The Tea Series

by Sheila Horgan

  I took a deep breath and tried to make some sense. “My window is still intact. What are you going to accuse him of? Attempting to beat up my car? Attempted breaking and entering? Do they even have that law? You can’t just grab him off the street. They don’t let you do that.”

  “He will be coming with us. He has volunteered to do so.”

  “Yeah, I bet. I’m not sure I like this. Watch him come back and sue me. Or worse. Are you going to tell me what this is all about, Roland?”

  “That’s the thing. We aren’t sure. We know that Adeline’s children are involved. We know that one of her grandsons is involved. We know that they broke into your apartment and did all the damage that you witnessed. But we don’t know why, and we don’t know what the endgame is.”

  “Well, maybe if you got the police involved.”

  “Cara, I can’t stop you from calling the police, but I would prefer you allow me to do my job. Adeline is well aware of what is happening. Thanks to you.” He sounded less than pleased about that. “I will speak to her and get her authority to tell you everything. How about you show up at my office about two this afternoon?”

  “Fine. But, Roland?”

  “Yes?”

  “This is getting a little more than a lot scary. If I hadn’t burned the crap out of my thighs on my hot car seat, who knows what would have happened. That guy was waiting out in the parking lot. I didn’t notice him when I got in my car. I only noticed when I jumped back out to get a towel, and because I’d toasted myself, I was moving pretty fast. I don’t think he was expecting that. He couldn’t really respond fast enough to an unexpected event, at least not properly, because when he tried, that’s what got my attention. I think. What if I’d driven off? If these are all the same people, then they already know they can’t break into my apartment, right? They probably know that my apartment is now wired all the way to hell and back. If they weren’t here to break into my apartment again, why were they here?”

  I started to shake.

  I thought about calling A.J.

  I deserve a little credit. At least I thought about calling him this time, right?

  If they weren’t here to break into my apartment, then they must be here to pull a Barry on me. Yep, that’s what I’m calling it. Mostly because I can almost stay sane referring to attempted murder, on my own personal person, as being Barry-ed, but there is no way I can refer to it as yet another attempt to kill me. Me!

  Okay, maybe he was just here to do bodily harm, but bodily harm is still not good. I think it is all the way to bad.

  Roland was watching me try to process all this. He hit some buttons on his phone and half-guided me, half-carried me to the couch.

  “Cara, I’m going to suggest that you stay somewhere else for a few days. How about the hotel you were at last time? Were you comfortable there?”

  “Can’t do it.”

  “What do you mean you can’t do it?”

  “Suzi just moved her stuff in next door. I’m not going to do this to her.”

  “They aren’t interested in Suzi.”

  “Everybody has told me that when you really want to hurt someone, you hurt the people they would be least likely to hurt. I would never hurt Suzi. Not on purpose anyway. I’m not going to make her a target so that someone grabs her to get me to come out of hiding.”

  “They aren’t going to do that, Cara. You’ve been watching too many late night movies.”

  “Maybe. But then who would have ever thought that anyone would be doing this kind of stuff to me in the first place? People like me don’t go through stuff like this. My brother is a cop, and he’s never gone through stuff like this, and he messes with bad guys all day long. I’ve avoided all that. I follow rules. I do the right thing. I don’t understand how I got in the middle of all of this.”

  “I can understand your trepidation — ”

  “Trepidation? That’s what you think this is? This isn’t trepidation; this is gut-wrenching fear. No, this is terror times two with a little nausea thrown in. Maybe it isn’t the same for you. You’re a guy. You’re in a rough industry, but, Roland, I could have gone my whole life without ever facing one little bit of violence, and I’d be good with that. My brain doesn’t work this way. I’m one of those people who tries to always do the right thing, the kind thing, and I think people are supposed to do that back.”

  I started to cry. The cry went from a cute little tear down one cheek to all-out ugly cry in seconds. There was a time I never went to the ugly cry. It seems I have learned to go straight there.

  “Cara, I know this is frightening for you, but you have my personal guarantee that no harm will come to you.”

  “How can you possibly guarantee that? You could move in here, and you still couldn’t guarantee that. That’s a false promise made to try to calm me down, and it’s not working. Actually, it is making it worse.”

  “What’s going on, Cara?”

  Even in my near hysteria I registered the concern in his voice.

  “I don’t know. It’s just like all this stuff is adding up, and it is starting to get to me.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “I’m not the hysterical type, Roland. This isn’t normal for me. This isn’t even the opposite of normal. This is new, and I don’t like it.”

  He didn’t really say anything. Made a noise I couldn’t interpret, so I continued.

  “Roland, I’m one of those people who had a quiet little life, and I liked it that way. My sister always teased me that I lived and talked and acted like I was fifty, but I liked my life. It was the life that I chose to live, and I want it back!”

  “Cara, I promise you we are working on it, and we are making progress.”

  “How can you say that?” I tried not to let my panic show. “You know that Adeline’s kids or grandkids are doing something, although you don’t know what, and you don’t know why, and you don’t know when they are going to do it again, and you sure as hell don’t know why they came after me instead of something more direct. Although even I have to admit I’d rather they come after me than Adeline, but what about A.J. and Suzi? And my parents are going to be home pretty soon. Are they going to go after my parents? What about the rest of my family? Nothing means more to me than family.” I noticed I’m gonna set off a Richter scale monitor somewhere I’m shaking so hard.

  “If you want to hurt me or scare me or get me to do something I don’t want to do, then you would go after my family. Everybody knows that. I can’t fix that. I don’t know what they want. What did I even do to draw their attention? And you know what? My luck, this isn’t even about Adeline. The planets all lined up, and her grandson, or his doppelganger, came after me for completely different reasons. So while you’re running around trying to figure out the connection with Adeline, they are coming at it from a whole different angle, and you won’t see them coming. Would I have thought that possible a month ago? No, but look how my life is going.”

  “Cara, I’ve spoken to Adeline. She feels that it would be best if you were to stay in a hotel. Even better, she thinks it would be wise for you to get out of town for a few days.”

  “I can’t do that. A.J. is working twenty hours a day. He isn’t going to want to leave. I can’t leave him here. That isn’t fair. It’s me that got us into this mess.”

  “While I understand what you are saying, I have to disagree. If you are the target — for whatever reason — and you are not here, then we have no reason to believe that they would pursue A.J. or anyone else in your sphere.”

  “You have no reason to believe they wouldn’t.”

  “We would have people in place to protect your loved ones.”

  “Where am I supposed to go?”

  “Adeline said that she would be happy to pay reasonable expenses.”

  “What?”

  “Actually, she and her friends suggested that you go to Las Vegas. They had a wonderful time there and think you would too.”

  “I’ve never b
een there. Somehow I never envisioned going for the first time as an escape from crazy people. Well, other than my family of crazy people, but they’re a whole different kind of crazy.”

  “There is never a bad reason to go to Vegas, Cara.”

  “I don’t want to go to Vegas alone.”

  “Then invite someone. I’m sure Adeline would be happy to cover it.”

  “How pathetic am I? I don’t have anyone to invite. A.J. can’t come. My parents are in Ireland. Suzi is too round to fly.”

  “What about Teagan?”

  “She has to work.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “Because, Roland, unlike the people you usually deal with, the people I deal with actually have to show up to the office and work to get a paycheck.”

  I regretted it the moment it came out of my mouth. Not only was I being rude to a guy who was trying to help me, but he is also a favored employee of my employer. And besides all that, I don’t have to show up to an office to get a paycheck, so I was being a total hypocrite.

  I hate it when that happens.

  “Cara, I know you are upset, but at least give it thought. Why don’t you call your sister and see if she is willing to go? If she is, then you can confirm with A.J.”

  “I guess I could do that. I need to call A.J. first.”

  “He is unavailable for the next couple of hours. Why don’t you start with your sister?”

  “How do you know that?”

  “It’s my job to know that. I have A.J.’s schedule, and we are aware of his movements. A.J. is your boyfriend, but, equally important, he is also Carolyn’s grandson and therefore someone Adeline is very interested in protecting. I told you, we are working every angle of this.”

  “Great. If you’re working so many angles, then why don’t we know anything yet?”

  “Will you talk to Teagan?”

  “Yes. I’ll call her as soon as you leave.”

  “My guys are bringing your visitor to the office. I should know more in a little while. Until then, I want you to stay home, door locked, and I’ll have guys around. Don’t forget the alarm!”

  “Okay.”

  I locked the door the moment he got his butt out of the way. It may have slammed a little.

  I got as far as the kitchen to put the kettle on when someone knocked on my door and scared the beejezus out of me.

  I ran for the door and looked out the peephole. Suzi.

  “Hold on a sec.”

  I ran to the keypad and remembered to use my ring finger. How embarrassing would it be to set off the alarm with Roland’s guys mulling around in the parking lot?

  That’s what those guys do, mull, isn’t it? Wait, isn’t mulling thinking?

  What has happened to my brain?

  I got the alarm turned off and the door open before Suzi started pounding on it.

  I see that as a victory.

  “What was all that?”

  “You know how those people broke in here and tore up everything?”

  “Yeah, A.J. told me.”

  “Well, I was out in my car, burned the crap out of the back of my legs, jumped out of the car to come and get a beach towel, and some guy just seemed out of place. Next thing I know, I’ve got Adeline’s security guys here, and they have him in custody.”

  “Cara, what’s going on?”

  “I’m not sure. They think that it has something to do with Adeline and that I’m just kind of stuck in the middle, but it worries me that somehow all this is going to blow back on everybody else. They told me they want me to leave town.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yep. I don’t want to go.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t want to make anyone else a target.”

  “Cara, I don’t want to bring up a really sore subject when we are just getting back to normal, but with Barry, if you hadn’t been around to be beat up, he probably wouldn’t have gone after anyone else.”

  “Suzi…”

  “I’m not saying that it had anything to do with anything. I’m just saying that maybe they’re right and you need to go out of town so that you are protected and that there is no reason to worry about A.J. or anyone in your family. If you’re the target, you’re the target.”

  “Maybe, but I’m not really sure that I want to go out of town by myself. I’ll spend all my time worrying.”

  “Bring Teagan.”

  “That’s what Roland said. The security guy.”

  “At some point you have to either trust the security people or not. I think you should trust them. Gran says Adeline trusts them, even after they’ve screwed up a couple of times. She says they are the best. If Gran and Adeline trust them, then what else can you do?”

  “Good point. Maybe.”

  “At least call Teagan. If she says she is busy, then take it as a sign that you aren’t supposed to go. If she has the time off work, then take it as a sign you should go.”

  “You’ve been hanging around O’Flynns too long.”

  I called Teagan after I got Suzi settled back inside the safety of her apartment, right after I called Roland’s guy to make him aware that Suzi is the first priority if something goes crazy. She’s pregnant and can’t move as fast as I can, and I could never live with the guilt if something went wrong and she got hurt.

  Which is something I should probably think about. Her feelings. The whole Barry thing. If I don’t let it go, aren’t I just continuing the hurt she is feeling?

  Then again, she knew there was danger, and she didn’t warn me.

  Then again, I’d already gotten into it with Barry, so how much more warning did I need?

  I’d given up the whole argument with myself by the time Teagan answered the phone.

  “You want to go to Las Vegas?”

  “With you?”

  “Why else would it be me calling? Did you think I was inviting you to go with Oswald the Duck?”

  “Who is Oswald the Duck?”

  “Exactly. Teagan, do you want to go to Las Vegas with me? All expenses paid. Just for a few days.”

  “Why? Who’s paying the expenses, and why Las Vegas?”

  I explained everything to the best of my ability, which isn’t saying that I explained it well. Since I don’t have a lot of the answers and don’t even really know what questions to ask, there were some holes in the whole thing.

  “Cara, are you stupid, or have you just lost your mind?”

  “What?”

  “Can you say bait?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Think about it, dingleberry. You have all this stuff going on, and you are right in the middle of it. You are the one with the apartment that got broken into. You are the one who found the door open at the storage place.”

  “It’s actually one of Adeline’s warehouses.”

  “Whatever. You are the one Roland approached secretly and without even Adeline’s knowledge to get three little old ladies out in the middle of the woods so that a bear or worse could have their way with them, and now they want to ship you off to Las Vegas, which is the only other place in the whole entire world that all this craziness has been going on. Didn’t I hear that things there were more complicated and dangerous than we originally thought? Why would they send you there? Why?”

  “I hadn’t thought of all that. Roland said the girls had a good time there and that they just wanted me to get away until they could figure out what was going on.”

  “So, what is going on?”

  “What do you mean? Don’t you think I’d tell you if I had this all figured out?”

  “No, I mean there must have been some precipitating event. Why are they trying to ship you off all of a sudden? What happened?”

  “I gotta say, Teagan, you’re smarter than you look.”

  “And let’s face it, I look like a genius. What happened?”

  I explained the latest incident.

  “You need to figure this out.”

/>   “I take back the statement that you’re smart. Figure it out? That’s all you’ve got?”

  “I mean it, Cara. This is getting out of control. You need to figure it out. It doesn’t look like that’s the first priority of the people assigned the job. Roland doesn’t seem to be making much progress, or if he is, he isn’t sharing what that progress is, or if he is sharing it, he isn’t sharing it with you.”

  “Take a breath, Teagan.”

  “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I can tell you one thing for sure: there’s more to it than you’re aware of, and it’s your butt on the line. Plus, if you get yourself hurt again, it’s gonna kill Dad. I’ve never seen him like he was when Barry went stupid. Seamus was a mess, but Dad was a mess and held it all inside. Fix this.”

  “I’m trying!”

  “You know what? I’ll be over there in fifteen minutes.”

  “You can’t keep missing work because of me. You’ll lose your job.”

  “Honey fixed that problem. Forever. I’ll tell you about it. Oh, and before you get yourself killed, could you talk to Roland and find her a job?”

  “Not funny.”

  “Not meant to be.”

  “I thought you said she smoked herself stupid. I can’t ask Roland to give a job to someone who uses drugs, even if the drugs they use aren’t supposed to be all that big of a deal.”

  “What? Oh, I remember. I’ll explain when I get over there.”

  “Fine.”

  “And, Cara?”

  “Yeah.”

  “There better be something good waiting for me. I’m starving and not it a great mood to start off with.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  SIX

  TEAGAN WAS TRUE to her word. In less than fifteen minutes I watched through the window as she drove up and parked her car right next to mine, which brought to my attention that Suzi’s car was parked out there too and she should be at work.

  Hope she’s feeling well.

  As soon as I make sure Teagan isn’t going to kill me, I’ll check.