in the game they hardly even acknowledged her
return.  Well, one of them sort of did.  Wolf tore his eyes away from the
screen for just a second and gave her a half smile.  Was that enough to make
her regret her action and even make her run back down the road to retrieve his
car?  Nah!

“Guys,” she said,
“wasn’t there a Mercedes Benz parked in the driveway?”

Wolf glanced her
way.  “Yeah, that’s mine.”

“Did you move it?”
she asked, making sure her face was all innocent.

His eyes swung
back to her and he frowned.  “No.”

“Well, it’s not
there now.”

Wolf frown
deepened.  He got up and headed for the stairs.  "I’ll be right back,” he
said.

But Stone was up,
too, and was taking the stairs two at a time behind Wolf.

Indie looked
shocked.  “What happened?”

Tessa shrugged and
said not a word.

Then it was Indie
who was rushing up the stairs, leaving Tessa to bring up the rear.  And she
took her own sweet time in doing that.  Let them stew a little.

When Tessa got
upstairs the front door was wide open and Wolf, Stone and Indie were outside,
looking totally confused.  Wolf walked to the end of the driveway and looked up
the road then down.  Obviously, there was no sign of his car.  Shaking his
head, he trudged back up the long path, looking glum.

Stone’s hands were
shoved deep inside his pockets and a frown darkened his face.  “I don’t
understand,” he said, shaking his head.  “This sort of thing never happens in
our neighborhood.”  He glanced over at Wolf.  “Did you forget the keys in the
ignition?”

“No, I left them
on the hallway table.  At least, I think I did.”  Wolf turned and ran up the
front steps.  Within seconds he was out again, keys in hand.  “They’re here,”
he said, looking more confused than ever.  “How in the devil they could have
moved that car without keys, I don’t know.”  He glanced down at the ground.  “Unless
they towed it…” He drew in a deep breath then let it out in a heavy sigh. 
“What an end to what started out as a great evening.”

“This is all too
bad,” Tessa piped up, “but you have insurance, don’t you?  It’s not like it’s
the end of the world.”

Wolf sighed
again.  “It’s not the car I’m worried about.  It’s what’s in it.  I have a year's
worth of video recordings and production material in the trunk and that…” he
shook his head.  “…cannot be replaced.”

Indie gasped and
looked sympathetic.  “But why did you have them in your car?  Do you have
copies?”

“No copies.  Those
were the originals.”  He stared down the driveway.  “I was planning to take
them into the office first thing in the morning.  Didn’t want to have to get up
early tomorrow to pack the car.  Now I’ve paid dearly for giving in to
laziness.”  He turned toward the steps.  “I’d better call the police right
away.  Maybe the culprit is still in the area.”

“No, wait.”

Everyone turned at
Tessa’s yelled command.

“Wait?  They could
be getting away as we speak.”  Stone stared at her, incredulous.

“And I don’t have
a tracking device in that car,” Wolf said, his face glum, and he was striding
up the steps even as the words left his lips.  “If I’m going to have any hope
of catching the thief I have to move now.”

“I said, wait.” 
Tessa ran up the steps ahead of Wolf and blocked the front door with her body.

His face grim, he
looked just about ready to pick her up and set her aside so she decided to come
clean. They’d suffered enough, anyway, but especially Wolf.  “I know where your
car is.”

Wolf froze.  Stone
sucked in his breath and Indie gave a very loud hiss of annoyance.  “Tessa,”
she said, her tone one of reproach, “what did you do now?”