“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Tony reminded her. “Someone did turn on the gas jets, which means that someone did try to kill you.”
She wanted to protest that it might have been one of her sisters that this mysterious “someone” was after, but neither one of them had been pushed into the path of an oncoming bus, nor had either one of them mentioned that they thought someone was following them.
Still, she wanted to release Tony from any sense of obligation. “There’s been nothing for over a week. Maybe whoever it was gave up. Or got hit by a bus,” she said whimsically. “At any rate, I’m not going to have this spoil Natalya’s wedding.”
The doorbell rang and she went to answer it, aware that Tony had risen from the sofa. Ever vigilant, she thought, amused.
“It’s just another cop,” she announced, stepping away from the doorway and allowing Mike to enter. “She’s almost ready,” Tania told him as she walked back into the living room.
As if on cue, Natalya came out of her room and into the living room. She looked at her sisters instead of the man she was marrying tomorrow at ten.
“This is my last night as a single woman. Shouldn’t I be doing something more decadent than going to the wedding rehearsal?” she asked innocently, struggling to keep a straight face.
“That can be arranged,” Mike told her, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her in close for a quick kiss.
“Not with you.” She put her hand on his chest as if to fend him off. “I’m going to be decadent with you for the rest of my life. I was thinking of something else. Maybe a male strip club.”
“Stop right there,” Sasha warned. “Mama will kill you.”
“That’ll keep me on the straight and narrow,” Natalya commented, nodding.
Sasha merely laughed in response. “First time for everything.” Getting up from the sofa, she looked at Tania. “Can we give you a lift to the restaurant?”
Tania shook her head. Bringing a change of clothes with her, Kady was going to the restaurant straight from the hospital. Byron was meeting her there. Their youngest sister and the senior Pulaskis were probably already there. Daddy insisted on being on time, but for the most part, it was a losing battle.
“Jesse is coming by to pick me up in a few minutes.” He was actually running a few minutes late, but she kept that to herself.
“We can wait with you,” Natalya offered.
“I do not need to be babysat,” Tania protested. She glanced at her watch. “Besides, if you don’t get to the restaurant soon—” she turned to look at Mike “—Mama is going to think you came to your senses and ran for the hills. She’d come after you.”
“Not a chance.” Mike looked at Natalya, their own form of silent communication humming between them. “Besides, even if I did make a break for it, my mother would hunt me down before yours ever put on her track shoes.”
Natalya laughed, clearly amused. “You obviously don’t know my mother.”
“Go,” Tania urged, putting her hands to Natalya’s back and pushing slightly. “All of you. Jesse’ll be here in a few minutes and then I’ll go.”
“Technically,” Sasha commented, “since he’s not part of the wedding party or the family, Jesse doesn’t have to be there.” Sasha looked closer at her younger sister. “Unless, of course, he is going to become part of the family. Is he, Tania?”
In response, Tania appealed to her brother-in-law. “Tony, please, take your wife and go.”
“We live to protect and serve,” Tony replied good-naturedly. “Let’s go, little mama.” Putting his hand to the small of her back, he gently guided her out the door and into the hallway.
Mike was the last one out. Just before he left, he paused for a moment, looking at Tania. “You’re sure you don’t want one of us to—”
Hands to his arm, she pushed him out the door. Harder than she had her sister.
“I’m sure,” she said firmly, then added, “And thank you. But really, Jesse will be here in a couple of minutes. I’ll be fine. Really.”
Quickly shutting the door behind the groom-to-be, Tania leaned against it for a second and smiled to herself. Natalya was getting a really nice guy. Just as Sasha had. And Kady. All three of her sisters had really lucked out.
Amazing odds in this day and age, she mused, crossing back to the living room.
And what about you? the reflection in the mirror on the wall above the liquor cabinet seemed to ask.
Tania supposed that, when she wasn’t being fearful that she was allowing herself to be too trusting again, she just might have blindly stumbled onto something good, as well.
Or someone good.
Because, all things considered, Jesse Steele seemed almost to be too good to be true. She kept waiting for a fatal flaw to surface, for a shoe to drop. For something that would come and burst the bubble that, for now, continued to thrive.
Part of her still felt that maybe she should back away while she still could, before she was hopelessly ensnared and completely lost.
“Who are you kidding?” she asked the wide-eyed woman in the mirror. “There is no more ‘before.’ You are hopelessly ensnared. You are completely lost. If this thing ended tomorrow, you’d be devastated and you know it.” She stared at her reflection for a long moment. “Face it, Tania,” she whispered, “you’re in love with the man. The only thing you can do now is hope that he doesn’t crush you like a bug.”
He didn’t seem like the type. On the contrary, everything about him, from the moment she’d met him, fairly shouted “good guy.” But even good guys had their dark side, she argued. She had learned that firsthand. Jeff had seemed like a good guy. He hadn’t been someone she’d just met casually. She knew him.
Or thought she did.
Stop it, Tania ordered herself silently. You’re making yourself crazy.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Thank God. Jesse. No more internal Ping-Pong matches. With a sense of relief flowing through her, Tania fairly dashed toward the front door, pausing only to slip into her shoes.
“Coming,” she cried when the doorbell rang again. She was so focussed on Jesse’s arrival, she didn’t even look through the peephole the way she normally did. Throwing open the door, she chided, “You realize you’re late, don’t you?” and then stopped dead.
It wasn’t Jesse.
“Not really,” the woman in the doorway replied tranquilly. “The way I see it, I’m really just in time.”
Tania stared at her, confused. It was the volunteer from the hospital. The one she’d attempted to treat for a bad back. She’d disappeared after being sent to the X-ray department. Not for the day but ever since then.
Tania had asked after her only to be told that the woman was no longer coming in to volunteer.
“Carol?” Tania stood just inside the apartment, blocking the way in. “What are you doing here?”
Slightly taller than Tania and a little wider, the woman entered as if she belonged there. Once inside, she pushed the door closed. “What I’m doing here is stopping you from making a horrible mistake.”
“What mistake?” Tania could feel her stomach knotting. There was something wrong with this woman. Why hadn’t she seen it before?
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “You need to stop seeing Jesse Steele.”
Tania could feel her temper flaring. “That isn’t any business of yours.”
“Oh, yes, it is,” the woman answered in a steely voice that, any moment, sounded as if it would cross over into hysteria. “He’s my husband.”
For a split second, Tania felt her knees go weak. “What?”
A smug, cold smile took over the woman’s pretty face. As she spoke, she moved about, as if there was unharnessed energy within her, energy that was liable to explode at any moment. But she made sure she didn’t move away from the area of the front door.
“Didn’t tell you that, did he? That he was married. That he vowed undying love to me such a short while ago. He’s a charmer, that one,” she a
llowed. “I don’t blame you for having your head turned.” She set her mouth hard. “But now you need to go.”
The way she said it sent shivers down Tania’s spine. She refused to show any fear, sensing that the woman would only feel empowered.
“No,” Tania declared, “you do.” She made a lunge for the doorknob. Blocking her, the other woman pushed Tania aside so hard, she stumbled backward and nearly fell. She caught herself at the last minute, glaring at the intruder.
Just then, the phone began to ring. Tania’s head jerked in the direction of the telephone.
“Leave it!” the woman ordered.
From where she stood, she could see the LED display. “It’s Jesse,” she said. Why was he calling? Why wasn’t he here already?
“Let it ring,” the woman snarled. Tania went for it anyway. The woman got to her before she could reach the phone and grabbed her by the hair. Tania yelped in pain. The next moment the woman shoved her down on the floor. “I said leave it!” she screamed.
Aching, Tania scrambled to her feet. “What the hell do you want?”
The woman’s voice became singsong. “I want to do a good deed,” she told her. “I came to warn you.” And then her face clouded over, her expression malevolent. “Stay away from Jesse. He’s bad news.”
“Then why do you want him?” Tania challenged.
“Because he’s my bad news,” the woman all but screamed in her face.
Tania stood her ground, all the while desperately trying to think of a way to overpower the deranged woman and get the upper hand. She wasn’t going to be a victim again.
“Look, ‘your husband’ is going to be here any minute,” she retorted nastily. “Maybe you’d like to tell him all this yourself.”
Tania was not prepared for the smug expression that came over the woman’s face. “No, he’s not.” Her voice was low, dark. Mocking. “Jesse isn’t coming to the rescue this time.”
The uneasiness in her stomach began to spread. What had the woman done to Jesse? Had he just called her for help? Called and not gotten an answer because this witch was holding her hostage, threatening her?
“How do you know that?” she demanded.
“I know that because your ‘hero’ is having car trouble.” Smug satisfaction fairly radiated from the woman. “Cars don’t run without a distributor cap. It’ll take him time to figure out. Time you and I can use well.”
And then it suddenly all became clear to her. Why hadn’t she thought of this before? “You’re Ellen, aren’t you?”
The mention of her name made the woman all but preen before her. “So he did tell you about me, after all.”
She needed to get Ellen frustrated. To get her confused so that she let her guard down. “Just that you were some sick, twisted woman who’d been stalking him.”
Fury entered Ellen’s eyes. She looked really crazy, Tania thought. “I didn’t stalk him! I’m his wife!” she insisted. “Wives are supposed to be around their husbands!” She held up her left hand, waving her ring finger in the air. “See? A wedding ring.” She all but thrust it into Tania’s face. “We’re married, you bitch, and it’s time that you stepped out of the picture once and for all. Now, let’s go.”
But Tania didn’t make a move. Someone at the restaurant would realize she wasn’t there and come back for her. All she had to do was hang on until then. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“Oh, yes, you are.”
She never even saw the taser until it was too late. One scream and Tania crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
“Oh, yes, you are,” Ellen repeated triumphantly.
Chapter 15
Jesse admittedly knew very little about cars beyond keeping the gas tank filled and bringing it in for regular oil changes and maintenance. Other than adding oil once in a while and keeping jumper cables in the trunk, just in case his battery died, what went on beneath the hood was a complete mystery to him.
In exchange for regular maintenance, his present vehicle gave him no grief. So when he got in behind the wheel after stopping at his apartment to change, and heard absolutely nothing when he turned the key in the ignition, Jesse was caught entirely off guard.
Mystification swiftly became a hazy, uneasy feeling he couldn’t quantify or put his finger on. Hoping it was some kind of fluke, Jesse turned the key again. Without success. The vehicle stubbornly maintained its silence.
Cursing the fact that his car should pick now of all times to become uncooperative, he popped the hood release just to the left of the steering column and got out. Jesse lifted the hood and immediately found himself staring into no-man’s-land.
He had no idea what he was searching for. He just knew he needed the car resurrected. And fast.
As Jesse tried to decide his next move, the stock broker who lived across the hall from him pulled into his parking spot several spaces down. Getting out of his own car, Evan, who’d been kidding him good-naturedly about his newfound fame as New York’s current reigning hero, called out a greeting.
“Hi, Hero. Trouble?”
“You might say that.” Jesse felt his frustration mounting. “I drove it here less than an hour ago and now it suddenly won’t start.”
Curious, Evan crossed over to him and looked over his shoulder into the Honda’s yawning mouth.
“It sure as hell won’t,” he agreed. “Not without a distributor cap.”
Jesse looked at him blankly. “A what?”
Evan pointed to where the distributor cap should have been in this car. “Little thing that the spark plugs take their orders from so that the engine fires correctly. You don’t have one.”
Jesse frowned. “Is that normal?”
“No, that most certainly isn’t. Cars don’t run without distributor caps.” Evan came to his own conclusion. “Someone’s playing a joke on you. Either that, or they have it in for you.”
The uneasy feeling increased. Something was wrong, very wrong. He immediately thought of Tania.
“Evan, can I borrow your car?” he asked, turning to his neighbor. “I wouldn’t ask, but I’ve got a feeling that it just might be a matter of life or death.”
Evan dug into his pocket. “You heroes always this dramatic?” he asked with a laugh, taking his car key off his key ring. He held it out to Jesse.
“Only when the situation calls for it. Thanks.” Key in hand, Jesse hurried over to Evan’s sports car. Getting in, he put the key into the ignition and the engine purred to life. “I’ll fill the tank up for you,” he promised.
Jesse’s restless irritation continued to grow as he drove. Despite weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to gain headway, he wasn’t making the kind of progress he wanted to. The minutes were moving as fast as the traffic was not. For a moment he even toyed with the idea of driving on the sidewalk, the way they did in the movies. But the sidewalks were even more crowded than the streets were.
Running a red light, Jesse actually hoped that there was a policeman around to pull him over. Sirens would clear the way for him once he explained why he was rushing. But he made it through the intersection without incident. The only thing he attracted was a barrage of curses from the other drivers.
Maybe he was overreacting. Flipping open his cell phone, he called Tania on the house line. If she answered, he’d tell her that he was running late. Hearing her voice would put this prickly uneasiness to rest.
The phone rang five times and then went to her answering machine.
Maybe she was already on her way to the restaurant. Hoping against hope, he tried her cell phone. With the same results. The knots in his stomach tightened.
This wasn’t good.
When he finally arrived at her building, Jesse left the car parked right before the main entrance, an area clearly marked as a no parking zone.
With luck, they’d both be out before anyone had a chance to write him up. If she was home.
The elevator was elsewhere in the building. He wasn’t about to wait. Jesse took the
stairs. Adrenaline roared through his veins when he got to her door. Rather than ring her doorbell, he used the key Tania had given him just yesterday. It struck him as ironic that at the time he’d told her he didn’t need a key because he wouldn’t be coming over when she wasn’t already there.
Please be here.
Unlocking the door, Jesse held his breath as he walked in. “Tania? Tania, are you home?”
He called her name over and over as he strode through the apartment, looking from one room to another. She was nowhere to be found.
Frustrated, he called her cell phone again. As it rang in his ear, he heard ringing coming from somewhere within the room. Tracking the sound, he found that it was coming from the hall closet.
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