by Aimée Thurlo
“Think harder,” he said. “Let’s say we’re on the right track. What could you possibly have that someone else is willing to risk everything to get? Do you go to garage sales, estate sales or any other place where you might have bought something that someone else just had to have? I’m thinking of a family heirloom, a vase worth thousands of dollars, a small wooden box with money hidden inside—anything along those lines?”
She shook her head. “Sorry. None of the above. The only things I’ve bought recently are a used refrigerator and some small tools I needed to fix up my house. I’m not big on nostalgia, which describes a lot of collectors. Generally, they’re searching for things that evoke memories, but that’s not me. I’m more focused on the future, and my present is a work in progress. My past…is over.”
“All right, then. For now, we’ll rule out anything you may have brought home recently.” He grew silent, then after several seconds spoke again. “The subject of collectors seems to have struck a nerve with you.”
She nodded slowly. “It brought back an old memory. My mom had a huge collection of family photos and a gazillion souvenirs from our family vacations. We had shelves and shelves of those at home. Then one morning I found her tossing everything on those shelves into the trash. Everything that had something to do with the past went out with the garbage.”
“Did you ever figure out what happened between them?”
“To this day I’m still not sure, but I think Mom may have fallen in love with someone else. She got married a few months afterward and, before long, started traveling all over the world with her husband, an army colonel. He had no interest in children, and considering they were always on the go, Mom said I’d be better off staying stateside with Dad, who was a salesman for a local tool company. It made sense, but I couldn’t help but feel that she chose her new life with him over me,” Lori said. “To Dad, I was a reminder of Mom, so he didn’t want to be around me, particularly after he remarried.”
“They went on with their lives, but you couldn’t fit in anywhere.” Seeing her nod, he added, “So you pulled away from everyone?”
“Pretty much,” she said.
She took a shaky breath and then smiled as Gene squeezed her hand gently. “The day I turned eighteen, I packed up, left and never looked back.” She gave him a thin smile. “So you see, having a family isn’t necessarily what it’s made out to be.”
“In some ways, we’re two of a kind. The circumstances were different, but we both took it on the chin before we knew how to block a punch,” he said. “You’ve been on your own since?”
“Yeah, and I’ve been able to handle every crisis and turning point in my life—till now. If you hadn’t come along, I would have been looking for a place to hide, or maybe I would have just cut and run.”
“No, you wouldn’t have done either. You’re too much of a fighter.”
She smiled. “Yeah, you’re right, but it’s still nice to have a friend you can count on.”
THEY WERE SOON AT HER HOUSE. Lori stopped by the mailbox long enough to pick up its contents, then insisted on checking the interior of the house. Everything seemed all right to him, but he could tell something was bothering her.
Once they were back in his truck, he glanced over at her. “What’s wrong?”
She smiled. “So you’re into mind reading, too?”
“Nah. You’re just not much of a poker player. When you’re worried it’s always right there on your face,” he said as they got under way.
“I’ve been thinking about your idea that my stalker’s not so much interested in me as in something he thinks I have,” she said. “If you’re right, then he’s bound to come back here. Will you help me stake out my house, at least for a while?”
“Sure, but that’ll mean long hours sitting in this truck.”
“I know. So let me buy us some good fast food. Cheap Eats is nearby and their megaburgers are out of this world.”
“You like that place?” he asked, surprised. “That sign of theirs is something else.”
She laughed. “You mean the roadrunner chasing the running hamburger? I think that’s why it attracts a young crowd. They see the humor.”
“Madam, are you intimating that I’m old?” he said, feigning outrage.
She laughed even harder. “No,” she said, then, growing serious, added, “but you have old-fashioned, traditional male values.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not at all. In fact, if you feel I’m infringing on traditional male territory, I’d be happy to let you buy dinner for us.”
He laughed. “I walked into that.”
“Yep, you did.”
THEY SAT IN THE CAB OF GENE’S pickup, across the street and one house down from her home, just out of sight of her neighbor’s window. After taking a quick look through Lori’s backyard, Gene insisted she call Mrs. Hopgood and let her know they were there. That way her elderly neighbor wouldn’t call the police, and they’d avoid a face-off with a tired cop responding to a suspicious-vehicle call.
Lori held out her French fries. “Take some. These are the best fries in the county.”
He shook his head. “Thanks, but no.”
“Who doesn’t like French fries?”
“I like them a lot better when they’re not dripping in oil.”
“It’s peanut oil, and that’s what makes them so good,” she said, finishing the last of them in one large bite. “Of course, this will cost me big-time. Tomorrow’s lunch will probably be a granola bar.”
“Then you’ll be starving by dinner.”
“Yes, but with luck, you’ll buy again.”
“Nah. Next time you’re getting the bill. I’m just a working man,” he said, chuckling, then reached for his cell phone. “I’m thinking I should take another walk through your backyard, but first I’ll call Dan and let him know what we’re doing.”
“Just in case?”
“Yeah. Dan doesn’t live far from here and I know he’ll back me up if necessary. I haven’t called him in before now because he’s got a new wife and he’s also been working some long hours on a job for the tribe. He’s had his hands full, but he’ll come through for me.”
When Daniel answered the telephone call, Gene brought him up to speed.
“I heard from Paul before he left town. He told me you might call and put me on standby after telling me he wouldn’t be back till this evening,” Dan said. “He warned me that the lady’s hot and that’s scrambling your thinking.”
“Then what’s your excuse?”
Daniel laughed loudly.
“Just stand by, bro. I don’t expect trouble, but—”
“Gotcha. If you find it, the cavalry is minutes away.”
Gene hung up, then noted the way Lori was looking at him. From her expression it looked to him as if she was trying to make up her mind about something. If she’d heard Dan’s comment… “Did you catch any of that?”
“No, was I supposed to?”
“Nah, it was just some teasing. My brothers and I always give each other a hard time.”
“When you all get together, what do you like to do? Watch sports, talk cars and trucks, drink beer or all of the above?”
He had started to answer when he spotted movement. Someone was coming out of the backyard via a side gate. “Over there by the juniper bush, left side.”
She followed his line of sight and saw a shadowy figure standing next to the wall.
“He must have come in through the alley. We’ve got him!” Lori dove for the door handle.
“No, wait!” His warning came too late. The instant the intruder heard the truck door open, he fled back through the gate into the backyard.
Gene shot past Lori, raced across the front lawn and spotted the person near the back fence.
The intruder cleared the three-foot-high fence with a scissors jump, then raced down the alley, which was lined with backyard fences and a cinder-block wall on the opposite side.
Gene cl
eared the fence a heartbeat later, then chased the running man to the end of the block. The guy sprinted across the street, then ran up the outside steps of a three-story office building. The place was constructed to look like an old mountain resort, with planters dangling from the roofs of the covered walkways.
Gene reached the steps seconds later, then ran up, taking two at a time. Although he lost visual contact with the man for a moment, once on the first landing he heard the guy’s footsteps ahead on the wooden walkway.
At the top of the flight of stairs, Gene caught a fresh glimpse of the man now sprinting past the office doors. The guy took the corner of the L-shaped building on the fly, grabbing a corner post to keep his balance as he whipped around the turn.
Though fifty feet away, Gene heard the man’s labored breathing. Gene slowly closed the gap, knowing that he had the stamina to stay in the chase for as long as it took.
The walkway ended at another stairway. This time the running man headed down, descending with a rumble of quick steps.
When Gene suddenly heard the shift of heavy steps on the sidewalk below, he realized that the man had reversed directions. Worried that the guy would meet up with Lori, Gene made it down the stairs in three quick leaps.
Looking ahead, Gene could see the man, wearing a Scorpions jacket, suddenly turn right and run between the buildings.
Gene breathed with relief. Good, he’d never run into Lori going that way.
At the corner, Gene saw the minimall directly ahead. It had two levels of enclosed shops forming a big U, with the parking lot in the middle. Gene slowed and glanced around. He’d lost sight of the man again, but the closest entrance door was just closing.
Gene had stepped off the curb when he heard the blast of a horn and saw the headlights of an approaching car.
“Use the crosswalk, moron!” a man yelled from inside the passing car as it raced past him.
“Wait for me!” a gasping voice called to Gene from behind. He turned his head and saw Lori running toward him. In half a beat, she caught up to him and they crossed the street together.
“He’s in the mall somewhere,” Gene said. “Stick with me.”
Once inside, they saw at least fifty shoppers up and down the main walkway, but most of the people were looking in the opposite direction. One woman bent down to retrieve a dropped package.
“Where did the guy in the Scorpions jacket go? He picked my pocket,” Gene yelled out.
“That way, dude,” a heavyweight teenage boy answered almost immediately, pointing.
Gene and Lori hurried to the end of the wide hall, bypassing the shoppers, who gave them room and shouted encouragement. When they turned the corner, they saw someone with the right color jacket getting into the elevator at the end of the passage.
Gene let go of her hand and raced to the door, hitting the button just as the door slid shut. Frustrated, he banged his fist on the metal, then turned and headed for the stairs.
Out of nowhere, the high-pitched wail of an alarm sounded, and strobe lights on the wall above the red fire alarm began to flash.
Within seconds people were rushing out of the shops and hurrying toward the exits.
“Everyone outside!” a shout came from somewhere behind them. “Take the stairs, not the elevator.”
Gene turned and saw a uniformed security guard motioning to shoppers.
“We’re screwed. Let’s go,” Gene said, taking Lori’s hand and heading toward the nearest exit.
“You think the fire alarm was his doing?” Lori asked, still trying to catch her breath.
“Count on it.”
Chapter Eleven
On the way back to his car Gene called Daniel and gave him Lori’s address. “Can you make sure he doesn’t head back to her house and try to surprise us there? We’ll be going back to take a look around and figure out what he was up to, but there’s a lot of confusion and traffic here now and we might be a while.”
“You’ve got it. I’ll be there in less than a minute. I started heading your way right after you called,” Dan said.
As they got under way, Lori gave Gene a worried look. “What if your brother gets there well ahead of us and runs into a problem?”
“Daniel can handle it.”
“Alone?” she said, her voice rising.
“The guy will be in a world of trouble if he decides to square off with Dan. My brother’s trained to fight. Daniel was in the army and he loves a challenge.”
“What are you saying, that he likes to fight?”
“No, not exactly. Dan, like the rest of us, has to test himself from time to time. We all came from hard backgrounds and know only the tough survive. That’s why we like making sure we haven’t gotten too soft and lost our edge.” He shrugged. “It’s a guy thing.”
“But you’re not a fighter. You’re a gentle man. You weigh your actions and don’t get hostile unless you’re provoked.”
“Not always. I have another side, one you haven’t seen. You know that Bear is my spiritual brother. Bear can be good, but it can also be evil when it’s not under control. Hosteen Silver understood this—that’s why he gave me the bear fetish to carry with me in my medicine pouch. He knew Bear and I are linked.”
She looked at him thoughtfully. She couldn’t imagine Gene having a dark side. He took life in measured strides, was slow to anger and wasn’t afraid to stand up for what he thought was right, even when it came at a cost. She knew all that from personal experience.
These days when everyone’s lives were so rushed, when people went from one thing to another with scarcely a breath in between, it was remarkable to find a man like Gene.
When his phone rang, Gene placed it on speaker. Dan’s familiar voice came through. “We’re too late. The back door was forced by twisting off the knob with some kind of wrench. I didn’t go inside, but from what I can see, the place has been ransacked. I don’t think the guy’s still inside, but if he is, he’s not going anywhere. I’ll make sure of it. I’ve also called the police, and they’ll be sending a man out.”
“Yeah, when, next year?” she muttered, but both men heard her.
“Don’t give up,” Dan said.
“I’m not. I’m just angry. I want this guy caught and locked up.”
After ending the call, Gene glanced over at her. “He couldn’t have done this since leaving the mall. He must have gotten inside while we were watching from the front. I should have parked where we had a better angle and increased the number of times I went around the house on foot.”
“We couldn’t be everywhere at once and there was no sign of an intruder from where we were. But why did he break in at all?”
“Have you thought some more about what you might have in your possession that could be so important to this guy?” Gene asked. “It wouldn’t necessarily have to be something of economic value. Has anyone sent you anything they might want back, like love letters, incriminating emails or anything of that nature?”
“No, I’ve got nothing along those lines.” She thought about it for several long moments. “Last week I borrowed a book that belongs to my friend Miranda. All of us at the office wanted to read it, so Miranda passed it around. I was the fourth woman in line for it. Right now it’s at the house.”
“Is it possible that something’s hidden inside it?”
“I doubt it, or one of the three ladies who read it before me would have found it.”
“Unless one of them, or a member of their families, placed it in there,” he said. “Is it a hardcover with a thick spine that could contain something?”
She shook her head. “It’s a sexy paperback romance novel.”
He gave her a thoroughly masculine grin. “I would have never guessed you like to read those. You seem pretty down-to-earth.”
“What’s one got to do with the other? I love romance novels with happy endings. They’re fun to read and they make you feel good.” She smiled slowly. “Did I mention that the hero’s a Navajo?”
He
burst out laughing. “I’m no hero, so if you expect me to be like him you’re bound to be disappointed.”
“Not so far,” she said, smiling.
As they drove up her street, her playful mood vanished. “How bad do you think it’ll be inside my place?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.” Gene pulled up behind Daniel’s pickup, which was parked at the curb in front of her driveway.
Lori pointed to the empty police car across the street. “That was fast. Either Dan’s got some serious clout, or the slowdown’s finally over.”
“It’s probably Dan. He’s made some good friends in the department, and they’re there for him when he calls.”
“I’m impressed.”
“Should I be jealous?” Gene asked.
“Nah, I prefer the company I keep,” she said as she climbed out of the truck.
Gene soon introduced Lori to his brother.
Dan shook her hand. As Lori turned away to glance at her home, Dan gave his brother a quick thumbs-up.
“Have you been inside?” Lori asked Dan, turning back.
“No, Officer Green is in there now taking a look around. From what I saw through the rear window, some of the rooms are in shambles, so be prepared.”
She stepped up to the front window and, seeing the officer walking around, called out to him. “Can I come in? I’ve got my keys.”
“Yeah,” Green said, motioning with his hand.
Anxious to put an end to her speculation, Lori unlocked the front door and stepped inside.
AS SHE DISAPPEARED FROM VIEW, Dan blocked Gene’s way, forcing him to hang back for a minute longer. “I see what got you into this mess.”
“No, you don’t,” Gene snapped.
“Sure I do. A beautiful woman like that smiles and soon all you can think about is how good that sexy little body would feel beneath yours.”
“Wash your mouth and brain out with soap. Better yet, maybe I’ll do it for you.”
Dan laughed. “Oh, yeah. It’s serious.”
Gene glared at him. “I’m trying to help her out. This woman’s got a big problem on her hands.”
“Yeah—you,” Dan said, grinning. “You’d take on a bar full of bikers just to see her smile. Tell me I’m wrong,” he said. Gene glowered at him and Dan added, “She’s got you, bro.”