Invisibility Cloak

by Jill Elaine Prim

  “Do I need to call an ambulance, honey?” He ran his hands down her arms inspecting her for any injuries. “Does anything hurt?”

  “No, I’m okay,” she choked out. A few seconds later, her forehead crinkled and she growled, “Aren’t you going to go after him?”

  “I don’t want to leave you when you’re so shook up.”

  Amanda shook her head. “That . . . that man was in my house.” She pointed her finger at the open window. “Go get him!”

  “I’m on it.” That’s my girl. Grinning, Ryder looked over at Nickel right before he popped through the open window to grab the perp. “Take care of your mother.”

  The perp got too good of a head start on him, but that didn’t stop Ryder from giving chase. He darted behind Amanda’s house watching for any movement around her yard and continued behind her next-door neighbor’s as well. He ran to the place he saw the SUV parked at earlier and it was gone. The low rumbling of a car down the street pretty much confirmed the perpetrator was long gone. Who else could it be around 2:00 in the morning in this calm suburb? Only one thing left to do, so he pulled out his phone. Amanda needed someone watching her place twenty-four-seven. All the evidence was piling up.

  First, Amanda gets run off the road. Now he knew in his gut that it wasn’t a random accident. She could have been hurt so much worse than she had been. Those winding roads that snaked around the hills were hazardous to say the least. Shit, she was lucky she wasn’t killed.

  And now this. Someone was after her. For a letter her ex-husband wrote? She couldn’t be left unprotected until this situation was contained and resolved.

  Maybe a unit would swing by on a regular interval to keep tabs, but he knew all too well the burden the Harbor Falls Police Department already carried. The Mexican Cartels were all over the place this close to the border. He punched in the HFPD’s number. After getting a dispatcher at the department he explained what went down and she said a unit would be there shortly, so he headed back to Amanda’s house.

  Nick and Amanda were talking quietly in the kitchen when he joined them.

  “How’re you feeling?” Most of her color back in her face and she sipped on a glass of water.

  “I’m fine.” She gave him a small smile. “Any luck with finding the creep that was in my house?”

  “Nope, I had a feeling he was long gone, but I checked around anyway.” He looked up at the clock that was up on the kitchen wall. “I did call the HFPD and they’re sending someone out.”

  “I should get dressed then.” Amanda looked down at her half opened robe just as headlights veered into the driveway shining through the living room window.

  “You’re fine.” He gestured to her robe. “Just wrap your belt tighter and tie the sash better. I don’t want the night beat getting an eyeful.”

  “Oh for heaven’s sake,” Amanda muttered rolling her eyes. Yanking her sash tighter she asked Nick, “Honey do you want to hang around or go back to bed?”

  “I’ll think I’ll go back up. Is that cool or do they need me to make a statement or anything?” Nickel asked Ryder.

  “It should be good, Nick. I’ll call you if we need you. Sound good, buddy?”

  “Yep.” Nick jumped up the stairs when the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll get it, Amanda.” Ryder turned to let in the Harbor Falls police officers.

  Amanda’s eyes followed Ryder as he went to answer the front door and mentally slapped herself. She should do something, since it seemed like he was doing everything.

  “I’ll make a pot of coffee,” she muttered out-loud to her empty kitchen. A numbness took over her whole being and she had to push her own body out of the seat. Grabbing the coffee pot, she brewed a full batch of strong coffee. She realized too late that she should’ve used decaf, but then doubted she’d be able to sleep anyway.

  Thank God her parents were coming to pick up the kids on Monday. She needed to figure out what was going on. It obviously had something to do with her ex-husband and some Mexicans. One of the Cartels? Her hand braced her forehead and she stared blankly at the kitchen counter.

  Unbelievable. Just the thought of any of those men near her children and house caused her to wince. She needed to call someone at Wayne’s laboratory and find out what in the devil he was working on. That had to be the answer. But when Nickel translated what the burglar wanted; an envelope. A letter? That made no sense.

  Why would Wayne mail us a letter when we lived relatively close together?

  This had to do with some project he worked on or was in the middle of. Had to be. But then again, Wayne had turned into quite the Casanova.

  His picture frequented the Society Section of the local paper with a different woman on his arm every time. Amanda’s thoughts veered down another path . . . this couldn’t be about a woman could it? Had Wayne ticked off a jealous husband and this was a way of extracting revenge? If that was the case, then the guy was an absolute sicko.

  The coffee pot gurgled. She pulled out a few coffee cups but wasn’t sure how many she would need, so she took out three. Ryder hadn’t come into the kitchen yet, and wondering why, she peeked around the corner. Three men had their heads bent toward each other in conversation.

  One uniformed policeman, one in a suit and Ryder. The other two police officers weren’t as tall as Ryder, but they looked impressive in their uniform and suit. She hesitated at the thought of joining them, but figured she did need to know what was going on. The low murmurings came to an abrupt halt as soon as she approached.

  “Amanda, this is Detective Bob Meary and Officer Trent Willis.” Ryder extended his hand out to her and she allowed him to draw her closer.

  “Bob and Trent, this is Amanda Harris.”

  “Nice to meet you both.” Nodding in the direction of her kitchen, she suggested, “Why don’t we sit down at the kitchen table? I made a fresh pot of coffee.”

  “Yes, ma’am that sounds good. But first let’s take a look at the point of entry.” Detective Meary held a pad of paper in one hand and a small camera in the other. He walked into the dining room and pointed to the window the intruder left through. “This one, Ry?”

  Ryder nodded following Detective Meary to the dining room. “Yeah, it was wide open when I found it and I climbed through it as well. I followed the perp through the first floor, and when I saw an opportunity to take him down, I went for it.” Shaking his head in regret, Ryder ran a hand over the top of his hair. “I couldn’t find a damn thing to secure him with except those plastic grocery bags. That was how he got away.”

  Detective Meary smothered a bark of laughter with his hand and tried to cover up his amusement with a forced cough.

  Officer Willis put on a small smile and offered, “Hey, you did the best you could, man.”

  Ryder grumbled under his breath, “I’ll never live this down.” He brought his head up sharply and pinned both men with a hard stare. “Not a word, Ass―” Ryder abruptly stopped and looked over at Amanda. “Got it gentlemen?”

  As both the men squatted down and checked the window for evidence, Amanda noticed Officer Willis and Detective Meary look at Ryder with their eyes crinkled in amusement.

  “Let me take some prints and see what else I can pull for evidence.” Detective Meary stood back up and slapped Ryder on the back. The detective opened up a small black kit that Officer Willis handed to him and got what evidence they could find.

  As they were working, Ryder looked at Amanda. “I’m sorry the fu―” Ryder stopped and rephrased, “I’m sorry the perp got away.” He brought up his hand to her throat and lightly touched it. “And I’m sorry he touched you. I want to catch the bastard, Amanda,” he softly said.

  Ryder’s regret radiated from him so thickly that she could feel it. But it wasn’t his fault that any of this stuff that was happening to her. She was just
thankful to have him here to protect them. The back of her neck prickled. So, why was he was driving by her place so late at night?

  She blurted out the question before she could censure herself. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, because I’m not ungrateful at all . . .” She hesitated a moment and then licked her lips. “But why were you driving around my neighborhood this late at night?”

  Ahh! Was she acting like a thankless brat? Shouldn’t she be relieved that Ryder had happened to drive by her house in the middle of the night? After all, what would have happened if Ryder hadn’t been here? Would the intruder have hurt them? She wanted to slap her palm over her mouth for that question, but nervousness had her smoothing her hand over the counter instead, remembering the coffee. Before he could answer her question she asked him loudly when she was almost to the coffee pot. “I almost forgot! The coffee. Do you use cream or sugar?”

  “No, just black, and I’m sure Bob and Trent will want black too,” Ryder muttered as he walked back to the kitchen table and sat down.

  “Grabbing the coffee mugs she set out earlier, she chanced a glance over at him. It looked like he was . . .

  No way. Amanda’s eyes widened.

  Can’t be . . . Oh wow. . .

  Was Ryder Stevenson blushing? Well, who would have thought? The six-foot brawny man looked rather uncomfortable by her question. With his elbow leaning on the wood table, he bent his head slightly and pinched the bridge of his nose.

  He brought his head up to meet her gaze. “I’d just done some recon around Sophia Edgington’s place, and thought I should check out this area as well. Amanda, I recognized that same vehicle at your place when we drove over from the Edgington’s after dinner.

  Yes, she did remember him asking if a car was one of her neighbor’s and murmured, “Oh yes, of course. That was why you asked if any of my neighbor’s drove a . . ." She looked up at the ceiling and tapped her index finger on her chin. “A . . . What was it again?”

  “A black Escalade.” Ryder pushed himself away from the table and the chair legs squeaked loudly. He walked toward her and reached his palm up to her cheek. Lightly brushing his thumb over her jawline he explained, “I saw the Escalade at Sophia’s originally before we came back to your house. Sophia told me she thought someone, mainly her ex-husband, was having her followed. It looks like it was you that was being tailed, not her after all.” He shook his head. “Damn it, I should have put two and two together.”

  “Ryder, stop it.” Amanda could feel his guilt and couldn’t stand it. “This isn’t your fault. It has something to do with Wayne. And I have to figure it out. I’m just glad the kids will be going back with my parents after finals in a few days. I don’t want anything to happen to them.” Turning back around to the other two mugs sitting on the counter, she filled them up. She looked back at Ryder before she walked the hot coffee over to the two policeman gathering evidence. She could see his wheels turning vigorously and wondered what he was thinking.

  “Here’s that coffee I promised.” She handed them the mugs. “Black okay? Or do you take cream or sugar?”

  “No, ma’am this is perfect. Thank you.” Officer Trent Willis smiled, while he discretely took in her appearance making her uncomfortable. As soon as her hands were free of the coffee cups she tugged on her robe in front bringing it more secure across her neck then cinched her sash tighter.

  “Appreciate it, Ms. Harris.” Detective Meary said as he tipped back his head and took a gulp.

  Ryder came up beside her and lightly put his arm around her waist, sipping out of his coffee cup with the other hand. “Find anything, Bob?”

  “Not sure yet, Ry.” The detective snapped the evidence kit closed. “Need to take it back to the forensics lab and do some tests. I think we got everything here though, well, that we can get for now.”

  “Come, sit down and finish your coffee.” Amanda walked back to the kitchen and the three men followed.

  “We do need to take your statement, Ms. Harris. Already got Ryder’s take on what went down. But we do we need your version. Are you up for it?”

  “Absolutely, Detective.” Amanda sank back down into her chair at the kitchen table. She proceeded to answer the questions they asked and described what all had taken place tonight. Thinking that the episode her son experienced with the “supposed” telephone company man wanting to come into the house was somehow related to all of this stuff too, she recounted to the Harbor Falls policemen what Nickel told her. Taking the last sip of coffee from her cup, Amanda finished up Nick’s encounter with proudly saying how Nick wouldn’t let the man in. Detective Meary raised his eyebrows as they documented her story.

  “I would like to speak to him. Can you bring him by the station tomorrow?”

  “You bet, Bob,” Ryder said as he looked over at her. “He’s one hell of a fifteen-year-old.” Standing, he said, “Now, I think we need to let Ms. Harris get some sleep before she keels over.”

  “Yes,” Amanda said wearily, she could feel the adrenaline rush of what had taken place earlier fading fast. How tired she was hit her like a brick wall. All she wanted to do was lay down and close her eyes.

  Amanda stood up and swayed slightly. Her weary stance got Ryder’s attention and he jumped to his feet as well, hooking an arm around her waist for support. They walked both men over to the door.

  “Thank you again for coming, Officer Willis.” Amanda shook his hand and then extended her hand out to Detective Meary as well. “You too, Detective Meary, I’ll bring Nickel and Sammie by tomorrow.”

  “Sammie?” Detective Meary raised an eyebrow at the mention of a new name. “Who’s that?”

  “My daughter, she was here with Nickel. Maybe she noticed something,” Amanda explained as she stumbled faintly.

  He swore silently. Amanda looked like she was ready to fall face down on the floor.

  “Okay, gentlemen.” Ryder put both his hands together. “We’ll be by the station house tomorrow. You’ll both be there on a Sunday?” he asked skeptically.

  “Yeah.” Officer Trent Willis snorted. “Our turn to pull weekend duty.”

  “Sucks,” Ryder said softly as he ushered the two men out the front door. “But someone has to do it.” Momentarily turning his head away from his buddies on the force, he searched the room to find out what Amanda was doing. Ah, there she was―woodenly walking back into the family room. Swiveling back to Bob and Trent he bumped his fist to theirs and said. “Take Care. Thanks for coming out guys. I’ll be in tomorrow.”

  “But not too early, dude.” Trent explained, “I’ll be in around a little after noon.”

  “Got it.” Reaching out his arm, Ryder shook both men’s hands and closed the door.

  He scanned the family room where he thought she was going to while he let the guys out, but didn’t see her. Where was she? Maybe she went up to bed? He briefly wondered if he should check on her.

  Oh yeah. He’d make sure she made it into her bed and hadn’t collapsed from exhaustion before getting there.

  Uh-huh, that’s the reason I want to check on her.

  Thoughts of Amanda in her little robe filtered through his head and then he pictured what was underneath her bathrobe. Grinning, he leapt up the stairs that lead to the second floor, barely containing his excitement as he took the treads two at a time. All of a sudden he was wide-awake and imagined Amanda smiling at him as she waited for him in her bedroom.

  Then her smiling face morphed into one of a spent, fatigued Amanda. He upbraided himself and his grin faltered as he silently swore to himself. What an ass he was to even think about taking advantage of her after everything that she’d been through tonight. Shaking his head to clear it, he knew he wanted her like he couldn’t remember ever wanting another woman before, but she was exhausted. The picture of her laying in her bed waiting for him came to a skit
tering halt because another reality came crashing down.

  Ah shit! Amanda’s Mini-Me crossed his mind. Her daughter, Sammie was in her bed. His goal and objectives came to a dead stop. Not going to happen tonight. As soon as he realized his mission had to be aborted, his lust deflated as well. Turning around on the staircase, he headed back down to the main floor.

  “Ryder?” Amanda called out softly.

  Wondering if he imagined it, he jerked his head up. He must’ve walked right by her because it was dark and the lights were shut off.

  “Amanda?” He had to take a few more steps down the stairwell. “You still down here?” Surveying the area below him again, he finally saw her. The faint hallway light poured into the family room allowing him to take her in. She was stretched out on her couch with both her hands tucked under her left cheek.

  He hunkered down next to her. “You need anything?” Her eyelids were at half-mast. She looked so tired. Not being able to resist, he took his palm and settled it on the top of her head and followed the sweep of her blond strands. Fingering the silky ends that fell to her collarbone, his heart raced. Startled at his reaction, his gaze flickered to her face, but her lids were closed. Those gorgeous green eyes of hers were shut, but her long brown lashes fanned out over her cheekbones. His eyes wandered over her face. Her small nose had a splash of freckles wandering aimlessly over her bridge and a few were dappled on her cheeks.

  His gut tightened. She was so damn pretty and it amazed him she didn’t realize it. Not many women had both the looks and the brain and still maintained that trace of innocence.