by Lydia Burke
At least Ben wasn't holding her temporary insanity against her. That was pretty remarkable, all things considered.
"Come on in, Jess. Everything's okay."
"That's a relief." She hurried into the warmth of the house. "I'd never forgive myself if someone had come in and damaged or stolen something."
"I wasn't as concerned about ordinary vandals or thieves as much as I was about whoever wants the journal," he told her. Jessie followed him into the kitchen, where the remains of their aborted lunch had congealed on the table. Ben gathered up the bowls and carried them to the sink.
"But... why would anybody think it was here?"
"Oh, yeah, I didn't tell you." He scraped and rinsed while relating what he'd learned at the FBI office about the break-in at his Port Mangus duplex. "Given all that," he concluded, "we have to assume the bad guys have figured out I'm a cop. Or at least that I have an interest in Mai's journal."
"Which means you're in as much danger as Allie. And I made you follow me around the city without any protection at all."
Jessie launched herself at Ben and wound her arms tightly around his middle, her cheek pressed against his solid back. She was horrified that her afternoon's folly might have ended in tragedy for him.
"I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you," she told him fiercely.
In spite of her clinging embrace, he managed to turn around and face her. "Hey, nothing happened," he said. "And it won't. I've been taking care of myself for a long time. Anyway, as it turns out, something good came out of your escapade. Nobody came in here while we were gone. You know what that means, Jess?"
"That nobody's after us?" Jessie asked hopefully.
"I wouldn't go that far yet, but at least we can be pretty sure they don't know where you are. Bringing you here was the right
thing to do." He lifted her chin and his down-turned eyes crinkled into a smile. "Not to mention extremely enjoyable."
He brushed his thumb across her bottom lip and hooked it in the corner, nudging her lips and teeth apart as his mouth descended. His tongue stroked and coaxed, languidly seducing. Jessie was ready to let the erotic kiss take them where it would, but Ben restrained his hunger and set her away before their passion could mount.
"Don't tempt me. We still have to go ova: what AlHe told you today." He took her hand, led her into the living room and sat her down on the sofa.
Jessie repeated everything she remembered at least three times—some parts even more, due to Ben's prompting—without coming up with anything that might help locate Alhe or the journal. Afterward Ben called Leutzinger to brief him on the afternoon's events.
"Was he terribly angry?" Jessie asked when he'd hung up.
"Just hope you don't see him for a while," he said. "Come on, I want to show you something."
He took her down the hall to a room, opposite his bedroom, that had been closed up until now. It was a study of sorts, a utilitarian room with a plain but sturdy desk, a wall of half-empty bookshelves, and a long table upon which was spread a computer with several components unfamiliar to her. The single window was unadorned except for tightly dosed mini-blinds. Though everything was neatly arranged and orderly, decoration in here was nonexistent, if one excluded the thick carpet carried through from the adjacent hallway. Jessie guessed that Ben didn't spend much time in here.
He walked to the computer and beckoned her over. "This is the heart of my security system."
Jessie recognized grist for her always-hungry writer's mill in the elaborate setup. "How does it work?"
"Very effectively, as you found out today," he replied with a quirk of his lips. "This computer is linked to sensors both outside and inside the house. When the system is fully activated, no one can so much as step foot into the yard or move around in the house without an alarm going off. There are several different levels of security, each requiring its own numbered code."
She was impressed and a little sheepish. "I didn't stand a chance of sneaking away today, did I?"
"Remember that. But that's not why I brought you in here. This machine came with a few pieces of software, including a word processor. You're welcome to use it while you're here, if you'd like to work on your writing."
"Why, Ben, thank you," Jessie said, touched by his thoughtfulness. "But won't that interfere with the alarm system?"
"No. If an alarm goes off, though, your work will be interrupted, and the system will take over the machine."
Ben showed her how to access the word processing program and the little he knew about its operation. While Jessie was learning the commands, he left to answer the phone in the living room. She'd been alone for quite a while before he returned.
"Jess."
She turned in the swivel chair at the peculiar tone in his voice. A sudden chill riveted her in place. "What's happened? Is it Allie?"
Ben nodded. "Don't panic—she's all right."
"Tell me."
"After she left the museum, she went back to the motel where she's staying and was assaulted as she was going into her room."
"Oh, no." Shocked into motion, Jessie jumped out of her chair. "Where is she? I have to go to her."
He grabbed her before she could race out the door. "Settle down, honey. I called Leutzinger and he's going to send somebody to pick her up and bring her over here. I'm supposed to keep her out of trouble until he gets back from questioning the assailant at the city jail."
"They got the guy who did it?"
"Uh-huh. Your sister must be a hell of a fighter. She knocked him out, tied him up and presented him to the police on a silver platter. I can't wait to hear the whole story." His eyes sparkled with amusement.
Jessie shook her head wonderingly. "That's Allie for you."
"You okay now? Want a drink to settle your nerves?" "No, I'm all right. Who was it? Did Allie know him?" His eyes wait abruptly cold. "Allie didn't, but we do. It was Rory Douglas."
Chapter 12
-Less than an hour later, Allie, still in disguise, burst into Ben's living room. Jessie grabbed her and hugged her like a mother reclaiming a kidnapped child. Allie clung a little desperately herself before she eased away.
"I'm okay, sis." She slipped her shoulder bag to the floor at their feet and took off her coat.
"Did he hurt you?" Jessie's anxious eyes inspected her for injuries.
A bark of male laughter split the air and a familiar voice said, "You should see the other guy."
Jessie turned toward the voice just in time to see Ed Brock's somber mouth remarkably curved in an all-out, teeth-exposing grin as he set Allie's suitcase next to the couch.
"Hello, Ed."
"Jessie." Ed nodded to her, his face settling back into its normal sagging lines.
"He speaks," Allie said derisively. "You know this cretin, Jessie?"
"Allie!" Jessie chided.
"Never mind, Jessie," Ed said mildly. "Your sister's just irritated because I wouldn't answer any of her fifty million questions on the way over here."
Ben, who had been observing the reunion from the doorway, closed the door and walked over to join the party. " What're you doing in Chicago, Ed? I didn't expect you to be playing delivery boy."
"Delivery boy just about sums it up," Ed said. "I brought some evidence down to headquarters earlier, and Leutzinger tagged me to pick up Ms. Webster as I was checking it in."
"What evidence?" The sharp question came from Allie.
Ed's eyes twinkled in his hound-doggy face. "Is there someplace private we can talk, Ben? I'm under orders not to give any information to the press."
Allie's breath hissed through her teeth with exasperation.
Ben touched Jessie's arm. "Why don't you show Allie where the bedroom is, Jess?" His voice deepened when he addressed her, containing a gentle note far different from the one he'd used with Ed. "She'd probably like to change out of that get-up she's wearing."
Jessie's cheeks warmed and she avoided looking directly at Allie. "All right. Will you get the ot
her suitcase, Allie?" She stooped to pick up the shoulder bag and waited until her twin collected the bag Ed had brought in.
"By the way," Ben said to Allie, "all the alarms are set, so don't try to run."
"Don't worry," Allie said determinedly. "I'm not going anywhere until I see Leutzinger." She turned to Jessie. "Let's go... Jess."
All the way down the hall, Jessie felt sisterly eyes boring holes into her back.
Inside the bedroom, she turned around to see the door Allie had tried to close bounce back open.
"What happened here?"
Jessie looked at the splintered door frame with dismay. "Oh, no! Ben must have broken it when he chased after me today. I should never have locked it before I climbed out the window. It's not too bad, is it?"
She set the shoulder bag on the bed and came over for a closer examination. Allie blocked her path.
"Forget the door. What's going on between you and the bouncer?" It was her you-have-some-explaining-to-do-Jessie-Webster voice.
"He's not a bouncer, he's a policeman/' Jessie said. "Anyway, I refuse to talk to you while you're wearing that disguise. How can you expect me to bare my soul when I can't tell you from a bag lady in the street?"
"Oh." Allie glanced down at her still-padded body in its tawdry dress. "Well, okay, but don't think you're weasehng out of anything."
She strode determinedly to the bed and hoisted her suitcase up. It landed on the covers with a thump.
Suddenly reminded of where she and Ben had spent a large portion of the past twenty-four hours, Jessie gave the bed a quick once-over to reassure herself that she had restored it to pristine condition earlier.
"So," Allie said casually. "Ben told me on the phone he's your bodyguard. Just what does that entail?"
"Protection," Jessie replied, but her cheeks flamed.
"You are sleeping with him. I knew it!" Allie held up an arresting palm before Jessie could answer. "No, don't say a word. Give me a minute in the bathroom, and then I want to hear everything from the beginning."
Quickly she opened the suitcase, pulled out a fresh set of clothes, then lifted her hands to the gray hair on her head. "Push that chair in front of the door, will you?" She removed the wig and tossed it negligently to the bed before affixing Jessie with a narrow-eyed glare. "And don't you dare leave this room."
She grabbed her clothes and shoulder bag and disappeared into the bathroom. A minute later, Jessie heard the shower running.
"You're gonna have your hands full with that one," Ed told Ben after the women were gone.
"Who, Allie? I'm not keeping her," Ben said. "She's just here until Leutzinger gets done at the jail, at least I hope so. Want a beer?"
"No, I'm not off duty yet. Gotta go to the jail myself to check out this Rory Douglas. Leutzinger wants to know if I ever
saw him during our surveillance of the club. He thinks the guy might be tied in either with this end of Mai's operation or in Wisconsin."
"I agree. Douglas must be dirty, or he wouldn't have gone after AJlie. But I already told Leutzinger I don't remember ever seeing him in Port Mangus, so unless you know him, I doubt you'll recognize him, either. Why didn't you get a look at him when you picked up Allie at the motel where he attacked her?"
"They'd already hauled him off when I got there." Ed unbuttoned his jacket. "I got an earful about his bloody nose and the lump on his head from the cop who was taking Allie's statement, though. Hard to believe, a little thing like that doing so much damage. Anyway, they're going to put Douglas in a lineup for me, and after I'm through at the jail, I'm bringing Leutzinger back here. That should be my last 'delivery' of the day."
Ben saw the humor in Ed's eyes. He'd learned over the past months that, contrary to appearances, Ed had a fully functioning, albeit droll, wit. They'd spent long hours of surveillance together before deciding Ben's best cover for the Duan investigation, and now knew each other pretty well.
Ben had worked with feds before, and Ed was the first one he'd met who didn't have that I'm-in-charge-here attitude. He'd immediately accepted Ben as an equal and given him credit for knowing his job. There had been no jockeying for power in their partnership.
In many ways Ed reminded him of his father, if Ben discounted the cynicism characteristic of a man who had seen too much of the seedy side of life. Maybe that was why, for the first time since becoming a cop, Ben had let down his barriers in a professional association and opened himself up to friendship. Ed knew things about him he'd never shared with another fellow officer. Just like he knew personal things about Ed.
"How about coffee, then? It'll only take a minute to fix a pot."
"Sure, sounds good," Ed said, trailing behind into the kitchen. "This place is real nice, buddy. Big, though. Kinda wasted on a confirmed bachelor, isn't it?"
"I just use the downstairs," Ben said. He thought about the second-story bedrooms he'd ignored in his renovations. No
doubt they'd held generations of children before he'd bought the house, but he'd closed off the whole floor. A man alone needed only one bedroom. "Tell me what's happening in Port Mangus. Any word on Mai?"
"Not yet. We hit pay dirt of another sort, though, on a shakedown of the marina this morning."
Ben looked up from scooping freshly ground beans into the coffeemaker. "Who did you get?"
"Not who. Sad to say there was no welcoming committee to greet us. It was locked up tight, even the bait shop. Mai's disappearance must have spooked everybody into steering clear of the place. Ask me what we got, though, and the answer's a little better."
Ben's mouth quirked. "A whole lot better, I'd say, from that look in your eye. What, then?"
"A real bonanza. You shoulda been there, Ben. There was this tunnel leading from one of the stalls in the men's John to a building that looked like a storage shed behind the marina proper. False door, no windows. Inside was an office with an empty desk and filing cabinets, and a teller's cage, like a bank, also empty. At first it looked like the place had been cleaned out, but then a youngster with the Port Mangus P.D. found a hole in the floor under the files, just chock-full of goodies. Greenbacks and white powder—lots of both."
Ben leaned against the counter while the coffee machine gurgled beside him. "Weil, well."
Ed allowed his lips to curve slightly. "I don't need to tell you, we started moving furniture like crazy after that. There were two more holes, the biggest one under the counter in the teller's cage, where we figure they dealt to individual customers. Under there we found smaller packets of pot, coke, heroin, pills, even some designer stuff. Plus all the paraphernalia for your preferred mode of ingesting the stuff—a regular junkie's pharmacy."
"How much did you take?"
"Eighty-one thousand and change in cash. Probably ten times that in drugs, maybe more."
Ben whistled through his teeth. "Nice going."
"It would have been nicer if we'd gotten some live bodies to go with it," Ed said somewhat disgustedly. "As it stands, we
haven't arrested so much as a gofer, let alone anybody dose to the top of the operation. We'd have had a lot more leverage to put these guys away if we'd found somebody on the premises. We really needed more time on this one."
After a brief silence he shook his head. "You know, I looked at all that dirty money stacked up today and it made me sick. If s not right that guys like you and me work damned hard-even risk our lives—for a pittance, while crooks lite Mai Duan and her cronies are stacking it up by the wheelbarrow dealing dope and sex."
Ben understood the older man's frustration. "But you did shut down their operation. You cost them a healthy amount of cash and dope in the process, too. Count this one a win."
"Yeah. And how long will it take 'em to bounce back with a new setup somewhere eke?"
Ben had no answer for that.
"Oh, well," Ed said. "I gotta admit, it felt like a win for a while. It's just too bad you were taken off the case right before things got interesting. Even though we didn't get to arres
t anybody, I would've hated missing out on finding that stash this morning."
Ben thought about what he had been doing early that morning and wasn't sorry at all. "There aie still some loose ends that might lead to convictions, remember. Mai, for one."
The older man snorted. "If you ask me, that's not a loose end, it's a dead end. My guess is she ticked off somebody in the organization and is floating facedown in the lake right now."
"Maybe," Ben acknowledged, "but there's still her journal. I'm thinking maybe thaf s what Rory Douglas was after when he attacked Aliie. Since he's the new prosecutor on Mai's case, the plot thickens. This thing isn't over yet."
Ed's eyes brightened inquisitively. "Yeah, fill me in on that. Leutzinger only had time to give me the bare bones."
"I don't know much more than that myself. We should probably wait to see what Leutzinger can get out of Aliie Webster when he gets here." As Ben spoke, the coffeemaker expelled a prolonged, sputtering hiss. He pushed himself away from the counter. "Coffee's done. Black as sin, right?"
"And hot as heii," finished Ed, quoting his often-repeated preference. "Couldn't take it any other way."
* * *
Jessie decided to ignore Allie's order to stay in the bedroom, reasoning that a seventeen-minute advantage in age did not give her twin dictatorial rights over her. Ordinarily she wouldn't have minded Allie's curiosity, but somehow she didn't feel inclined to reduce what she'd shared with Ben to the frivolous topic of girlish confidences.
She didn't leave the room immediately, however. With a silent apology to Allie, she rifled through the clothes in her sister's suitcase and changed into a pair of jeans and a forest green sweatshirt she found there. The jeans fit more snugly than those she usually wore; the sweatshirt, bedecked with black faux gems set in a starburst around the neckline, wasn't one she would have chosen for herself. Still, the outfit was far more comfortable than her suit and she was grateful for it.