On Borrowed Time (11 page)

She wondered if this new chattier version of Sully was going to stick around. She certainly hoped so, but she wasn't going to get all tangled up with him again until she was sure. She glanced at him as he opened the passenger door to his pickup truck for her. He sure was handsome, even rumpled and unshaven and looking like he'd slept in an awkward position on a couch.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Anytime,” he answered.

Lindsey got the feeling he knew she was talking about more than the lift home. She smiled and he returned it, and for a moment it felt as if they had never broken up. Then Heathcliff bounded into the truck with a bark and a wag, interrupting the moment.

Lindsey climbed up after him and Sully closed the door. As he walked around the front of the truck, Lindsey scratched Heathcliff's ears.

“Remind me to work with you on your timing, big boy,” she said. “You pretty much ruined the moment there.”

Heathcliff, with his mastery of the English language, glanced at her from underneath his bushy eyebrows and then he licked her cheek as if in apology.

“It's okay,” she laughed. “I'm taking it slow.”

Sully climbed into the truck just as Heathcliff barked in approval.

“He sure does love to ride in the truck,” he said.

Lindsey nodded as she scooted over in her seat, so Heathcliff could have the window. Despite the cold, she rolled down the window so the puppy could stick his head out and enjoy sniffing the air. His tail kept a constant happy rhythm against her shoulder as he wagged the entire ride back to Lindsey's apartment.

When Sully pulled into the drive, Lindsey turned in her seat to face him.

“I owe you dinner,” she said.

“I'll take you up on that,” he said. “Tonight?”

Lindsey laughed at his eager expression. “I'm working tonight, but soon. I suppose I owe you a night's sleep, too. I don't know that I would have slept well after that episode on the beach.”

“Hmm, how does one repay a night's sleep?” he asked, sounding intrigued.

“You leave the poor man alone,” she said with a laugh.

“How disappointing.”

“You don't suppose the man following us was just someone out taking a walk who happened to be going the same way we did, do you?”

“No, otherwise why would he go into the shack in the dark?” Sully asked. “And why was someone sweeping the tall grass with flashlights, looking for us?”

“Good points,” she said.

“Lindsey, I know you are worried about putting your brother at risk, but last night upped the ante,” he said. “I really think it would be a good idea to tell Emma what you know.”

Lindsey turned away. She didn't want to have this conversation again.

“Well, thanks for the ride,” she said. She opened the door and hopped out before he could continue the discussion.

To her surprise, he got out of his side and walked her to the door. “I want to know you're safe inside before I leave.”

“I'll be fine,” Lindsey said. They walked through the front door. Her landlady's door was open and she gestured to it as they passed. “See? Nancy's home.”

Heathcliff darted inside Nancy's, which was his daytime play place, and Lindsey followed after him.

“Come here, buddy,” she said. “I'm off this morning. Nancy's not babysitting you.”

Heathcliff ignored her and rounded the corner, heading straight for the kitchen. It was hard to stop a puppy when he knew who was generous with the cookies.

Lindsey stepped into the kitchen and her feet faltered, causing Sully to slam into her back as they both stumbled into the room.

“Well, hello, love,” Robbie said from his seat at Nancy's kitchen counter. “Late night?”

“R
obbie!” Lindsey cried. “What are you doing here?”

Robbie was looking past Lindsey with a glower at Sully, who she noticed had a decidedly pleased look on his face.

“The lovely Nancy saw me come calling on you, and when you didn't answer, she invited me in for breakfast,” he said. He gave her a pointed look, and Lindsey was suddenly very aware of how the situation looked given that she was wearing the same clothes she'd worn yesterday.

“It's not how it looks,” she said. “We went for a walk.”

There was a beat of silence and Robbie said, “Must have been a long walk.”

Lindsey noticed Robbie was still looking past her at Sully when he said this, and he was still glaring. She glanced over her shoulder at Sully, who was smirking. Smirking!

“You've got the wrong idea,” she said.

“Reeeeally?” Robbie asked. “What idea would that be?”

“I spent the night at Sully's—” she began, but he interrupted.

“Oh, I'd say that was the exact idea that I have,” he said. “How about you, Nancy, same idea?”

“Well, they do look a bit rumpled,” she said. The twinkle in her blue eyes was full of mischief.

“Do I?” Sully asked in a mock tone of surprise. “Well, now how could that have happened?”

“You are not helping,” Lindsey chided him.

“Helping with what?” he asked.

“Helping yourself to the goodies apparently,” Robbie muttered.

Sully shrugged and Nancy coughed in a way that Lindsey suspected she was trying to mask a laugh and failing miserably.

“Oh, for gosh Pete's sake!” Lindsey cried. “I went to the pier to tell Sully not to look into identifying the yacht because I don't want to see him get hurt.”

“Isn't she the sweetest?” Sully asked Nancy, who nodded.

“Hush!” Lindsey ordered in a stern voice. Heathcliff gave her a concerned tip of the head. She reached down to rub his ears in reassurance while she continued.

“Sully had soup made so Heathcliff and I joined him for dinner and a walk on the beach, where we discovered someone was following us.”

“What?” Nancy and Robbie spoke in unison. They both straightened with concern and looked to Sully for confirmation.

Lindsey glanced at Sully. Gone was the teasing; instead he looked suitably grim.

“He wasn't from around here,” he confirmed. “At least, I'd never seen him before. I don't know that he intended any harm, but I didn't want to take any chances, so we ditched him at the old red shack.”

“Define
ditched him
,” Nancy said.

“I encouraged him to investigate the shed and then I shut the door after him,” he said.

“So it's not like you bludgeoned him over the head or wrestled him to the ground or got an ID on him or anything?” Robbie asked. Lindsey wasn't sure how he did it, but he managed to make it sound like Sully was lacking.

“I was more concerned with getting Lindsey and Heathcliff out of there safely than I was about taking down someone who might be completely innocent,” Sully said. “Priorities.”

“If you want to call it that,” Robbie said. His look was taunting. Sully opened his mouth to protest, but Lindsey cut him off.

“In any event, we got back to Sully's house, and fell asleep,” she said. Sully smiled. Robbie frowned. Lindsey clarified, “On the couch.”

Robbie was still frowning.

“On separate ends with Heathcliff in between us.”

Robbie snatched a slice of bacon off his plate and held it out to Heathcliff, who devoured it in one swallow.

“You really are man's best friend, aren't you, mate?” he asked as he tousled his ears.

Heathcliff licked his hand, either cleaning up the grease or looking for another slice.

“Bacon bribery won't help you,” Sully said. “Heathcliff loves everyone.”

“Not bribing, just rewarding,” Robbie said.

“Oh, please, that was a payoff if I ever saw one,” Sully said.

“Zip it, you two,” Nancy said. She leaned across the table and stared at Lindsey. “Why would Sully think that man was following you? Does this have something to do with the dead man in the library? Is there something you haven't told me?”

Lindsey met Nancy's gaze. The woman was too shrewd for her own good.

“Hey! I saw that!” Robbie shouted.

“Saw what?” Sully asked.

“You just snitched a piece of bacon off the counter and gave it to the dog!” Robbie accused.

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Sully said innocently—too innocently.

Lindsey took the opportunity to avoid any more questions from Nancy.

“That's it!” she said. “Come on, Heathcliff, upstairs before these two make you too fat to fit through the door. No more spoiling my dog—either of you!”

She gave them a dark look and then hurried through the door before anyone, namely Nancy, could stop her. She hit the stairs at a jog, thinking Heathcliff probably needed to work off the bacon anyway.

She reached the second-floor landing when the door popped open and Nancy's nephew Charlie poked his head out.

“Oh, hey, Lindsey, I didn't expect to see you up this early,” he said.

“Don't you start,” she chided him.

“What?” he asked. He rubbed Heathcliff's head and asked, “What did I say?”

“Just because I didn't sleep at home last night doesn't give everyone the right to comment on my behavior,” she said. “It's not what you think.”

“What am I thinking?” he asked in confusion. He blinked at her and Lindsey noted that he was still in his pajamas, a pair of black and red checked bottoms with a matching long john black top.

“That just because I spent the night at Sully's, something happened. Nothing happened.”

“Wait.” He shook his stringy black hair as if he was trying to wake himself up. “Did you just say you weren't home at all last night?”

“That's what I said.” Lindsey tried to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Yeah, big fail. “But it doesn't mean that we're back together, and it certainly doesn't mean everyone can gossip about us. We're just friends. That's it.”

“So you weren't home at all last night,” Charlie said. “Not even at three o'clock in the morning?”

“Let it go, Charlie,” she said. She made to move around him and continue up the stairs.

“No!” Charlie shouted and grabbed her arm.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked in exasperation. “I know you want Sully and me to get back together, but these things take time, and we'll just have to see what happens.”

“No,” he said.

“Excuse me?” she asked.

“Sorry, what I meant was this isn't about you and Sully, although that would be totally cool if you and the boss man hooked up again.”

Lindsey gave him a pointed look.

“Okay, okay,” he said. He let go of her arm and palmed the sides of his head as if trying to squeeze his brain into proper functionality. “I've had no caffeine, and when I'm trying to converse, that never goes well.”

“It's okay.” Lindsey patted his arm. “When you figure it out, you let me know.”

She moved past him and began up the stairs to the third floor.

“Three fifteen,” Charlie called after her.

Lindsey paused and looked back at him. “Explain.”

“At three fifteen this morning, I know because I looked at my clock, there was a lot of noise coming from your apartment,” he said. “It sounded like you were moving your furniture around. I almost came up and offered to help but then the noise stopped so I figured you were done. And yeah, well, I fell back asleep. Of course, now I realize the moving furniture idea makes no sense, but hey, I was dead asleep when the noise started.”

“Charlie, focus. You heard noise in my apartment?” Lindsey repeated. Her brain was whirring like the back tires on a car stuck in a bog.

“Really loud noise,” he confirmed.

Lindsey began to run up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She turned the corner and jogged across the landing to her front door. It was open just a crack and her skin tingled all over her body. Charlie was right. Someone had been in her apartment and maybe they still were.

“L
indsey!” Charlie yelled as he ran up the stairs behind her. “Wait for me. It might not be safe.”

He joined her in front of the door. They looked at it and then each other.

“We should call the police,” he said.

Lindsey knew she couldn't do that. Not until she knew it wasn't Jack. Maybe he had gotten away. Maybe he was hiding in her apartment even now. She went to push open her door with hope pounding through her. Charlie stepped in the way and stopped her.

“Don't touch anything,” he said, grabbing her hand before it made contact with the door. “Use your elbow or something.”

Lindsey realized he was right. For all she knew, the big man from the beach could be in there. Heathcliff looked like he was ready to dash in, but there was no way she was going to let her baby lead the way.

She grabbed his collar and held him back. She looked at Charlie and said, “Hold him?”

Charlie squatted down and held Heathcliff. Lindsey stepped forward when Sully and Robbie stomped onto the landing. They were both huffing and puffing, looking as if they'd run a race.

“What's going on up here?” Sully asked between breaths.

“Yeah, it sounded like a bloody ruckus had broken out,” Robbie wheezed.

“Someone broke into Lindsey's apartment,” Charlie said. “I heard them about three fifteen last night. I thought it was her, but Lindsey said she spent the night at your place.”

Charlie gave Sully an approving look with raised eyebrows, which Sully, in a show of singular good sense, ignored.

“Just as friends,” Robbie clarified. He looked at Charlie and said, “Opposite ends of the couch, if you must know.”

Now the look Charlie gave Sully was one of supreme disappointment and Sully rolled his eyes.

“Boys, enough,” Lindsey said. She gestured to her apartment. “Break-in, remember?”

“I'll go first,” Sully said.

“Like hell,” Robbie said.

He moved to stand beside Sully, and Lindsey blew out a breath. The temptation to clonk their heads together and knock them out was becoming almost more than she could bear.

“If you don't mind,” she said. “My apartment, I'll go in first. Charlie, keep Heathcliff out here, please.”

Charlie nodded. Lindsey stepped between Sully and Robbie. They both shifted to the side, barely, and she could feel them both leaning in on her as if determined not to let her out of their reach.

Lindsey used her elbow to push open the door. A gasp escaped her as she took in the wreckage that used to be her home sweet home.

“Whoa!” Charlie said from behind them. He was crouched down with the dog and looking through their legs.

Lindsey couldn't think of a better word to describe the devastation. Chairs were turned over, cushions and throw pillows slashed. Her bookcase had been emptied with the books tossed to the floor in a careless heap like dead bodies after a natural disaster.

She covered her mouth with her hand to keep from crying out. She wanted nothing more than to scoop them all up and examine their boo-boos like a child's skinned knee on the playground, but Sully caught her elbow and held her still.

“You have to report this to the police,” he said.

“But—” Lindsey began to protest, but Robbie interrupted.

“Much as it pains me, I have to agree with sailor boy,” he said. “This is too serious to ignore.”

Lindsey nodded. She knew they were right. She was being followed, someone had trashed her apartment, and her brother was still missing. It was time to call for backup.

“I'll check the bedroom,” Robbie said. “And make sure our uninvited visitor isn't here.”

“I'm coming with you,” Sully said grimly. “If our bad guy is here, we can't have the famous thespian risking a punch to the kisser, although some might argue that it would be an improvement.”

“Only the jealous ones,” Robbie said as he led the way.

Lindsey stepped carefully around the room, taking in the damage. Every cabinet in the kitchen was hanging open, but she was relieved that no dishes had been smashed. They weren't of any value, but the thought of having to clean up shards of glass was not her idea of fun. A chill went through her when she realized if she hadn't stayed at Sully's, she might have been here when they broke in.

Sully and Robbie returned moments later. They both looked grim, and Lindsey wondered if they were thinking the same thing she was—that this could have gone very badly had she been home when the person decided to do their search.

“It doesn't look as if anything was taken,” Robbie said. “Just more of the same mess.”

“So it's safe to assume they were looking for something specific,” Lindsey sighed.

“Come on,” Sully said. “Let's go down to Nancy's and call the police.”

Lindsey was about to protest when Robbie frowned at her.

“If you don't call them, we will,” he said.

“All right, fine,” Lindsey said.

She left the door open as they all trooped back down the stairs to Nancy's apartment. Freshly brewed coffee and some breakfast croissants awaited them, but Lindsey couldn't eat. Charlie took Heathcliff for a walk, which left Lindsey free to report the break-in.

Chief Plewicki, Emma, answered her call and she sounded overtired and cranky when Lindsey reported the situation. Emma said she would be right over, and Lindsey spent the time trying to figure out how she could tell Emma about her brother without telling her about her brother.

“You have to tell her,” Sully said. Lindsey was standing by the living room window, keeping an eye out for Emma's car.

Panic made Lindsey's insides clench. “What if it gets him killed?”

“What if not telling gets you killed?” Robbie asked as he joined them. Lindsey looked at him and he gave her a small sad smile. “Maybe you could live with that, but me and the water rat would be devastated, and I'm pretty sure your brother would be unhappy with you, too.”

“Water rat? Really?” Sully asked. “Spoken like a true canned ham.”

“Hey—” Robbie began to protest, but the front door opened and in strode Emma Plewicki and she did not look happy.

“Show me,” she ordered without greeting.

“Upstairs,” Lindsey said. She exited the room, but when Sully and Robbie would have joined them, she said, “Stay,” in much the same tone she would have used on Heathcliff.

Both men stopped and Emma nodded at her in approval. “The fewer bodies up there, the better.”

The two women began up the stairs, and Emma unzipped her thick uniform coat and took a pad and pen out of the inside pocket. Lindsey took this as a sign to start talking so she began at the beginning with arriving home to find that her apartment had been trashed but nothing stolen.

When she mentioned that she'd spent the night at Sully's, Emma didn't even flicker so much as an eyelash. It occurred to Lindsey that one of the things she liked best about Emma was that she never judged, never gossiped and played it all pretty close to the vest.

She told Emma that Charlie had heard noises in her apartment and thought it was her. Emma surveyed the damage from the doorway and then called for one of her officers to come over and do a crime scene sweep.

“Officer Wilcox will photograph the damage, take fingerprints and look for any hairs or fibers left behind by whoever broke in,” she said. “Nothing is missing?”

“Not that I could see,” Lindsey said.

“Do you have renter's insurance?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Then I'll make sure you get a copy of the police report in case you need to file a claim.”

“Thanks,” Lindsey said.

They stepped into the room, being careful not to touch anything. Emma scanned the room and then did a cursory walk-through. When she finished, she stopped beside Lindsey and frowned.

“Why you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Why your apartment?” Emma asked. “It's not as easy as a ground-floor apartment. You don't seem to own anything of tremendous value. So why you?”

“Maybe they knew I was out,” Lindsey said. “Maybe they saw me with Sully and just assumed I'd be gone for the night.”

“Then why not take anything?” Emma asked. “Your laptop is right there. Your jewelry box has a few pawnable sparklies in it. It's like they were looking for something specific but didn't find it.”

“Maybe they got the wrong address,” Lindsey said.

Emma studied her. Her brown eyes were narrowed in suspicion as if she knew Lindsey was holding something back. Lindsey knew this was her opportunity to tell Emma about Jack, the kidnapping, all of it. And yet she kept hearing Jack's voice telling her that the fewer people who knew about him, the better, and she couldn't make herself do it.

She knew she could be in trouble for obstructing an investigation, but really, would she risk her brother's life just to stay out of trouble? Hell no.

“Yeah, maybe,” Emma said. Lindsey knew she didn't believe it.

Together they left the apartment. As they walked down the stairs, Emma began a discussion about safety.

“It was a forced entry on your door,” she said. “You may want to invest in an alarm system. Another great deterrent is leaving a light on.”

“Do you think they'll come back?” Lindsey asked. She was pleased that her voice didn't shake.

“I don't know,” Emma said. Her voice was sharp. “I can't really answer that, given that I don't know what they were looking for.”

Lindsey remembered the state of ruin her apartment had been left in, and for the first time, a sense of violation swept through her, making her feel fragile on the inside as if the burglars had stolen something after all. Then she realized they had. They'd stolen her peace of mind and sense of well-being in her own home, and there was no way leaving a light on or even having an alarm was going to give that back.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Nancy and the others were waiting.

Nancy looked guilt ridden and she grabbed Lindsey's arm and said, “This is all my fault. I forgot to lock the dead bolt on the front door. They never would have gotten in here if I had remembered.”

“No,” Lindsey said. “I refuse to let you blame yourself. It could just as easily have been Charlie or me. Besides they forced their way into my apartment. If they were that determined, they would have forced the front door, too.”

“And if you had heard them and come out to investigate, Nanners, who knows what they would have done to you?” Charlie said.

“He's right,” Emma said. “I'm sorry Lindsey's apartment took a hit, but I'm relieved she wasn't there and that neither of you meddled. Charlie, I've got some questions for you. Can you walk me to my car?”

“Sure,” Charlie said, and he rose to his feet and grabbed his jacket off its hook in the foyer and followed her out.

“Why don't you run upstairs and pack a bag?” Sully said.

Lindsey blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

“You're not staying here,” he said.

“Where am I going to go?” she asked.

“My house,” Sully and Robbie said together and then looked at each other in annoyance.

Nancy made a noise that sounded like she was choking on a chicken bone. Lindsey gave her a dark look and she stepped back into her apartment.

“Is that the timer on my oven?” Nancy asked no one in particular. “Yes, I do believe it is.”

The door shut behind her and Lindsey faced the boys.

“Thanks, but I can find my own place to sleep,” she said. Both men looked like they were about to protest, but she held up her hand to silence them. “That is all.”

Sully heaved a put-upon sigh. “Fine, but English here and I are going to take turns babysitting, since you obviously did not tell Emma anything about your brother.”

“I call the night shift,” Robbie said with a quick grin.

“We'll split it,” Sully agreed with a glower.

“No, you won't,” Lindsey said. She saw the concern on their faces and she softened her tone. “Listen, I didn't tell Emma about Jack, but I have my reasons. The minute I know he's safe, I'll tell her everything. I promise. In the meantime, I really appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine. I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this.”

Neither Robbie nor Sully said anything, and she knew they were just too polite to point out the obvious. This was hell and away from anything resembling reasonable.