Guarded (9 page)

“And I thought last month’s tortoise fiasco was bad,” Cristos said in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

“Tortoise fiasco?” Dev echoed.

“Yeah, I left the gate open and a couple kids got too close. But no one was seriously hurt.” Cristos laughed, but quickly lost his sense of humor. He got a calculating look in his eyes, then said, “Shelley, maybe the cubs aren’t missing at all. Miah could have eaten another litter.”

“Another litter?” Dev intoned at the same time Shelley said, “Miah didn’t do anything. Someone had to have stolen the cubs.”

“That’s bullshit. No one could get near Miah’s cubs without her attacking them. Well, except you. And you wouldn’t have taken them, right?” Cristos frowned and shook his head. Shelley started to reply, but he went on. “She could have eaten them. I saw this report on television that talked about big cats eating sick young. And all of them are ill according to Dr. Kessler’s report.”

“What report? I haven’t seen any report like that.” That didn’t make any sense. She wrote the reports. “Wait, Cristos you sound like you haven’t seen the cubs at all.”

“I haven’t,” Cristos said with an air of
Are you nuts?
in his tone. “The camera feed in the tiger house has been down since Leonardo escaped. Only you and Dr. Kessler have been in with them.”

Frack!
There went her one hope of quickly getting proof of last night’s abduction.

“What other litter?” Dev said sharply.

Shelley and Cristos both glanced at him. Dev’s face was impassive but his hands curled in loose fists at his sides and his wide stance showed his irritation.

Cristos shrugged. “A year ago, Miah had another litter. Only one cub. One day both mama and baby were there. The next, just Miah. If we hadn’t seen the cub on the feed the day before, we wouldn’t have known it had been there at all. She must have swallowed it whole. Not even a bone left over. It’s the reason why my father and I wanted Drs. Kessler and Morgan to keep an eye on her. To make sure she didn’t do it again.”

“No way, nuh-huh.” Shelley ground her teeth at the matching dubious expressions on the men’s faces. “It’s not that it couldn’t have happened, theoretically. But there’s no way Miah would have done that. All she ever wanted was to be a mother. She loves all her cubs.”

“
Hmmm
.” Dev’s sound could have been one of agreement or doubt. Shelley couldn’t tell because his dubious look faded away, replaced by a blank expression. Her heart sank.

“Are you coming in or heading out?” Cristos asked. “Because if you’ve got time, I’d like you to check on the monkeys. They were making a lot of noise last night too.”

“Heading out,” she said quickly. “And I really can’t go back in. Um . . . Reyna wouldn’t like it.”

Cristos rolled his eyes. “Threw you out again? She finally bend Dad to her will and make it official?”

“Not yet, but the day’s still young.”

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll go smooth things over. But you’ll owe me.”

Shelley forced her lips to curl into a smile and hoped it didn’t look phony. “Right.”

Cristos grinned wide and clapped his hands together once. “I should go see what Pop wants me to do this afternoon. I’m sure it will be something sexy, like clean the reptile house. I know you’re jealous. I get all the cool jobs.” Cristos shuddered in mock excitement, then strode toward the gate. He turned back with another laugh. “Catch you later, Shelley.”

She turned to Dev, not surprised to see the questions lighting his gray eyes.

His phone rang out with the song
Bad Boys
from the old TV show
COPS.
He pulled the phone from his belt clip. He silenced the music and returned the phone to his hip. He scrubbed a hand over his mouth.

“Bad news?” she asked, guessing from the look on his face.

“No. It’s not bad. It’s just something I need to take care of.”

“Well, can it wait until after I show you my notes? I should have thought to bring them with me.”

“No, it can’t wait. Shelley, I want to help you. And I will. But first, I need you to listen to me for a minute.” Dev closed his eyes and shook his head. “I was really glad to get your e-mail. I’ve been looking for you. I tried to contact Cam. I didn’t know he had joined the Peace Corps. When did that happen? I thought you two were getting married.” Before she could answer, he waved his hand in the air. “I’m talking too much. I need to stop stalling.”

There’s something you don’t hear a stoic man say often.

“Dev, whatever it is, just tell me.”

“Shelley,” Dev paused, exhaled, and said, “I need you to come to Tidewater with me. I found your sister Jules.”

S
HE COULDN’T BREATHE.
All the oxygen had been sucked out of her lungs.

“Are you all right?” Dev placed a hand on her shoulder. Shelley could only imagine what she must have looked like.

All right? Was she? Instead of answering his question, she slid away from his touch and asked one of her own, “Is . . . is she dead? She must be. Why else would you have been stalling?”

“No! Oh, damn it, Shelley. I’m sorry. Jules is fine. She’s very much
alive
.”

Alive. She’s alive.
Shelley was still processing that thought when Dev moved. Suddenly his arms were around her waist, and he was holding her close. She wrapped her arms around him and pressed her nose against the soft combed-cotton of his shirt. She inhaled the warm delicious scent of Dev and Irish soap, a combination that both soothed her spiraling emotions and fired her hormones. Yet all she could say was, “She’s really alive?”

“She’s really alive,” Dev whispered into Shelley’s hair. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Shells. Jules is fine. Better than fine, fantastic even. She’s engaged to my partner on the force. She’s been looking for you for years.”

Shelley tightened her embrace slightly. Dev answered by swaying slightly; they were almost dancing beside her car, pressed chest to chest and thigh to thigh. She’d dreamed of him holding her like this for years, and at this moment, sex should have been the furthest thing from her mind. But, wow. All she could think about was sex. Except he wasn’t offering sex. No, he wanted to comfort her because he’d found Jules. Dev being Dev just seemed to know that would devastate her emotions. That knowledge unleashed the memories she normally kept locked away. She shuddered.

Dev tightened his hold, rocking her. “It’s okay, Shells. This is good news. I swear to you, it is.”

“You’re right.” She didn’t argue. She couldn’t. While she’d told Dev about losing her sisters in the foster care system, she hadn’t told him all of it. Childhood screams echoed in her ears, and tears she thought she’d never shed again threatened.

“You look just like her,” Dev whispered quietly into Shelley’s ear.

She sniffed back her tears. No more tears. She was finished crying over Jules. Right, like she hadn’t promised herself that more than a decade ago.

“I’m glad Jules is happy and has a good life. She does have a good life, doesn’t she?”

Dev pulled back and she reluctantly broke contact with him. Without his arms around her, the November wind felt brisk. Cold.

“Yes, she’s happy. Well, as happy as she can be considering her . . . crift
.
” He whispered the last word.

“Does she still see—?”

“Yes.” Dev cut her off and glanced around as if making sure they were alone. “Come see her for yourself. Let me drop off my car at the hotel and . . .” He checked his watch. “Still too early to check in, but I can leave the car there. We’ll head back to your place, talk about Jules and Tidewater, then see what we can do to find these missing cubs. Sound good?”

She’d almost forgotten where she was. The zoo parking lot. She was lucky no one had walked up and found her getting misty-eyed. That would be mortifying.

It was bad enough Dev saw her weak. But the look on his face wasn’t pity. It was so full of compassion and hope, it made her stomach knot.

“Let’s do that. I can even drive you to the hotel after, if you want.”

A horn beeped, then a powder-blue Cadillac rolled to a stop at the curb on the street. Dr. Kessler called out, “Dr. Morgan? Shelley, my girl. What are you still doing here?”

He shifted into park and stepped out. Silver-topped cane in hand. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Hello, Dr. Kessler. We were eating lunch at the café.” Shelley’s back straightened, but she greeted her boss politely. “You gave me the afternoon off, remember? Shouldn’t you be at the clinic?”

“Quite right. I’m headed there.” He rapped his cane on the ground in two staccato taps. “You have put me in a pickle, my girl.”

“Yes, Dr. Kessler, and I am sorry for that. But I promise you, I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Be that as it may, it doesn’t change the fact that several people are very unhappy with you. And when they’re unhappy with my staff, they take business away from me. What am I supposed to do about . . . about? Dagnabit, where did I put that note?” The elderly vet patted his vest pocket with his free hand and pulled a yellow sticky from it. He glanced at it, then wrinkled his brow. “About Reyna Jameson demanding that I fire you?”

“Fire me?” Her words slipped out on a squeak of alarm. “Oh, sir, you cannot believe—”

“It’s not what I believe or don’t believe. It’s what’s best for the clinic.” Dr. Kessler slipped his paper back into his pocket and rested both hands on the round silver handle of his stick. “I brought you on to help me run the clinic. You were supposed to become my partner and take it over. Now I cannot even get you into the zoo to help me with the animals.”

“But that’s not necessarily true. Cristos and Eddy both—”

Dr. Kessler held up one hand to silence her, and she obeyed. “Now see here, if you cannot help me at the zoo, then you cannot remain a staff member.”

“You’re
firing
me?” A ball of ice formed in her chest and dropped razor-sharp icicles into her belly. “But this job is all I have. It’s everything.”

Dr. Kessler stroked his white mustache and gave his head a small shake. “I don’t like this any better than you. But you brought this down on yourself. I warned you last month not to mess with any of the founding families of this town. Even
I
cannot go up against the Jamesons.

“Now, don’t take it too hard, my dear. I’ll give you a good recommendation and allow you to turn in a resignation letter. Take the weekend to draft it. Be at the clinic before opening on Monday to collect your things. Don’t look so sad, my dear. I’ll make sure you’ll be able to secure employment with another veterinarian. I have a friend who’s looking for someone to . . . to . . .” He sliced his hand through the air in annoyance. “Bah, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of. But you cannot remain at the clinic. I am sorry, my girl.”

Dr. Kessler continued to talk, but she didn’t hear him. It wasn’t until Dev reached across her to shake the old vet’s hand that any words registered. “Yes, sir, I’ll see her home.”

Dr. Kessler patted her shoulder gently. “Such a shame. I like you, girl. You’re one helluva vet, even if dogs do go barking mad at the sight of you.” He shook his head again, then climbed into his ancient Cadillac and drove away.

Shelley blinked her tearless eyes and listened to a single thought echo through her mind.
I’m fired.

*   *   *

D
EV DIDN’T KNOW
what to do. Shelley crumbled right in front of him. She didn’t move, barely even breathed, but all the color in her face drained, and her beautiful blue eyes unfocused.

And damn it, he’d seen her upset enough back in college that he didn’t want to watch her suffer another second. “Shelley?” No response. “Shells, are you all right?” He stroked a finger down her silken cheek.

“He-he
fired
me. But I didn’t do anything. You saw. You were with me. I didn’t threaten anyone. I was only trying to help the . . . the . . .” Her words trailed off.

“Why don’t we head back to your apartment and talk about this?”

She nodded, then slid behind the wheel of her old Buick. Dev closed her door but tapped on her window. After she rolled it down by the hand crank, he said, “Are you sure you’re all right to drive?”

“Yeah, it’s only a couple of blocks.” She answered as if he hadn’t followed her over from her apartment, but Dev didn’t correct her.

“Okay.” He turned and had barely hit the unlock button on his key fob when Shelley called out to him.

“Dev, wait. Something’s wrong with my car. Again.” She turned the key in the ignition, but nothing happened. The engine didn’t even try to turn over. “God, I hate Wednesdays. First the cubs go missing. Then I get fired. Now my fracking car won’t start.”

“Pop the hood. Let me take a look at the engine.” Dev moved to the front, staring at Shelley through her windshield.

She shook her head. “Don’t bother. I know what’s wrong. The mechanic told me last week that my alternator was dying. I was hoping it would make it until my next payday before it died. I’ll call the mechanic when I get home.”

“Yep,” Dev agreed, hoping to lighten the mood. “Could this day suck any more buckets of doggy-drool?”

Despite the frustration in her tone, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

Dev chuckled. “At least you’ve still got your sense of humor.”

The would-be grin vanished, but she said in a light tone, “If your world’s going to hell in a handbasket, might as well enjoy the ride down.”

“Come on. I can drive you home,” Dev said, opening her door and offering his hand. She accepted it, her tiny palm cool against his skin.

“I can’t believe he really fired me. What am I going to do?”

Again the glow that lit her from within was snuffed out. Her smiles were a show, a front. She was trying to be brave, but there was no need to fake it with him.

Surely she knew that.

“Ready to go?”

She glanced at him and another too-bright smile appeared on her lips. This time he noticed how much of it didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m all set. No wait, I’ve got to tie the trunk closed.”

“What?”

“It’s nothing. The latch is broken. Some kids broke into my car when I was still living in Baltimore, and I never got the trunk fixed.” In short economical moves, she tugged on the bungee cords holding the trunk lid down.

“That’s not very secure.”

“It’s more to keep it from flying up in case it rains tonight.” She shrugged. “There’s nothing in there to steal.”

Without another word, she moved to his car. Dev opened the passenger door of his Lexus and waited until she’d buckled herself in before closing the door.

It was so quiet at the zoo, it took Dev a minute to recognize that even the normal sounds of squirrels chattering and birds chirping had ceased. He glanced up to the trees surrounding the lot. The few animals there stared down at his car and presumably Shelley in stony silence.

Their stillness was made more ominous by Dev’s complete lack of knowledge on how to handle the situation. So he did what he did best, kept quiet.

A breeze carried the scent of the river, warm and brackish, along with the rich aroma of fall in the woods. Long golden shafts of midafternoon sun shining through the surrounding trees cast half of Shelley’s face in shadow.

The Shelley he knew from college would have argued for her job. Fought to keep it. But the woman before him hadn’t. She rallied enough to smile when he addressed her, yet she slid into the passenger seat like a ghost. Barely aware of where she was and what she was doing.

It was jacked up. He’d always remembered Shelley as the brave one. The girl at school who not only ran for SGA president, but won. She tutored football players in biology and English for fun. And made him and his teammates enjoy every moment of it too. Shells was never down. Never cried. Not even when she told him about her parents’ death. The only time he’d ever seen her shed a tear was the night she’d had a bit too much to drink and admitted that she’d had another family as a child. That she had two sisters lost in the foster care system. Sisters she was both desperate and afraid to find.

That had been the same night she’d announced to Cam and him that she was getting a tattoo. Cam had thrown a fit and stormed out. Shells hadn’t caved. She knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go get it.

Dev, worried for her safety because she was headed to a seedy part of town, had gone with her.

After it was over, Dev had asked about the three roses—one yellow, one red, and one purple—wrapped in a green banner with the name
Scott
on it. Each rose was artfully designed with the name of the sister it represented. Until recently, he’d thought that tattoo on her shoulder had been a one-of-a-kind piece. That is, until he learned from his partner that Jules had an identical one on her back. What were the odds they would pick the same design?

Coming out of the tattoo parlor four years ago, he had asked about the artwork. She had mentioned the mingled feelings of desperation and fear when it came to searching for and possibly finding her sisters. The desperation he understood. People needed connection, a sense of belonging. And he had that in spades with his dozen cousins.

But the anxiety, he didn’t get. She refused to elaborate on it. Still, he’d remembered how she trembled and changed the subject after her tears started to fall.

It was why he had wanted to be the one to tell her that Jules had been found. Ease Shelley into the idea of reuniting with her first family. Give her an ally and maybe a chance to discuss her concerns before she saw Jules again.

Shelley sniffed, and Dev glanced over at her. Her eyes were dry, but her hands were twisted together in her lap, her knuckles white.

“Shells, Jules is go—”

“I’m sorry, can you just give me a few more minutes?” She glanced at him and smiled again. This one was considerably less potent and more heartbreaking.