Point of Attraction (31 page)

Georgie gave her and Cassie a quick
embrace, and went to Mason. He had been talking to Roberts and was
now taking those long easy strides toward her.

“Roberts wants to talk with
you.”

Georgie followed Mason into
her garage where Roberts nodded to his men as they exited the
house, each one declaring the room they checked was clear. One
officer came out packing away some electrical gadget Georgie
suspected was a
bug
-detector. Could she really have been bugged? Why? The whole
thing was this... this surreal montage of absurdities.

“Clean,” he told Roberts, and offered
her a hint of a nod as he went past her to the police
vehicles.

Roberts waited until
Georgie realized he was waiting for her to give the okay to enter.
Odd that their protective actions had erased that entitlement from
her mind. She had been waiting for
his
permission to enter her own
house. House. Was it no longer a
home
? Damn whoever was doing this to
her. Damn him!

Shoulders squared, she looked to Cassie
and April, motioned for them to come in, then marched into her
house, determined to reclaim it as her home, but even as she
entered the kitchen Georgie was struck with the alien coldness of
it. No family laughter. No aromas of cooking. There was no Daisy or
Max to greet her, and she sighed deeply.

Each having taken a seat at the table,
she looked to Roberts. The man was shifting in his chair. This was
not going to be good, she thought.

“Ms. Gainsworth,” Roberts started out,
“it would appear this whole thing centers on you.”

“I got that,” she said, and let it go.
Glib had no place here, but it was just so ridiculous to her. And
if she didn’t make light of it, she would weaken and shatter. And
that, she would not do. “Go on.”

“This... person.” He almost choked on
the word. “He wants to hurt you. Now, you must understand, I do not
blame you. You are not to blame here. I want you to understand
that.”

The muscles in Georgie’s face twitched.
She looked to Cassie, April, Mason, then back at Roberts. Where was
he going with this? “Okay,” she said, and waited.

“Did anything strange happen before the
doll was taken? Anything out of the ordinary?”

She gave that some
thought.
Strange
.
“Like what?” she asked with a shrug. “What are you looking
for?”

“Anything different, a change of life
style or habit. Anything, no matter how insignificant.”

“Until Raggs was taken, my life was...
was dull. I worked, came home, and back to work the next
day.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled
out his little notebook and pen. Without looking up, he flipped
through the pages. “You’ve been widowed what, three
years?”

His dark eyes raised, kept steady
contact, studying her, a bug under his scrutiny as he asked his
question.

“Yes. Why? What does...”

“Please, Ms. Gainsworth. For now, let
me do the asking. Okay?”

An inchworm spinning steel instead of
silk worked its way up Georgie’s spine and she sat upright in her
seat. “Yes. Actually two years, eleven months. October 25th, 4:45
in the morning will be three years.”

At the curt tone in her voice, she
could see Roberts realize his mistake and draw back. He looked down
at his notes, tapping his pen, using up time. Okay, she thought. Go
ahead and wait until I calm down. Play your little game. Mason’s
hand sat heavy on her shoulder, and she almost shrugged it
off.

“We’re all on the same side, here,”
Mason said, his grip softening into a supportive touch.

“Really? Doesn’t feel like it to me,”
Georgie said.

“George...”

“Oh, all right!” she burst out, hands
flying up to push her hair back, causing Mason to remove his hand.
She narrowed her glare on Roberts. “Ask your questions. Keep
examining my face to see if I’m lying; psyche me out.”

Roberts was quiet, took a deep breath
before starting in again. “You’ve not dated in all that
time?”

“No.”

“Not in all that time?”

“You know how long three years is when
someone you love dies? It’s the longest second of your life. No. I
have not dated.”

“You went out with Jeffrey,” Cassie
said.

Georgie turned on Cassie, saw April
nudge her, and Cassie shrugged. “Well, she did.” Her hand motioned
toward Roberts. “He said, no matter how insignificant.”

“I told you,” Georgie said to Cassie
through clenched teeth, “That wasn’t a date.” She turned back to
Roberts, saw his features still ridged, sight still on her, and
admitted. “Well, I guess to Jeffrey it might have been or seemed
that way. Yes. About two weeks ago. Two dinners.” She held up two
fingers. “That was it.”

“A change,” Roberts said.

“Yes,” she agreed. “A
change.”

“You’re in what...” He flipped the page
over, read it, then let it drop back down. “A writing
class?”

“Yes. Seven years, off and
on.”

“Not really a change there,” Roberts
said, almost a murmur or a spoken thought, then let his sight rise
slowly, but with a different target in mind. “But this is your
first time, right?” he asked Mason.

“What...” Georgie started out, but
Roberts held up his pen for her to stop.

“Yes,” Mason said. “This Fall
term.”

“Okay,” Roberts said, and wrote in his
notebook. “So that was definitely different, right?”

“Among another ten new people,” Georgie
said. “It’s a large class. There’s always at least ten new people.
Easy credits, they think until they find out you actually have to
participate to get credit. Then they quit. Where are you going with
this?”

“How long have you known Mr.
Underwood?”

“Nick?” four startled voices
asked.

Roberts nodded.

Georgie shot to her feet and swiped a
finger at him. “Not Nick!” When Mason reached out to her, Georgie
shrugged clear of his hand. “Not Nick.”

“How long have you known him?” Roberts
persisted.

“Kindergarten.”

“Do you know where he is right
now?”

Georgie let her sight level flatly on
the calm poker-faced Officer. She wanted to so badly say yes, angry
with Nick for not being here to defend himself, but all she could
do was declare, “No.”

Roberts cleared his throat and shifted
in his chair. After a heart beat, his dark eyes met hers, emotion
set aside, but laser sharp as he indicated she sit.

Georgie refused to heel.

“Please,” he said, hand motioning to
the chair.

Georgie looked to Mason. There was
anger in his face, but directed at what or who?

“He’s a friend,” Mason told
Roberts.

“Is that what he is?” Roberts asked,
his eyes never having left her face. “Since your husband’s death
he’s had you basically all to himself, right? Until Jeffrey, and
he’s now gone. Now there’s Montgomery here.”

Georgie heard Cassie’s gasp, and the
rustle of April’s jacket as she held out her arm to stop Cassie.
Georgie took a step closer to Roberts and leaned down, eye to eye
with the man; less than a foot between their noses.

“But it wasn’t Mason’s dog that was
poisoned, was it? We aren’t standing in Mason’s home, are we?”
Georgie crossed her arms and dropped into the chair, so hard it
scraped the floor in a sharp squeal. Without losing eye contact,
she swung a leg over the knee. “Yes, Nicholas Underwood is far more
than a friend to me.”

“And me,” Cassie said. There was no
attempt to hide her anger.

“Please,” Roberts said, clicked his pen
and finally let his sight drift to Cassie. “Don’t make me ask you
to leave.”

Georgie sat forward, ignoring Mason’s
warning touch, and waved a hand for Roberts’ attention. “Hello?”
She waited until he looked back. “Do you have a warrant? Some sort
of legal onionskin paper in your pocket? Because if you don’t, I’ll
ask you to leave before you make that request of Cassie or April.”
She leaned back. “Nick is a brother to me and Cassie, just as
Cassie is a sister to me and Nick. No, I do not know where Nick is
at the moment, but before you point the finger at him, let me tell
you. Nick can do many things, but he cannot be in two places at
once. He was behind me when the Durango tried to run me over. He’s
the one that pulled me out of its way.”

Roberts nodded at her explanation, gave
his notebook a glance with a tap of the pen, then looked up. Eye
contact firm, probing. “Do you have any idea who it might be?
Anyone, no matter how trivial it might seem to you.”

Georgie ran her hand over her hair,
over her eyes, then leaned back until she felt Mason’s body and his
gentle hand once more on her shoulders. “I don’t know.” She shook
her head, trying to draw up some memory she might have let slip
into those corners filled with unimportant facts. “I have customers
that have made some overtures in that direction, but I’ve never
gone out with one. Bad policy. Just don’t do it, I’ve told my
girls.”

“What about you?” he asked, looking at
Mason.

Georgie looked up as Mason’s mouth
dropped, his brow twitching.

“You’re new in her life,
right?”

“Well...” Mason hesitated, then
answered. “Yeah, sure, but...”

“Is there an ex-girlfriend out there
who could see Ms. Gainsworth as someone to be warned off, even
harmed, to make her step away from you? Leaving you
free?”

“No!” Mason’s face scrunched up in
denial. “God, no. There’s no one.”

“No one.” Roberts’ sight would not
waver, his two words more loaded than the weapon at his
side.

This time Georgie dared not look at
Mason and wished she could leave the room. She didn’t want to hear
Mason’s confession that he might have dated Tonie. There was a
swish and Mason was kneeling before her, placing his hands over
hers, those gray eyes looking up at her.

“There is no one,” he said, each word
stated alone.

“Either of you think of anything?”
Roberts asked, of Cassie and April.

Cassie waved a
have no clue
while
shaking her head. April said nothing. Georgie felt the heat of
Mason’s hand before it cupped her chin. When she looked down, he
once more mouthed,
there is no
one
. She wanted to smile that she believed
him, but all that came out was a shaky sigh.

Then who could it be, she
wondered?

Roberts closed his notebook as the
black mike at his shoulder gave off a screech.

“Sir, could you come out here?” the
man’s voice asked.

“Excuse me,” Roberts said to Georgie,
gave a glance to Mason, and walked out with a long heavy
stride.

Chapter twenty-six

For a moment no one said anything.
Georgie was still unwilling to face Mason. His gray eyes were too
easily the key to unlocking her soul and heart. Nick was right. She
had played it safe too long and her life had become a harbor she
wasn’t sure she could ever sail out of.

“Wonder what that was about?” Cassie
said.

Mason’s hand was hot on Georgie’s face.
When she didn’t respond, he got up and went out the door with
Roberts. With a shiver, Georgie went to the thermostat and turned
it up. Suddenly very thirsty, she pulled out a glass for water,
started to turn on the faucet, but didn’t, and set aside the empty
glass.

“So what are we missing here,” Cassie
asked. “Who do you think M&M was messing with?”

“Cassie?” April warned.

“I want to know,” she insisted. “I
don’t want her hurt. Who are we talking about?”

Shaking her head, Georgie swallowed.
“He’s female partner, Tonie.”

“You don’t really believe there’s
something going on between them, do you? I mean...”

“Cassie,” April said with a heavy
breath, “Why your poking-nose has not been broken long before now
is a mystery to me.”

“April, if I had known about this
Tonie, I would never...”

“Don’t,” Georgie said,
biting her lower lip, feeling the dig of her fingernails as she
clenched a fist. “I believe Mason... or at least, I
want
to believe him. But
this is all just so disorienting. I guess I just want to know who’s
doing this, and why?”

“I think we’re about to find out,”
Mason said from the door.

All three turned as Mason walked in
with Roberts close behind. The two men were tall timber standing
there.

“Lab lifted a partial print from one of
Raggs’ dress buttons.”