Worth the Risk (7 page)

“So it’s just a coincidence that you show up at my door, all beaten up and ex-
real
-cop-like?” Eileen lifted a nonexistent eyebrow and turned her attention to Meredith. “He tell you he used to be a cop?”

As Meredith nodded her reply, Sam was glad he
had
told her.

Eileen crossed her arms. “Hmm. Well. I’m guessing whatever’s going on in the building has something to do with you, and I’m guessing you want a favor without telling me a damned thing, too.”

“Pretty much,” Sam agreed.

His neighbor sighed. “All right. What is it?”

“Just a few minutes in your bathroom to clean myself up.”

“And?”

Sam forced his body to stay relaxed. The woman had a nose for a lie, and he didn’t want her to pick up on the bit of deception he was about to toss her way.

“And we’d really appreciate it if you’d let us climb down your emergency ladder.”

Eileen stared at him for a moment, then sighed for a second time and waved her hand toward the hall. “You know where it is. But don’t think for a single second that I don’t suspect you’re up to something else, Sammy Potter. Don’t make me check your pockets for my good soap on the way out.”

He let out a breath as he stood. “I’ll try to keep my kleptomaniac habits to a minimum.” He bent to kiss Meredith’s cheek and whispered in her ear, “Sorry, sweetheart. Ten minutes and I’ll have the files and we’ll be back to finding your sister. I promise.”

She gave him a nod, and he slipped up the hall. In spite of his tension, Sam smiled to himself as he heard Eileen open up the conversation with the declaration that she was a little bit psychic. The woman was as nutty as a candy bar, and nowhere near as sweet. He could only imagine what she’d said to the “fake” cops who’d come banging on her door. But she liked Sam, and at that moment, he was pretty damn glad they were friendly.

Months earlier, an investigation into the disappearance of a young woman being stalked by her ex-boyfriend had gone south. The ex in question discovered Sam’s involvement in the location efforts and turned his attention to Sam directly. In an attempt to shut down the investigation, the stalker had robbed him, taking every note, every lead, every detail, straight out of his apartment. As a result, he’d gone digital and sought a secure but accessible hiding place for his things. And that spot was the shared space between his own bathroom floor and Eileen’s bathroom ceiling.

So all Sam had to do now to retrieve his notes on the Billing file was to go in from the bottom. And as he locked the door, he looked up and spotted a means of doing it.

Quickly, he turned on the shower, made sure it was beating down loud enough to block out anything else, then ignored the stream of water. He lifted a leg, placed his knee on the tub’s edge and hoisted himself onto the countertop. He steadied himself, then reached up to press in the sides of the ceiling fan together, forcing the clasps loose, then pulled off the lid. He reached inside and after just a few seconds of feeling around, his hand brushed the right beam and he clasped the familiar little black box. He opened and stared down triumphantly at the three objects inside—a USB stick, a wallet and an even smaller black box.

But his triumph gave him pause. Because it stemmed not from the retrieval itself or even from the fact that he now had the information and resources to move on with his case. It came almost entirely from the fact that it would help him fulfill his obligation to Meredith.

Chapter 7

M
eredith frowned at Sam as he came back into the room. He’d definitely been in the bathroom long enough to shower. And the water had run the whole time. But his hair was barely damp and his face looked like it had been wiped off, not thoroughly cleaned.

Suspicious, but not surprising,
Meredith thought
.

From the moment he disappeared up the hall, she—like Eileen—was sure he’d been up to something else. So Sam’s not-so-freshly-washed appearance wasn’t the reason her eyebrows knit together. Instead, it was the way he paused and stared at her with an unnerving intensity. She didn’t know what his expression meant. But something about the look made her want to both blush and shiver at the same time.

Then, abruptly, his face relaxed and he stepped fully into the room and cleared his throat. “I take it you had a nice chat?”

“Lovely,” Eileen said.

Meredith wasn’t sure she’d describe being grilled about her life and being told to find some direction as
lovely
. She definitely could’ve done away with the two-minute safe-sex talk and inquiry into her genetic history. And those topics were the
most
comfortable parts of the so-called chat. Not to mention that every second heartbeat she spent was another second away from figuring out what had happened to her sister. And in between
those
heartbeats, she’d been worrying about Sam. He seemed fine. But was he more seriously injured than he let on?

She fought a head-shake. Lovely? No. Not so much.

“Meredith?” Sam prompted.

“Yes. Perfect.” She didn’t sound
quite
like she was choking.

Sam’s eyes twinkled for a moment anyway. “Ready to go then, sweetheart?”

“If you are,” Meredith replied as indifferently as she could manage.

She swore she heard him chuckle under his breath, but she didn’t dare comment on it.

And seconds later—with an appropriate amount of gratitude from Sam and a promise to think about everything Eileen had said from Meredith—they were moving down the ladder that extended from the woman’s tiny balcony. Meredith knew why Sam thought this particular escape route was a good idea. The wide evergreen tree that stopped just short of Sam’s own apartment provided cover from the street view. Its thick branches blocked them in from anyone who might happen to be on the ground as well. With who knew how many corrupt cops in and around the building, there was no safer way to make their exit.

But Meredith kept her lips zipped until they hit the bottom. She kept them sealed as they moved stealthily from the building back up the street to the car. She even stayed silent until they’d both buckled their seat belts and Sam had put the car into Drive and pulled out onto the road. Then she couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“I want you to promise me you won’t leave me alone ever again!” she blurted, then colored as she realized how it sounded. “Not like that.”

Sam’s mouth was turned up on one side. “Like what then?”

Meredith refused to give in to that sexily crooked smile.

“I’m serious. This is
my
sister we’re looking for. From now on, whatever you’re doing, I want to be there. And before you say it’s not safe, let me remind you that
you’re
the one who just about got killed and I was the one who saved you. Then, to top it off, you left me alone with a crazy woman, who—” She cut herself off abruptly.

“Who what?”

“Nothing.”

His smile grew wider. “Eileen isn’t so bad. She’s not nearly unpleasant enough that it’s fair to compare her to being shot at, beaten and partially strangled.”

Meredith’s throat constricted at the remembered fear that Sam was dead or dying. It had been a terrifying few moments. But she knew he was using it to try and distract her.

“You wouldn’t be so amused if you knew what she’d said to me.”

At her tone, Sam’s cool blue gaze slipped to her for an appraising second before turning back to the road. “What did she say?”

“Never mind.”

“But now I’m intrigued.”

“We have more important things to talk about. Like what you were doing in the bathroom.”

Sam’s gaze found her again. Dammit. Why did he have to have that stare down to an art? The one that said,
I’ll figure it out anyway, so you might as well just tell me now.
And he was so damn efficient with it that his eyes were already back on the road.

Probably a cop thing,
Meredith thought.

But that didn’t mean she had to like it.

When she didn’t reply, Sam raised an eyebrow, lifted a hand from the steering wheel, reached into his pocket and pulled out a memory stick. He held it out for a moment, then shoved it back into his pocket.

“I can’t do anything with this until we get back to Worm and his little slice of tech heaven. And I think you have time between here and there to divulge a few of Eileen’s words of wisdom,” he said.

Meredith tossed her gaze to the roof of the car. Why hadn’t she kept her mouth shut?

“You aren’t going to let it go, are you?” she asked.

“Nope.”

“Fine. She said that by the end of today, you’d have put a ring on my finger.”

The car jerked underneath them, giving away Sam’s reaction, even though his face remained impassive and his gaze stayed on the road. And Meredith had to admit she’d felt just about the same way when Eileen had said it. The old woman had sounded utterly confident that she was correct. Okay, maybe it couldn’t be compared to Sam’s ordeal, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t scared the heck out of Meredith. In fact,
both
things scared her. Nearly as much as not knowing what Tamara had gotten herself involved in.

“So I guess your request is a little redundant anyway, then,” Sam stated, interrupting the remarkably thick silence.

Meredith frowned. “What?”

“If I’m putting a ring on your finger today, it’s probably fair to say that I
won’t
ever be leaving you again. I think I’d be a very dedicated husband. Although I might demand a third kiss before I decide for sure.”

An immediate lick of desire danced through Meredith. He was kidding. He had to be. But his tone was serious. And the thought of kissing him again gave her an all-over tingle. And hearing him use the word
husband
made her heart do a peculiar flop in her chest. She was so busy listening to the erratic thud that she almost missed Sam’s next question.

“Have you ever been married before?”

Meredith shook her head. “No.”

“Engaged?”

“No. And before you ask, no serious boyfriends, either.”

“How come?”

Briefly, Meredith wondered if he was doing the same thing he’d done earlier—asking personal questions to distract her. But a quick examination of his face told her he was at the very least curious. And for some reason, she wanted to tell him.

“When I was younger, I didn’t have time. When Tamara was twelve and I was fourteen, my mom got sick. Her cancer consumed her. And my dad, too. By the time she was sixteen and I was eighteen, we were on our own completely. I worked two jobs to make ends meet and went to school at night. Then it just seemed hard to meet someone. I didn’t do clubbing or much after-work socializing. And once Tamara finished school and started her virtual counseling service and it went crazy...” Meredith shrugged.

“And now?”

“Now? I’m sitting in a car with a man who thinks he’d be a good husband because he has excellent stalking skills.”

Sam laughed. “So you’re hopeless.”

“Pretty much,” she agreed. “What about you?”

“No. I definitely have hope.” He shot a look her way that left no doubt about where his hope lay.

Meredith felt her face go pink again. “I meant have you ever been married?”

“Nope. Same story as you. Family. Work.”

She got the feeling he was being intentionally vague. It stung in a surprisingly forceful way. What was he holding back? And why? She opened her mouth to point out that she’d been honest about her own past, but the words didn’t make it out.

Because Sam’s face had gone from relaxed to tense. And before Meredith could speak, he spun the steering wheel hard, veered the car into a driveway that
wasn’t
Worm’s and slammed on the brakes. With lightning quickness, he undid his seat belt, then hers.

“Get down!” he ordered.

And his voice was gruff enough that Meredith didn’t even hesitate.

* * *

Sam had been so involved in listening to her talk about how
un
attached she was that he almost hadn’t noticed the warning left behind by Worm. He’d nearly driven right past to the now familiar, dark-colored sedan up the street.

He reached across the console, threaded his fingers through Meredith’s and gave them a squeeze. “You okay?”

“
I
am. But are
you
?”

“Worm’s garage was half-open.”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“He’s got thousands of dollars’ worth of electronic equipment in there. Half-open tells me he ran into some trouble, but got out okay,” Sam explained. “And I think our redheaded friend—the one who tried to run you down—is parked on the corner.”

Meredith groaned. “Crap. I almost forgot. That guy was at your apartment, too. I saw him outside and that’s why I went after you in the first place. Do you think he’s a cop?”

Sam shook his head. “I think he’s their muscle. Someone who doesn’t have a reputation to maintain and can do their dirtiest work.”

She sucked in her bottom lip nervously. “What do we do?”

“We wait. At least long enough to be sure he didn’t see us. And we hope that whoever lives in the house where we’re parked doesn’t confront us or call the police. Then we find somewhere else to set up.”

He felt a slight tremor in her hand, and Sam’s protective instincts kicked in. He wanted to reassure her. To ease the fear she clearly felt but stoically held in. He wished he was better at offering comfort, but it had been years since he’d allowed himself enough emotional attachment to anyone to even want to try to reach out. So long since he’d felt a connection. Or even wanted to. Surprisingly, Meredith stirred that need in him. But in order to follow through on that, he would have to share more of himself than he had in a very long time.

Meredith adjusted a little, and Sam spied the pinch between her brows and the worry in her eyes. He knew that feeling personally, and seeing it on her face tugged at his heart. He could at least try.

He squeezed her hand again. “What I said earlier about my story being the same as yours, I meant that literally.”

“Which part?”

“All of it, really. A younger sibling, relying on me to provide for her. I was twenty-two when our parents died in a car accident, but my sister was only fourteen. I was busy working my way up through the ranks, keeping a crazy schedule and trying to keep her in check at the same time.” Sam smiled, trying to ease the seriousness of his disclosure. “Anyway. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is for a man with a dangerous job and a needy little sister to convince a girl to settle down.”

“Oh, yeah,” Meredith said. “Sexy cop with a family attitude. Sounds like a really tough sell.”

“I’m not a cop anymore,” Sam pointed out, then added, “And did you just call me sexy?”

He knew she was fighting a blush. “Maybe. But it was an accident.”

“Accidentally calling someone sexy. That’s gotta be a new one.”

“Cut me some slack. I’m under a lot of stress here.”

He let her hand go, then reached over to touch her face. “I know you are. But I’ll take a compliment anyway I can get it. Accidentally. Backhandedly. You name it.”

She leaned into his palm and offered him a small smile, but when she spoke, her tone had turned serious again. “I’m scared, Sam. And I really wish I knew what Tamara’s gotten herself into.”

“We’ll figure it out together.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips—a gentle touch that felt as natural as it did right. “And not just because you’re making me promise to never leave you alone, either.” He eased away again, then turned the key in the ignition. “I think we’re safe to move. If our redheaded friend had seen us, he would’ve come after us or called in some help. You can stay low until we’re out of sight, though.”

Careful to keep one eye on the navy sedan, Sam guided the hatchback down the driveway. He pulled the car onto the street and said a silent prayer of thanks when a second vehicle pulled out just a few houses up. It blocked the sedan from view, which was perfect. He let out a breath, turned his attention to the road and drove out of the neighborhood in silence.

Less than two blocks later, Meredith was buckled in again, and Sam had come up with a tentative plan.

“Hey, sweetheart?”

“Yes?”

“Assuming it gives us chance to go through my files, would you fight me on a hot shower and a nice meal in a five-star hotel?”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch.”

He caught her narrow-eyed stare as he did a quick shoulder check and changed lanes, but Sam didn’t elaborate. Not right away. Mostly because he wasn’t sure whether or not what he was about to suggest could be accurately described as a
catch.
He maneuvered the car out of the residential neighborhood, silent once again. Meredith didn’t say anything, either, but when they reached the highway turnoff, she finally did speak—it was just two words.

“Gloomy. Musings.”

Sam laughed. “You can feel them rolling off me again?”

“Like a thunderstorm.”

He let out a sigh. “I want us to make noise.”

“I’m not going to pretend to know what that means.”

“They’re going to be expecting us to hide. To try to evade their search. And clearly they’re employing considerable, fruitful resources. They found your apartment and mine. They tracked us to Worm’s. So I think we should do the opposite of what’s expected. Make ourselves obvious wherever we go. Be people who are remembered. But not as
us
.”

“You want us to wear disguises?”

“More or less.”

Meredith paused, stared out the windshield for a second, then said, “And now the catch.”