by Dee J. Adams
Allen snatched her phone from the center console and accessed her texts. He entered the address into her system. The car hit a bump and his finger hit the Internet. Her last search popped up on the screen. Al Gates. She’d been searching him. He shouldn’t be surprised, but somehow he was. After spewing the name Gates, he hadn’t thought to go home and search the name himself.
She snatched the phone out of his hands. “What are you doing?” She looked at the screen. “Do you often find the need to Google yourself?” she asked.
It was taking a risk, but he wanted to know what she’d found. Or thought she’d found. “Well, you did. I guess I should ask you that question.”
“Other than some Facebook pages and other social media sites and businesses, I couldn’t find any mention of Al Gates having to do with computer software. Want to explain that?”
Explain it? “I don’t have to prove myself to you. The work I do is highly competitive and therefore highly top secret. You’re not going to find my name all over the place in regards to my job.” Let her try and argue that.
“Bullshit.” Her grin carried all the confidence of a woman with a secret. “If you were the big hotshot you claim to be, I’d have found something on you. Hey, I don’t care, one way or the other. I don’t know where you get your money and I don’t care how you live your life, I just know you’re not who you say you are. You are no relation to Bill Gates so don’t even try to use that one again.”
If he hadn’t fooled her with the name, then why had she brought him on this trip? Decision time. Deny all of it or some of it? He needed time to think this through, and he didn’t have it. “You’re right. I’m no relation to Bill Gates, but I do have a game that’s going to make me millions.” He was certain about that.
“Al...” She stated his name. “Al...let me guess. Short for Allen?” She said his name softly as if she needed to run his name through her head looking for something. “You sent those flowers to Julie in the hospital, didn’t you?”
His skin prickled. His face flushed. He felt it heat from the neck up. She knew. Stall. “What?”
She glanced at him and smiled. “You sent her that giant bouquet when she was in the hospital. Oh, c’mon. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t deny it. She loved those flowers. Couldn’t stop talking about them. They totally made her day. C’mon, be honest. You sent them. I know you did.”
She loved them? “Julie loved them?” he asked. “Really?” He grinned. He couldn’t help it. The fact that Julie loved his arrangement made absolutely every minute with this bitch worth it, especially knowing he was going to see Julie in just a handful of hours.
“Oh yeah. She went bonkers over them. They must have cost you a fortune.”
“They did,” he admitted. But he’d spend that money again in a second.
“And the second bouquet at her house. Gorgeous. She loved those too. Why didn’t you sign your last name though? You were so cryptic. Of course, she loved the mystery. She eats that stuff up.”
“Really?” Allen turned in his seat and faced Carrie Ann. “She liked that?”
“Oh yeah. Well, she’s such a drama queen. Anything with production value is right up her alley.”
“She never really struck me as a drama queen,” Allen said.
Carrie Ann huffed. “Totally. But I have to ask this question. Why the big lie? Why the neighbor routine? I mean, you’re a nice guy, no reason to hide yourself, right? What am I missing?”
“You’re not missing anything. I just think she’d be more receptive to a neighbor than a stranger. I may be a stranger, but then so is the neighbor at the top of the hill. I’m not nuts. I’m just a man who wants to meet her.”
This time Carrie Ann laughed. “I love this. Oh my, God, this is too much. I am such an idiot. Hell, we have a car full of idiots this trip. Ah, Allie baby. What am I going to do with you now?”
“For starters, don’t talk about me like I’m not here and listening to you. Do not call me Allie and do not include me in your idiot rant, because I’m the furthest from an idiot you will ever meet.”
“I’ll have to argue that,” Carrie Ann mumbled. “But it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you will still be a giant-ass surprise for Julie when we arrive because I guarantee you she’s going to be blown out of the water.”
* * *
Troy sat in his car just out of sight of the cabin. He slammed his head against the seat rest three times, then smacked the steering wheel. Beating the shit out of his car wasn’t going to accomplish much, but he had to hit something. Almost four hours of waiting had turned him into a raging basket case. Four hours was usually considered a short wait time, but when the waiting revolved around Julie, every tortuous second hurt.
He had limited options. Find a hotel. Go to Zach’s place or stay here in the car and keep watch over the cabin from a distance. But no one knew they were here so it wasn’t like he needed to keep a physical eye on the property. Unless Julie tried to leave. Which, because she was so ticked off, she might. That knowledge killed him. The fact that he’d pissed her off enough to leave, enough to go back home alone and risk her life, ate him up inside. But she hadn’t bolted so far and if she was going to, then she probably would have by now.
He should’ve seen this coming, been more prepared. But shit, this exact thing was what he’d been trying to avoid. Seeing how badly she hurt—how badly he’d hurt her—made him want to crawl under a rock.
Sitting here for more hours beating the shit out of himself and his car wasn’t getting him anywhere. Julie hadn’t bolted like he thought she might. He needed to do something constructive like find out if the police in L.A. had a lead on the shooter and flower sender, but his cell phone had zero bars in this patch of the forest. The cell tower signal crapped out this far from the house and reception sucked. Every minute he spent here was another minute he could be helping to find the suspect.
Okay. Julie was a big girl. She could be in the cabin on her own for a while. Maybe a little distance would help her sort things out and Troy could make some calls and do some digging on his own. He’d been letting the police handle this, because his priority had been Julie. Now it was time to get some facts and get to work.
Twenty-five minutes later, Troy knocked on Zach’s door. His uncl—father opened up almost immediately, a large smile on his face.
“Hey, there. I never heard back from you so...” He caught the look on Troy’s face. “Everything okay?”
Didn’t he wish. “Not really.”
At Zach’s gesture, Troy walked into the small, but comfortable home he remembered well. It hadn’t changed much, unlike the cabin. The same wood paneling lined the walls and worn beige carpeting softened his footsteps. On the left, a large brown leather recliner and sofa faced the fireplace and big screen.
Troy got right to the point. “Julie and I had a fight. I’m giving her some alone time.”
Zach considered that for a second. “Booted you out, did she?”
Clearly his P.I. gene came from this man.
Gesturing toward the sofa, Zach sat in the recliner. “Happens to the best of us. What’d you do?”
Too antsy to sit, Troy paced. He didn’t see a reason to keep it secret. “I may have lied to her about my occupation.”
“May have?” Zach’s brows lifted. “Seems like either you did or didn’t. So you aren’t a bodyguard?”
“I’m a private investigator.”
The words registered with Zach and he looked up to the ceiling and sighed. “Of course you are. Because that’s what I needed to find you all those years.” He laughed ruefully. “And she’s pissed because...” Zach let the sentence trail off.
“Because I was hired by another man’s wife to prove Julie was sleeping with him.”
“And she just found this out?”
Troy nodded.
Zach rubbed his chin and clicked his tongue. “I guess everybody fucks up at one point or another. So, what’s your plan?” He lifted one bushy eye
brow. “You do have a plan, don’t you?”
“I’m going to let her cool off a little more, then go back.”
“She can’t stay mad at you forever. Didn’t she say you saved her life? She just needs a little reminder of that and she’ll get over being mad.”
Troy stopped pacing. “You honestly don’t know who she is?” he asked. At Zach’s blank expression, he continued, “Julie’s last name is Fraser.”
Zach’s eyes rounded like silver dollars. “Julie Fraser? Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch. I thought she looked like her, but I didn’t think she was the Julie Fraser. Wow. And now you’ve got her pissed at you?” Zach shook his head again. “Good luck with that.” A trace of grin curved his mouth.
“Yeah, thanks,” Troy muttered.
“Aw, I’m just pullin’ your chain. She’s a woman just like any other woman and you have to grovel like any normal man. It’s the way of the world. Just be honest and sincere. She’ll snap out of it.”
Troy sure as hell hoped so. “Thanks. Look, I need to make some calls, so...”
“Make yourself at home. Don’t mind me. I’m just going to go about my business and make some dinner. I’ll put a steak on the grill for you.”
Troy nodded as he checked the reception for his phone. Full bars. He forced himself to sit at the small kitchen table and called his contact at the LAPD.
Zach’s phone rang at the same time and he picked up. “Hey, Scotty! We still on for tomorrow?” He disappeared into the other room.
“LAPD. This is Bakofsky. Can I help you?”
“Bakofsky, it’s Mills. I know you just got back from vacation, but I was wondering if you had anything new on the Fraser case.” Troy normally didn’t get much help from any officer, due to department procedure, but he’d done a locate for Bakofsky a couple years back and the P3 officer owed him one. Now was as good a time as any to cash in.
“You must be psychic. I was just about to return your call.”
The hair on Troy’s nape stood on end. “Oh, yeah? What’s going on? You find something?”
“More like someone,” Bakofsky said. “We caught your sniper at the airport yesterday trying to board a jet headed to Boston.”
“How do you know it’s the right guy?” Troy asked.
“Plenty of reasons. For starters, his first initial matches up. A stands for Andrew. The kicker comes next. He tried to board the plane with a rifle, but his transport case wouldn’t lock and he had a fit at the gate when the agent wouldn’t give him a boarding pass. Security came in and took him aside. The guy freaked, folded like a puppet in interrogation. The rifle matched the weapon used in both shootings.”
“Who is he? What’s his full name?” Troy asked.
“You’re going to find out anyway, but you didn’t hear this from me,” Bakofsky said. “His name is Andrew Larkin. He’s twenty-five. Lives in Pasadena.”
Larkin. Larkin. Why did that name ring a bell? Carrie Ann! Julie had told him her brother’s name was Drew. This had to be her brother. Andrew. So did she know about this? Shit. Troy needed to get back to Julie and tell her the news. This was going to devastate her.
“Thanks for the info. I owe you.”
“Actually, I think this makes us even. We left a message on Ms. Fraser’s home phone, but haven’t heard from her.”
“Yeah, she’s not at home, but I’ll give her the news.” Troy wiped a palm across his jaw. “I’ll give you a call after I talk to her.” He disconnected and didn’t budge an inch. Something didn’t sit well with him. How did Larkin know to book a flight to Massachusetts? How had he found Julie’s location? Unless Julie had told Carrie Ann, and she’d told her brother. If Larkin had tried to board the plane yesterday, how long had he known where they were? They’d only hit town two days ago.
Maybe it didn’t matter. At least now Julie could go home and be safe. Troy found Julie’s number in his cell phone and called. It went straight to voice mail. He didn’t bother leaving a message. Instead he called the landline at the cabin, glad he’d thought to put the number in his cell when they’d arrived. He got a busy signal.
Zach entered the room. “Want to hear something funny,” he said. “My friend Scotty is a state trooper and he just pulled over a car with California plates a little while ago.”
The gears shifted in Troy’s head. “Quick question. Do you have call waiting on the line at the cabin?”
Zach nodded. “Sure. Why?”
All of Troy’s instincts fired up at the same time and he moved to the front door. The only reason the phone would be busy is if it was off the hook or the line was cut. Neither one of those options appealed to him. “I’m going to the cabin. I’ll talk to you later.” He froze at the door and turned back to Zach. “What were you just saying about a car with California plates?”
“My friend Scotty is a state trooper and he just pulled over a red Fiat with California plates. Said she was going about ninety when he stopped her.” Zach looked up sheepishly. “I may have mentioned that I met Julie Fraser and it made him think of this car with L.A. plates.”
“Did he describe the driver?” Troy asked, every instinct telling him to bolt out the door.
“A cute blonde and her boyfriend in the passenger seat.”
Warning lights erupted in Troy’s head. Carrie Ann drove a red Fiat.
So Julie must have called her at some point once they’d hit town, and Carrie Ann had told her brother. But there’s no way Carrie Ann had known exactly where they were before she set out driving if she was already in the area now. So what had her flying like a bat out of hell to reach Julie before she even had an address? Had she wanted to warn Julie about her brother? Why not pick up a phone if that was the case? Or why not call the cops? Unless she wanted to protect her brother. Which led to the question, how much did she want to protect her brother?
“Zach, call back your friend. I need the name of the blonde now. Five minutes ago.” Troy slammed the door behind him, his heart hammering like a stampede of buffalo. He couldn’t be too late. Not now.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Julie heard the crunch of gravel and headed to the front door where all her things waited in a neat row. Her two suitcases, pillow, blanket and stupid crutches. She was happy to be off those idiotic things after six days.
The setting sun made the sky beautiful shades of purple and orange, and it seemed incongruous to have such beauty when she personally felt like such shit. Every time she thought about Troy, she got sick to her stomach. How could the man she met, trusted, screwed, run away with and fallen in love with have been spying on her? God, he’d saved her life, but he hadn’t been honest with her. How could he do that? Now she doubted everything.
She spotted her bag on the kitchen counter and snatched it up. Footsteps sounded on the porch and she swung the door open as Cal attempted to knock.
“You!” Julie said, grabbing her best friend in a bear hug. “You are the most awesome woman in the world and the perfect birthday present.”
“I know. I rock.” Cal returned the squeeze, then stepped back.
Julie didn’t waste time grabbing her bags and setting them on the porch. “If you need to make a pit stop do it now, because we’re not staying.” She’d call Troy on the way out of town to let him know she’d decided to leave. This far from home, no one but Cal knew where she was, so she was still safe, and she planned to keep a low profile on the trip back.
“Hold your horses. I have a surprise for you. But you have to close your eyes.”
The tears that had been building pricked to the surface, but Julie held them back. “What? Why?”
“Because I have to get your surprise out of the car. Two surprises actually. Well, three.” Cal grinned. “Go on, close your eyes. No shut-eye, no surprises.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Oh, God, she wasn’t in the mood for this. “Fine.” Julie mimicked her move with her arms over her chest. “Eyes closed.” Cal’s footsteps crunched in the gravel. A door opened. “Pleas
e tell me you brought chocolate. I could really use some chocolate. Desperately,” she added quietly to herself. More shuffling sounded and it seemed as if there were two sets of footsteps this time.
“Open your eyes,” Cal instructed.
Cal held a cake in her hands, and next to her stood a man. His bushy dark hair ruled his head and overcompensated for his thin frame. His wide eyes took her in with rapt fascination.
“Happy birthday,” they both said.
“I picked this up at a grocery store on the way here,” Cal added.
“Wow. Thanks.” It seemed awkward to stand there with a stranger watching her. “Hello.” It seemed the appropriate thing to say, but the last thing Julie wanted to do was play at being gracious right now. She was feeling as far from gracious as humanly possible. She looked at Cal for a little help.
“Jules, this is Al. He told me he’s your neighbor. Al, meet Julie Fraser.”
“H-hi,” he said.
A neighbor? She definitely did not recognize this guy from her block. If Julie hadn’t been so happy to see Cal, she might’ve strangled her for bringing along a stranger.
“I realized on the trip here that Al is short for Allen.” Cal’s tone indicated something more.
Allen. The notes and bouquets sprang to mind. Was this the Allen she’d been running from? The police still hadn’t determined if A was Allen or if the two were related.
“But I discovered something else on the way here,” Cal continued. She sounded different than her usual snappy self. The conniving tone to her voice set Julie on edge even more. “Hold this, will you.” Cal gave the cake to Allen, who took it blindly as he continued to stare right at her. “You see...I discovered that Allen sent you two beautiful flower arrangements. One in the hospital and one when you got home.”
Julie’s mind spun as Cal glanced at her with a wicked smile. She’d run three thousand miles, and one phone call to Cal had brought the man to her doorstep. She’d done it in record time too. Had Cal really come all this way in such a short amount of time just for her birthday?