by Dale Mayer
“What about Charles? Has Levi spoken to him yet?” She bounced lightly down the stairs at his side.
She marveled at the big stone construction of the building. Part cement—or maybe stone and cement. She didn’t know. But very imposing. The place looked like it had been built to last. And she really appreciated that.
As he came to the bottom of the stairs to another hallway on their right, he motioned for her to carry on in that direction. “You’re coming too, aren’t you?” She frowned at him. “No way are you leaving me all alone here.”
“I wasn’t,” he said with a smirk. “I was going to tell Levi that you are up.”
“No need. I’m here.”
Levi’s voice washed over her. She spun around to see the big man coming from an office that she hadn’t seen on the far side. She gave him a bright smile. “Hi. Thank you so much for letting me stay here last night. Honestly I wouldn’t have known where to go or what to do if Stone hadn’t been with me.”
Levi’s gaze lifted and crossed with Stone’s. She could feel some kind of hidden communication going on. She didn’t want to be that girl. She stepped in between them, effectively breaking their eye contact, and said, “Your hospitality is much appreciated. Obviously I’ll try to get home and sort out my place as quickly as I can.”
He nodded in the direction they were headed. “Come on. Let’s get you some more coffee and breakfast. We need to discuss what happened at your place.”
She walked into the kitchen with them, shocked when half a dozen men got to their feet, several nodding their heads. “Good morning, ma’am.”
She winced at the ma’am part. “For those of you who don’t remember or didn’t know, my name is Lissa. Nice to see you again.”
She sat down where Stone motioned and studied the plates in front of the others. She didn’t know if they had a chef, but if she could get a plate like they had for herself, she would be very grateful. It seemed like forever since she’d eaten.
Charles had fed them in England, and they’d eaten on the plane, but that’d been because she’d needed the food, not because she’d enjoyed it. This looked like food she could enjoy.
Another man walked into the dining room, a stranger—older, distinguished, and in some ways he reminded her of Charles. He looked at her and smiled. “I’m Alfred. You must be Lissa.” He added, “Do you want tea and toast or would you prefer a plate, like the boys?”
She grinned. “If possible, I’d love a plate.”
“Good. Be back in a minute.”
At that she settled down and realized that somebody had refilled her coffee cup. She turned to glance around and saw Stone replacing the coffeepot on the machine sitting on a sideboard. She grinned at him as he turned to face her. “Thanks, Stone.”
He sat down beside her without a word, ever that strong, silent, supportive presence.
The silence around the table grew awkward.
She sat quietly and sipped her coffee, not knowing what to say. Finally, Alfred returned with the plate of twisted sausages and hash browns. “Thank you, Alfred,” she said warmly. “This looks wonderful.”
And then, completely ignoring the rest of the men, she picked up her knife and fork and dug in. The food was so good. She was starving.
When she plowed through the plate without slowing down, Stone chuckled at her side. “I had no idea you were that hungry.”
She cast him a sideways glance and said, “Superhigh metabolism. Can’t keep any weight on, and I eat a lot.” She picked up a particularly decent-size bite of potatoes and sausage and popped them into her mouth.
Stone said, “Interesting. You don’t have either of your parents’ physical traits.”
“You noticed that, did you?” She swallowed the rest of the bite and added, “Growing up, I wondered if I even belonged to them. But … alas I do.”
“You know that for sure?” Stone asked, a frown on his face and his tone darkening.
“Yes,” she said. “My father insisted on a DNA test when I was born.” She grinned at the unusual silence. “Much to his disgust, I’m his.” The silence continued. She laughed. “Don’t worry about it. At least he knows, as do I.” She shrugged as if to say, What can you do? She polished off the rest of the food on her plate and sat back with a sigh of satisfaction. “Oh, my God, if you guys ever decide you don’t need Alfred …”
“Fat chance,” Stone said with a grin. “And you’re not the first one to try to steal him from us.”
“I wouldn’t steal him, maybe just borrow him for a day or two.” She rubbed her tummy and pushed her plate away slightly. “If everybody’s done eating,” she whispered to Stone, “I’ll do the dishes.”
Before she even got the words out, Alfred arrived and collected all the plates and cutlery. Stone laughed. “Sometimes he asks for help. The rest of the time he’s got it in hand. A commercial-size dishwasher is in there, so usually he’s fine.”
She nodded and picked up her coffee cup. She expected the discussion about her situation to start soon. She looked at Levi and decided to open it herself. “So, now that I have a full tummy, what was the conversation you wanted to get into this morning?”
He studied her over the rim of his cup. “We’ve circled back to the theory somebody broke into your house last night looking for what they had smuggled in your backpack, hoping you would bring it into the country.”
She froze, slowly lowering her coffee cup. “Right, we’re back to that.” She turned to face Stone. “It would make so much sense.”
“It would, in a way, explain how they knew whatever was in your backpack was there,” he said. “Because, of course, they were the ones to do it.”
She frowned as she worked her way through that. “That would imply they actually knew who I was and were aware I was coming home.” She turned her gaze to Levi. “How is that possible? Unless they found out while we were in England?”
“That’s what we wanted to ask. How many people knew where you lived? How many did you work with in the refugee camp? Did you get to know any of them well enough to discuss your home life, and would they have had access to your bags?”
She shook her head. “Lots knew I lived in Texas, but few knew exactly where.” Her gaze drifted from one stern male face to the next. Where was Ice? Then again it was a huge place, she could be anywhere. Lissa said, “I mean, my bags were always in my room. There wasn’t anything you could call a lock on the door. We had a safe where we kept our passports and wallets with our IDs and cash,” she added. “But how very presumptuous for people to think I’d be able to bring something back into the country and then for them to come get it from me.” She locked her gaze with Levi’s. “Besides, didn’t they say ‘drugs?’”
Levi nodded. “Yes, but a rare form of opium. The British are analyzing it right now in their lab.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Opium? How much was there?”
Levi shrugged. “Enough worth getting out of the country.”
“Jesus,” she whispered.
*
Try as he might, Stone couldn’t hear any sign of deception in her voice. And he had spent plenty of time learning all the ways people could hide a lie. He was generally a very good judge of character, but he knew he was off his game with her. Nothing like sleeping with a woman to affect your perceptions. And, if she was hiding something, coming to his bed last night would just have been another good way to throw everything off. He hated even thinking that way but hard not to under these circumstances. He glanced at Levi, whose one eyebrow was slightly elevated.
Levi shook his head, a tiny perceptible movement, confirming that he hadn’t heard or seen anything either.
That made Stone feel better. As much fun as last night and this morning had been, he’d hate to think he’d been hoodwinked as part of a plan. But she wasn’t off the hook yet.
“So what do we do now?” Lissa asked. Her voice trembled, and she’d shifted ever-so-slightly on the bench seat, moving closer to Stone. Her hands wra
pped on her coffee cup trembled slightly. Those types of reactions were hard to fake.
Words were one thing, but the physical reactions didn’t lie. Also very hard to train someone to produce fake body language.
“Make sure your home is safe and that whoever seems to be following you doesn’t return,” Levi said.
“And why would he?” she cried out in shock. “Surely, if he didn’t find what he was looking for, he wouldn’t come back.”
Stone hated to say it, but she needed to understand the danger. “Because he might come looking for you to get the answers he wants.”
She turned her head slowly to stare at him, her body slumping. “I don’t have any for him. How could I possibly convince anybody I don’t know anything about something when I don’t know anything about it?” Her voice rose at the end. She reached up a shaky hand and rubbed her temple. “I hate to say it, but maybe I should stay with my parents.”
“That might work temporarily, or he might decide to follow you there,” Levi said in his no-nonsense tone.
All the color drained from her face. “I can’t put them in danger. They didn’t do anything to deserve this.”
Harrison spoke from across the table. “Did you?”
Stone could see the confusion in her eyes before she turned to stare at Harrison and asked, “Did I do what?
“Do you deserve this?”
She shook her head slowly. “No, of course not. I didn’t do this. I didn’t do anything. I went over there to help people, to get away from my family. I thought I was doing something useful. And then it all blew up.”
“Right.” Levi stood up. “You”—he pointed at Lissa—“Stone, Harrison, and I will head to your house now. You can collect a bag of necessities and come back here and stay with us for a few days. I’ll call the police. Get this in motion. They will need to make a full report, might check for fingerprints, but I doubt they’d find any—other than yours and Stone’s at this point.”
“I wore gloves,” Stone said.
She stood up. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “I appreciate that. Why wouldn’t there be any fingerprints?”
Stone answered for Levi. “Because it was too professional a job. They wouldn’t have left fingerprints behind. That’s a rookie mistake.”
She turned to stare at him. “Professional?” She shuddered. “We’re not talking assassins or mercenaries or anything like that, are we?”
“We have no idea what we’re dealing with. So let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Levi said, walking toward the kitchen entrance. “Let’s find out the facts first.”
With a long face she said, “I’d love to find the facts. So far I don’t know anything.”
Stone reached up and patted her shoulder. He was delighted—internally—at the idea of her staying with them for a few more days. He’d had worse assignments; keeping a close eye on her had a lot of perks. He just wished they could clear her of all wrongdoings. Then he could really enjoy being with her. It wouldn’t feel like he’d crossed the line. Levi hadn’t said anything, but Stone knew what Levi was thinking—what they were all thinking.
Stone wanted to believe she was who she portrayed herself to be. But, after being betrayed once, trust was a little harder for the team to give. Stone didn’t know what she’d get from this by lying, so, for the moment, he’d give her the benefit of the doubt—and watch his back.
Chapter 13
The drive back to her house was faster this time. In fact, in daylight, it was a fascinating trip. She’d never been to this corner of Texas before. The compound seemed to encompass a small valley with ridges around two sides of it. As they drove out, the big gates locked and secured the property behind them.
She wondered at their need to always have the gates closed. She turned to Stone and asked, “Have you been attacked in there or something? I just wondered why you keep it locked, especially during the daytime.”
“We have actually,” he admitted. “But hopefully not again.” He turned to look out the window. “And we don’t always keep it locked up.”
End of conversation. Right. She stayed quiet for the rest of the trip until they hit the small town where her home was. As they drove into the cul-de-sac and up to her place, she knew the front, which appeared undamaged, hid what was so much worse in the back, especially in the cold, harsh reality of day. Like a facade, it hid the evil that lurked beneath.
And somehow she’d gotten caught up in it.
They exited the truck in silence. She watched as Levi studied her townhome and then every other one on the block. One large row-house complex. Twelve in this unit. She had the end one. Beside her was a fence and then a large playground. She stepped forward and led the way around the rear.
She braced herself but couldn’t hold back the gasp, still was shocked to see it again. She stepped out of the way as Levi gave the place a solid once-over from the outside. She had no idea what he thought he was looking for.
He obviously noted the busted doors, pushed them open, and stepped inside. She waited for Harrison to join him. Stone, however, wouldn’t let her stand outside alone. He motioned for her to follow the other two.
She frowned up at him. “What if I don’t want to go in?”
He shrugged. “Then I’ll stay out here with you.” He turned to look at the busted windows and said, “I thought you wanted to come.”
“I did,” she said quietly, then admitted, “but that doesn’t mean I’m up for going back inside.” Before she’d said her last word, he’d held out his hand. Always offering support. Always offering security. She’d do a lot to have a man like this.
She reached out and gripped his fingers, hard. “What if they came back?”
“Chances are, we won’t know. They made such a mess the first time,” he said with a mocking laugh.
“If they were watching us,” she argued, “then they would know if I went inside.”
“And, if they are watching you, they would know you brought nothing in. And that we weren’t here long enough for you to do very much.”
“Good point.” Feeling better, she ended up dropping his fingers and walking inside; then she headed straight for the stairs. As she climbed, she realized that the other two men had stopped and watched her silently. She shivered. She really wanted them to believe her. But this was still hanging over her head.
A new feeling for her. She wasn’t used to being under suspicion. Well, other than from her father.
At the bedroom doorway she stopped and studied the mess. She couldn’t possibly know for sure, like Stone had said, but it didn’t appear to be any different than when she’d left in the wee hours of the morning. Only now it looked harsher. In the bright light the damage, the mess, and the work ahead seemed even more depressing.
On the far left side, she spied her large traveling bag. More like a beach bag but with a zipper—so she sometimes used it as a carry-on for a flight. She carefully picked her way through the mess and grabbed the bag. She upended it to make sure it was empty, then walked over to the dresser. She’d been gone a long time and had taken the bare necessities with her. She hadn’t even lived in this house for much more than four months before she had left it, so the drawers weren’t very full. But she did have a few changes of clothes. She quickly packed up what was in her drawers, then turned to the closet and winced.
Some of the clothing had just been tossed on the floor, but a lot of it appeared to have been ripped. She didn’t understand that part. It was more vindictive. Like a woman who hated another. But she honestly couldn’t think of any woman who hated her so much. She hadn’t cultivated many friends over the last ten years.
She picked through the closet, making a pile of usable clothing. She found a couple cardigans, a simple dress, several blouses, and skirts. If she took the skirts, she would need shoes. She wasn’t sure any of those were wearable either.
Stone spoke from behind her. She turned with a pair of sandals she’d forgotten she owned in her hands as he said,
“You finding what you need?”
“I’m finding what’s left that’s still usable. Why would they possibly want to rip my clothing?” She held up an evening dress where the shoulder pads had been opened.
He frowned. “We’re back to considering they thought you might’ve hidden whatever they’re looking for.”
She stared at the shoulder pads, then back at him. “If that’s true, then what they’re looking for is damn small.”
“We knew that, but we didn’t know how small.”
As she watched, his gaze wandered to her bag, mostly filled now with the least-damaged clothing left in her bedroom.
“Is that all you have?”
She nodded. “A lot of it has been destroyed, and I didn’t have very much to begin with. Plus, I’ve been traveling.” She turned toward the closet and spied an old purse. She crowed with delight. “Oh, perfect.” She snagged it, walking carefully through the mess. Taking it over beside her other bag, she dumped the contents of the purse on the bed, delighted to find a little bit of her makeup and a hairbrush. She beamed. “Oh, to know how to appreciate the simple things in life.” She picked up the hairbrush, waved it at him. “Now I don’t have to borrow your comb anymore.”
He shook his head. “Glad you’re happy with the simple things.”
“Oh, I am.”
She gave her bedroom one last walk-through, packing away as much as she could. Scouring through the mess, she found a scarf she’d always loved, and a pair of socks rolled off to the side. She snagged those up too. Then she headed to the bathroom. Some things should be left in there, but, as she walked into the small room, she realized her intruder had been before her here as well. The contents of the cabinets below the sink had been emptied—no longer usable.
“Looks like they opened everything and dumped it on the floor.” She stood in the doorway, her expression full of dismay. “I don’t understand that mind-set.”
Stone made his way behind her and studied the mess. “That will take work to clean up.”