"Okay." He rose and tossed Bryant up and over his shoulder, turning whines into giggles, "Let's move out."
"I'll give you a hand." Natalie plucked Keenan from Ry's lap. "Say good-night, pal."
"Good night, pal," he echoed, and nuzzled into her neck. "You smell as good as Thea, Aunt Nat."
"Thanks, honey."
"Am I going to get a story?"
"Swindler," she laughed and carried him out.
"Nice family," Ry commented.
"We like them." Deborah smiled at him. "You've certainly given them something to look forward to tomorrow."
"No big deal. The guys love to show off for kids. Great meal."
"Frank's one in a million," she agreed. "A former pickpocket." She closed her hand over Gage's. "Who now uses those nimble fingers to create gastronomic miracles. Why don't we have coffee in the small salon? I'll go help Frank with it."
"This is some house," Ry said as he and Gage left the dining room and wound their way toward the salon. "Ever get lost?''
"I've got a good sense of direction."
There was a fire burning in the salon, and the lights were low and welcoming. Again Ry got the impression of home, settled, content.
"You used to be a cop, didn't you?"
Gage stretched out in a chair. "That's right. My partner and I were working on a sting that went wrong. All the way wrong." It still hurt, but the wounds were scarred over now. "He ended up dead, and I was the next thing to it. When I came out of it, I didn't want to pick up a badge again."
"Rough." Ry knew it was a great deal more than that. If he had the story right in his head, Gage had lingered in a coma for months before facing life again. "So you picked up the family business instead."
"So to speak. We have something in common there. You're running the family business, too."
Ry gave Gage a level look. "So to speak."
"I checked you out. Natalie's important to Deborah, and to me. I can tell you in advance, Boyd's going to ask if she's important to you." He glanced up as Boyd walked in. "That was fast."
"I saw my chance and went over the wall." He dropped into a chair, crossed his feet at the ankles. "So, Piasecki, what's going on between you and my sister?"
Ry decided he'd been polite long enough, and took out a cigarette. He lit it, flipped the match into a spotless crystal ashtray. "I'd say anybody who makes captain on the force should be able to figure that out for himself."
Gage smothered a laugh with a cough as Boyd's eyes narrowed. "Natalie's not a tossaway," Boyd said carefully.
"I know what she is," Ry returned. "And I know what she isn't. If you want to grill someone on what's going on between us, Captain, you'd better start with her."
Boyd considered, nodded. "Fair enough. Give me a rundown on the arson investigation."
That he could, and would, do. Ry related the sequence, the facts, his own steps and conclusions, answering Boyd's terse questions with equal brevity.
"I'm betting on Clarence," he finished. "I know his pattern, and how his warped mind works. And I'll get him," he said, and blew out a last stream of smoke. "That's a promise."
"In the meantime, Natalie needs to beef up security." Boyd's mouth thinned. "I'll see to that."
Ry tapped out his cigarette. "I already have."
"I was talking about personal security, not business."
"So was I. I'm not going to let anything happen to her," he continued as Boyd studied him. "That's another promise."
Boyd let out a snort. "Do you really think she'll listen to you?"
"Yeah. She's not going to get a choice."
Boyd paused, reevaluated. "Maybe I'm going to like you after all,
Inspector."
"Okay, break it up," Deborah ordered as she wheeled in a cart laden with a huge silver coffee urn and Meissen china. "I know you're talking shop."
Gage rose to take the cart from her and kiss her. "You're just mad because you might have missed something."
"Exactly."
''Jacoby,'' Boyd tossed at her. "Clarence Robert. Ring any bells?''
Her brow furrowed as she poured coffee. "Jacoby. Also known as Jack Jacoby?" She served Boyd, took another cup to Ry. "Skipped bail a couple of years ago on an arson charge."
"I like your wife," Ry said to Gage. "There's nothing quite like a sharp mind in a first-class package."
"Thanks." Gage poured a cup for himself. "I often think the same."
"Jacoby," Deborah repeated, focusing on Ry. "You think he's the one?"
"That's right."
"We'd have a file on him." She glanced at her husband. The computers in Gage's hidden room could access everything about Jacoby, right down to his shoe size. "I'm not sure who had the case, but I can find out on Monday, see that you get whatever we have."
"I'd appreciate it."
"How'd he manage bail?" Boyd wanted to know.
"I can't tell you until I see the file," Deborah began.
"I can tell you about him." Ry drank his coffee, keeping one ear out for Natalie's return. He wasn't sure she'd appreciate having her business discussed while she was out of the room. "His pattern's empty buildings, warehouses, condemned apartments. Sometimes the owners hire him for the insurance, sometimes he does it for kicks. We only tried him twice, convicted him once. There wasn't any loss of life either time. Clarence doesn't burn people, just things."
"So now he's loose," Boyd said in disgust.
"For the time being," Ry returned. "We're ready for him." He picked up his cup again when he heard Natalie and Cilia laughing in the hallway.
"You're a softie, Nat."
"It's my duty, and my privilege, to spoil them."
They entered together. Cilia immediately headed for Boyd and dropped into his lap. "They had her jumping through hoops."
"They did not." Natalie poured her coffee, then laughed again. "Not exactly." She smiled at Ry before settling beside him. "So," she began, "have you finished discussing my personal and business life?"
"A sharp mind," Ry commented. "In a first-class package."
Later, as they drove away from the Guthrie mansion, Natalie studied Ry's profile. "Should I apologize for Boyd?"
"He didn't pull out the rubber hoses." Ry shrugged. "He's okay. I've got a couple of sisters, I know how it is."
"Oh." Frowning, she looked out the window. "I didn't realize you had siblings."
"I'm Polish and Irish, and you figured me for an only child?" He grinned at her. "Two older sisters, one in Columbus, the other down in Baltimore. And a brother, a year younger than me, living in Phoenix."
"Four of you," she murmured.
"Until you count the nieces and nephews. There were eight of them, last time I checked, and my brother has another on the way."
Which probably explained why he was so easy around children. "You're the only one who stayed in Urbana."
"Yeah, they all wanted out. I didn't." He turned down her street, slowed. "Am I staying tonight, Natalie?"
She looked at him again. How could he be so much of a stranger, she wondered, and so much of a need? "I want you to," she said. "I want you."
Chapter 8
"Can I slide down the pole, Mr. Pisessy? Please, can I slide down it?"
Ry grinned at the way Keenan massacred his name and flipped the brim of the boy's baseball cap to the back of his curly head. "Ry."
"'Cause," Keenan said, big eyes sober and hopeful. "I never, ever did it before."
"No, not why, Ry. You call me Ry. And sure you can slide down it. Hold it." Laughing, he caught Keenan at the waist before the boy could make the leap from floor to pole. "No flies on you, huh?"
Keenan looked around, grinned. "Nuh-uh."
"Let's do it this way." With Keenan firmly at his hip, Ry reached out to grip the pole. "Ready?"
"Let's go!"
In a smooth, practiced move, Ry stepped into air. Keenan laughed all the way down.
"Again!" Keenan squealed. "Let's do it again!"
"Your brother wants a
turn." Ry looked up, saw Bryant's anxious, eager face in the opening. "Come on, Bryant, go for it."
"Definitely daddy material," Cilia murmured, watching her son zip down the pole.
"Shut up, Cilia." Natalie slipped her hands into the pockets of her blazer. She was itching to try the ride herself.
"Just an observation. Attagirl, Allison," she added, cheering her daughter on when Allison dropped lightly to the floor. "He's giving the kids the time of their lives here."
"I know. It's very sweet of him." She smiled as Ry obliged Keenan with another trip down the pole. "I didn't know he could be sweet."
"Ah, hidden qualities." Cilia glanced over to where Boyd was holding a conversation with two uniformed fire fighters. "Often the most attractive kind in a man. Especially when he's crazy about you."
"He's not." It amazed Natalie to feel heat rising to her cheeks. "We're just… enjoying each other."
"Yeah, sure." With a mother's honed reflexes, Cilia crouched and caught her youngest as he flew at her.
"Look, Mom. It's a real, actual fireman's hat." The helmet Ry had given Keenan to wear slipped down over the boy's face. Inside, it smelled mysteriously, fascinatingly, of smoke. "And Ry says we can go sit in the fire engine now." After wriggling down and dancing in place, he shouted at his brother and sister. "Let's go!"
Accompanied by two fire fighters, the children dashed off to check out the engine. With a signal to Cilia to wait, Boyd disappeared up the steps with Ry.
"Well." Cilia sniffed and shrugged. "The womenfolk have been dismissed. They'll go upstairs to grunt significantly over official business."
"I wish Boyd wouldn't worry so much. There's really nothing he can do."
"Older siblings are programmed to worry." Cilia slung an arm around Natalie's shoulder. "But, if it helps, he's feeling a lot less worried since he's met Ry."
"That's something, I suppose." Relaxed again, she walked with Cilia toward the back of the engine. "So, how's Althea doing?" Around the front, the children were barraging the fire fighters with questions. "The last time I talked to her, she claimed she was as big as two houses and miserably bored with desk duty."
"She's the sexiest expectant mother I've ever seen. Since Colt and
Boyd ganged up on her, she's at home on full maternity leave. I dropped over to see her one day a couple of weeks ago and caught her knitting."
"Knitting?" Natalie let out a full-throated laugh. "Althea?"
"Funny what marriage and family can do to you."
"Yeah." Natalie's smile faded a bit. "I suppose that's true."
Upstairs, Boyd was frowning over Ry's reports. "Why upstairs, in the office?" he asked. "Why didn't he start the fire in the showroom? It seems to me there would have been more damage more quickly."
"The showroom window could have put him off. I figure the storeroom would have made more sense if he was just looking to burn the place down. It's private, full of stock and boxes." Ry set aside his coffee. He really had to start cutting down. "I figure he was following instructions. Clarence is real good at following instructions."
"Whose?"
"That's the ticket." Ry kicked back in his chair and propped his feet on his desk. "I've got two incendiary fires that are obviously related. The target in both cases is a single business, and both, I believe, were started by a single perpetrator."
"So he's on somebody's payroll." Boyd set the reports aside. "A competitor?"
"We're checking it out."
"But it's unlikely a competitor would be able to give your pal Clarence access to either building. You didn't find any sign of forced entry."
"That's right." Ry lit a cigarette. A man couldn't cut down on two vices at once. "Which leads us to Natalie's organization."
Boyd got up to pace. "I can't claim to know her staff, certainly not in this new project of hers. I don't deal with the business end of Fletcher unless I'm backed into a corner." He regretted that now, only because he would have been more help if he'd been familiar with her procedures and personnel. "But I can get a lot of information from my parents, particularly on her top people."
"It couldn't hurt. The fact that there was only cosmetic damage at the last fire leads to the conclusion that there'll be another. If Clarence follows his pattern, he'll hit her again within the next ten days." He tossed papers aside. "We'll be waiting for him."
Boyd looked back and measured the man. Tough, smart. But, as he knew from personal experience, the job could get sticky when a man found himself involved with a target.
"And while you're waiting for him, you'll keep Natalie out of it."
"That's the idea."
"And while you're doing that, you're going to be able to separate the woman you're involved with from the case you're trying to close."
Ry lifted a brow. That was going to be a challenge, and the difficulty of meeting that challenge had crossed his mind more than once. The trouble was, he wasn't willing to give up either the woman or the case.
"I know what needs to be done, Captain."
With a nod, Boyd placed his palms on the desk and leaned forward. "I'm trusting you with her, Piasecki, on every level. If she gets hurt—on any level—I'm coming after you."
"Fair enough."
An hour later, Natalie stood on the curb outside the station, waving goodbye. "You were a big hit, Inspector."
"Hey, a shiny red fire truck, a long brass pole—how could I miss?"
Laughing, she turned to link her arms around his neck. "Thanks." She kissed him lightly.
"For?"
"For being so nice to my family."
"It wasn't a hardship. I like kids."
"It shows. And—" she kissed him again "—that's for putting Boyd's mind at ease"
"I don't know if I'd go quite that far. He's still thinking about punching me out if I make the wrong move with his baby sister."
"Well, then…" Her eyes danced up at his. "You'd better be careful, because my big brother is plenty tough."
"You don't have to draw me a picture." He swung her toward the doors. "Come on back up with me. I need to get a couple of things."
"All right." They'd barely started up the stairs when the bells sounded. "Oh." The sound of clattering feet echoed below them. "I'm sorry the kids missed this." Then she stopped, wincing. "That's terrible, acting like a fire's a form of entertainment."
"It's a natural reaction. Bells, whistles, men in funny uniforms. It's a hell of a show."
They crossed over to his office. She waited while he sorted through papers. "Do you ever get cats out of trees?"
"Yep. And kids' heads out of the pickets on railings. I got someone's pet iguana out of a sewer pipe once."
"You're joking."
"Hey, we don't joke about rescue."
He looked up and grinned. She looked so tidy, he thought, in her navy blazer and slacks, with the cashmere sweater, red as one of his engines, softly draped at the neck. Her hair was loose, honey gold. When she tucked it behind her ear in that fluid, unconscious movement, he could see the wink of rich blue stones. Sapphires, he assumed. Only the genuine article would suit Natalie Fletcher.
"What is it?" A little self-conscious under his stare, she shifted. "Did Keenan leave something edible smeared on my face?"
"No. You look good, Legs. Want to go somewhere?"
"Go somewhere?'' The idea put her off balance. Apart from the challenge of that first meal, they hadn't actually gone anywhere.
"Like a movie. Or…" He supposed he could handle it. "A museum or something."
"I… Yes, that'd be nice." It shouldn't be so awkward, she thought, to plan a simple date with someone you'd been sleeping with.
"Which?"
"Either."
"Okay." He stuffed some papers in a battered briefcase. "The guys should have a newspaper downstairs. We'll check it out."
"Fine." When they started out, Natalie glanced first toward the stairs and then back toward the poles. She took a deep breath and gave up. "Ry?"
"Yeah."
"Can I slide down the pole?"
He stopped dead and stared down at her. "You want to slide down the pole?"
Amused at herself, Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "Ry, I've got to slide down the pole. It's driving me crazy."
"No kidding?" His grin broke out as he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around. "Okay, Aunt Nat. I'll go down first, in case you lose your nerve."
"I'm not going to lose my nerve," she said huffily. "I'll have you know I've been rock-climbing dozens of times."
"There's that height thing again. You get a good grip," he continued, demonstrating. "Swing yourself forward. You can wrap your legs around it as you go down."
He flowed down, smooth and fast. Frowning, she leaned over, peering at him through the opening.
"You didn't wrap your legs around it."
"I don't have to," he said dryly. "I'm a professional. Come on, and don't worry—I'll catch you."
"I don't need you to catch me." Insulted, she tossed back her hair. She reached out, took a good grip on the brass pole, then swung agilely into space.
It took a matter of seconds. Her heart had barely had time to settle before her feet hit the floor. Laughing, she looked longingly up again. "See? I didn't need—" Her boast ended on a squeal of surprise as he scooped her up into his arms. "What?''
"You're a natural." He was grinning as he lowered his mouth to hers. And a constant surprise to him, he thought.
She angled her head, settling her arms comfortably around his neck. "I could do it again."
"If you'd do it in red suspenders, a pair of those really little shorts and let me take a picture, the guys would be very grateful."
She lifted a brow. "I think I'll just make a cash donation to the department."
"It's not the same."
"Inspector?" The dispatcher poked his head out of a doorway. His smile spread slowly at the sight of the woman bundled in Ry's arms. "Suspicious fire over at 12 East Newberry. They want you."
"Tell them I'm on my way." He set Natalie back on her feet. "Sorry."
"It's all right. I know how it is." Her disappointment was completely out of proportion, she lectured herself. "I've got some work I should be catching up on, anyway. I'll grab a cab."
"I'll take you home," Ry told her. "On my way." He steered her toward the bench where she'd left her coat. "Are you just going to be hanging around at the apartment?"
Books by Nora Roberts Page 416