Give Him the Slip (32 page)

As she huffed away, Luke glanced at Maddie. "You have to
appreciate someone who uses both 'the hots' and 'scalawag' in the same
breath."

"Not to mention her talent with binoculars. I can't tell you
the number of times I've seen her standing in her window with a pair of field
glasses trained on your dad's house watching that cute guy clean the
pool."

Luke grinned as he gentlemanly assisted Maddie into his car's
passenger seat before climbing behind the wheel. They didn't speak much during
the drive. Maddie's thoughts churned with the day's revelations, and she tried
to capture the idea that fluttered just beyond her grasp.

Preoccupied, she didn't note their direction until Luke pulled
into her own driveway. "You brought me home? Not to Branch's?"

"If Rawlings is right, there's no need to go back there.
Besides, I need to sleep in a bed and not on a pool lounger."

"What if he's wrong?" Maddie asked, a bit perturbed by
his high-handed decision making.

"Then I'll be here to deal with it."

She almost asked him what made him think he was invited to stay,
but better sense prevailed. Under the circumstances, she'd be stupid to turn
away his protection. "I'll go open the garage door and we can carry the
groceries right into the kitchen."

Luke switched off the car but didn't make a move to leave his
seat. Maddie climbed her front steps, then opened the door, and the soothing
scent of home surrounded her as she took a moment to enjoy. Her
happy-to-be-here gaze made a quick sweep of the living room as she dropped her
purse onto her desk. She loved her house. Loved the friends who'd helped her
put it to rights after Jerry Grevas tore it to pieces. "It's good to be
home," she murmured aloud. Next, she made her way through her kitchen to
the garage, where she slapped the garage door opener button.

Luke's feet came slowly into view as the door rose, but while she
looked at him, her mind wandered elsewhere. Something nagged at her, but she
couldn't place it. With a brown bag in each arm, Luke ducked his head beneath
the lifting door and strode into the garage. "After we put the groceries
away, let's make a run to pick up Knucklehead and your things."

"All right." In her kitchen, Luke set the bags on the
table. Maddie began putting the groceries away, rolling her eyes at some of
Luke's choices. She set a bag of corn chips next to her cereal in the pantry,
and the sight of a jar of spaghetti sauce allowed the truth niggling at the
back of her brain to finally work its way to the forefront.

Last night between the liquor and the lust, she'd managed to avoid
the reality the dinner at Fratelli's revealed. Had she given it any thought,
she'd have realized that the danger wasn't over, after all.

Luke, G-man that he was, had certainly thought about it.

That's why he asked me to leave with him.

Maddie chewed her bottom lip, her emotions beginning to seethe as
she worked through the timing of the events of the past eighteen hours or so
and belatedly put the clues together. She'd been high on wine and a sense of
safety, but Luke'd had his wits about him.

Oh, yeah. That sorry, sneaky son of a Callahan. He didn't really
want her to "vacation" with him aboard the
Miss Behavin' II.
He
was just trying to get her out of town so he didn't have to stay there!

Maddie's foot took to tapping. He'd lied to her. She despised
being lied to, especially by a man. To think she'd actually considered having a
Baby Dagger moment. She'd actually contemplated throwing caution to the wind
and following him off to the bayous.

She'd seriously thought about offering him her heart.

A shudder ran through her. Good Lord. What a mistake to think that
Luke Callahan was any different from Cade or Rip or Liam. What a close call
she'd had!

She'd believed him. She'd believed he'd wanted her, had felt the
special connection she felt. His hesitation when he'd asked her to leave with
him had been evident, which made him even more convincing. Had he jumped off
and declared his undying love for her, she'd have known he was blowing smoke.
Instead, he'd fooled her.

The lying dog. The scheming skunk. The prevaricating pig.

The pig.

"The pig!" She twisted her head around toward the living
room. The cereal box in her hand fell splat on the floor. "Red?"

Without responding, she hurried to the living room. Her gaze
focused on the bookshelf and the silly little pig figurine that Sara-Beth
Branson had given her during the cleanup three days ago. It had been a gag
gift, given with plenty of jokes about the pig gene men were born with, and
they'd set it on the shelf with great ceremony.

They'd set it backward. Now it faced outward.

"What's wrong, Maddie?"

"Have you been over here without me?"

"No."

"Has anyone?"

"Not that I know of. What is it, Maddie?"

"My pig. Someone..." She looked carefully at the
bookshelf, then around the room. Nothing but the pig appeared brazenly out of
place. The knickknacks on her coffee table could be lined up a little too
straight, and the books on her shelf were certainly out of order. But Kathy had
been the one to return the books to the shelf following Jerry's destructive
visit. Maybe
she
hadn't put them in alphabetical order.

Her bedroom. A dozen paces took her to the doorway. "Maddie,
what the hell is wrong?"

"I think..." She moved to her lingerie chest, unease
swirling inside her. She'd put her clothes away herself, so she knew exactly
how she should find them. Sliding her panty drawer open, she glanced inside and
drew a gasping breath.
Someone has been here.

A shudder of fear snaked through her. She checked her closet. Her
shoes. They might look a mess, but she had a system.

Her system had been obliterated.

She considered the timing. It couldn't have been Bartolo. She had
been here since his death. Was Austin wrong? Was someone still out to get her?
What other explanation could there be?

"Goddammit, Maddie!"

She glanced over her shoulder. "It's wrong, Luke. Things
aren't where they belong, where they were when I left here day before
yesterday."

"You think someone has been here?"

"I'm certain of it." She blew out a long, harsh breath.
"Luke, somebody has searched my house."

"Hold on a minute." Luke spoke in a soft, menacing tone.
"You're telling me someone's been through this place since Jerry?"

"Yes! They were careful about it, but I can tell. I know how
I leave my underwear!"

Luke marched over to her lingerie chest and peered at her panties
as if he'd find answers inside the open drawer. Worry sat in his gut like a bad
piece of fish as he thought his way through this new development. What the hell
was going on here?

Methodically, he inspected the windows and doors for signs of
forced entry. "Who has keys to your place? Kathy?"

"No. No one. Not even my landlord."

Unusual, but this was Brazos Bend. "Do you keep a house key
at your office?"

"No."

"Maybe you forgot to lock up."

"No!"

Hmm. Either somebody had a key she didn't know about or whoever
got inside here was really good. Burglars, maybe?

He flipped open the inlaid wood jewelry box sitting atop her
dresser and peered inside. A flash of diamonds and a Rolex watch confirmed his
fears. Crap. Of course it wouldn't be that simple.

Maddie plopped down on the edge of her bed and rubbed her temples
with her fingertips. "This is crazy. Nothing makes sense. I've had a
smooth, uneventful life since I got out of jail. It's been wonderful. It's been
stable. It's been just what I wanted!"

"What are we missing, Maddie? What's going on here that we're
not seeing?"

"I don't know!"

"Think about it," he said, feeling grimmer by the
moment. "Help me out here. Think beyond the mushrooms. Beyond Jerry
Grevas. Could this have something to do with Baby Dagger?"

"I can't imagine... oh." She dropped her hands to her
lap and shut her eyes. "Hmm. He couldn't do this. He wouldn't."

He?
"Who's 'he'?"

"What?"

"Who wouldn't break into your house, Maddie? You obviously
have an idea."

"Yes, well, I do have one idea. It's possible... oh, I hope
this isn't the case."

"Maddie, if you don't spit it out I swear I'm going to—"

"It's Liam."

Liam. One of the exes. "Tell me."

"We had dinner when I was in New York."

She's dated a dickhead? Since she met me?
The
idea pissed him off, but that would have to wait until he found out why she
thought the jerk might have broken into her house. "How did that happen?
Did he come looking for you or did you call him for old times' sake?"

"I didn't call him!" The annoyance in her eyes faded to
amazement. "Are you jealous? For heaven's sake, Luke."

He set his teeth. All right, maybe he was acting stupid, but hell.
"Tell me why you think he's been snooping in your panty drawer."

She folded her arms, visibly bristling. "You don't need to
take that tone with me, Luke Callahan. I'm not the one lying about
vacations."

"What?"

"Oh, never mind." She waved a dismissive hand.
"Look, Liam somehow ran across my father during his trip to Alaska, and
Liam convinced him I'd want to see him. I actually dropped my purse when I saw
him instead of my father at our reserved table at dinner."

Luke tried to recall what details she'd given him about the old
boyfriend named Liam, but he came up blank. "Who is he and what did he
want?"

She narrowed her eyes. "If you'll give me a chance, I'll tell
you."

Maddie pushed off her bed and sashayed past him, headed for the
kitchen. What the hell had put the burr beneath her saddle? He's the one who'd
just had another man thrown into the mix, one who she suspected of breaking
into her house and rifling through her things.

In the kitchen, she took a large sun-tea jar from a cabinet and
began to fill it with water. "I was with Liam about eight or so years ago.
I left him when I discovered he'd used my bank account to provide funds to some
friends of his in the IRA."

"Good God. You dated a terrorist?"

"Liam wasn't a terrorist," she defended. After a brief
pause, she added, "His brother was."

"Jesus!" He glanced around her house. Christ.
Terrorists? In Brazos Bend? What the hell has she stepped in? This could go
beyond mushrooms. Had her Irishman hidden something on her or given her
something to hold? "When you saw him in New York, what did he want? Did
you take anything from him? Anything at all? Did he tell you anything? Think,
Maddie. Those guys don't play around."

Maddie's teeth worried her bottom lip. "Liam didn't give me
anything. He made up this elaborate story about a possible reconciliation
between us, and since Blade and I don't talk about my love life, he didn't know
any better. My father is a romantic at heart, and he liked the idea of
furthering the course of true love."

"With a terrorist."

She chastised him with a look. "I didn't want to make a scene,
so I stayed and listened to what he had to say. It appears he's gone on to new
schemes. He actually thought I'd be willing to finance one of them. I turned
him down and ditched him after dinner, but I think he might have followed me. I
thought I saw him on the street a time or two, and then later at the airport.
He's called me a couple of times since then."

A terrorist was stalking her and she hadn't bothered to mention it
before now? Luke's anger went hot. He couldn't believe that with everything
that had been going on, she'd kept this information to herself. In a grim tone,
he asked, "What does he want the money for?"

"Who knows?" Maddie dangled two family-sized tea bags
into her jar. "He spun some story about a nursing home investment, but the
man—like so many of his kind—is a liar. Liars and users. Always trying to take
advantage. Women often don't see past that kind of charm. I might have fallen
for it in the past. Shoot, I
did
fall for it in the past. But now I see.
I've earned bloody bifocals when it comes to men like... well, men."

Luke might be slow sometimes, but he wasn't stupid. That had been
a dig at him. Why?
What the hell did I do?

And why the hell did it even matter at this particular moment,
when they ought to be worrying about who rifled her house and why?

"Look, I don't know what's put this bee in your bonnet, but
whatever it is will have to wait. I need every scrap of information you can
give me about this creep so that I can check him out." He stalked to her
desk and removed a notepad and a pen. "Start with his full name."

"Liam Michael... wait."