They checked every room in the basement. No Lenny and no cat.
“Let’s get out of here,” Randy said.
“I’m not leaving Lenny behind.”
“He’s gone, I tell you. We’re never going to find him.”
“We haven’t checked upstairs.”
“Yeah, okay. Anything’s better than this creepy hole-in-the-ground basement.”
All the possibilities of what could have happened to Lenny raced through her mind. Perhaps Tucker ditched Aunt Helen and double-backed to play a sick trick.
They were half way up the stairs when Randy whispered. “Aliens.”
“What?”
“Aliens kidnap people. Cut them up to see how their do-dads work.”
She refused to ask him to define ‘do-dads.’ “Lenny was not kidnapped by aliens. Come on, let’s check the kitchen.”
They peered into the large room. It had been modernized and had a gleaming stainless-steel island at the center. Everything looked normal. She opened the walk-in pantry door and searched for a light. The room twisted around one corner.
“You going to be long?” Randy asked, in a shaky voice.
She gave him an impatient look before edging along the shelving. Bending, she stuck her head around the corner to check the rest of the room. Nothing but canned food on shelves. She returned to the kitchen and said, “Study next.”
After shutting the panty door, she stood still.
Randy hadn’t answered.
The kitchen was empty.
Chapter 9
Morgan wrapped his hand around Randy’s mouth and the scrawny young man fainted into his arms. It made his abduction quieter. He hefted Randy over his shoulder and silently carried him out of the kitchen.
“When you break the law, expect to pay a price,” he whispered to his unconscious captive as he mounted the stairs.
Randy woke up when Morgan entered the bedroom. He mumbled behind the cloth stuffed in his mouth. It didn’t sound flattering. As he tied up Randy, Morgan glanced at his other prisoner. Lenny took his confinement better. Was he smiling past his gag? His eyes were lively and interested. Not the reaction Morgan hoped for. What would it take to teach him that crime was wrong?
One more capture to go. At the thought of taking down Phoebe, he, too, smiled with anticipation. Despite his normally reserved nature, this cat-and-mouse game was fun. Catching Lenny’s curious gaze, Morgan killed his smile. How was the guy to learn the seriousness of this business if Morgan couldn’t keep a straight face?
“Not a sound out of you two, or you will end up in jail before the night’s over. Understood?”
Lenny nodded without hesitation. After a moment to consider his options, so did Randy, lips down-turned.
The corridor outside Morgan’s bedroom stood empty. He crept along the wall listening for Phoebe’s voice. Why hadn’t she called out for Randy or Lenny? Had she given up? Decided to return home? That would be a pity. No, not his Phoebe. Those two might make a run for it if things got difficult but Phoebe would pursue a problem to its bitter end. He was certain of that. He envisioned tackling her to the floor.
He took the back stairs. Inside the empty kitchen, he opened the pantry door a sliver. Lights were on but no Phoebe.
The hallway to the foyer and main stairs were likewise bare. All quiet. He tiptoed across the wooden floor on socked feet. At the other side of the stairs, the door to the study stood open and a light invited him in. A crackling noise at his back had him spinning around, pulse pounding in fear, but there was no one behind him. He took a calming breath and scooted to the other side of the stairway and waited. No one came. The study door nearby continued to stand open.
Phoebe had to have turned on the light switch after he took Randy upstairs. Was she lying in wait? Had she guessed he had kidnapped her cohorts? Did she have a gun? His heart beat like a fire-bell clapper and his breathing came out quick and shallow. Somehow, she’d turned the tables.
Earlier tonight, when he gazed out his darkened bedroom window in search of Janet lurking on the roadway, Morgan instead spotted Helen pull out of the garage to drive around to his grandfather’s driveway. At the Clay’s place, under the porch light, Lenny had been rocking on the swing. His friend, Randy, leaned against the railing smoking a cigarette. Morgan had warned Lenny to ditch his unsavory friend if he hoped to go straight. Obviously, Lenny had ignored that good advice. Phoebe sat on the steps watching her aunt leave.
Morgan normally had a difficult time interpreting Phoebe’s motives and actions, but those three together had spoken a whole different language. They reminded him of a pack of hyenas gathering for a kill and his hackles had risen.
In stunned contemplation, he wondered if Phoebe would be foolish enough to break a court injunction and invade here a second time? Not on her own perhaps, but he smelled a conspiracy. He stayed hidden behind the curtain and considered his next move. The light wasn’t on in his room, so he doubted they’d seen him.
After spotting Janet earlier that day, Morgan had postponed his appointment with his new client from Portland to next week. His plan had been to make his ex think he was away for a few days, which would give her time to cool down.
However, on the off-chance Janet decided to take her anger out on Phoebe or the other Clays or his gramps, he planned to be close at hand to mitigate her actions.
Even Tucker didn’t know he was back. Morgan had deliberately driven out of Harrington Bay, parked his car at a parking garage and took a bus back to town. He then stole in through the back door so no one watching this place would realize he had returned.
Never in all his planning had he expected the problem cropping up would be phase two of the cat rescue squad.
This was why Helen had asked Tucker out on a date. To distract him, while her impromptu gang searched the house for her cat. She was wilier than he’d believed. At least Tucker was up to her tricks. Was her behavior a product of Phoebe’s influence, or was the real Helen finally showing her colors?
No matter. Phoebe was prohibited from entering Tucker’s premises. Lenny was on parole. As for Randy, he was trouble, plain and simple.
Morgan decided then and there, that if those three miscreants followed their illegal bent and broke in here tonight, he would take the opportunity to scare some sense into them. Time they grew up and realized that life wasn’t a game. Certainly not a fair one. Not if he had anything to do with it.
Yet, somehow, he was no longer the hunter, but the hunted. What happened to his plans to teach Phoebe the error of her ways?
In any case, Phoebe wouldn’t hurt him.
Not intentionally.
Would she?
What did he actually know about her? Janet was suspicious about the whole family. Even gentle Brenda.
He was letting his imagination get carried away if he was listening to Janet’s ravings. If he announced he was here, Phoebe would put away her gun, if she even had a weapon. To do that, he had to admit defeat. He hadn’t been able to teach her a lesson. Instead, she’d taught him to not trifle with her.
Too bad. He’d been looking forward to tackling her.
He stomped up to the study doorway. “It’s over, Phoebe. It’s me, Morgan. I’m sorry if I frightened you.”
He peered around the room from the doorway. No one in sight. He checked behind the open door, the couch, drafting table and around the filing cabinets. He set his flashlight on the desk and knelt to inspect under it. No Phoebe. She wasn’t behind the thick burgundy curtains, either. Now, he was worried.
“Phoebe,” he called. “You’ve proven your point. You’re better at hide and seek. Come out. Come out, wherever you are.”
He checked the hallway and living room, but she wasn’t there. A muffled groan came from downstairs. Had she returned to the basement to look for Lenny? And fallen?
“Phoebe, are you all right?” He raced downstairs in the dark. He’s forgotten his flashlight on the study desk and he’d removed the hall light bulb earlier.
Just as he reached the bottom landing, he crashed into tables and chairs. The pathway Phoebe and the boys had made through his barricade was gone and the furniture had been stacked back across the entrance to the hallway.
He landed heavily. Once he stopped tumbling, shins and elbows smarting, he stayed put. Lying still on the floor seemed the safest thing to do.
A pair of long slender legs encased in dark jeans and black boots came into his line of vision.
“I liked you better in the blue dress,” he said as casually as he could. “It’s a crime to cover up those legs.”
She silently held out her hand.
He swallowed his pride and allowed her to hoist him up. Strong arm. He dusted himself down and gave her a side-glance to gauge her mood, but her expression was hard to read in the semi-dark. “I guess I deserved that.”
“Least I could do for Lenny and his friend,” she said.
“You’re loyal.” He made a mental note about that. He liked the character trait.
“That’s what friendship is all about,” she replied and headed upstairs.
He followed, shins smarting, but he refused to limp.
“Are you going to let Lenny and Randy go?” she asked.
She would let him decide? What a complicated woman. “I have no bones to pick with them.”
“You have one with me?” In the entryway, she turned around as he took the last step up.
“Most definitely.” He stopped a pace away. “You’re my client and you just broke the law. Again.”
A rattling from upstairs suggested at least one of her accomplices had managed to move enough to bang at the door.
“I’ll deal with you after I take care of those two.” He sprinted upstairs, surreptitiously rubbing his throbbing elbow.
Morgan had to push to get his bedroom door open. Randy had wiggled his chair until it leaned against the wood. He must have been trying to reach the doorknob. With his hands tied behind his back, even if he could grip the doorknob, how had he expected to open the door with the chair against it?
Morgan untied Lenny first. “Hope you two learned a lesson about the perils of Break-and-Enter?”
Randy’s muffled snorts interrupted Lenny’s response.
Once Lenny was free, Morgan turned his attention to Randy. He stared at the slender man until he stopped struggling. “Will you behave if I untie you?”
Randy’s eyes flicked to Lenny and by the frantic eyebrow and eye movements, Morgan suspected he was urging his friend to clobber Morgan over the head.
“Look,” Lenny said, “we got caught, fair and square. Morgan’s not calling the cops.” He looked at his neighbor with concern. “Right?”
“Not this time,” Morgan said. “If I catch either of you anywhere near this house again, you’ll both be behind bars before you can say you’re sorry.”
“Fair enough,” Lenny said. “Let him go.”
Morgan gave Randy and Lenny a stern lecture all the way downstairs. He had a feeling his words went in Lenny’s ears and out Randy’s. He placed a gentle hand around Phoebe’s elbow to halt her accompanying them. She raised an eyebrow in inquiry, but stayed put.
Lenny hesitated at the doorway and looked back for permission from his cousin.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “Talk to you in the morning.”
“Well?” Morgan asked, after his front door shut.
“Well, what?”
“Now you’ve had a chance to search the entire house, do you believe my grandfather didn’t kidnap your aunt’s cat?”
“Not the entire house,” she said.
Together they looked up the stairs and then at each other. Upstairs were the bedrooms. Including his.
“If the cat was upstairs, I would have heard him.” His voice unconsciously lowered several octaves.
“Her,” she corrected.
“Her,” he acceded.
“What about the attic?” she asked.
He turned her around until they faced each other. “There is no attic.”
Her head tipped, and her lashes rose to reveal cornflower-blue eyes that seemed deceptively innocent behind her glasses. “Aunt Helen would expect me to do a thorough reconnaissance.”
If she was suggesting what he thought she suggested, he didn’t want there to be any mistake. His slid his grip around her waist. Her hands entwined behind his neck.
Morgan kissed her. She was as delectable as wine and went straight to his head. He paused to kiss the tip of her nose. “If I showed you the rooms upstairs, will you convince your aunt that her cat isn’t in this house?”
“It would certainly be a sound argument,” she said, breathless.
Morgan led her upstairs. They checked each and every room. He opened his bedroom door last and gestured her in. The chairs Lenny and Randy had occupied were still there, with the ropes and gags scattered like forgotten toys.
His king-sized bed dominated more than when he had been here with the boys. Frolicking with Phoebe beneath its sheets now replaced fantasies of tackling her to the floor. She checked his closet, inside his bathroom, and under the bed.
She straightened and sat on the bed with a sexy smile he would remember to the day he died. “No cat.”
“You realize, don’t you,” he said, keeping eye contact, “that twice now you’ve risked your freedom for your aunt.”
Her gaze lowered. “I’ve been gone a while. That hurt Aunt Helen. We used to be close. Since I’ve been away, she’s never asked me for anything, except to find her cat.” She shrugged. “It was a way to make up for the pain I’d caused by staying away.”
She went the extra distance for family and friends. Obviously, loyalty was high on her list of priorities, yet she’d deliberately alienated herself from those she loved. What had made her leave home, and then to stay away? She was only legally bound here for three months. Morgan wanted more than tonight with her. He wanted her forever.
He sat on the bed and loosened her hair from the band holding it up. “You’re not supposed to be in this house at all.”
“I won’t tell, if you won’t.” She shook her head, letting her hair fall like silk around her shoulders.
Provocative. Did she see their relationship as a game? It wasn’t one for him. Would she miss him once she left town? Would she remember their time together with fondness or forget all about him?
“If we made love,” he asked in a joking tone, though he was dead serious, “would you regret it in the morning?”
“Only if your grandfather walked in on us.”
She always made him smile when he was at his most maudlin state. He was going to miss her so much if she decided to leave. Yet, that would be better than to never have met her. He placed her glasses on the bedside table and leaned in to brush his face against hers. She smelled like cinnamon and sugar. He nibbled her ear lobe. He wanted to take this slowly but had a feeling that with Phoebe, everything would move at warp speed. He tugged at her shirt tucked into her jeans.
“What about you?” she asked, stroking his cheek.
“What about me?”
“Will you be okay with us in the morning?”
He wouldn’t be okay with her leaving after they made love. He wouldn’t be okay if she left Harrington Bay after her community service was up. He wouldn’t be okay if she refused to marry him, raise their children and grow old together.
“Is it Janet?” she asked at his silent regard.
He gave her a startled look. “Janet?”
“It’s only been a few days since you broke up.”
He shook his head. “That was over before it began.”
“What do you mean?”
“I wasn’t in love.”
“Then why stay? She was serious.”
Morgan couldn’t lie to Phoebe. He didn’t want theirs to be a second-rate relationship. He wanted the moon, the stars and the universe exploding. He wanted their world to sparkle.
He took a deep breath. “If I broke it off, not
only would I have lost her friendship, but of all our mutual friends as well.”
She nodded, in understanding. “Friendships are important. What made you finally end it?”
“Something my grandfather said. That she deserved the right to have a man who was in love with her.”
Phoebe smiled. “A very wise man.”
“Your mother said you lost a friend once.” Was she ready to speak about that pain? “Johnny?”
She didn’t move a muscle. Had he crossed a “no-go” line? Had this Johnny been her lover? Then he died? To feel so strongly, she must still love him.
“You don’t have to say anything,” he said, tucking her hair behind her ear. She wasn’t ready to open up yet. That meant she wasn’t ready for a serious relationship with him. “You’re right. Tucker might return any minute.”
“Johnny died when I was nineteen,” Phoebe said.
Morgan’s heart melted at the deep pain in her voice. He pulled her close. She was trembling. He would have done anything to take away her sense of loss. “I’m sorry.”
“He was my best friend,” she whispered. “He was gunned down.”
“That’s terrible,” Morgan said, shocked.
“Wrong place, wrong time. The shooting was a personal vendetta against someone else who was there, and Johnny happened to get in the way. If I’d been there, those bullets might not have hit him.”
“They might have hit you instead,” Morgan said confused by her reasoning. He leaned back to peer into her troubled eyes, trying to understand.
“He would still be alive,” Phoebe said in earnest.
“And you might be dead.” He pictured Phoebe throwing herself in front of her friend and shuddered. He rubbed her back and she leaned into his touch.
Bit by bit, he was getting to know this intriguing woman. “That’s why loyalty is so important, isn’t it? You feel you let Johnny down.”
Phoebe took a deep shaky breath. “I did.”
“What happened?”
“I was in the middle of exams. He wanted me to be with him for support but I was busy studying.”
The ringing of his cell phone startled them both.
Missing You Page 9