She needed to be alone.
Tori moved some cake around on her plate, her appetite gone. She meandered over to the trashcan and dumped her plate. Wiping at the edges of her mouth with her napkin, she looked around the room and didn’t catch anyone’s eye. She dropped the napkin in the trash and snuck out the door.
Up at her desk, Tori glanced toward Joe’s still-closed door, then grabbed her purse and coat. Hurrying to her car, she fought the urge to cry. Working undercover wasn’t nearly as fun as she’d thought it would be. She needed her down comforter and one of her favorite chick flicks. And some hot chocolate with milk. And marshmallows.
Pulling out of the parking lot, she saw a car pull into traffic behind her and nearly broadside another vehicle. Great. A little snow sticks to the streets, and people forget how to drive. A few minutes later, Tori glanced in her rearview mirror. Was that the same car she’d noticed earlier? It was dark, blue or black maybe, and coated with the brown sludge that usually covered snow-country cars in the winter. She couldn’t see much more in the fading light. At least he wasn’t tailgating.
As she waited at a red light, her attention moved to a billboard on the corner. A laughing, beautiful couple in expensive clothes celebrating with diamonds. She stared at the man in the billboard. Did he cheat on his wife? Did he cheat on his taxes? Was he interested in his kids? Did he put his career first? Was it worth trying to have a deep and meaningful relationship with him?
She was being silly. Kane Curtis might not be the kind of man Tori wanted to get to know better, and her mother and sister hadn’t made wise choices with their first relationships, but Joe was warm and wonderful and decent and upstanding and…
The light turned green and Tori drove on. She brushed an errant tear from her face and turned the heater up. This was a seriously crappy day. Maybe it was hormones. Any excuse would make her feel a little better. All she wanted right now was to get home.
She made a left onto her street. A dark, dirty sedan turned left behind her. Tori stared at it in her mirror. She turned right into the alley that ran behind her house, and watched the mirror again. The car drove past. Tori let out her breath. She was losing her mind. No one was following her.
Pulling up to her parking space behind her house, she saw a big green SUV parked there. She stopped her car, looking around for the owner. Not only was he parked in her spot, but he’d parked at such an angle that he took up both spaces. Tori’s knuckles tightened around her steering wheel. There was no place else she could safely and legally park back here. Aggravated, she hit the accelerator and drove on to the end of the alley. She’d have to look for street parking.
After circling for five minutes, she found a spot two and a half blocks away. Stinking lousy idiots who parked in other people’s driveways! She was going to write a note and put it on his windshield. She stepped carefully around some frozen mud in the alley, cold and miserable, but nearly home. At least there wasn’t much new snow. She hadn’t worn her boots today.
A car passed her in the alley and Tori stepped aside to give it room to pass without splashing anything gross on her. That would really end her day on a high note. She looked up when she heard footsteps. A man walked her way, shoulders hunched against the cold. She nodded to him. She’d always thought if more people were friendly to their neighbors, there wouldn’t be so much crime and hate.
After he passed, she opened her purse to pull out her keys. Suddenly, the strap pulled hard against her shoulder, knocking her to the ground. Her shoulder hit hard, but her arm tightened reflexively. She still had her purse, but so did her “neighbor.” He yanked at the strap. Tori held on and was dragged a foot down the dirty asphalt. This could not be happening to her again.
Running steps caught her attention. “Help!” Her voice sounded garbled to her. She tried again. “Help m-uh–”
Tori felt the impact as the runner hit the mugger. She slid another few inches, then felt the purse strap release as the mugger let go. She struggled to her feet. Her eyes caught sight of a huge man in black throwing a punch at her assailant. She ran a few steps toward her back door, then turned again. The mugger was putting up a fight. Tori looked toward her house, then back again. She didn’t want her rescuer to get beaten up. But could she help by…doing that thing she did? She hoped she could figure out how.
She ran, fumbling to get the right key, and unlocked the door. Leaving it open a crack, she ran back to the fight. She looked around, thankful for once that so much trash accumulated in the alley. She picked up a broken Crock Pot and swung it at the mugger.
“Get out of here, you jerk!” she screamed.
She saw the big man stop and look at her in surprise. The mugger pulled back his arm for another punch. Tori connected the ceramic pot with his fist. The man grunted and started to run. Everything that had been simmering inside, every bit of fear and anger and confusion, boiled to the surface. Tori took off after him. She swung the Crock Pot by its cord and missed.
She tried to catch up to the would-be thief. She wanted him punished. Now. Slipping on the damp asphalt, she hefted the pot over her head and threw it at him. She felt an animal sense of satisfaction when she saw it bounce off his shoulder.
“Yeah, you better run!” she yelled. “I’m calling the police!” Tori remembered Halloween Zorro and his claim to be part of the Neighborhood Watch. “I’ll send the Neighborhood Watch after you, too!”
The mugger snatched up a piece of debris and turned toward Tori just as she felt strong arms wrap around her from behind. Her huge protector spun her around, her feet barely touching the ground, and pulled her tightly against his hard body. She felt something slam into his back as he pushed her head down under his chin.
He didn’t even grunt.
The big man’s body wrapped around hers, keeping her safe, but Tori struggled against him. More than anything right now, she wanted to do some serious bodily harm to that, that – asshole who’d tried to rob her. She made a mental note to put a dollar in the Cursing Jar.
She heard him running away. Still struggling against her savior, she shouted, “When I get my hands on you, you’re going to regret the day you were born!” Tori looked down as her foot banged against something. A broken piece from a cement block wall, big as a cantaloupe. That’s what the mugger had thrown? How was this guy not hurt?
“It’s okay,” the big man said, his voice deep and rich and slightly metallic. “You’re okay.”
“Let me go! I’m calling the police,” she said, shaking in righteous indignation, all but ignoring her rescuer, focused only on justice. “He should be in jail!”
“He’ll get what he deserves soon enough,” the man said, his voice penetrating Tori’s consciousness enough to sound familiar. “Right now we need to get you–”
A man’s scream came from near the end of the alley. Tori and the big man turned toward the sound in time to see the mugger crash into the pavement as if from a fall. He bounced up and down on the ground several times at the edge of the light of a streetlamp, all the while screaming in pain. The last bounce tossed him away from the light.
Squinting, Tori tried to make out what was happening, but all she could see were shadows. The man flew up in the air again and came down hard. His last scream ended abruptly.
Tori’s hand flew to her mouth to hold back a scream of her own. She felt herself crushed up against the man who’d saved her and she turned and threw her arms around his waist. Did she just see a man die?
“Is he – is he–?” She felt her teeth beginning to chatter. A chill climbed up through the cold pavement and sucked the warmth out of her bones.
Tori looked back. The man at the end of the alley remained still. The shadows didn’t. Tori felt ice in her veins. She couldn’t move, unable to pull her gaze away. God, please don’t let him be dead. I didn’t mean for him to be dead. I just wanted him arrested.
“Go home, get inside,” the big man said.
Tori just stood there, frozen with her arms around
his waist. She didn’t think she could move. Not even if her life depended on it.
“Tori, go!”
At the sound of her name, she looked up. His face was hidden in his hooded coat. She knew she knew that voice. “Zorro?”
He’d saved her again. She’d needed him and he’d come. She buried her head in his coat and started to cry. Her arms wrapped even more tightly around his waist. She felt her relief mingle with all the other emotions of the last several days and felt her cries merge into gut-wrenching sobs. A robbery at gunpoint. Learning she had some kind of strange power. A man murdered and left under her desk. A mugging. Maybe even another murder. Too much horror. Too much.
She felt him pick her up and her arms moved to wrap around his neck. The same feeling of safety she felt with Joe crashed over her now. That’s what she wanted, what she needed – Joe. She struggled in Zorro’s arms and he put her down near her back door.
“I appreciate your help, I really do.” She tried to keep the tears out of her voice. “But I’m going to go inside and call the police and my husband.” Her voice cracked on the last word. “Do the police know about you? Do I tell them you were here or…?” She trailed off, not sure what the protocol was for being rescued by a superhero.
“I’ve already contacted them,” he said.
Tori heard the metallic quality in his voice again. He had something disguising his voice. Curious, she asked, “What’s your name?”
He let a brief smile slip through his serious expression. “Superhero X, at your service.”
“You’re Zorro, right? We met at Halloween?”
“The same.”
“You told me then that you patrol this neighborhood, but I’ve never seen you.”
“That’s part of the point.”
Tori thought about her situation with the SLU. She didn’t understand this whole “super power” thing, but she couldn’t pretend it didn’t exist. If she had someone to help her, someone not in the police department, someone who understood…
“You should get inside,” Superhero X said. “You’re shaking. When the police get here, they’ll knock on your door. I’ll keep watch until they arrive. Okay?”
He was so nice. Maybe he’d help her.
He opened her door all the way and gently pushed her inside.
“If I need you, how do I contact you?” she blurted out before the door closed.
He paused, as if considering how to reply. He glanced at the outside of the door. “Hang a wreath or something on this hook. Then wait for me in Gaffney Park.”
Tori let him close the door. She stood in the mudroom shivering. He’d help her. A real superhero would help her figure all this out. What a relief.
She pulled out her cell phone to call Joe. She hoped wherever he was, he’d answer. She wanted him home. Now. She felt safer around him. Kind of like she had around Superhero X, but better.
Joe’s number went to voice mail. Tori did her best to keep her voice from wobbling when she told him there’d been a mugging and could he please come home as soon as possible. She ended the call and tried to think of what to do next. She really didn’t want to be alone. She couldn’t call her mother, and she didn’t want Lexie to bring Ben over, not with what was happening outside. She looked out the back window, and made sure the door was locked. Who could she call?
She found the number she wanted in her phone’s address book and dialed. “Hannah?”
HANNAH arrived before the police did, for which Tori was especially grateful.
“My dear!” Hannah hugged Tori hard as soon as she walked in the door. “You poor thing! Are you okay? You’re shivering. Come, let’s get you warmed up. I’ll make us some tea while we wait for Joe.”
In minutes, Tori was wrapped in blankets and motherly love in front of a struggling-to-catch fire, a hot mug clenched in her hands. Hannah sat next to her, patting her feet and asking questions. Tori told her everything that happened, every detail. Her mother-in-law was the easiest person to talk to she’d ever met.
Thank you, God. I didn’t know I needed her, but thank you for giving me Hannah.
Hannah tsked and patted Tori’s blanket-covered feet again. “You tell the police everything you told me. It will help them find the…the other person.”
Tori gave her a wry look. “Exactly, Hannah. I can’t even explain it in a way that sounds believable.”
“You will. Joe will help.”
Tori started to ask how Joe could help when he hadn’t even been there, but a knock on the back door interrupted.
“That’ll be the police,” Hannah said, getting up. “I’ll get it. You stay here.”
Tori heard voices, several voices. How many people did it take to get her statement? She blew on her tea. She was getting to be a real pro at witnessing a crime. Too bad it wouldn’t be useful on her resume.
A minute later, Hannah ushered two uniformed police officers and – oh, great – Detective Knox and Detective Paredes into the living room. Did they cover every crime in the city? They were going to start thinking of her as a suspect instead of a witness if she kept popping up everywhere they went.
Tori nodded to them. “Officers. Detectives.”
Detective Paredes motioned to the uniforms to go ahead. One took out a pad and asked Tori a dozen questions about what had happened. They seemed satisfied enough with her answers. They shook the detective’s hand and left the way they came.
Tori sighed in relief. That was easier than she’d anticipated. Detective Knox sat down in a chair near Tori.
“Hi, Tori, I’m glad you’re okay.”
Tori nodded and tried to add a polite smile. “Thanks, Detective.”
“Casey, really.” She motioned with her hand. “Well, Detective Knox in front of uniformed officers, but you can call me Casey when we’re alone.”
Apparently Hannah didn’t count.
“Call me Art,” said the other detective. “Why don’t you tell us again what happened?”
Tori frowned. “You just heard me.” Her unease returned. What did they want from her? Tori looked to Hannah, sitting beside her.
Hannah patted her hand. “You can trust them, honey.”
That’s what all law-abiding citizens say until the circumstances twist unexpectedly. Tori swallowed. Okay, just do what they ask and they’ll go away. She hoped. So long as they didn’t ask her again if she wanted to come work for them. Not in front of Hannah.
Tori began her retelling of tonight’s events. But this time, Art and Casey interrupted a lot more. They asked her questions about the strength of the mugger, whether he said anything, under his breath or out loud, if she noticed any strange smells emanating from him. It dawned on Tori that they were trying to find out if her attacker had any super powers. Holy cow!
She looked at Hannah, then looked pointedly at Casey.
“It’s okay,” Casey said, “Hannah knows there are people in Double Bay with superhuman abilities. You won’t shock her.”
Tori looked at Hannah in surprise. “Really?” Hmm, maybe here was another person she could talk to about her situation. Her nerves eased a bit and she answered more questions, trying to remember everything. She told them that Superhero X had intervened so quickly that he probably knew more about what happened than she did.
“We’ve talked to him,” Art said. “But we wanted to hear your account as well.”
Tori tried to read Art’s bland expression. She suspected they not only wanted to hear her side, but they wanted to know if she had used her power tonight. Even if Hannah knew all about superheroes, Tori had no intention of sharing her secret with her mother-in-law. Not tonight anyway.
“I didn’t do anything,” she said clearly, hoping they got the point and didn’t ask any more questions. “I threw a Crock Pot at him. That’s all.” She’d tried to do more, but when she yelled at the guy to get away from them, he didn’t listen.
Tori saw Hannah cover her mouth with her hand. She grinned at her. “It does sound pretty ridiculous,
doesn’t it? The only time I’ve been glad we have such poor trash service.”
Tori heard a noise at the other end of the house. The back door slammed. “Joe!” She hoped it was Joe. She wanted everyone else to go away. Well, maybe not Hannah, but no more police. She was getting tired of running into “Call me Art” and “Call me Casey” all the time. And she really, really needed Joe to hold her.
Joe rushed into the living room. Hannah got out of the way as Tori threw herself into her husband’s arms. Warmth and comfort and peace flooded through her. And the tears she’d been holding back spilled out. She squeezed him tight. Everything would be okay now.
A couple seconds later, she prodded his shoulder. “Joe!” she coughed.
He immediately loosened his grip. “Sorry! Sorry, baby. I was so worried.”
“You don’t know your own strength, sweetie,” she said as he held her in slightly less than a bear hug.
Art coughed.
“I’m going to go make you two some dinner. I assume neither of you have eaten.” Hannah got up and left without waiting for a response.
Joe pulled back enough to look into her face. He looked concerned but not fearful. Good. She hadn’t wanted her voice mail to scare him. Even though the whole thing had scared her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine, really,” she assured him. “Someone helped me.” Did Joe know? Certainly he must if his mother knew. She looked questioningly at Casey, who nodded. “A superhero named Superhero X was there. He kept me from getting hurt.”
Joe grunted and held her close again.
A moment later, Art cleared his throat and said, “Well, this is touching but uncomfortable. Casey, any more questions?”
“We’ll call you if we think of any,” she said, looking from Tori to Joe.
Joe let go of Tori long enough to shake the detectives’ hands. Tori did the same, and Joe ushered them out.
Whew. Glad that’s over. Note to self: try to avoid the police for more than a few days at a time.
Unexpected Superhero (Adventures of Lewis and Clarke Book 1) Page 14