Connie looked back with a frown. “You don’t think that snazzy red convertible will draw attention? I have a dark-green sedan that no one will look at twice, so I should drive.”
“I know the way,” Moose said. “It only makes sense that I drive. I don’t have a lot of legroom, but we’ll manage if Uncle Dare rides in the front. Aunt Connie will fit anywhere.”
“I’ve got plenty of leg room in the front and back,” she countered. “And that classic Mustang is as much of an eye-catcher as Derek’s convertible. I repeat, no one is going to look twice at a nondescript, green sedan. I’ll drive.”
“If you want room, I’ve got as much as you do,” Derek said, his voice growing testy. “I repeat, we’ll take my car.”
“Think, Derek, think,” Connie said. It was amazing how fast the art of argument came back to one. “For crying out loud, you might as well wave a flag from the aerial with our names and addresses on it.”
His problem wasn’t with which car they’d be using, she knew, but in who would be driving it. She could settle this quite simply by handing over her car keys, but she wasn’t going to do that. Sure, he was a better driver than she—simply because he was the more experienced, simply because he always did the driving—but he was also too damned domineering.
“Uh, Uncle Dare, she may be right. If someone mentions having seen a red convertible around there when it all went down, don’t you think your brother might become just a tad suspicious?”
Connie watched Derek struggling with the new odds and the logic. Then, in surrender, he merely stopped arguing and glared at his wine instead of at her. He still didn’t know how to lose graciously, but at least he recognized he’d lost.
Dinner was good; it might’ve been the best lasagna Derek had ever made. But it was over too soon, and it then seemed to take forever for night to fall. Moose was so antsy he gave up on playing host. He excused himself to do laundry, and then he cleaned out the refrigerator. Derek played solitaire at the dining room table. Connie paced.
As she neared him yet once again, Derek put his cards down and gave her a hard stare. “So help me, if you pass by me one more time, I will forcibly put you in a chair. And I will not be gentle about it.”
She stopped. “How can you be so…so…so calm?”
“I am not calm. I’ve got more butterflies in me now than I ever get waiting for my camera cue.” He picked up his cards. “If I had someone like you at the studio, I’d have gone bananas a long time ago.”
She walked back to the front door. Her pacing path had been severely shortened.
But when she turned back around and found his gaze still on her, she sensed that he understood at least an inkling of what she was feeling. “Why don’t you go help Moose fill ice cube trays or something?” he suggested.
“Because he’s through with the ice cube trays,” Moose said, appearing in the kitchen doorway. He walked to the table, rested his arms across the back of a chair, and regarded Derek with envy. “It appears you’ve got something in common with Max, Uncle Dare. He was always the cool one. It was never yours truly.”
Surprise crossed Derek’s face, and then he said, “At first I wouldn’t have considered that a compliment. But now I do.”
Moose’s gaze then flitted hesitantly between his guests. “At the risk of starting another argument, I’d still like to take my own wheels. You can follow me, I’ll make the change into Aunt Connie’s car just before Hayworth’s house, and we can separate right after our getaway. We shouldn’t be tied together any longer than we have to be. Uncle Dare can then come back for his car any time.”
Derek executed an indifferent shrug. Apparently he’d accepted the fact he’d lost this round to his ex-wife. From her spot near the front door, Connie nodded.
“Settled.” Moose straightened. “We should go. It’ll take an hour to get there, and the sun has finally set.”
Connie froze. She stared at her companions as if they were her executioners.
Both men watched her.
“We can call it off,” Derek said hopefully.
Moose’s expression was unreadable, but she doubted he’d complain if she backed down.
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “No, we can’t.” She turned, opened the door, and led the way into their night of crime.
Chapter TwentyThe Hayworth house was in an affluent neighborhood, and, in the view of tonight’s visitors, conveniently set back from the road and out of sight of its neighbors. Connie parked a half-mile away among a copse of trees that surrounded a park, where the car wouldn’t be readily seen, nor should it arouse suspicion.
The sedan wasn’t equipped with a keyless entry feature, which greatly annoyed Derek. He could unlock his convertible’s doors in an instant from several feet away, as he’d told her more than once.
“Just how fast is a fast getaway going to be if one becomes necessary?” he asked, as if accusing her of something. The man was spoiling for a fight.
“If you’re going to talk about getaways, you should keep your voice down,” Connie said calmly, refusing to give him what he wanted. Keeping her cool would irk him even more. “And the doors will open fast enough if we don’t lock them.”
“Once I get out of the car, I’ll keep my voice down. And the doors will open just as fast for a car thief, won’t they? What are we going to do when we get back here if the car isn’t here?”
“We’ve gotta lock it,” Moose said reasonably. “If it happens we’re being chased, we’ve already lost.” Once out of the car, he paused. “Uh, Aunt Connie, in case you’ve got one of those hide-a-keys—”
“No hide-a-key.”
“And no cell phone,” Derek muttered. “She travels light.”
They each took care to close their doors gently as they exited into the balmy night, and they cast furtive looks around the deserted park. Since there were no sidewalks, they walked the edge of the road and tried to look like three neighbors out for an innocent evening stroll.
After a few minutes, Derek glanced curiously at Moose. “You know the house and the neighborhood.” His voice was midway between a whisper and normal. “But you didn’t say how you knew it.”
“Business. I handle his stock portfolio.” His voice was also quiet, but closer to normal.
At his companions’ surprised looks, Moose explained. “Pure coincidence. He has no idea I even know Max. He got my name from a satisfied client and invited me out here. More convenient for him if I made the trip, and with his kind of money, he gets what he wants.”
He hesitated, then added, “I don’t like working with him. He left his previous firm because he’d lost money, but it was because he didn’t follow their advice. And he’s not following mine either. He’s a bully and needs someone to bully him back, but that’s not the way I like to do business. He should be looking for another firm soon. If he doesn’t, I’ll suggest it.”
Connie found herself walking faster and faster in order to keep up with her companions. She slowed them down, and, two minutes later, had to slow them down again. The second time, she wasn’t as nice about it.
But once they approached the house, no one needed a reminder to slow down. They continued past the gated driveway into a row of dogwood trees before Moose came to a stop. A tall hedge on the other side of the road hid them from that house. A shorter hedge was behind the trees, between them and Hayworth’s place. Distantly, a dog barked.
“So this is it,” Derek murmured.
“Uh-huh,” Moose answered.
“You’re sure there are no dogs.”
“No dogs.”
“And no security system.” Derek looked at Connie.
“That’s what the man said. And he wouldn’t let me sell him one, either.”
Derek shook his head in disbelief. “A house like this, in an area like this, it doesn’t make sense. He must be stupid.”
“He is,” Moose said. “But mostly just cheap. That’s why he hasn’t put money into security.”
&
nbsp; “And unscrupulous,” Connie added. “I don’t like him.”
Derek looked at her. She thought his expression was on the condescending side.
“Well, he is,” she said in response to his implied criticism. “And I don’t.”
“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Moose said. “Now shut up and help me find the break in this hedge. It should be…” He paused and pointed. “Right there.” He’d no sooner pointed it out than he was through it. For a man his size, he moved fast.
Connie’s gaze swept the area. Nothing moved. Derek motioned impatiently for her to follow Moose, then he followed her. They found themselves at the side of a driveway that appeared to meander through the grounds. The fastest route to the house from the road certainly wasn’t the driveway.
“Okay,” Moose said, slipping his gloves on. “You two stay here, just in case. I’ll make a quick run around, then come back for you.”
“Wait,” Derek said. “Maybe—”
“Must we have an executive discussion over every move we make, just as we did over which car we’d use?” The big man sounded irritated.
Derek’s motion for him to go ahead also held irritation. Moose disappeared. Connie watched the spot where he’d been, wrapping her arms around herself. Derek turned in a slow circle, looking everywhere. Then his gaze settled on Connie.
“Cold?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Scared?”
She nodded.
She was surprised when he didn’t step forward and put his arm around her. He must be waiting for her to make the first move, which meant that he was confident she would be making a move. That thought reminded her that although he didn’t know it, he was going to be spending the night with her.
The thought alone provoked sensations.
“I think I’m more dumbfounded than scared,” he said, his words bringing her back to the mild night air. He drew his gloves out of his back pocket and pulled them on, motioning for her to do the same. “Here we are, decked out in black and dutifully wearing our skintight gloves, waiting patiently for our cohort, who is casing the house we intend to burglarize. I don’t believe we’re doing this.”
“This isn’t what your brother thought we’d be doing tonight either.”
His head tilted in a quizzical attitude. “Pardon me?”
“Nothing.” She rubbed her gloved hands together, familiarizing herself to the feeling. Then Moose loomed before them so suddenly that she leaped at Derek and knocked him back a step.
“It’s clear,” the big man said. “Let’s go.”
For an instant, Connie was frozen in place. Derek watched her, possibly wondering, or most likely hoping, that she’d back out after all. Then she forced her feet to move, and he fell in step behind her.
“It’s safe,” Moose said as he led the way. “Or at least it’s empty. I don’t know how safe it is. I rang the doorbell and knocked. And checked the downstairs windows and doors, hoping we’d get lucky, but everything is locked up tight. There’s an open window on the second floor, though, that’s near a tree and a wall trellis. We can boost Connie up into the tree and she can check it out.”
“No,” Derek said. “I’ll do it. If I can’t, we’ll jimmy open a door or something.”
“Back off, Derek. I didn’t come along for the ride. I’ll try the window.”
“No, you won’t.”
When he was serious about something, he brought every inch and pound he had into bearing. If they were alone, Connie knew she’d never get near that window. But they weren’t alone. She dropped the argument, waiting until they were next to the tree and beneath the partially opened window.
The lowest branch was still quite high, but it was thick enough to stand upon and go on from there. She hoped she wouldn’t need the help of both men, since one of them wasn’t favorably minded, but that limb was a long way up there.
“The trellis isn’t sturdy enough,” Moose said. “Probably won’t even hold her. The tree is our best shot.”
“Then we’ll break in another way,” Derek said. He’d been studying the tree and the trellis and was looking more and more dubious. “I don’t want Connie up there on her own.”
She said nothing, which might’ve tipped him off, but it didn’t. She waited until he started toward the other end of the house, showing them his back, and she motioned to Moose. Quickly, one foot was in his hands and she was boosted up, but she couldn’t reach the branch. She held on to his head for balance, got one foot onto his shoulder, and reached again for the limb.
“Oh, for… Shit! Dammit, Connie, don’t you have even a lick of sense?”
“Help us, Uncle Dare, before she goes sprawling.”
His long line of cussing didn’t stop, but she felt Derek’s steadying hand on her leg and rump. Then she had both feet on Moose’s shoulders and got her arms around the branch. One foot found a knothole in the tree’s broad trunk, her other foot found another one, and then she was on her own.
She walked vertically up the trunk until she could wrap one leg around the branch and wrestle her way onto it. Then, finally, she was safely sitting astride it. She blew her breath out, and Derek finally stopped cussing. The two men were intense in their silence.
She took a long moment to get her breathing back to normal, and another moment to relocate her courage, then she got both feet under her, gripped an overhanging limb for balance, and walked the branch to the house.
The window wasn’t held in place by a locking guard. Neither man had mentioned that possibility, but it had occurred to Connie. Getting back down, if she couldn’t get the window open, would’ve been more interesting than getting up here in the first place.
The window rasped as she pushed it, resisted for an instant, then slid all the way open. She stuck her head inside. The crisp scent of a lemony cleaner hung in the air. It was a bathroom, and the space she was in was a tub and shower combination. If she fell, the porcelain wouldn’t be kind to her.
“Most accidents happen in the bathroom,” she muttered, as she gripped the towel bar and pulled herself halfway in. It didn’t feel sturdy, but it held, and she reached for the shower rod to get herself the rest of the way in.
Once she got her feet and legs under her where they belonged, she took time for an easier breath, then pulled out the flashlight. When the narrow beam showed her the doorway, she clicked the light off and slipped it back into her pocket. She got one foot on the tile floor—and froze with one foot still inside the tub. Her gaze flew back up to the window. A spotlight wavered, passed, then returned and held.
Her heart beat wildly as she bounded for the doorway, and she came close to losing her balance before the leg inside the tub caught up to the rest of her. There was cover down there in the yard for Derek and Moose. Wasn’t there?
Then she pulled up short when the spotlight moved on. She stood in the connecting doorway between bathroom and bedroom. The light traveled slowly over the bedroom window, then went on its way.
Was the spotlight only a routine check?
There wasn’t a part of her that wasn’t trembling. If that light had been thirty seconds sooner, it would’ve caught half of her hanging outside the window.
She went back inside the bathroom, knees shaky, and stepped up onto the edge of the bathtub to look outside the window to check on Moose and Derek. She heard their sibilant whispers but couldn’t catch the words. She wanted to yell at them to shut up.
Then she realized that Derek was in the tree. She stepped down into the depth of the tub and threw her hands up. “Of all the stupid, numbskull, idiotic…”
“Connie?”
“For crying out loud, you couldn’t wait two minutes for me to get downstairs and open the door?”
“That spotlight scared me. I didn’t like you up here on your own. It should’ve been me up here in the first place.”
To his credit, Connie noted worry in his tone, yet he also sounded peeved that it had been she up here instead of him.<
br />
“Watch out. You don’t want to tumble in here headfirst.” She guided his hand to the shower curtain rod. His baseball cap was knocked off his head and she picked it up. She wanted to get out of the tub to give him room, but her way was blocked by a vanity on this end and by Derek at the other end.
“Can’t say this is the smartest move you ever made,” she grumbled, working to get him upright. “Be tough to think of a stupider one.”
After some tricky maneuvering, he was finally on his feet. She replaced his cap where it belonged. One arm had gone around her as he’d searched for balance, and now his other one joined it. She twisted. “That way,” she said, and motioned for him to precede her out of the tub.
“Umm.” He didn’t move. “Been a long time since we shared a shower.” He rested his chin on top of her head. “Although we’ve never before been fully clothed in one.”
“Uh-huh.” Twisting impatiently, she pushed at him. “Move, Derek. That way.” She pointed again, but his hands moved up and down her back, then slipped beneath the hem of her t-shirt.
She stamped her foot. “What do you think you’re doing!”
“Not the best time or place, I know, but do you realize how long it’s been since I held you like this?” He nuzzled the top of her head. “You feel good. You’ve been so careful these past weeks, not even letting me within touching distance. Now that I’ve got you, I don’t think I want to let you go.”
She gritted her teeth. “I don’t believe this.”
“Ouch!”
“Be grateful it was only your shin I kicked. Now let me out of here.”
At the end of some more tricky maneuvering, she’d managed to push her way past him and was out of the tub. “Where’s Moose waiting?”
“The back door. In the kitchen,” he said. “Ow!”
She turned. “Now what?”
“Vanity has a sharp edge on it,” he mumbled. “Just like you.”
“Then use your flashlight. That’s what it’s for.”
The kitchen’s outside door had three locks on it. She thought she’d never get it open.
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