“You know,” she said, “you’re a terrible influence on me. I’m not the world’s earliest riser, but I don’t remember ever hanging around the apartment, just eating and talking until almost two in the afternoon before.”
He gave her one of his fabulous smiles. “If the boys weren’t supposed to be getting back around seven, we could hang out even longer.”
She looked down at the couch, absently tracing the pattern on the fabric—still trying to decide if she should raise the subject of Dirk Blackstone again.
That dream about Sully losing the lodge wouldn’t stop bothering her. And even though she didn’t believe she had mystical powers of prediction, why take chances with anything that smacked of intuition or the prophetic? No, she really thought they’d better get to the bottom of the Blackstone mystery. And as soon as possible. She just couldn’t help worrying that the man might try some other crazy scheme to get his hands on Eagles Roost.
But since last night, Sully hadn’t said a word about her idea of hiring a private detective. She assumed that meant he’d decided against it, and if they didn’t do that…
“Sully?” she said, inspiration hitting.
“Uh-huh?”
“Sully, what if you and I played detective at Fax Depot?”
He shot her a curious look.
“What if we sent a fax to Dirk Blackstone, to lure him there, then kept an eye on the place until he came to pick it up?”
“Twenty-four hours a day?”
She shook her head. “I was thinking more like from about eight in the morning until nine at night. I mean, given the manager’s description, I doubt Blackstone’s the type of guy who’d be wandering around Forty-Second Street in the middle of the night.”
“No, probably not, but—”
“And the foundation office isn’t very busy in the summer. So what if I took next Friday off? Or even Thursday and Friday. If we sent the fax Wednesday evening, that would give us four days until Sunday and—”
“Lauren, you know I can’t get into the city again until Grace and Otis are back. It’s one thing to farm out Roxy, but I can’t farm out five boys.”
“Well…what if you brought them along?”
He grinned at her. “Joke, right?”
“No, I’m serious. I’ve got four bedrooms. One for you, two for them. I mean, you wouldn’t even have to stay with your friend, right? Not with five kids here watching us. So why not?”
“Well, let’s see,” he said, still smiling as if she had to be joking. “Just for starters, boys are noisy, messy and put their feet all over the furniture. Your place would never be the same.”
“Oh, Sully, we’re talking five young boys, not five wild animals.”
“Sometimes, there isn’t a lot of difference. Besides, who’d be keeping them from getting into trouble while we were out playing detective? I wouldn’t leave them on their own in this city for a minute, let alone for hours.”
“Then maybe they could help. I mean, I know they couldn’t stand around for twelve or thirteen hours a day, but I think we’d have to cover the place in two shifts, anyway. So they could help keep an eye out with either one of us. Sully, they’ve been trying to help all along. Think what a boost it would be to their self-esteem if they actually could.”
“Well, that’s a good point, but it doesn’t—”
“Or what about this? Elliot and Ursula live on Long Island. They’ve got two kids of their own, a huge pool and a tennis court. And I’m sure they’d take the boys for a day or two.”
“Lauren, you can’t just go asking people to—”
“They’re not people. They’re my brother and sister-in-law. And don’t forget you saved his life. If he’d saved yours, how happy would you be for the chance to do him a favor?”
“No, look, I know you’re trying to help, but what would happen if Blackstone showed up on your shift? I mean, I could just walk up to him, introduce myself and ask him what the story is. But what would you do?”
“I could do the same thing.”
“Uh-uh. We have no idea what this guy’s like so—”
“We’d be in the middle of Fax Depot. And there are always cops on Forty-Second Street. But I could call you right away and you’d get there in no time. Sully, we’d find out what we want to know.”
“No, it’s too crazy and too dangerous.”
“We’d have four days together,” she pointed out.
He looked at her for a long moment. “Well…” he said at last, “maybe I was being a little hasty. Maybe if you were only there in the early part of the day…”
“I could take the first shift.”
“And you’d promise not to approach him on your own.”
“I guess,” she said, deciding I guess didn’t exactly constitute a “yes.” If she was there and Blackstone started to walk away, she certainly wouldn’t let him.
“Well…then maybe the idea’s not entirely crazy.”
“SULLY? IT’S REAL crowded back here,” Terry complained from the van’s rear seat.
“It’ll be okay as soon as we drop Roxy off,” Sully told him. “Then we’ll move all your stuff into the back.”
“And then we’ll be on our way,” Freckles said excitedly. “Sully, tell us again what we’re gonna do there?”
“He already told us a hundred times,” Tony grumbled.
“Yeah, but I like to hear.”
“Okay,” Sully said. “This is the last time, though. Tomorrow you’re all going to help Lauren and me. And on Friday, too, if we still need—”
“To stake out the place,” Billy put in. “We’ll be real detectives.”
“Uh-huh, real detectives.” Sully smiled to himself. Lauren had been right. The boys were absolutely thrilled that he was turning to them for help.
He hadn’t told them all the details, but he’d explained that Blackstone was responsible for Eagles Roost losing its funding, and that he and Lauren had unsuccessfully tried to track the guy down last weekend.
“Then we get to go to Yankee Stadium,” Terry was saying.
“Is that for sure, Sully?” Freckles asked.
“Yes, it’s for sure. I told you, when Lauren’s brother phoned he said he had six tickets for the Friday night game.”
Sully thought back to that conversation as he turned onto the road that led to old Zeke Scrouthy’s place. It had been the first time he’d talked to Elliot since the shooting. Actually, it had been the first time he’d ever talked to Elliot. And the man had fallen all over himself being grateful—and saying that he and Ursula would be happy to take the boys for all four days if Sully wanted.
“And after the game he’s going to take us back to his house,” Billy said.
“Right. So you can spend Saturday in his pool.”
“With his two little kids,” Tony said.
“Yes. And they’re younger than any of you, so don’t be rough with them. And don’t forget Mr. Van Slyke just had a concussion, so absolutely no horsing around with him. And you’re going to do everything he and his wife tell you, without a word of talking back.”
“We’ve got it,” Billy said. “We’re on our best behavior for the next four days. And we don’t put our feet on nobody’s furniture, and we don’t eat nothin’ except when we’re in a kitchen.”
“Or at the ballpark,” Terry said.
“Or by the pool,” Freckles added.
Sully turned into Zeke’s drive, hoping the kids would remember at least half the rules.
“Sully?” Billy said. “Will we be able to ride in Lauren’s car? Did she get it back yet?”
“Uh-uh. And her insurance company says that since it’s been missing this long she’ll probably never see it again. I think they’re going to settle the claim pretty soon.”
When he pulled up in front of Zeke’s house, one of the neighbors, Alma Merlinski, was sitting on the porch.
She rose when he popped the tailgate, then hurried toward the van as he climbed out.
“What’s up?” he asked, glancing around for Zeke.
“Oh, Sully, I phoned but you’d already left. When I came over a while back with some fresh-baked muffins, Zeke looked just dreadful. And he admitted he’d been having chest pains, so I insisted on calling the doctor. And, well, Doc Morely thinks he’ll probably be fine, but he took him off to the hospital for observation, just in case.”
Sully looked back to where Roxy was sitting drooling in the rear of the van, wondering what he was going to do with her now.
“Zeke didn’t want to go,” Alma was explaining. “He kept saying you were counting on him to take the dog. But better safe than sorry, right?”
Sully nodded. Then before he could sound Alma out on the idea of dog-sitting, she added, “I’d take her for you myself, but my kids have allergies. There must be somebody, though.”
“Yeah…there must be.” He glanced anxiously at his watch. They were already running late, and now he was going to have to waste time calling around. There weren’t many people he’d feel comfortable trying to foist a 125-pound dog on, though.
“Or how about a kennel?” Alma suggested.
“Yeah, I guess I could try calling that one near Newcomb. It’s the only one that’s anywhere near here, isn’t it.”
“Sully?” Billy said through the open window of the van. “Why can’t we just take her with us. She’s no trouble.”
“Maybe not at the lodge, Billy, but Lauren’s apartment isn’t the same thing.”
“So what are we gonna do, then?”
“I’ll phone that kennel,” he said, even though he didn’t like the idea of sticking Roxy in a pen.
“The door’s unlocked,” Alma told him. “And I’ve got to get going, okay? You can lock up when you leave.”
“Sure.” He headed up the porch steps and into Zeke’s house to make his call.
The kennel, when he finally got the number and called, proved to be fully booked. July, the woman pointed out as if he were an idiot, was the height of the vacation season. Reservations had to be made well in advance.
He hung up and tried a couple of his other neighbors, but didn’t get any answers.
Finally, he dialed Lauren’s office and explained the situation to her. “So it looks like we’re done for the moment,” he concluded. “I’ll try to line up something tonight, and if I can manage it we’ll be able to drive down tomorrow.”
“That would give us one less day, though,” she said. “And the manager of Fax Depot told us Blackstone calls every couple of days. Four days means he’d be almost sure to check in. But with only three, our odds would be lower. Sully, surely there’s got to be a kennel someplace around New York that has a vacancy. How about if you just come ahead while I work on lining up something?”
He cleared his throat uneasily. “If you can’t find anything, you’re going to end up with me and the five boys, plus Roxy.”
There was a long pause at her end. Then she said, “Well, you’ve got the three cats at the lodge, so we know Roxy won’t bother Killer. Which means that even if the worst comes to the worst… But there’s not going to be any problem. So I’ll see you at the apartment in a few hours.”
Sully said goodbye and hung up, the phrase there’s not going to be any problem echoing in his head. Then, as he locked the house and started back to the van, it was replaced by a different phrase: famous last words.
IT WAS A GOOD THING, Sully thought as they rode up in the elevator, that the doorman had remembered him. Otherwise, they’d probably still be standing out on Fifth Avenue, because the man had clearly been unhappy about letting the five boys and Roxy into the building.
And the inside man—the concierge—hadn’t been any happier. When he’d phoned up to her apartment, he’d asked her three different ways if she was sure she was expecting six guests and a huge dog.
“All right,” Sully said when the elevator began to slow at nine, “remember you’re all on your best behavior.”
“We’ll remember,” Billy promised.
The door opened and the kids tumbled out into the hall—each carrying his sports bag full of clothes. Sully, his garment bag slung over one shoulder and Roxy’s leash looped around his other hand, followed them out. “It’s the door along there,” he said, nodding toward Lauren’s apartment.
“I’ll knock.” Billy hurried down and gave a couple of loud bangs with the brass knocker.
“Well, look who’s here,” Lauren said, opening the door and smiling at the boys. Then, as they were saying hello, she glanced over their heads and gave Sully a smile meant only for him. It started that warm feeling he always got when he first saw her.
“You come right on in,” she told the kids, backing out of their way.
“Wow, what a neat place!” Freckles said as the boys spread themselves out over the foyer.
“Not too loud,” Sully reminded him, closing the door. “Did you find a kennel?” he asked Lauren. He didn’t like the way Roxy had already begun to excitedly sniff the marble floor, her tail twitching.
When Lauren nodded, he felt decidedly relieved.
“I even found one that promised me an oversize run,” she said. “It’s in Brooklyn, but they have a pickup service. So I told them I’d call back once you were actually here, and they could come then. In the meantime, I put a blanket down in the laundry room, so why don’t I take her there and give her some water?”
She took the leash from Sully, adding, “You and the boys figure out how you want to divide up the sleeping space and—”
A loud hiss stopped her midsentence.
When Sully’s glance flashed in the direction of the sound, he saw Killer standing just inside the living room. He’d puffed himself up to twice his normal size and his hissing was directed straight at Roxy.
Sully grabbed for the leash but was a split second too late. Roxy had already charged away at full bark, skittering madly across the marble and almost jerking Lauren off her feet before the leash whipped out of her hand.
“Catch her!” Billy hollered.
His words were barely out before all five boys were racing into the living room after Roxy.
“Oh, my,” Lauren whispered.
Sully took off. He reached the doorway just in time to see Hoops collide with an end table and send the lamp on it crashing to the floor.
“Stop!” he shouted. “Everyone! No one takes another step!”
The boys all skidded to stops and turned back to look at him. Killer streaked around the end of a couch, then tore up onto the back of a wing chair.
Still barking furiously, Roxy launched herself into the air, tipping the chair over onto its back and sending Killer fleeing for his life toward the dining room.
“Roxy, no!” Sully yelled as the dog hit the floor and began scrambling to her feet.
Either she didn’t hear him over her barking or she was having too much fun to pay attention. Whichever, she ran on the spot for a moment, her feet flying madly while she did her best to get traction on the marble. Then she succeeded and headed after Killer once more.
She tried to negotiate a turn just as she hit an area rug, and the rug went zooming across the floor with her aboard.
“Wow!” Billy said. “Looks like she’s on a flyin’ carpet.”
As the rug slowed down, she leapt off and skittered into the dining room, slamming against the far wall on her way. Then there was another crash—a loud, shattering, very ominous-sounding one that said something major had hit the dining room floor.
Sully knew it had to be the five-foot-high Chinese vase that stood in one corner. That used to stand in one corner, he corrected himself unhappily. He’d just begun praying it hadn’t been authentic Ming dynasty or anything like that when Killer streaked back into sight and tore through the living room again, Roxy still in hot pursuit.
“This is like a greyhound race,” Freckles cried, “only with a cat ’stead of a rabbit.”
The other boys snickered.
“Yeah,” Billy said, �
�an’ only one dog ’stead of a pack. But just think if there was six or eight of them in here, huh?”
Sully shot a death-ray look in the boys’ direction, then took off after Roxy again. By the time he caught up with her, she was wedged head-and-shoulders under Lauren’s bed, her hind legs straining like crazy while she tried to drag her front end back out.
Killer was sitting dead center on the bed, his tail switching angrily back and forth. His yellow slit-eyed glare said he’d never forgive Sully for bringing a monster dog into the apartment. Not in any of his nine lifetimes.
Ignoring the cat, Sully reached under the bed and got a firm hold on Roxy’s collar. Then, by shoving her down flat to the floor with his other hand, he managed to get her unstuck.
“Sit,” he ordered once she’d backed out, his hand still firmly grasping her collar.
She sat, but her eyes strayed to Killer and she began to drool.
“Don’t you ever,” he said menacingly, “do anything like that again.”
“Does she understand English?”
He glanced over to where Lauren was standing in the doorway, feeling like the worst house-guest ever and trying to think of the right words to say. But he’d bet even Miss Manners would be hard pressed to come up with an appropriate apology if her dog had just trashed somebody’s home.
“I’m sorry,” he said lamely. “I guess she figures the lodge cats are her cats, whereas Killer…”
“Yes, well,” Lauren murmured, “at least we won’t have to worry about her not getting enough exercise in the kennel. She probably got enough in the last few minutes to do her for days.”
“Lauren, I—”
“I was only joking, Sully,” she interrupted. Then she started to laugh. “It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen!”
That was when he was absolutely certain it was more than simply Lauren’s charm and beauty that had him wanting to spend the rest of his life with her.
BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON, with the Forty-Second Street pavement so hot beneath her feet she could feel it through her shoes, Lauren was wishing she’d never suggested the idea of playing detective.
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