Her expression darkened. “Like you know all about life being hard.”
“You’re right. I don’t. But I don’t have to have experienced the same things you have to realize you’re afraid to be part of a family because the first one hurt you, then the second one. You’re afraid to leave here again because it didn’t work the first time. This is what’s worked for you, and it isn’t going to sell you to somebody else or have a bad year and close up. But you can’t shelter all the time. You have to get out and be you.”
He smiled in the face of her closed expression. “I actually thought about going to work for the post office after I got shot, until I realized that life’s going to happen to you whether or not you’re equipped for it. So you have to learn to deal with it, and not just with anger but with an educated brain, heart wide open, and in the fierce hope that you’ll learn to cope.”
* * *
CORIE STARED AT HIM, recognizing in the depths of her being that he was absolutely right. But she was in no mood to be cheered into rising above her life, at least not now with Pimental on her case, little Roberto gone home and the question of what to do about him.
Apparently reading the negative in her eyes, Ben sighed and dropped his head in resignation.
“So this is the end of the discussion—again.”
“Yes.”
“Discussions are usually two-way, you know. You get to say what you’re thinking and I get to say what’s on my mind.”
“Yeah. But you do that way too often. And I don’t have to listen if I don’t want to.”
“Okay, then. Good night.”
He left her room and she made herself climb into bed.
She slept a couple of hours then got up and showered. They were to meet Grady at the Grill for breakfast.
Once settled in a booth, their food delivered, Ben seemed unusually quiet. When he did say something that required her to answer, she was stiffly polite.
Grady looked from one to the other. “Everything okay with you two?” he asked. “You’re acting like a married couple in a snit.”
Ben ignored him. Corie spared him a smile. “We’re getting a friendship divorce,” she said. “Irreconcilable differences.”
“Aw.” He didn’t seem to know whether to take her seriously or not. “You want to talk to me about it? I’ve had some training with domestic issues.”
“Thanks, but we’ll just ignore it. We should eat up. Teresa’s going to need all the help she can get today. The kids are going to be wilder than usual with full access to the play set. We’re going to have to be on our toes.”
* * *
AND THEY WERE. The activity was incessant. The children climbed into and on top of everything all day long, Ben and Grady watching from the sidelines. Soren had to be called over as he kept pushing the limits of his impressive acrobatic skills, putting everyone in danger of cardiac arrest.
Teresa and Corie brought lunch outside because it was clear no one was willing to go in.
The children ate at the picnic table at ground level and in the clubhouse structure at the top. Ben, Grady, Teresa and Corie sat on a blanket spread over the gravel and ate baked-chicken sandwiches and homemade coleslaw.
“Coleslaw’s wonderful,” Ben said, examining the bite on his fork. “I like the pineapple.”
“Corie made it,” Teresa replied.
He nodded. “Good job,” he said without looking at her.
“Thank you.” Icicles clung to Corie’s words.
When the children finished eating, they tossed their paper plates and plastic utensils into a large plastic bag Ben was holding before hurrying back to the play set.
Grady left to arbitrate the dispute when two of the Santiagos began to quarrel over the only unoccupied swing.
“What’s going on with you and Ben?” Teresa asked Corie.
Corie recounted most of their conversation of the night before.
Teresa frowned. “He’s right, you know.”
Corie shook her head. “You’re as aggravating as any real mother, you do realize that?”
She was unrepentant. “I try. Listen. I’m not sure exactly where your relationship stands, but if it’s as serious as it appears, he has a right to tell you what he thinks.”
“He certainly does that.”
Teresa was silent for a moment. “You might examine just why it is that you’re angry at him all the time.”
“I’m not angry at him all the time.”
“It sounds as though you are. He takes a lot from you because you’re his brother’s sister. Don’t blame him because you have feelings for him you don’t know what to do with.”
Teresa put a hand up before Corie could tell her again what those feelings were. “I know. You claim that he aggravates you, but that’s because he touches something in you I don’t think you ever expected to find...a heart soft with romantic inclination.” She smiled into Corie’s eyes. “A heart that wants to follow him, maybe? It’s all right to give up control of every gentle feeling. I doubt that he’d ever use your feelings to hurt you.”
Teresa stood quickly and ran to help Grady as the other two Santiago boys got involved in the tussle over the swing.
* * *
BEN PICKED UP a few napkins and utensils the children had dropped in the gravel and wandered toward the Santiago ruckus, knotting the plastic bag. Teresa, it seemed, had the problem under control, sending the older boys in three different directions and letting Tonio have first turn on the swing.
Grady snagged the bag from Ben, holding up the coffee mugs they’d brought outside that morning. “I’m taking these inside, anyway. I’ll take the trash.”
“Thanks. That doesn’t mean you get out of helping me watch these guys.”
“Of course not. When have you ever known me to shirk my responsibilities?”
“Let’s see. There was the day I went into the river after that speeder who crashed into a tree then rabbited.”
“You were already wet! You ran out in the rain to get our lunch while I monitored the radio.”
“The radio was on your shoulder, Einstein.”
“Oh, yeah.” Grady grinned. “What if I promise to explain you to Corie, then can I take a few extra minutes?”
Ben looked over to their picnic blanket and saw that Corie and the blanket were gone.
“She went inside,” Grady said. “I’ll be back in a few.”
Ben turned as Teresa approached. “I like your friend,” she said. “It was nice of him to come help you.”
“He’s a good guy.”
“Yes.” Her eyes pinned him for several seconds. “You are, too. But you should go a little easy on Corie.”
He let his head fall back and groaned. “I just suggested she might want to go back to school and got this chronic I-don’t-fit-in mantra she uses as her excuse not to leave here.”
“Ben.” She said his name softly but with audible disapproval. “You will probably never experience the rejection she’s known in her short lifetime. Yet, she still gives everything she has here. She walked the floors with Roberto while he was teething so I could get some sleep to deal with the other kids the next day, and she still went to work at the Grill in the afternoon. She gives her love unconditionally to every kid who comes here, knowing they’re eventually going home. Do you realize how hard that is?”
“Yes,” he replied with a sigh. “I saw it in all of you last night.”
“Then maybe a little more patience and a little less self-righteousness, okay?”
He guessed she’d told him. “Yes, ma’am.”
He looked up. Seeing Soren leaning over the clubhouse railing, he pointed him back. The boy complied.
At Corie’s later that night, Ben prepared for bed. Beyond her bedroom door came the sound of he
r sewing machine as she hurried to finish her projects. He pulled his shirt off and went to the guest closet for the pillow and blanket and the hiking shorts he wore to bed.
He shook out the blanket near the sofa, put the pillow down at the end nearest the door and prepared to change from jeans to shorts. He patted his side pocket to assure himself the necklace was still there.
Then he did it again—because it wasn’t.
He was a trained cop with nine years’ experience. He wasn’t one to panic. At least, not until now. Then he remembered exactly what had happened.
He’d been lying on his side in the gravel under the foot of the slide, making sure the base was firmly placed. The necklace was an uncomfortable lump and he’d removed it and placed it beside him, thinking as he did it that he had to remember to put it back.
Grady had shouted for help with a piece at the top of the clubhouse structure and he’d hurried off, forgetting the necklace.
He knew precisely where it was under the base of the slide, but he couldn’t very well go back to Teresa’s after midnight. All he needed was to be found prowling around in the dark with a flashlight. And a diamond necklace.
There was no point in alarming Corie. He hated the thought, but he had to wait until morning.
He finally slept, but not until after 4:00 a.m.
Tired and feeling stupid, he was grumpy when he found the cereal box empty.
* * *
CORIE, STILL MAD at him from the night before, frowned as he tossed the empty cereal box away. She pulled it out of the trash and put it in the recycle box near the back door. “Sorry about that,” she said. “I didn’t notice. Want me to make you some toast? You know, since you can’t cook anything?”
“Funny,” he said. “I’ll make my own toast.”
She prepared the coffeemaker and turned it on while he dropped bread in the toaster. He went to the refrigerator for butter and jam and put them on the table. When the toast popped, he put it on a plate and sat down.
“No, thanks,” Corie said in a martyred tone. “I don’t care for any. But it was nice of you to ask.”
“You can cook,” he said tersely. “Make yourself something.”
He was uncharacteristically surly and she wondered for an instant what was wrong with him this morning. Then, remembering he’d accused her of being afraid of her own life, she decided she didn’t care. “I’ll see you at Teresa’s,” she said, and left him to his toast.
Half an hour later he stared at the empty spot under the base of the slide and told himself it just couldn’t be. He dug both hands into the gravel, sure the necklace had somehow been covered by it, but it wasn’t there. He straightened and looked around, kicking at the surrounding gravel. Nothing.
Stupid, he thought. Serious stoopid with a double o.
What now? He considered that one of the children might have found it, but surprise treasures were usually big news and shown off to everyone.
Corie wandered out to where he stood, her manner cool though less hostile than earlier. He groaned inwardly at the thought of how she would react to this news.
“Kids are almost done with their snacks,” she said. “I wondered if you needed an omelet or a sandwich, or something. I know you heroically cooked that toast, but...”
He heaved a sigh that came from his kneecaps. “I have to tell you something.”
“I know. You’ve been a jerk all morning. I forgive you. Let’s move on.” She caught his arm and tried to pull him toward the house.
He held firm and just spit it out. “I misplaced the necklace.”
She was silent for an instant, the calm before Armageddon. Then she said in a Darth Vader voice, “You lost the necklace?”
“I said I misplaced it,” he corrected.
Her voice rose a decibel. “Do you know where it is?”
“No.”
“Then that’s the definition of lost!” she screamed at him. “I’ll bet they never let you near evidence on the job in Beggar’s Bay if you misplace things.”
“Corie, take it easy.” He told her how he’d done it. “I doubt there’s been anyone around here but you and me, Grady and Teresa and the kids. Somebody must have found it.”
She looked heavenward in supplication. “Had Teresa found a thirty-thousand-dollar necklace, I’m sure she’d have mentioned it to me. Had Grady found it, he’d have told you because you told him about it. If the kids...” Her tirade was halted by the slamming of the back door and a wave from Officer Norton as he walked toward them.
Corie closed her eyes. When she opened them again, Ben got a second-degree burn. “If the police have found the necklace, I’m turning you over to Jack. See what he does to you for landing me in jail.”
Ben groaned, thinking she was being over-the-top dramatic, but Jack probably would kill him if he got Corie arrested after the lengths they’d gone to trying to prevent that.
Norton looked sharp in his uniform. Ben felt like yesterday’s oatmeal.
“Good,” he said as he approached, “you’re both here. I have a little news to share. Can we sit there?” He pointed to the picnic table.
“Of course.” Ben sat beside Corie, despite her glower in his direction, and Chris Norton sat opposite them.
“I found this at the end of the walk in front of your house when I was leaving the night of the break-in,” he said, holding a silver-dollar-size object toward them in the palm of his hand. It was an advertising token: “25% off your next oil change. Corbett Motors.” There was also an address in Corpus Christi in minuscule type.
Corie, still under a head of steam because of Ben’s mistake, said, “Ha! Corpus Christi. Tyree sent him.”
“Well, it’s not a straight line to that conclusion,” Chris said.
Ben decided he liked the man.
“But...maybe. And something else...” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and spread it open on the table. It was a printout of Corbett Motors’ website, featuring photos of a pretty young woman and three shop employees. Two wore coveralls and one, the parts manager, captioned “Danny,” wore a chambray work shirt.
Corie poked her finger at the manager’s image. “That’s him.”
“Did you see his face?” Chris asked.
She huffed impatiently. “All the evidence...”
“Often doesn’t account for much without a witness. And it’s weird that he didn’t take anything and he broke in when you weren’t home, so we don’t know that he intended to hurt you. Otherwise he’d have hidden in the house when he heard you coming, instead of running out.”
“He did still break in,” Ben said.
“Right.”
Then, like something out of a surreal movie, the back door opened, catching their attention. Bianca walked out—all three and a half feet of her in a red-striped shirt, shorts and scuffed tennies, her purse slung over her arm.
She waved at them and smiled, walked around the slide and dropped her purse at the foot of the ladder. She reappeared at the top, where she sat with a big smile, looking thrilled with the world, and rode down in a gleeful whoosh, the diamond necklace at her throat sparkling in the morning sun.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“WHAT’S SHE WEARING?” Chris asked, his gaze focused on Bianca’s sparkling diamonds.
Ben leaned his elbows on the table and joined his hands together against his forehead, uttering a small sound of anguish.
“The girls have all kinds of play jewelry,” Corie replied, relieved that her voice sounded normal. She felt as though she’d fallen into a well. She didn’t particularly want out, either.
Bianca ran toward them, ponytail bouncing. “See what I found?” she boasted, putting a little hand to the necklace.
“Wow, that’s really pretty,” Chris said. “Can I see?”
Bianca ran around the table to him, happy to show it off. “I found it over there.” She pointed to the spot under the slide where Ben had left it.
Corie watched the officer study the necklace. A breath that seemed to have four corners to it was lodged in her chest.
“That’s really pretty,” he said, looking it over. Then he glanced from Corie to Ben and asked Bianca with a smile, “Would it be all right if I looked at it for a little while longer?”
Bianca pouted just a little. “It belongs to somebody, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “It might. But if it doesn’t, I’ll give it back to you. Okay?”
“Okay.” Bianca went to Corie and turned her back to her, holding up her ponytail so Corie could work the clasp. Bianca placed her purse on the table and dug out the little gauze bag Corie had put the necklace in the night it had appeared on her pillow. Then she ran back to the slide as one of her sisters joined her.
Corie was grateful for the easy-come, easy-go attitude of childhood.
Teresa appeared near the back door and shouted at the children to come with her for a ride. There was a communal groan until she promised to stop for ice cream.
Norton draped the necklace across his hands. “I don’t know fine jewelry, but this looks like the real thing.” Again, he glanced from Corie to Ben, his blue eyes sharp, as though somehow detecting their collaboration. “Do you have any idea how this happened to be under the slide in the backyard?”
Corie glanced at Ben with apology in her eyes. She was about to confess and hated to involve him. Even though the fact that Bianca had been wearing the necklace was all his fault.
Ben put a hand to Corie’s knee to stop her from speaking. He met Norton’s eyes and thought he saw a good man, though he guessed the police officer was only in his middle twenties. It was worth a try.
“Office Norton,” he said, “we have a lot to tell you that will probably surprise you and make you want to put both of us in jail.”
Norton arched an eyebrow but waited for him to go on.
“We’re going to tell you the truth, and we’re not going to rabbit, but if you listen to us with an open mind, we may be able to help each other.”
To Love and Protect Page 12