Time Thieves (18 page)

He gave a mock groan. “Food – I’m soooo hungry.”

“Liar,” she laughed lightly at his spluttering response. “We were supposed to do dinner, but somehow that didn’t pan out. I’m going shopping to buy groceries as my cupboards are bare. I’d like to cook for you as a thank you for always coming when I call.”

“Now how could I refuse without making a lie out of your reason?”

It took her a moment to understand, then she chuckled. “Good. Red meat or fish?”

“Red meat,” he said instantly.

She rolled her eyes. Figured. “Okay, but then you’re going to get lots of veggies with it,” she warned.

“I like my veggies,” he protested. “What time?”

“I’m heading out the door in ten, so how about an hour?”

“Sounds good. I should be done with my search by then.”

“What search?”

“M. Harrods. I’ve confirmed the birth records but not the death records yet.”

“Ah. Okay. Hopefully you’ll have the answers by the time you leave. One hour. Don’t be late.”

“Wait…what kind of wine do you like?”

“I don’t know. Surprise me.”

*

Surprise her? Yeah,
he’d really like to do that. Ward grinned.

“Get that damn grin off your face,” Jeremy snapped humorously. “We need to figure out what to do with your Madge.”

Ward smirked. “You’re just jealous. Besides, we have protocols in place for people like her while we work on finding more. The hospital will follow them.”

“True. But how do these people just go missing and no one reports them gone? I’ve got a grandmother her age, and honestly, all my extended family would be in an uproar if she disappeared.”

Jeremy belonged to a large German family whose ancestors had settled in the area over a hundred years ago like so many others in the community and surrounding area.

“I hear you. By the way, how far back are you looking at reports?”

“I’ve gone back ten years and figured that was way over the top.”

“Try another forty plus years.”

Jeremy shot him a disgusted look. “Really? Isn’t that a bit out of range?”

“Not really. Given her age, she could have been reported missing way back in the sixties, actually.” So far he had a birth date for someone in 1927 and a death recorded as 1958. If she’d just gone missing at that time, she’d be about Madge’s estimated age of eighty-eight now.

“Seriously?”

“I’m just thinking. Sari sent me her family tree.” He motioned to the screen he had open, explaining the birth record and lack of death record. “That’s not official. If Madge disappeared and no one heard any more, I can see the date she disappeared as being the date of her death.”

“That kinda makes sense.”

“I know.”

“Okay, I’ll search the old records and see if something pops up.”

“Thanks. If I found a record of this person’s death that would be a different story, but as it stands now, this tree is the only piece of information that states the person as deceased.”

“And the tree also doesn’t say if the person is male or female.”

Ward shrugged. “Nope. Nothing so helpful.” He logged off, shut off his monitor, and stood up.

“You can’t leave now – we haven’t got this sorted out.”

Ward grinned. “I sure can. Heading to the liquor store for a bottle of wine.”

“Damn. It was always my love life that was kicking forward at high gear. Now it’s yours.”

“Trouble in your paradise?” Ward had been so busy lately he’d not gotten the lowdown on his partner’s life. Usually Jeremy had a different girl every night, and considering the size of this town, that was a lot of action.

“Naw, not really.” But there was something there.

Ward didn’t really have time right now, but they’d been partners for a long time and friends since forever. His partner clicked aimlessly through a news feed he had up on his monitor, obviously not reading.

“Since the last thing I heard was about a new girlfriend who was pretty hot stuff and nothing since, it has to do with her.”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“She broke up with you?” Ward started to grin. That rarely happened. “Sorry, buddy. Thought you had something special going with this one.” Of course, Jeremy said that about everyone.

“I did too.” Something in Jeremy’s tone made Ward stop and look at his old friend. “This one hurts, huh?”

“Yeah. She’s different. Not like the others.” Jeremy glared at him. “And not just because she dumped me.” He turned back to his monitor, brooding.

“Can you talk to her? Ask for another chance?”

Jeremy spun around, a look of shock on his face. “Do guys do that?”

Ward laughed. “If they care, they do.”

Disgruntled, Jeremy turned away. “It’s not that bad.”

Just before reaching the door to leave, Ward grinned and called back, “Yet.”

S
ari happily bounced
through the fresh produce aisle in the grocery store. She’d already picked up a nice pack of beef. Ward might want red meat, but he was going to get it mixed with vegetables. She loved to cook and she loved stir fry, so that was the menu tonight. Leaving the store with her arms full of bags, she made it out to her small car. A new car had been a luxury she couldn’t afford but had anyway. Sometimes a girl just had to make choices. She hit the button to unlock the trunk and stowed her purchases away.

This was her last stop, having dropped her latest sale off at the courier company with all the proper paperwork. Once the money had hit her account, she’d packed it up and taken it with her. Another thing done and gone. Ward should be arriving at her house in about ten minutes. Perfect. He could help make dinner, too.

She got into her car and started it up. She checked her phone but there were no messages. Good, then Ward wasn’t likely to be delayed. She pulled into traffic and headed home. She was only a couple of blocks away when she realized a blue truck had been on her tail since leaving the grocery store. She frowned. It was too far away to read the license plate. Making a quick decision, she took a different route for the next couple of blocks. The truck stayed with her.

Shit. Making several more turns away from her house, she kept watch.

The truck followed. Pulling into a large drugstore parking lot just past her house, she parked. Rather than sitting inside, she hopped out and casually proceeded to enter the store. Once inside, she stepped off to the side of the front door and watched through the front entrance. The truck came in and parked at the far end of the lot.

She dialed Ward.

“Hey, I was just about to call. Red or white wine?”

“I’m being followed,” she said abruptly.

Ward was all business. “Where are you?”

She gave him the location, unable to stop from whispering. It wasn’t logical. The bad guys were outside. They couldn’t hear her. “I’m inside the store. They parked close enough to see me if I leave, but out of the way that I can’t see them.”

“Don’t move. I’m on my way.” He hung up. She stared down at the phone, hating the broken connection. As much as she knew he shouldn’t drive and talk, she wished he’d kept the phone line open.

Nervous, she huddled at the front door by the magazine rack, too scared to pass the time wandering the store. What if she missed the truck leaving, or worse – what if they came into the store and she didn’t know? She needed to see their faces. Could she go out there? No. She immediately dismissed the idea. Ward would shoot her if she did. Better to leave it to the professionals.

Still, she squinted, hoping her eyesight would suddenly zoom to superhuman strength.

“Excuse me. Do you need help?”

Heart slamming in her chest, Sari spun around. An older woman with a name badge proclaiming the store brand and the name of Helen. She smiled, relief washing through her. “Sorry, I’m waiting for someone.”

“Oh.” Uncertain but willing to be convinced, Helen backed away slightly. “If you’re sure everything is all right.” She gave Sari a slight smile and moved off down an aisle.

Sari waited until she’d disappeared from view then turned her attention back to the truck outside.

It was gone.

Shit.

She raced out the front door in time to see Ward pull into the parking lot. She ran to meet him. Going to the driver’s side, she said, “They just left. I didn’t even see them leave.”

He frowned, looking around at the parking lot.

She pointed to the far side of the lot. “They were right over there.”

He nodded. “I’ll drive over there and take a look.”

She watched as he pulled forward slowly. She realized that given the truck’s location, they would have easily been able to leave via the back exit, pulling onto the main road without her ever knowing it. She reached Ward as he stepped out of the car. She nodded in the direction of the back exit. “They must have driven off that way.”

“Can you describe them?”

“The truck? Yes. The driver and passenger? No, not likely. Considering they couldn’t have gotten far, can we go looking for them? Maybe drive around a few blocks. If we take your car, they wouldn’t know it was me.”

He grinned. “Hop in.”

She laughed. This was serious stuff, but with Ward at her side, she no longer felt afraid. He was big and solid. He was good for her. Either that, or she’d come to depend on him more than she realized. Something she’d have to think about. She’d always been more independent than not. Depending on someone, loving someone hurt when the person left. Like her father. She’d had relationships before, but not long term as her plan had always been to return home. Now that she was home, she had to wonder if her intuitive plan had been to come back to Ward all this time.

They’d been best buds before. They’d not planned a future. They’d been children, but they were adults now. They were friends again and they hadn’t gotten as far as looking at the future. They hadn’t had time.

Ward pulled out on the one-way street and drove down several blocks. “You need to give me a description of the truck.”

She blurted out everything she could remember. “One of the guys was tall, like I couldn’t see the top of his head through the windshield. The other was much shorter and wearing dark sunglasses.”

Ward asked several pointed questions and to her surprise, she was able to answer. Yes, it was a full-size truck with the extra-long cab. It had a large chrome bumper with a winch of some sort on the front. It was not all the same color; instead the passenger door was a different color than the rest of the body.

Ward sighed at that. “A truck with that same description was stolen overnight from a construction yard.”

Silence. Cautiously, she asked, “Are we assuming it’s the same two guys who broke into my house? They were driving a stolen truck then too, weren’t they?”

“Yes, they were. And I’d really like to get my hands on them.”

She winced, remembering the attack that had knocked him out. “I bet you would,” she murmured.

He shot her a dark grin. “We take a dim view of attacks on a police officer.”

“And if they gain another bruise or two while they resist arrest, that wouldn’t upset you either, right?”

He cracked his knuckles. “Right.”

They drove around for another ten minutes before she sighed. “They’re gone, aren’t they?”

“Most likely. These guys are pretty canny. If they thought something was off, they’d have bolted to try again another day.”

“That’s what worries me.” She thought about the problem for a moment. “What would they have wanted? They followed me in broad daylight.”

“Having searched your place and not finding what they were looking for, it makes sense to follow you and see if you have what they want in your vehicle or on your person.”

She gulped at that. “Great.” She almost laughed, but it came out closer to a squeak. “As you have spent so much time at my place already, I think you should move into my spare room as a precaution. I really don’t want those assholes to return to my house while I’m sleeping,” she muttered. “That’s presuming I’ll ever sleep again.”

He shot her a glance. “Did you ever get that security system set up?”

“Yes, but what’s the chance these two could bypass it easily?”