“Smooth,” Lisbeth said. “You didn’t hear the lock turn in Mr. Young’s door?”
Leslie looked off into space. “No, I didn’t hear anyone at the door. Consciously, anyway. Something, some sense, made me look up, and they were right there.”
Tina could think of no motive for the kidnapping. Brandon’s phone chirped, and he looked at the screen, frowned. “It says you’re calling me.” He looked at Leslie.
She felt in her pocket. “My cell’s gone.”
Brandon said hello. Then he held the phone out to Leslie. “He wants to talk to you.”
CHAPTER 34
Looking shocked, Leslie held out her hand. She whispered hello. Listened a few moments, then said, “What? Yes.”
Tina realized she was holding her breath and let it out.
“Are you crazy?” Leslie straightened up in her chair, frowning. She listened, then slumped back. “Yes. I know. How soon?”
The other person said something, and then Leslie took the phone away from her ear and stared at it. No one said anything. Finally, Leslie pushed end and handed Brandon his phone. “That was one of the kidnappers. I mean he said he was. He pointed out how easy it had been to take me and bring me to the house. They want me to move out and stay away for at least a month. Maybe longer.”
Tina looked around at shocked faces and assumed hers looked about the same. “Why?”
Leslie shook her head. “He didn’t say.”
“You keep saying ‘he.’” Lisbeth said. “Are you sure it was a man?”
“The voice sounded masculine to me. Brandon?”
“Yes, I immediately thought it was a man.”
“Okay. Can you repeat what he said, pretty much word for word?”
“It was weird. He asked if I was okay. Then he apologized for what they did, but said they needed to make a point. He said they needed me to stay out of the house for a month, at least. And I have to get out by tomorrow.”
“This is crazy,” Tina said. “Who are these people?” She looked at Lisbeth. “You have any idea?”
Lisbeth did not look happy. “Unfortunately, no.”
Tina looked at Hank next. “What about you? Any thoughts?”
Hank looked more uncomfortable than Lisbeth did, which made Tina uneasier than she already felt. “I have some ideas, but nothing I can share yet.”
Tina felt angry heat rising to her face. “Why the hell not, Hank? What harm would it do to tell us anything you know?”
Hank wouldn’t look at her. He stood up and walked over to Leslie. “I’m glad you’re okay. I have to go now. Take care of yourself.”
Leslie looked as stunned as Tina felt when Hank left. They both turned to Lisbeth. “Do you know what he’s hiding?” Tina demanded.
Lisbeth shifted in her chair. “Nothing I can talk about right now, either.” She stood up. “Ms. Young, we really need to get you checked. Maybe Ms. Shaw can drive you to the emergency room. I’ll meet you there.”
“You sure you’re okay?” Brandon asked. “I can go with you, too.”
“No, Brandon, I’ll be fine. You probably need to get back to work. This has taken enough of your time.” She stood up and looked at her father. “You go home and tell Mom what’s going on. I’m be there as soon as I can.” She tried to smile. “I assume you and Mom won’t charge me too much rent if I move back in.”
Mr. Young shook his head and hugged her. “You know you can come home anytime.”
“Thanks, Dad. Mr. Hall, thanks for getting us out of the secret room.”
“My pleasure. I think you should know, I suspect there may be more secret spaces in this house. My advice is to leave as soon as you can reasonably do so until this is all cleared up.”
“I know that’s good advice. My only problem is I don’t know if it ever can be cleared up. Then what will I do?”
Leslie’s father and Brandon looked stricken. Tina swallowed back her tears.
“Don’t dwell on that idea,” Mr. Hall patted her shoulder. “I’m sure the police will find out what this is all about. Or Hank Silver will.”
Tina wondered how much Mr. Hall knew about Hank and his position with the police department. Who was the person who gave the anonymous donation so Hank could work as a consultant? It made sense that some of the most prominent men in Newport might know who it was. For all she knew, it could be Mr. Hall himself. The speculation must have shown on her face because Mr. Hall raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.
“Tina,” Mr. Young said, “please take care of Leslie for me.” He turned to his daughter. “I expect you home as soon as you’re done at the hospital.”
Leslie smiled. “Yes, Dad.”
“I’ll be sure she gets there,” Tina assured him.
They left the living room, and Leslie got her first view of the library. She gasped. “What happened to my office?”
Everyone looked at Tina to explain. She suppressed a sigh. “We found it that way. The forensics team has gone over it. Hopefully they’ll be able to tell us.” But she doubted it. She turned to Lisbeth. “How did someone get past that team and/or the guard to get Leslie upstairs?”
“Good question.” Lisbeth looked as baffled as Tina felt. “I think Mr. Hall is right. I suspect there’s other secrets in this old house.”
Tina nodded. Leslie looked shell-shocked, so Tina took her arm as they walked onto the front porch, Leslie locked the door. “I don’t know why I should bother.”
Tina didn’t point out that other people besides the kidnappers might decide to rob the house. No one else said anything, either, until they reached their cars, where they called good-bye to each other. Tina noticed Peter Collier trimming a hedge in his front yard that didn’t seem to need any trimming. She stared at him a moment, then shrugged. He was probably just being nosey because of all the police activity at Leslie’s house.
Leslie sighed after she buckled herself in. “A ghost would have been less trouble, don’t you think?”
Tina laughed as she started the engine. “Probably. You sure you’re all right?”
“I’ll be fine. After all the only scary parts were when they showed up and when I woke up in the secret room. And you were right there.”
“There’s that to be thankful for. I mean that they didn’t hurt you physically, except for the shot. Does the spot hurt?”
“Not enough to complain about. I don’t see why I need an examination. All moving parts more properly, and I’m not in any pain.”
Tina cleared her throat. “I think they need to document what happened. Look at the place where they gave you the shot, look for bruises, and maybe take some blood to see if they can find out what drug they used.”
“Oh. How do you know about all that?”
“I don’t know. Reading? Watching TV? Learned about it somewhere.”
Leslie grinned. “You and Hank make a good pair. Have guns, solve crimes.”
Tina frowned. “Not so sure about that anymore, my friend. Hank’s secretiveness is really getting to me.”
“I forgot. Sorry.”
“You’re entitled to have forgotten.” Tina pulled into the hospital parking lot. “You know, I’m not sure where to take you. I guess the emergency room.”
When they got out of the car, Tina saw Lisbeth entering the door with an officer holding a professional-looking camera. “Oh.” She pointed out the man to Leslie. “You’re going to be a star. I bet he’s going to take pictures of the place where you got shot in the arm.”
Leslie laughed. “You’re a shot in the arm yourself, Tina. You always make me feel better.”
Tina hugged her. “That’s what friends are for.”
As they walked to the door, Tina thought she saw the same man she’d noticed before in D’Angelo’s parking lot lingering beside his car. She stared at him, but he didn’t seem to be paying any attention to her or Leslie, and she couldn’t be sure he was the same person.
Leslie and Tina entered the lobby. Lisbeth greeted them and introduced the photogr
apher. When the exam was finished and the photographs taken, Tina drove Leslie to her parents’ house. “Brandon and I were talking about going through things in the attic looking for more information about what the secret room was used for. He thinks your Aunt Margaret may have left something about it there. Would you like us, maybe Brandon, Hank, and me, to sift through things up there before your deadline?”
“That’s a great idea. I really would appreciate that. I just realized, I need to get my car from Brandon’s place.”
“Don’t worry about that tonight. Get some rest. I’ll get in touch with Hank.” Tina swallowed hard. Just saying his name brought up all kinds of emotions. “And Brandon. You have one day to clear out, right? According to the man on the phone.”
“Yes. Oh, I’ll have to buy a new phone.”
Leslie looked as if she was about to cry. Tina reached out to hug her. “One step at a time. We’ll figure this out.” She wondered if Leslie would want to keep living in the house when this was all over.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you. And Brandon and Hank.” Leslie pulled away from Tina and got out of the car. “Call me if you find out anything. On the house phone.” She waved at Tina.
On the way home, Tina realized she hadn’t eaten all day, and she was famished. Also exhausted.
She entered a dark, silent kitchen and rummaged around in the refrigerator. She found some sliced ham and cheese and made a sandwich. After she sat down to eat, she called Brandon, and they agreed to meet at Leslie’s the next morning at seven-thirty to search the attic.
Next she called Hank, planning ahead of time what she was going to say.
He answered on the first ring. “Doll. Still mad at me?”
“Yes.” She took a bite of her sandwich.
He didn’t say anything for what seemed like forever. “I’ll tell you all I can as soon as I can.”
“I’m sure.” She bit viciously into the sandwich again.
Hank sighed loudly. She knew he did it on purpose so she could hear him. “You need to learn to trust people who can’t tell you everything the minute you want to know something.”
Oh, so it was her fault. “That’s worked so well in the past, Hank.” She hoped the sarcasm came through loud and clear.
Another sigh, not quite as loud. “There’s nothing I can do about any of this right now. I’m guessing you called for a reason.”
Tina put the sandwich down and took a sip of root beer. Her stomach seemed to want to reject the food. “Yes, I called for a reason. Brandon and I talked about searching the attic some more to see if Aunt Margaret left any papers about the secret room and what it is being used for. I thought you might want to join us. Leslie has one day to clear out, so we need to work fast. We’re going to start tomorrow morning at seven-thirty.”
“Good idea. I’ll meet you there tomorrow.”
“Okay.” She hung up without saying good-bye.
CHAPTER 35
The next morning, Tina drove to Brandon’s condo. He took Leslie’s car to their parents’ house, then he and Tina went in her VW to Leslie’s.
Hank stood on the front porch in his black bomber jacket. She could feel his eyes on her as she and Brandon went to join him. She wanted to fall into his strong arms and stay there for a long time. Instead she simply said hello and unlocked the door.
Hank put his hand or her arm. “Remember, anyone in there can hear whatever we say.”
“Oh, yes, that could be a problem.” Even though his flesh didn’t touch her skin through her light jacket, she tingled. Ignoring the sensation, she asked, “Should we see if anyone’s in the secret room before we start?”
“Yes. If it’s clear, we can relax.” Hank took his hand away from her arm. She missed it.
Tina noticed Brandon was watching them, his expression puzzled. “You two have a fight?”
Hank looked at Tina. “I’m not fighting.”
Tina opened the door and walked inside without saying anything. She led the way upstairs, and in Leslie’s bedroom, placed her purse on the bed and took out her gun. Hank pulled his out of the holster under his arm. “I’ll go first.”
Tina rolled her eyes. “Be my guest.”
“There’s probably no one here.” Hank ignored her eye rolling and started up the stairs. “They gave Leslie a day, and they wouldn’t want her to find them here.”
“But we’re still checking.”
“Yes. Brandon, stay where you are. I don’t want to be crowded up here. Tina, keep a couple of steps behind me, please.”
“Yes, sir.” Tina stopped on the next to last stair while Hank entered the attic. When she heard him walk toward the back, she went to stand on the landing and waited.
“All clear.” Hank moved toward her with his cat-like walk, and Tina looked away. Why did he have to be so gorgeous?
When he got close enough, he holstered his gun and bent down to kiss her on the lips. She gasped. “Don’t.” Her voice was so faint, she wasn’t sure he heard her. The kiss intensified, and she melted into him, her arms by her side. She almost dropped the gun. “Oh, Hank.”
He ended the kiss and stepped back. “Don’t fight it, Tina. We belong together. You know that. You know I have very good reasons for what I do. Always. I’m not trying to hurt you. I love you.”
His gray eyes bored into hers, and she had to lower her own so she wouldn’t sink to the floor in a puddle of goo. The words came involuntarily. “I love you, too.”
He smiled. “All right. Now let’s see what we can do to help Leslie.”
She took a deep breath. “Yes. Right now that’s the most important thing.” She suddenly realized she still grasped the gun in her hand. “I need to put this away,” she muttered.
Hank laughed as he followed her downstairs.
Brandon stood at the bottom, looking unhappy. Tina wondered how much he’d heard. “Let’s get to work. You okay, Brandon?” She put her gun back into her purse.
“I’m fine.” He walked toward the hallway. “You have a good system for us to use to get through everything as quickly as we can?”
“Of course.” She smiled at him. They walked up the stairs. When they reached the top, Tina looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed. It still had that old attic smell, intensified by the bright sunlit day. “There’s one clear corner. We each start in one of the others and quickly go through everything, only looking for papers and journals. Try to work in a grid-like pattern. Don’t read much of anything you find, just put it aside and we’ll look at it all more thoroughly away from the house.”
Brandon looked impressed. “You really educated yourself about your new profession, didn’t you?”
Tina felt surprised by the compliment. Brandon rarely handed them out. “Thanks.”
“Well, let’s get started,” Hank said. “Tina, you have first choice of corner.”
Tina glanced around and pointed to the one nearest the secret room. She noticed an old desk, and a four-drawer, wooden file cabinet. “That looks promising. We need to empty some boxes to put in the papers we find.”
Brandon opened the nearest carton and pulled out an old toaster. “Looks like a lot of small appliances in here.” He set the toaster on the floor and lifted out a coffee pot.”
“That’s Faberware,” Tina said. “Could be rather valuable. Be careful with all that stuff.”
Brandon nodded and placed the coffee pot on the floor next to the toaster and pulled out another item. “What’s this thing?”
Tina laughed. “That’s a Veg-O-Matic. You mean you’ve never seen one of those?”
“Come to think of it, right here in Grandma’s kitchen. But I never knew what it was called. So, these must be her things.”
“Probably. Seems about the right era.”
“And this?”
“A Dazey Donut Maker,” Hank said. “My mother had one. I wonder what happened to it.”
“This I recognize,” Brandon showed them a hand mixer. “I’m just going to pull everyth
ing out and use this box. Seems clean.”
“Yes,” Tina said, “we can all use it since it’s rather large. Let’s get to work.” Tina was surprised to realize she was enjoying herself.
But she was unhappy and astonished to find the desk completely empty. She opened the top drawer to the file cabinet. It held several old-fashioned office supplies. A stapler, a tape holder with yellowed tape still in it, and a pencil box. Pens, pencils, erasers, a tiny box of curled white binder reinforcements, and old black and red typewriter ribbons. She closed the drawer.
Her breath caught when she opened the second drawer. It was stuffed with papers. She pulled a few out and looked at them, disappointed to see sales receipts and recipes. She grabbed as many as she could hold, though, and took them over to the box. “I found some papers, but they don’t look promising,” she said. “Either of you find anything?”
Both men said no, and Tina walked back to the file cabinet. The two other drawers were also filled with papers, and she took them all to the box.
She looked around the rest of her area and decided to tackle an old brown, camel-back trunk next. It was filled with clothes, but she carefully lifted them out to check for any papers. Disappointed when she didn’t find any, she put the clothes back and started on a chest of drawers. The men were hardly making any noise, and since they hadn’t said they found anything interesting, she figured they hadn’t.
Almost three hours passed without finding any more papers. Tina straightened her back and stretched. “Time for a break, guys. I’ll go see what Leslie has to drink in her kitchen.”
“We’ll all go,” Hank said. “We stick together, remember?”
“Oh, right.”
Tina found bottled water in the refrigerator and handed them out. They sat at the table, Tina facing the window. She saw movement in the yard. “What’s that?” She pointed.
Cluttered Attic Secrets (Tina Tales) Page 14