Guarded (16 page)

“Make that two.”

When they were alone, Shelley said, “I’m so thirsty this morning. You’d think I have a hangover between the headache and the thirst.”

“Do you?” He couldn’t resist asking. The Shelley Morgan he’d known in college wouldn’t have touched alcohol. But this new Shelley, the one who chased windmills in the shape of lizards and tiger cubs, was a mystery to him.

“Sometimes. I probably drink once every six months or so. I’m not a teetotaler or anything, I just don’t like to be out of control. I think I’ve had four glasses of alcohol in the past year. Two glasses of champagne my best friends bought me the night I announced Cam and I were finished, and the wine last night.”

Interesting.

“Your friends bought you champagne?”

Shelley’s ivory cheeks went scarlet. It only made her more beautiful.

“Yes, well. My maids of honor, Kim and Donna, hated Cam. They said for all his posturing, he was nothing but a self-centered little boy. So when er . . .
we
broke off the engagement, they took me out to celebrate. And I woke up with a fracking hangover that made me swear off champagne forever.”

Who left who?
He wanted to ask, was about to when Shelley tapped her fingers on the table, then her eyes went wide.

“Jacob has a copy of the files on my flash drive. He needed to borrow one for a paper he was writing when his died. I lent him my spare. There were files on there.”

She snatched up the phone again and punched in a number. A few heartbeats later, she started to speak, her voice rife with excitement. “Hi, Jacob, it’s Shelley, um . . . Dr. Morgan. Do you remember that thumb drive I let you borrow on Monday? Do you still have it? Terrific. Is it with you at the clinic?”

As she listened to whatever Jacob was saying, her sapphire eyes lost their luster. Her grin faded until it was as forced as the cheeriness in her voice when she added, “No, no I understand. You don’t have to keep apologizing. These sorts of things happen. But you wouldn’t, by any chance, have saved it to your computer? No, no, of course not.” She paused, then added, “I’ll figure something else out. It’s okay. No, I’m not home right now. Thank you, but no, I haven’t changed my mind about your offer.”

The waitress returned with their drinks and their breakfast. The aroma of eggs, Canadian bacon, and Hollandaise hit Dev’s senses, making his stomach rumble. Loudly.

Shelley shot him a surprised look that quickly morphed into a grin. While the excitement was gone from her face, her usual positive attitude had returned. She ended the call, saying, “Jacob, I’ve really got to go. It’s no problem at all. I’ll see you on Monday.”

She set the phone down on her closed laptop and sighed. “So Jacob had a little accident with my flash drive. Seems he was really tired after printing off his paper and somehow dropped the drive into his thermos of coffee.”

“Into the thermos? How on earth did he accomplish that?”

“It’s Jacob. If there’s a way to make it happen, good, bad, or utterly weird, he can do it. Seems he hadn’t returned the drive because he was hoping once it dried, it could still work. He’s got it in a jar of rice trying to dry it out.”

He’d heard of putting cell phones dropped in water into containers of rice to dry out the circuits. Perhaps it could work for a flash drive drenched in hot coffee.

Shelley picked up her fork and knife and started to eat. Dev followed suit. They ate in companionable silence for several minutes.

After finishing his breakfast, he said, “So, you told me about the missing snakes, the tiger cubs, and the bilateral gigando—”

“Bilateral gynandromorph eastern bluebird,” she corrected then popped a forkful of egg into her mouth.

“Right. Have any other animals gone missing?”

Shelley glanced at him, chewing her breakfast thoughtfully. Swallowing the food, she said, “Not exactly missing. At least, not officially. There was a green iguana that poofed one day.”

“The same one you and Reyna argued about?”

Shelley jutted out her chin. “Yes. The story is that The Machine, that was his name, died one night when I was helping the sheriff’s cat during a difficult labor and delivery. By the time I got to the zoo the next day, they’d already destroyed the iguana.”

Dev didn’t miss the tone in her voice. “You don’t believe that?”

“No. I don’t. There was something off there.” She rolled her eyes. “Frack! I wish I had my files.”

“Look, Shells, I know this is frustrating, but the sheriff’s office is on the case now. You called me in when there was no one else, but give your local police a chance to do their jobs. It’s really all you can do for now.”

She sighed then gave her head a short shake. “No, I’ll work on my notes. I’ll try to rewrite everything from memory. You said you’d help me; I need to solve this. I promised Miah.”

And there it was. The real reason Shelley wouldn’t relinquish control to the police. She’d made a promise. To a tiger, yes, but still a promise. Dev had made one as well, to Shelley.

“All right, work on your notes. I’ve got to go into the station for a few hours while you and Jules get reacquainted. Later, we’ll go over everything you can remember.”

The waitress returned to refill his coffee and her tea and to clear their empty plates. She asked, “How’d y’all enjoy your breakfast?”

“The food was fabulous, thank you.” Shelley grinned.

“I’ll be back with your bill.” The waitress left to greet new customers.

“I can see why you like it here, Dev. The food is amazing. “

“Yeah, I have to double my run times after eating here. But it’s worth it. Great food and an extra-long run on the beach.”

“I don’t think I could do it. Great view or not, I hate running. Murder on the knees.”

He laughed. “I hear that, but I love the ocean. So many people live in Tidewater but only see the water on Memorial Day or Labor Day. You know?”

“Yeah. The view from your house was breathtaking,” Shelley agreed. But something in her demeanor changed. Dev couldn’t put his finger on it. Her smile didn’t fade. She didn’t slouch. She didn’t even blink. But
some
thing had changed from the moment he’d mentioned her sister.

“Shells?”

“Want a to-go cup of coffee this morning, Detective Jones?” the waitress, who seemed to pop up from nowhere, asked.

“No, thank you, Angela.” Dev pulled out his American Express Blue Card and handed it to her. With a smile and promise to return, she disappeared almost as quickly as she had appeared.

“You ready to go?” Dev asked, then immediately regretted it. This time, the change was clear. Shelley straightened to ramrod stiff in her seat and began twisting her linen napkin on the table.

“Dev, are you sure Jules wants to see me? I mean, bad timing and missing files aside—both of which I need to talk to you about—are you certain this is what she wants? It’s been over thirteen years.”

“I’m not sure what you mean by bad timing, Shells,” Dev said, reaching across the table and covering her hands with his. She stopped torturing the fabric. But it didn’t ease the worry in her eyes, so he went on, “And we have been talking about the case. So you can’t show me the files. We’ll work around that. Make your notes like you’d planned. I promise you, this evening I will sit down with you. You can tell me everything you remember. You’re smart, Shells. You always have been. Now that the sheriff’s involved, I don’t think you need me, but I’m happy to help you. Before I can do that, you need to meet with Jules. “

Shelley pulled her hand back.

He instantly missed the connection that seemed to transcend flesh and jolt straight to his soul.
Where the hell did that thought come from?

“Dev, I never told you what happened at the end. I know you think you know me, but I’m a very different person than I was in foster care.”

“Of course you are. You were just a child the last time you saw your sister.”

Shelley glanced nervously around the dining room, then pressed her lips together until they formed a thin line.

If the sisters were going to reunite, it had to be in the best setting possible. Which started with easing Shelley’s anxiety. Dev glanced at his watch. Half past ten. Seth would be pissed if Dev didn’t make it into the station before eleven. Then again Seth would be furious if Shelley didn’t go to see Jules.

Let this be the right decision.

Dev rose to his feet and extended his hand. “Come on, Shells. Let’s go for a walk on the beach.”

She accepted his hand. A sizzle of awareness raced up his arm, and he had to work to keep from pulling her closer to him to see if that sizzle would travel all the way to their lips.

“Maybe this is a bad idea. It’s chilly. I was so distracted at your place by the missing files, I forgot my jacket. I swear, every day has been a Wednesday.”

“Still think those are cursed?” He grinned at her nod. “I’ve got something you can wear.”

Stopping by the Lexus on the way to the boardwalk, they dropped off her computer and grabbed one of his old sweatshirts from the trunk.

“Thank you,” she said, pulling on the royal blue sweatshirt emblazoned with white lettering that read Tidewater Police Department,Virginia’s Finest.

Shelley rolled up the sleeves three times, then held her arms wide. “What do you think? Is it me?”

Oh yeah.

She looked so damned adorable in his clothes. Seeing her like that filled him with an illogical pride. Like she’d claimed him or something. Ridiculous. She was just wearing his sweatshirt because it was windy.

Still, the idea of her claiming him as hers warmed him in a way that he didn’t want to examine too closely.

“Come on.” They crossed Atlantic and headed straight for the boardwalk, where they removed their shoes and socks. Together, they stepped onto the cool sand.

Sandpipers chased waves, searching for meals. Seagulls squawked and soared overhead. The water lapped and shushed as waves rolled in and out. Shelley seemed not to notice. Instead, she waited for him to pick a direction, worry wrinkling her brow.

“Let’s go this way.” He pointed south, in the direction of April’s Flowers, the shop where Jules worked as the manager.

Shelley fell into step beside him, occasionally bending over to examine a seashell, only to leave it behind.

“So what happened between you two?” Dev asked, hoping Shelley was ready to talk about her childhood.

“With Cam or Jules?”

Both?
“I was talking about Jules.”

“Oh.” She examined another shell, picked it up, tossed it into the ocean. “You know part of it. My mom had breast cancer when I was young. She was diagnosed after my baby sister, Hannah, turned two. Around that time, our father took off. Anyway, Momma fought for several years before the cancer got her.

“I remember when I started first grade, I was determined to get the best grades. Momma told me that she needed me to always do my best. That it wasn’t enough to go halfway. So in my seven-year-old brain, I thought if I was the best little girl I could be, then my mother would get better. She didn’t.”

Shelley slowed to a stroll, the shoes in her right hand seemingly forgotten as she picked up another shell and threw it into the water.

“I don’t know why I’m telling you this. It’s not like you haven’t heard it before.” Shelley waved her hand in the air dismissively.

“I want to hear about it.” Dev touched her shoulder. When she turned to look at him, he stroked his thumb down her cheek. “It’s on your mind, Shells. For a reason. So get it out of your head. Talk to me.”

Shelley turned her cheek into his touch. He cupped her face in his hand, loving the softness of it. All too soon, she pulled away and resumed her stroll up the beach.

“When we ended up in foster care, we had a run of bad luck. Our first social worker, whose name completely escapes me, was a nasty old woman. Looking back, I think she suffered from short-timer’s syndrome.”

“Short-timer’s syndrome?”

“You know, close to retirement and doesn’t really give a frack about her job.” She shrugged. “Anyway, we weren’t in the system four months when she arranged for Hannah to be adopted. Jules and I didn’t even know. We came home from school one day, and our foster mother was crying because they’d taken Hannah that afternoon right out of preschool.”

Assholes.
Dev didn’t say it. What good would it do? But who does that to children? Especially children who’d already lost so much. “You didn’t get to say good-bye?”

“No.” There was no missing the bitterness in her voice. “I thought maybe there would be a drawing—Hannah was always drawing pictures—or something in our bedroom. There wasn’t. They’d even taken her Little Mermaid sheets. There was nothing left in the bedroom I shared with my baby sister but a mattress and box spring.”

Dev wanted to reach out and touch her again. Hold her. Promise her everything would be all right, but he didn’t dare make a promise he couldn’t keep.

“They moved Jules into the room with me. She’d been sleeping on the couch until then. Jules was moody and having trouble with ghosts. We lost our first foster home because our foster parents thought Jules was crazy. They tried to keep me, though. After they sent Jules away, I went into the garden and talked to the woman’s dog. He told me she loved her flowers more than anything. So I took a pair of scissors and cut the heads off every single one.”

“Very clever.” Dev grinned at the pride in her eyes. “How long did it take for you to reunite with Jules?”

“Two days.” Shelley made a sound that could have been a laugh or disgust. “That social worker was ticked. She told me if I didn’t get my act together, she’d spank me herself.”

Dev ground his teeth against the caustic remark he wanted to let fly.

“But it was always the same. Every foster family kept us long enough to collect the month’s allotment, then didn’t want us anymore. While I could hide my crift, Jules had a harder time. Animals seemed to get when people are evil and must be avoided. Ghosts, not so much. I remember this one time, we were sitting at the dinner table with foster family three . . . or was it four? It doesn’t matter. Jules got really quiet, then started to talk out of one side of her mouth, like you do when you don’t want to get caught talking. But the foster monster mother heard her say the name Charles. Good ole FMM apparently had a son who had died of a drug overdose in the house. He was warning Jules to be careful, that his mother liked to taint snack food with sleeping pills so she could get a break from the kids.