On Borrowed Time

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On Borrowed Time Page 9

by Jenn McKinlay


  She glanced at Robbie and said, “I don’t know what to do. Emma isn’t just the chief of police, she’s my friend and I know she’d want to know about this, but Jack’s my brother and telling the police could get him killed.”

  “Very true,” Robbie said. “You really have no idea who you’re dealing with and that’s always a dicey proposition.”

  “And that man on the phone, I don’t know who he is or what he wants, but he sounded like he knew a lot more than I did,” she said.

  “Not that much,” Robbie disagreed.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Think about it—the mere fact that he called you means he’s fishing for information,” Robbie said. “If he is the jealous husband, he doesn’t know where they are; otherwise why call you?”

  “So Jack might be safe,” Lindsey said.

  “For now,” Robbie agreed.

  A knock sounded on the door. It was Violet and Nancy. They took in the scene at a glance and Violet gave Lindsey a broad grin while Nancy frowned. The two women were best friends, but when it came to Lindsey’s love life, they had differing viewpoints on with whom Lindsey should be spending her time.

  Violet, being one of Robbie’s oldest friends, naturally wanted things to progress between Lindsey and Robbie. Lindsey knew it was more because Violet hoped Lindsey would give Robbie a reason to stay in Briar Creek than it was because she felt they were suited to each other.

  Lindsey frequently argued the point that Robbie had a trail of broken hearts a mile wide behind him, and she had no intention of being one of those hearts. And yeah, he was still married, and whether it was in name only or not, Lindsey didn’t see herself taking up with a married man. The mere thought of trying to explain that to Jack or her parents was extremely unpleasant.

  As for Nancy, she was firmly on Team Sully. This was not a big surprise either, given that Sully was a native “Creeker” just like Nancy, and to cap it off, he was a boat captain just like her late husband. It had been clear from the day Lindsey had seen Sully and Nancy together that they shared a bond. Sully had worshiped Nancy’s late husband, Captain Peyton, and Lindsey knew that in many ways Sully kept Jake’s memory fresh for Nancy, especially when he talked in his sailor’s jargon.

  “Oh, you’re busy,” Violet said. “Well, we won’t interrupt.”

  “I’m sure we’re not interrupting,” Nancy said, pushing her way around Violet. “We just wanted to see how you were doing.”

  “I’m fine,” Lindsey lied. “But thanks for checking up on me.”

  She wasn’t up to an inquisition today, but judging by the lack of movement on the two ladies’ part, they weren’t taking the hint to skedaddle.

  “So this is cozy,” Nancy said. She glanced from Robbie to Lindsey. “I didn’t realize you’d taken to having afternoon tea.”

  “She hasn’t,” Robbie said. “Not properly. We really need some scones, don’t you think, Violet?”

  “With clotted cream and marmalade,” she agreed with a sigh. “Do you remember when we were treading the boards at the Prince Edward Theatre in London and then we’d dash over to the Soho Hotel for afternoon tea?”

  “How could I forget?” Robbie grinned at her. “I think we gave the best performances of our lives so that the show would be extended for a longer season so we didn’t have to give up our high tea.” He turned to Lindsey. “You have to come to London with me on my next trip. I’ll take you to the best tea in town.”

  He gave Lindsey his most charming grin, and she noticed that Nancy was scowling at him.

  “Is it true that you and Sully were dancing at the Anchor last night?” Nancy asked.

  Now Robbie frowned and Nancy looked sly. Lindsey had no doubt that this was the real reason for Violet and Nancy’s visit. To confirm the rumor that was no doubt spreading through their town with the speed and destruction of a wildfire.

  “Yes, I was,” Lindsey said. She saw Violet stiffen and Nancy looked vanquished, which Robbie managed to squash.

  “Only because he cut in, or so I’m told,” Robbie said. “Rather clumsy of him if you ask me.”

  “No one asked you,” Nancy snapped.

  “Hey, now, I might have asked,” Violet said.

  Seeing that this was going nowhere pleasant, Lindsey decided to end the conversation posthaste.

  “As much as I’d love to continue this charming chat,” she said, giving them a look that told them she was finding it anything but, “I really have to get back to work.”

  “Of course,” Violet said. She hooked her arm through Nancy’s. “We were just passing through. I have a book on hold and Nancy’s supposed to be picking up a movie for us tonight. A comedy.”

  “Action adventure,” Nancy said, allowing herself to be dragged from the room.

  “Fine but it better be funny,” Violet said.

  The door closed behind them with a snap. Then it opened again with Nancy giving Lindsey a look like a disapproving chaperone before she disappeared.

  “And I thought the paparazzi were a bunch of nosey parkers,” Robbie said. “Small town living is, well, small, isn’t it?”

  “Quite,” Lindsey agreed.

  She gathered their mugs and the teapot to rinse out in the break room. Robbie took the teapot from her hands and followed her out of her office. In the break room, he happily dried while she rinsed.

  “I know I don’t have to say it, but . . .” Her voice trailed off.

  “You’re welcome,” he said.

  Lindsey laughed. “I was going to tell you not to tell anyone about our conversation. But just to clarify, what exactly would I be thanking you for?”

  “For taking your mind off of your troubles—it’s a specialty of mine,” he said with a wink as he draped the dish towel over his shoulder.

  “Oh, is that so?” she asked. She couldn’t help but notice how handsome Robbie was. He had a certain energy about him that was almost palpable, and his reddish blond hair, green eyes and muscular build were not so easily ignored either.

  “Yes, but also, for giving you my insight into the fact that I really do think your brother is okay.”

  “For now,” Lindsey said.

  They were standing side by side, and Lindsey felt the urge to lean into him for comfort coming on a bit too strong, so she made herself back up a step. Robbie grinned at her, letting her know he’d noticed.

  “What’s your next move?” he asked.

  Lindsey gathered the teapot and mugs to return to their shelf in her office. Again, Robbie took the teapot out of her hands and fell into step beside her.

  “Well, it appears I have no choice,” she said. She arranged the delicate pot and matching cups on the shelf. When she was satisfied, she turned to face him. “I think it’s time I called my parents.”

  Lindsey had not expected that statement to act like rocket fuel on Robbie, but the man fled the building so fast she was pretty sure he was shooting sparks out his behind. So the mention of parentals caused the Englishman to flee the scene as if it were a crime and he was holding a bloody dagger. Good to know.

  She found her cell phone in her purse and closed her office door while she called her father’s office. Both of her parents were professors at a small college in New Hampshire.

  Big thinkers on the subjects of literature, they spent their days teaching their students how to do the same. They were devoted professors who had carved out a comfortable life together in the academic town they had lived in since her dad had gotten his first teaching job there. Lindsey’s mother had joined him as a professor as soon as Lindsey and Jack were of school age. Lindsey had no doubt that they would teach right up until they drew their last breaths.

  “How do, pumpkin?” John Norris answered the phone in his usual jovial way.

  “Hi, Dad, what’s the good word?” she asked. They started every conversatio
n in the exact same manner, since one of her father’s most favorite classes to teach was etymology, the study of words, specifically, their history and change in usage over time.

  “I don’t know that it’s a good word,” he said. “But it’s a doozy of a mystery. Are you ready?”

  “As I’ll ever be,” she said.

  “Would you call that young rascal of yours a dog or a hound?” her father asked.

  Lindsey considered before answering, “Well, in common vernacular, he would be a dog.”

  “Ah, yes, but there is our mystery,” her father said. She could practically hear him rubbing his hands together. “According to the OED, the word dog has no reference prior to a specific breed reference in 1050, which was dogca. Then it appears to replace the already well-used hund, or hound as we know it. But there is no specific point of origin.”

  “How long have you been chewing on this?” Lindsey asked.

  “Like a dog with a bone on and off for years,” her father said. “But enough about me—how is my favorite daughter?”

  “I’m your only daughter,” she said.

  “That doesn’t make it any less true,” he said.

  Lindsey smiled. He sounded just like Jack.

  “I was just wondering what day you and Mom think you might arrive,” she said. “I know we left it loose, since none of us knew, er, know what Jack is doing.”

  “Mom and I were thinking we’d pop on down a few days before Christmas,” he said. “We’ll have finished with finals by then and hopefully Jack will do the same and we’ll get to spend a few days together before he has to dash off to who knows where next.”

  “So you haven’t heard from him?” Lindsey asked.

  “No, not yet,” he said.

  This was why Lindsey had called her father. When it came to the family, he was the less detail oriented of her two parents. Her mother would have asked straight out if Lindsey had heard from Jack, but her father would assume that if she had, she would mention it. Since he didn’t ask, she was spared having to lie to him.

  For a moment, she wondered if she should tell her father about the mess Jack had gotten himself into, but she couldn’t help but remember Jack’s warning, the fewer who knew about him the better. If a deranged husband was hunting for him, he would no doubt check and see if his parents had heard from him. Telling her parents what was happening could put them in danger as well as Jack.

  She changed the subject by asking about one of their neighbors, and her dad got busy recounting the gossip from town. Lindsey used to get homesick when she heard about who had gotten married, who had kids and who had passed away. Growing up, she had never really thought she’d move away and stay away.

  But now that she’d planted some roots in Briar Creek, she really couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. She liked the quirky shore town. She also liked that she was a short train ride from Boston and New York. It really felt as if it was the best of all worlds.

  “Drat, I have a faculty meeting to get to,” her father said. Lindsey could tell by his tone that he was already late and contemplating skipping it.

  “I’ll let you go then,” she said. She didn’t want to be the reason he got into trouble. “Give Mom my love.”

  “Will do,” he said. “Love you, peanut. See you soon.”

  “Love you, too. Bye, Dad.”

  Lindsey hung up the phone, feeling lousy for having pulled the old lie of omission trick on her dad. She hadn’t had to do that in years, and she really didn’t like it.

  Of course, this time, just like when they were younger, it was to spare Jack. Once he had taken the family station wagon out for a joy ride, and when her father asked her if she had seen her brother, she’d said no. Not a total lie, as she was forced to point out later. She had heard Jack leaving in the station wagon but she hadn’t seen him, thus not a lie. Her parents hadn’t really seen it that way then and she doubted they would see it that way now.

  But what choice did she have? She didn’t want to put Jack or her parents in danger. She didn’t know what was going on or whom she could trust. The man on the phone had sounded seriously scary. She knew that whatever she did, she had to be extremely careful.

  When she did see Jack again, she thought she should demand payback for all of the times she had covered his butt with their parents. She was thinking a week’s vacation on a tropical beach with a stack of books might be just the ticket. Of course, first she had to get Jack back, but that was just a detail. She fully intended to find out where her brother was and to get him home in time for the holidays. She refused to give in to her fear. Failure was not an option.

  Lindsey spent the rest of the day trying to concentrate on work. There were orders to place and meetings to prepare for. The town was hoping to launch a new website that promoted tourism, and the mayor’s right-hand man, Herb Gunderson, had been tasked with nagging all the department heads for their input in regards to the website. Because the library’s website was so much more interactive than the sites for the other departments, much of the burden of usability was on Lindsey.

  About an hour before closing, Lindsey got a case of the yawns that made her jaw pop. Suddenly there was nothing more appealing in the world than putting her head down on her desk and taking a power nap.

  When her eyes started to blink shut, she knew resistance was futile. She got out of her seat and strode to the front door. A gust of cold winter air slapping her across the face ought to do the trick.

  She stepped on the rubber mat that triggered the automatic doors. The day was gray again, and the air was brisk. It was getting dark really early now, and she could see that it would be fully dark well before they closed. She moved to the side of the doors and stared out at the naked trees in the park across the street.

  The briny smell of the bay at low tide filled her nostrils. She inhaled deeply, hoping it would act like a spark plug on her weariness and ignite some wakefulness. She shivered. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. She stared past the park at the pier. She was sure she could see Sully in his office all the way at the edge of the pier.

  This made her pause. He had said he was going to keep looking for the yacht that had carried Jack away. The thought that he might get hurt in the process made Lindsey’s heart hammer hard in her chest. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him while he was looking into Jack’s disappearance. The guilt would be a crushing weight from which she’d never recover. She had to stop him.

  She turned around and headed back into the library. Now that she knew she was going to have to run an errand after work, she was fully awake and ready to face the argument that she knew was coming.

  * * *

  Lindsey hurried home to get Heathcliff before she headed to the pier. The dog needed a good walk, she reasoned, and besides, his canine charm might have more sway with Sully than she did.

  “What, no tights-and-tutu-wearing thespian with you?” Sully asked when they appeared in his office.

  Heathcliff didn’t hear the censure in his voice and skidded across the tile floor to get to his friend. Smacking into Sully’s shin, he stood on his hind legs and wrapped his doggy paws around Sully’s knee. As expected, Sully made his “aw” face, and scooped Heathcliff up as if he were a toddler, giving his back a good scratch before setting him back down.

  “I assume you’re referring to Robbie?” she asked.

  “Charlie told me he had tea in the library today,” Sully said with a shrug of nonchalance that was anything but. “I just assumed he’d still be shadowing you.”

  “How did Charlie know that Robbie was there?” she asked.

  “I believe he said that Nancy mentioned it in passing,” he said.

  “Uh-huh,” Lindsey said. Robbie had been right. Small towns were definitely small. “We did have tea, but last I heard, he and Dylan were running lines for their next production. And I don’t thin
k they’re wearing tutus.”

  Sully blinked at her as if he knew he’d been out of line but was not about to take it back.

  “So what brings you and the boy by?” he asked. He sounded as if he was trying for a more casual tone. “Has there been any news about the John Doe?”

  “No.” Lindsey shook her head. “As far as I know, there’s been no ID on the body.”

  “What about Jack?” he asked. “Any word from him?”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about,” she said. “I think it would be best if you don’t look for the yacht he disappeared on.”

  Sully studied her for a moment and then he frowned. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Lindsey wondered if a lie of omission would work for her in this instance. Sully was not her distractible dad. Full disclosure might be the only way to get him to see reason.

  “Nothing really,” she said. “I just think it’s too dangerous, and I can’t in good conscience have you getting involved in something that could be, well, deadly.”

  Sully stared at her for a moment then he moved around her. Shutting off lights, checking the coffeepot, he was moving toward the door before Lindsey registered that they were in motion.

  “I’m thinking we need to have a longer conversation,” he said. “But I have stew in the Crock-Pot that won’t wait much longer.”

  He was dismissing her in order to go eat his dinner. It was perfectly reasonable, and yet Lindsey could feel a tiny bubble of hurt float up inside her, which was ridiculous. It was late. The man needed his dinner. They could talk another time. Yeah, all very logical and she still felt a severe case of the pouts coming on.

  “Oh, of course,” Lindsey said. She was pleased that she sounded so incredibly mature. “We won’t keep you.”

  “No, but you’ll join me for dinner, right?” he asked. “Believe me, I made enough to feed twenty.”

  “Oh, I don’t want to impose—” Lindsey began but Sully interrupted her as he took her arm and led her out of the building.

 

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