Reluctantly in Love (31 page)

I glanced at the tablet mounted on the dash. The flashing red light on the 3D map showed Matthew’s sports car still parked at his office.

“Uh, is this a trick question?” He sounded genuinely concerned.

“Matthew and his girlfriend—I think it’s the blonde—are up to something. And it’s happening tonight.”

He laughed,
a-hu-a-hu-a-hu.
“I
bet
they’re up to something tonight.”

I rolled my eyes. “There’s no
time
for this. We need to prep. We have to be ready when he goes on the move. He’s picking the girlfriend up at nine-thirty, but he’s doing something first—feeding a rodent—and then they’re going to
finish it tonight.
Whatever
it
is. So, you’re coming with me. Gen’s out of town with Matt, and Lexie has that thing in Omaha.”

“What thing?”

I gaped at the windshield. “Richard, that’s not important. What’s important is that you’re it.
You’re my wingman.
”

“All
right.
”

“Okay, so get ready. I’ll swing by your parents’ with the van to pick you up. I’m going to need you to operate the video camera. If this guy does something incriminating, I want him on tape.”

“Camouflage?”

I considered it. Camouflage was always nice. I had no clue what we’d be doing, and camouflage might not be the best blending-in outfit at the
Bring Down Garrett
party.

I shook my head. “No. Just dress normal.”

“Got it, boss.”

I hung up with my lips enveloped in a wide smile. Things were about to get serious, I could feel it.

“What’s he doing in a discount store?” I wondered out loud.

The store was on the opposite side of town from Matthew’s office, thirty minutes from his home—it made no sense. And a dollar store? Why was a millionaire shopping at a dollar store?

“Maybe he needed a snack.” Richard snickered at something he read off his cell phone display. “That’s tight.”

I snapped my finger near his ear. “Richard, I need you to go inside. He doesn’t know who you are. Go follow him around.”

He perked up. “Really?”

“Yes, but don’t follow too closely.” He put his hand on the door handle. “But not so far away that you can’t see what he’s doing.”

He opened the door, and I grabbed him by the sleeve. “But don’t be weird about it!”

“
Jeez,
okay. I get it. Covert.” He brushed my hand off his sleeve. “I play video games
professionally,
I can handle this.”

“Well, technically, you’re not a professional video gamer. You’re just going to a videogame tournament.” I gave him a wide smile. “Remember? You told me.”

“Our team has T-shirts. That’s serious.”

“Okay, okay, we’ll talk about it later,” I said. He almost had the door shut when I said, “Wait!”

He popped his head back in. “Yeah?”

“Make sure you buy something so you don’t look like a creeper or a shoplifter.”

He shut the door before I could add anything else to his list of Dos & Don’ts.

The store front was a wall of windows. Inside, Matthew disappeared from view into an aisle. Richard, looking more conspicuous than he promised, had his hands in his pockets while he pretended to read a magazine on display at the end of the aisle Matthew had turned down. I raised the binoculars to my eyes to get a better view. It was a women’s health magazine.

“Damn it, I should have made him wear an earpiece,” I whispered to the empty van.

Richard ambled away from the display to look into the next aisle down. Then he went to the end of the next aisle. He didn’t look like he was shopping, which made me white knuckle the binoculars.

Matthew wasn’t inside for long. He appeared at a checkout counter with a shopping basket, but a display hid him from view. When he stepped outside, he held a plastic shopping bag and had a piece of beef jerky in his mouth. Richard followed him out a few seconds later, a bounce to his step—he looked like he might be whistling.

By the time Richard climbed into the passenger seat, Matthew was already on the move. I didn’t wait for him to buckle before I backed out of the parking space.

“That was fun,” he said and held out a package of gum. “Spearmint?”

I shook my head. “Chewing gum makes my face hurt.”

“He didn’t suspect a thing.” He popped a piece of gum into his mouth. “I’m smooth.”

“You were fine.” Then I added. “We’ll work on it. What did he buy?”

“Gross looking cans of dog food.”

“Dog food?” My heart fell. “That’s it?”

Was that all he was doing, after all? Feeding his pet he called
rodent
and then picking up his girlfriend?

“That can’t be it,” I said with a shake of my head. “There has to be more.”

“There wasn’t. Just dog food.”

“No, I mean, to this story—to Matthew Garrett. I
know
he’s the one who stole Beverly’s cat. He
has
to be behind this alien thing.”

“
Hmm.
”

I whipped my head to Richard who had his phone out, texting.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“I think maybe you got the wrong guy. You’re just obsessing. That’s what Lexie says.”

I faced the road. “I’m not obsessing.”

“She says it’s because you broke it off with the doctor and now you’re obsessed with work.”

“Listen, Richard. I’m not obsessing because of a guy. I’m
working
because I want to solve this case and catch a man who is tormenting an old lady.” I eased my foot off the gas. This conversation was making me break the speed limit. “And you can tell Lexie that a good investigator does her best to solve a case.” I hooked my thumb toward my head. “That’s me. I’m being a good investigator.”

“Hey, I didn’t say it. You broads tell me all this stuff. I don’t even know what you want me to do with it.” He pointed at the tablet. “He’s getting away.”

“I’m not even sure it matters now.” I followed the dot on the screen anyway.

“Can we hit a drive-thru then? I’m starved. That dude bought a beef jerky. I should have gotten one too, but I didn’t want to look like I was copying him.”

“Not now. There’s a bag of beef jerky and some sunflower seeds in my duffle bag.”

“Is this what you people eat on a stakeout?” He dug through my bag. “This is hardcore.”

“No, this is just an emergency stash in case I get stuck someplace longer than I planned to.”

Matthew drove across town to the older side of Lincoln. The further we got from the discount store, the more wrinkled my forehead got. When he turned onto Sterling Boulevard, I straightened in my seat.

“He keeps a pet at the mansion? That’s weird.” I slowed down. Up ahead, Matthew turned into the estate’s driveway. I killed the lights and parked at the curb.

In the dark, the house was even more eerie.

“Oh shit, no way.” Richard shook his head from beside me. “Not cool. We’re not going in there again.” When I didn’t answer, he said, “Right?”

“Relax. I don’t know what’s going on. I think we should at least sneak up there and see what he’s doing, don’t you? I can’t see anything from here.” I leaned down to the duffle bag between us and rifled through it. “Maybe they have a guard dog or something.”

Richard took a flashlight from me. It was much bigger than the ones we used the first time we went inside the mansion. “Just don’t turn it on yet. He might notice the lights out in the yard.”

“Man, I didn’t sign up for a haunted house,” Richard said, but he opened the passenger door and stepped out.

I locked the van and pocketed the keys. “Let’s just climb the fence here.”

The gate around the mansion was cast iron, the posts close together. I reached up and felt along the top of a post—they came to a dull point. I shook the fence, but it didn’t budge.

“It’s sturdy. Do you want to go first?” He looked worried, so I added, “I can boost you up. You’ll go right over.”

“Uh, I don’t know about that.”

I nudged him out of the light of the street lamp and under the shade of a big oak tree. “We have to get over the fence, and I don’t want to risk getting seen under the driveway lamps. We have to go over right here.”

“Yeah, okay.” He shoved his flashlight into his pocket.

“I’ll boost you over. I’ll pass the camera to you over the fence. Then I’ll climb over.” Bending down, I clasped my hands together to make a holster for his shoe. “Come on.”

He put his foot in my hands. I counted to three then used my legs to launch him upward. He grabbed the fence and boosted himself up. At the top, he teetered, lost his balance, and fell over onto the other side. The fence was only just above waist-high. He could have made it without a boost—I probably should have let him try first on his own.

“
Ugh
,” he moaned.

I put my face up near the fence. “Are you okay? Did you break anything?”

He didn’t answer.

“Shit.” I slid the camera under the fence since Richard was out of commission and couldn’t take it from me. “Hold on, I’m coming over.

Launching myself over the fence was a lot more difficult without the added boost. I made it, but the back of my sweatshirt caught on a post and yanked me back against the fence. I wiggled loose and dropped to my knees beside Richard.

Nudging him, I whispered, “Richard. You okay?”

He answered with a moan.

“Did you break something?” An edge of panic crept in.

“No. I think I just got the wind knocked out of me. That wasn’t awesome.” He held up his hands. “Help me up.”

I pulled him to his feet then glanced around the yard. The grounds were massive, and the Garrett ancestors had planted a ton of trees when the house was built. We wouldn’t have to worry about being seen as long as we kept to the shadows.

The neighborhood was quiet. All the homes in this section of town had been built in the early twentieth century, the lots spaced out. The closest neighbor was the one across the street, and their house was set back as far as the Garrett Mansion was. No one would see us lurking about. The Garrett Estate was the largest of all the homes in the area. Even in the dark, it was remarkable.

We darted between the trees, keeping to the shadows. A sliver of light appeared in a second story window. He’d gone from the foyer straight upstairs.
One, two, three rooms over.
I left Richard huddled behind bushes up against the house while I rooted under the statue in the flower garden for the house key.

“We have to go in after he leaves.” I crouched beside him and held up the key. “What time does your cell phone say?”

“Nine-fifteen.”

“He’ll be gone soon. His girlfriend’s expecting him at nine-thirty.”

We waited, shrouded in the bushes at the side of the porch, hidden from moonlight. Until Matthew Garrett emerged carrying a large garment bag over his arm. My brain ticked over every detail while Matthew’s sports car turned out of the driveway.

“Come on, we need to hurry. I want to get inside for a quick look around before he picks up his girlfriend. She’s clear across town.” I calculated the distance in my head. “We have about twenty minutes before he gets to her apartment.”

Richard fidgeted beside me while I unlocked the door. “We won’t be able to turn the lights on because we’re not supposed to be here.”

“Oh man,” he muttered.

“We can use the flashlights, though, so we’re not going in blind. We’ll be fine.” Except my hands shook. The last time I was here, I’d nearly cracked my head open trying to leave.
Escape, more like it.
“It’s fine. No big deal.”

The door opened with a heavy swing, creaking on its hinges. My breaths came in short, silent bursts.
Okay, you got this. Just relax.
I took a tentative step over the threshold.

“This place is creepy.”

Richard’s whisper made me jump in my skin. I reached behind with a blind slap and got him in the chest. “
Shh
. You’re making it worse. Get in here.” I yanked him into the house and shut the door.

We were entombed in darkness now. I fumbled with the flashlight. “He went upstairs. Let’s just get up there quick and get out.”

The light flashed on. My beam was met with Richard’s beam.

“You think the ghost knows we’re here?” Richard whispered near my ear.

Whirling on him, I hissed, “No ghost talk. At all. And don’t talk like that.”

“Like what?”

“In a creepy way.” I tip-toed toward the staircase across the foyer.

“I don’t think I’m being creepy.”

“I don’t mean creepy as in pervy. I mean, like horror movie creepy voice.” The flashlight beam illuminated the stairs, and I shined it up to the second floor landing. My ears pricked for the slightest sound—but there was only silence. I stopped my ascent, one hand rested on the rail. “Notice how quiet it is? Last time we were here I swear it sounded like moaning and footsteps and way creepier.”

Richard stopped behind me, his head tilted up to the top of the stairs. “I know, right?”

“Let’s just keep moving.”

“I don’t like being in the back.” Richard’s whisper raised the hair on the back of my neck.