Operation: Normal (13 page)

A
case
in Houston? Was my dad in law enforcement? My heart skipped a beat.
I swallowed hard. "Really?"

Officer Pitt nodded. "Clint's quite a guy. Now why don't you two wait here while I
check what's been done on this."

Sergeant Pitt left the room.

Zach caught my eye. "So your dad's a cop."

"Maybe," I answered. "Maybe not."

When Sergeant Pitt returned, his grim expression told us what I'd already guessed.
"Officer Cranford hasn't filed a report yet."

Zach sort of laughed. "What about her apartment being trashed Wednesday night. Did
he write that up?"

Sergeant Pitt hesitated. "There was nothing pending under Ally's dad's, mom's or even
her own name."

"That's no surprise." Zach gently removed Kayly's fingers from his mouth. "Officer
Cranford was rude as hell and damn condescending. We took pictures of the place after he left,
and a friend of mine who's a criminal law student fingerprinted what he could even though we
knew you probably couldn't use the fingerprints in court."

That clearly shocked Sergeant Pitt.

"Did you file a complaint against him?" he asked.

"I thought about it, but who's going to believe us?"

"Me, for starters." Sergeant Pitt sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about this. Officer Cranford is
basically a good cop, but he's got issues with your dad that might've clouded his judgment. That
doesn't justify his not taking you seriously, of course, but at least you know why."

"He knows my dad, too?" I asked, surprised and a little hurt. How come everyone knew
my dad but me? Did he come to Austin often?

"That case I helped your dad with? The sting operation in the HPD? Tom Cranford's dad
was one of the eight cops that went down."

Oh.

"Now do you two want something to drink before we get started?"

Zach and I shook our heads.

"Okay, then. Let's do it." Sergeant Pitt went around to the back of the desk and sat.
Reaching for a form, he began taking down information. Almost an hour later, he finally asked
his last question, put down his pencil and leaned back in the chair, stretching as if to get the
kinks out. He looked at me. "When will your dad be home?"

"Actually, I live with my mom."

"Oh. Have you told your dad about any of this?"

"No. He's...well...he's..."

Sergeant Pitt held up a hand, halting my stammering explanation. "Say no more. I
shouldn't have asked. Is there somewhere you can stay until one of your parents gets back in
town?"

"That's not as easy as it sounds," I said. "There's Kayly to think about. She's got a lot of
stuff she can't do without. Too much to haul around."

"Is there someone to stay with you, then?"

"Mom usually calls Esme French."

"Then see if you can get her. I don't feel good about you going home until we've worked
this out."

Reluctant to call Esme for some reason, I dug my cell phone out of my purse and tried to
call Adele, instead. But no one answered. So I tried Esme and got a busy signal.

"I'll stay with her until we find someone else," said Zach, getting to his feet. "There are a
lot of old people in her building who'd probably help out."

"Okay. Good." He stood, too, and walked us out of the office and all the way to the
entrance of the building. "Don't worry about your dad, Ally. He's highly trained--"

Say what?

"--and I'm sure that wherever he is and whatever he's doing, he's fine." With a nod,
Sergeant Pitt left us.

Zach stood. I tried to, but all at once all my concerns about Dad came out of the mental
hidey hole where I'd stuck them last night and swamped me. I felt blindsided and weak in the
knees again.

Zach looked down at me, his expression thoughtful. "Is it my imagination or did he as
good as tell us that your dad is an undercover cop?"

"What!" I exclaimed, standing. "That's just crazy."

With a grunt, Zach led the way to the parking lot. We drove back to the apartment in
relative silence, both of us lost in our thoughts. On the way upstairs, I stopped at Esme's to ask if
she'd sleep over. She said she'd come as soon as her bridge game broke up, around eight. She
was hostess, so couldn't really cancel that obligation. I asked how the e-mail romance
progressed. Though Esme vigorously denied there was one, her blush told me all I needed to
know.

Once back at the apartment, Zach and I both collapsed on the couch, with Kayly sitting
between us. It would be at least four hours before Esme arrived. I wondered how I'd entertain
Zach until then.

That's when the doorbell rang. Zach and I exchanged a quick look. I went and peeked
out to see Heath standing in the hall. I let him in immediately.

"Hey," I said.

"Hey." He saw Zach. "What's he doing here?"

Heath did not bother to lower his voice, which made me sort of mad. I frowned at him.
"Visiting his sister, as he has a perfect right to do. And could you be any ruder?"

"Sorry." He had the grace to look a little embarrassed and tucked his fingertips into the
front pockets of his jeans. "Could we talk for a minute?"

"Um, sure." I pointed to the couch.

Heath shook his head. "Alone."

I blinked. Oh God. Here it came. The big reveal. I was so not up to this. "We'll go to my
room."

"Don't bother," said Zach, jumping up. "Kayly needs to be changed. We'll party at her
crib for a while."

I nodded my agreement and they left the room. Motioning for Heath to follow me, I
went to the couch and sat. My throat felt as dry as yesterday's toast.

"So what gives?" I asked Heath.

He exhaled and raised his gaze to mine. "I have a sort of situation, and I don't know
what to do about it."

"What kind of situation?"

"There's this girl that I really like--"

"Like?"

He hesitated. "Okay. I may as well be honest. I love her. A lot. But she doesn't know
it."

"Then you should probably tell her," I answered, feeling a little better. Clearly that girl
was not me. Unless he was going the third-person route to gauge my reaction without giving
himself away, something I might actually have done, myself, if in his shoes.

"It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"She happens to be a good friend, and I don't want to jeopardize that."

I swallowed hard. "Minka?"

His jaw dropped. "You knew?"

Whew!
"Not for sure, though I've suspected it for ages."

"Would you believe she's going out with that a-hole Greg March tonight?"

"Yes."

"She told you?"

I nodded.

"Then why didn't she tell me?"

"Because she knew you'd be pissed?"

Heath inhaled sharply. "Are you saying she knows how I feel about her?"

"No. But you do tend to sulk whenever she talks about another guy."

"That's because she does it so much."

I could only agree with that. "Maybe she does it to make you jealous."

"It's working."

O-kay. Tactfully I redirected the conversation. "Actually, Heath, Minka thinks you're in
love with me."

"What!"

"And I got the feeling she isn't happy about it, either, so maybe there's hope for
you."

"I can't believe this. Have I ever done one single thing to make you think I love
you?"

"Of course not. She's basing it solely on your negative response to Zach, who really is
cool, by the way."

He just looked at me for a second, then got a knowing smirk on his face. "You're hot for
Kayly's brother."

"I am not!"

"Yeah, you are. It's written all over you."

"It is?" I blurted in horror, unconsciously putting my hands to my flushed cheeks.

Heath fell over sideways, hooting at me.

"Could we please just stick to the subject?" I said, punching his arm really hard.

"Ow!" He straightened up, rubbing it. "And I thought I had problems."

"What do you mean?"

"Your mom is gonna wig when she finds out how much time you've been spending
alone in this apartment with Kayly's big brother." He thought for a second. "Actually, she's
probably gonna wig when she finds out you contacted him. All hell's gonna break loose when
she realizes the two of you have hooked up."

"We have not hooked up, okay? He treats me like I'm twelve." Reminded of my mom by
Heath's comment, I touched his knee, my face and mood suddenly serious. "I got another threat
letter today."

He went very still. "What do you mean
you
got another letter? I thought your
mom got the letter."

I explained everything.

"Holy shit!"

I slapped my hand over his mouth. "Kayly's first word is going to have four letters if you
guys don't cool it with the cursing."

"Have you called the cops?"

"We just got back from there."

"You shouldn't stay here alone."

"Esme's coming at eight."

"I'm staying here until then."

"Zach said he would."

"Then we both will."

Admittedly touched, even though I suspected Heath mostly stayed so he'd have
something to do besides mope at home, I got up and went to find Zach. I didn't say anything
about what Heath and I discussed.

For the next three hours, we three watched television, ate grilled cheese sandwiches, and
fed and played with Kayly. I tried to keep the conversation going, but by seven they still hadn't
said two words to each other. It was almost a relief when my phone rang.

"That's surely my mom," I said, jumping up. I answered it as I headed down the hall to
my room. I didn't want the guys hanging on every word and prompting me on what I knew I had
to say to her tonight about the threat letters. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, sweetie. Everything okay?"

"For now, but I should probably tell you something--something I haven't mentioned
before because I didn't want to worry you."

I heard her sharp intake of breath.

"Is Kayly all right?"

"She's fine."

"Then what's going on? What haven't you told me?"

I hesitated, wondering how best to do this. "Maybe you'd better sit down."

Mom took the news far better than I expected, though she kept saying, "I knew
something like this would happen one of these days. I just knew it," which didn't make a lot of
sense to me.

When I walked back to the living room after a good half hour on the phone, I paused at
the end of the hall and noted my two bodyguards talking to each other as normal males should,
their voices low. I couldn't make out exactly what they said, but I heard no growls or snarls. I did
notice that Zach now sat in the rocker, with Kayly asleep in his arms.

Without saying anything, I joined them in the living area. Zach got up immediately and
handed my sister to me. I headed to Mom's bedroom, where I tucked her in, I sincerely hoped,
for the night. By then, I really needed a good eight hours' down time of my own.

Yawning, I walked back to the guys and found Zach at the door. "I'm going to leave.
Heath said he'd stay until Esme got here."

"Oh, um, sure." Was he that eager to go, or had Heath said something about Mom's
possible reaction to his being here? "Thanks for today, Zach."

"No sweat."

Will you call me? Can I call you? Will we see each other tomorrow? Or on
Sunday?
I wanted to ask these questions, but didn't dare, and Zach offered no hint as to what
might lay ahead for us, if anything.

"Bye, Zach."

"Lock up." He stepped into the outside hall.

I shut and bolted the door. Zach checked it, as usual.

I joined Heath. "What did you say to him?"

He looked surprised. "Me? Nothing."

"But I heard you two talking."

"Then you heard what I said to him."

With a huff of exasperation, I sat in the rocker. "You might as well leave, too. Esme will
be here in fifteen minutes."

Heath just shook his head.

So we stared at the TV without speaking, each of us lost in our thoughts. At exactly five
minutes after eight, someone tapped lightly on the door. A quick peek revealed Esme, holding a
zebra-print overnight bag. I let her in and Heath out, then bolted the door again. I jumped when
Heath checked it as Zach always did, since I hadn't expected him to do that.

Though I could tell Esme would've loved to share the latest building gossip, I simply
wasn't up for it so I faked a headache and promised we'd talk tomorrow. By eight-thirty, freshly
showered and wearing a soft pastel cami and matching sleep pants, I stuck my cell in its charger
and stretched out on Mom's bed. I added to Zach's slang in my diary, then started a brand-new
list, this one involving clues regarding my dad.

I was no fool. In fact, I was very smart. And Sergeant Pitt's comments about dad,
especially when added to Mom's low level of surprise over the threat letters, weighed heavily on
my mind at the moment. The first thing I wrote under the title "Dad" was "case." Next I wrote
"sting," then "threat letters."

I thought about Dad's unexpected phone calls to me, in particular the last, aborted one.
Just after it, Aunt A had told me he was alive, the reason I hadn't experienced a full-blown panic
attack. Now I needed another update, so tried to call her again. Though she still didn't answer, I
wasn't really worried or anything. She lived a busy life. I did write "Aunt A" on the list since she
and Dad seemed to have a solid, well-used psychic connection. For some reason, he routinely
updated her on his status when he worked. Was it because his life might actually be in
jeopardy?

Or was it because mine might be?

On that thought, I added, "usually incommunicado" to my list and "two rare calls" and
"explosion."

I don't know when I finally fell asleep. I do know that I worried about Dad for what felt
like hours before I dozed off. More than once I tried to locate him by using my feelings, as Aunt
A had suggested. But a human global positioning system, I wasn't.