Operation: Normal (7 page)

I frowned. "Now why would that bother Heath? Zach's Kayly's big brother."

Minka laughed, and not in a nice way. "You are such a blonde sometimes. Don't you
realize our boy's in love with you?"

I gasped. "Come again?"

"Heath...Lipman...is...in...love...with...you. Has been since day one." She sounded
serious. She looked, well, glum.

That confirmed to me that she liked him in a boyfriend sort of way. So of course I tried
to reassure her. "Don't be ridiculous, Minka. He's in love with you."

She nearly fell off the bed. "Ally, you've got to get your head out of the clouds."

"No," I retorted a little desperately, "You do. The two of you are made for each other,
and it's time you acknowledged it."

Minka opened her mouth, shut it, then opened it again, a little like a goldfish in a bowl.
"I really... I mean, you really--" She threw her arms up. "Oh, this is nuts!" With a huff of what
had to be exasperation, she turned and stalked back to the living area.

As baffled as I was irritated, I followed. While I suspected she didn't have a clue how
Heath felt about her, I thought she must know how she felt about him. As for her thinking he
cared for me? That was way beyond nuts into just-plain-ludicrous territory. I mean the guy had
never, not even once, acted like he loved me. In fact, I sometimes wondered if he even liked
me.

The mood still felt a little tense when I got back to the couch. Zach and Heath weren't
talking; Minka, now sitting between them on the couch, wasn't either. Only Kayly seemed
content, playing with a stuffed toy someone must have handed her.

"We thought you might want to go with us to the game," said Heath, breaking the
silence and glancing sullenly at Zach. "It starts in an hour."

"I'll have to take Kayly," I said. "I fired the nanny today."

"Why didn't you say something?" exclaimed Minka. "What happened?"

I told her.

"If you go to the game, you won't get home until way after dark," said Zach, a comment
which made no sense to Minka or Heath if their frowns were anything to go by. I understood it,
of course. He still thought the nanny had it in for me.

"Don't worry. Kayly will never even notice she's out past her bedtime. She snoozes
whenever and wherever once she gets tired."

"That's not what I meant."

"It isn't?"

Zach shook his head and glanced quickly at my friends before leaning slightly forward
to address me. "Do you think it's safe to be out so late?"

"'Safe'?" echoed Heath, clearly puzzled. He opened his mouth as if to say something
else.

That's when the doorbell rang again. Guessing it was probably the police this time, I
jumped up and ran to see. I peeked out, then let a single uniformed cop into the apartment. Zach
instantly got up and joined me, leaving Minka and Heath on the couch, exchanging shocked
glances.

The cop, who I figured to be a rookie based on how old he looked, took off his hat to
reveal a military-type haircut. He glanced at the notebook he held. "Allison Mills?"

"That's me."

"I'm Officer Cranford. You called about a threatening note you received?"

"Yes." I went to the refrigerator and got the letter, then handed it to him.

He took a glove out of his pocket and put it on before he took and read it. Then he
looked at me. "I have a few questions I'll need to ask. But first, where are your parents?"

Zach and I exchanged a quick glance.

"Actually, my mom's out of town."

Officer Cranford looked up from the notebook he'd begun to scribble in. "And your
dad?"

"He is, too."

He thought about that for a second. "What are their names?"

"Kat Mills and Clint Wilson."

His gaze suddenly locked with mine. "Clint Wilson, you say?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Yes. Do you know him?"

He hesitated fractionally, then shook his head. "He lives here?"

"My mom lives here. Dad lives...somewhere else." Please don't ask where.

"And while your mom's gone, you're staying with...?"

"A nanny."

"I see." He looked around. "Where is this nanny?"

"She had something she had to do." As in find a new job.

He seemed to accept that evasive answer. "When did you get this letter?"

I told him.

"Did it come in an envelope?"

"Yes, but I shredded it before I realized it might be important."

"So you have no idea what kind of envelope it was?"

"Not really. We got a lot of mail today. Probably plain white, since I don't recall
shredding anything out of the ordinary."

"It came in the regular mail, then? And had a canceled stamp on it?"

"As far as I know. It was in our mailbox downstairs, at any rate."

I could tell the cop wasn't happy with my uninformative answers. "Anyone besides you
touch this?" he sort of barked at me.

"He did." I nodded toward Zach.

"And you're...?"

"Zach Thomas. A, um, friend."

"Well, Zach and Ally, have either of you ever watched
CSI
?"

"I watch it all the time." I wasn't sure where he was going with this. "Why?"

"It's going to be hard to run this for prints now that the two of you have handled it. The
wrinkles won't help either, and this looks like a bite mark." He raised his accusing gaze to lock
with mine. "Did you put this in your mouth?"

"Kayly did, actually. She's the one who wrinkled it, too." I suddenly felt really stupid
and my cheeks began to burn. Silently cursing my coloring, I tried to explain. "I didn't know the
letter was threatening until after I read it."

"You get a lot of notes with alphabet cut-outs pasted on them, do you?"

"I...no. Of course not."

His cold gaze nailed me to the spot. "I'll need prints from both of you and a DNA swab
from the baby. And I'll need your parents' permission to do all that since you're minors."

"I'm twenty-one," Zach retorted rather sharply.

I glanced at him in surprise and noted he looked a little flushed, too, but not, I realized,
with embarrassment. No, he looked pissed.

Officer Cranford's gaze raked Zach, lingering on his long hair. "You in a rock band or
something?"

I tensed, waiting for Zach to go off on this man, but, to his credit, he just stared him
down and didn't answer.

The cop sighed lustily and took a manila envelope from the back of his notepad. He put
the folded threat letter into it and looked at Zach again. "Drop by the station sometime in the next
few days to get printed, okay?"

Zach nodded.

Officer Cranford turned to me. "When will your parents be back?"

"I'm not exactly sure about my dad," I hedged.

"And your mom?"

"In a few days."

"Gone a lot, are they?"

"Their jobs require a certain amount of travel." By now I was on the defensive. I didn't
like Officer Cranford, who had to be the rudest, most condescending policeman on the planet. He
sighed again as if dealing with idiots like me was his sorry lot in life. "I'll take this to the station.
As soon as one of your parents comes home, bring him or her and the baby with you to the
station immediately so we can do what we need to do, understand? And be more careful if you
get another one of these. Try not to touch it any more than you have to, and save the envelope.
Better yet, don't even open it. Just put it out of reach of the baby and call the office."

"Sure. Okay," I agreed, even though I didn't know how I'd guess what was in the
envelope. It wasn't like I remembered the one I accidentally shredded.

Officer Cranford started to say something else, apparently thought better of it, then
abruptly left.

I turned to Zach. "Do you think he'll toss it on the way out of the building or wait until
he gets to the station?" The man in blue seemed that unconcerned to me.

"Neither, if he's got any brains at all, and I'll admit I have my doubts about that." He
gave my friends a sidelong glance, turned to where his back was to them, and lowered his voice.
"Are you going to that game?"

"You don't think I should, do you?" I asked, my voice just as low. "Why not?"

"What if you're wrong, and it was the nanny who sent the note? Wouldn't that mean that
you might be in danger?"

I opened my mouth to protest. Zach touched his fingers to my lips, stopping me.

"I realize I'm not really entitled to an opinion." He sighed. "It just...well...you shouldn't
take chances. I'd really hate for Kayly to get caught in the crossfire."

"You're probably right," I answered, trying not to take offense at his obvious lack of
concern for me, Kayly's big sister and protector. Turning, I walked back to Heath and Minka.
"Guess you're both wondering what that was all about."

"Actually, we eavesdropped, so have a pretty good idea," replied Minka. "Are you
worried about your mom?"

"Not so much," I admitted. "It all seems a little unreal, you know? Like someone's idea
of a joke."

"I knew nothing good could come of her filming Blak Magyk." Heath cast Zach a
resentful glance before focusing on me. "Are you going to the game with us or not?"

"Not, I guess. Mom said she'd call later, which means I'll have to tell her about the letter.
I'm thinking it might be best if there isn't any crowd noise or the crack of a ball bat in the
background."

"Maybe we'll skip the game too, then." Heath glanced at Minka. "There's always
tomorrow night or even this weekend. The Express are home for a while. Okay with you?"

"Sure," Minka replied with a secret told-you-so wink at me.

I honestly didn't know what to say. Luckily I didn't have to think of anything.

"I should go," said Zach. He looked a little flustered for some reason. "Will you and
Kayly be all right alone tonight?"

"Of course."

Zach nodded as if he wasn't so sure. "Call me on my cell if you need me, okay? I keep it
on all the time."

"What's that number?" I asked, glad that I could make it clear that I hadn't saved it. I had
my pride.

He gave me the number. I programmed it into my own cell.

Zach walked to Kayly, knelt down, and gave her a big kiss on top of her head. My heart
totally melted. Minka's did, too, if her soft sigh was anything to go by. There was just something
about guys with babies that got us females every time. As for Heath, well, he rolled his eyes and
looked thoroughly unimpressed.

I walked Zach to the door, where we said an awkward goodbye after he made me
promise to slip the deadbolt the minute he left.

He stepped into the hall. I shut and bolted the door. He immediately tested it by turning
the knob and, from the sound of things, lunging at it with his shoulder. Talk about paranoia. I
jumped back, startled, and exchanged a glance with Minka, who fell back against the couch,
laughing like an idiot.

"I think he's hot for you," she teased when I got back to the couch.

That comment shocked me. First, because she honestly seemed to think Heath cared for
me, yet said that in front of him. Second, because her words weren't even remotely true. Why,
the boy hadn't given me one single indication that he might be interested in me in that way. Not
one.

"He's just being careful of Kayly, okay?" I retorted. "He's totally flipped for her. I mean,
you should have seen him earlier. He changed diapers, shoveled food into her mouth--"

"How long was he here, anyway?" interjected Heath rather sharply.

"He arrived about an hour before you two did."

"Great. I'll bet your mom would flip if she knew you let some strange guy in the
apartment."

"He's not strange," Minka said.

"Or just some guy," I added. "He's Kayly's brother."

"Kayly's half-brother," said Heath. "Which makes him a big fat nothing to you."

I frowned. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you don't know anything about him beyond the fact that he claims to be the
son of the man who fathered your half-sister. Did you even ask for any ID? What if he's not who
he says he is? What if he's really some perv, taking advantage of the gullible teenager who came
knocking on his door last night? Hell, what if that letter's from him?"

Minka and I looked at each other and cracked up, which didn't do a thing for Heath's bad
mood.

"What's so freakin' funny?"

"I'm sorry," I answered, choking back my mirth. Heath did have a point...sort of. But he
was forgetting something important. "Kayly has his eyes, remember?"

Heath shrugged.

"Besides, he's been nothing but nice to us."

"Yeah...so far."

"I get what you're saying," I told Heath to placate him. "But I honestly believe you're
wrong about Zach. He's okay. Really. I have a gut feeling about it."

"Whatever," said Heath, unconsciously echoing Minka's earlier exasperation with me.
Clearly those two belonged together, no matter what she said. "Want to get something to
eat?"

"Sure, if we're back by eight," I answered. In spite of Zach's heartfelt concern and my
desire to please him, I did not intend to become a prisoner in my own apartment. Oh, I might not
stay out as late as usual. I could give him that. But downtown Austin offered too many
enticements for us to hide up here for long.

While Minka stuffed Kayly's bag with extra diapers and a full sippy cup, I struggled to
open her collapsible stroller in the laundry room.

"Let's go, girls. Step on it." Heath stood by the door, being his usual impatient self.

"You could help," I replied, tired of his attitude. He hadn't been this grumpy since
Minka and I went shopping instead of watching his soccer game one Saturday a few months
back. I might as well have been his girlfriend for all the time I'd spent in various bleachers
watching him.

That sudden realization stopped me cold. Was my friendship to Heath being
misconstrued as something else? Was I, in this way, leading him on?