Slightly Irregular (27 page)

My heart was pounding in my chest and ears. I’d seen how the dogs had ripped into the burgers, and I sure as hell didn’t want to be dessert. When I reached the car, I went around to the passenger’s side so I could keep one eye out for the Hounds of the Baskervilles. Using the center punch, I shattered the window. Immediately, the car alarm started blaring. I was depending on the fact that these days, most people ignored the sound of an alarm.

People did. Dogs did not.

They came back toward me, though neither one seemed to have the energy to run. “Thank you, Xanax.” I quickly unwrapped two more burgers, and then tossed them to the dogs. They began to eat, just not with the same enthusiasm as before. I only had two burgers left, so I had to make my search of Becky’s car fast.

My heart sank into my toes when I spotted her Prada bag on the console. Reaching in, and being careful not to cut myself, I pulled the purse out, carefully shaking off shards of glass.

The blaring horn was giving me a headache. I debated whether to leave the purse for the police to find or just to take it with me. I decided to go through it and then put it back where I’d found it. Maybe when he saw her purse, Detective-Sergeant Wilkes would work a little harder on finding Becky.

The dogs were still chomping on their burgers as I tilted the purse toward the light and began surveying the contents. All the usual stuff was there. Makeup, compact, datebook. Then a chill ran along my spine. Her wallet was still inside. It would have been impossible for Becky to go missing voluntarily without taking along her debit card, checks, and credit cards. I slipped the debit card out and stuck it inside the strap of my sports bra.

I also noticed something else missing. Becky’s cell phone. That was a positive sign. If she’d been snatched by the tiara lady, I doubted she would have asked permission to take her phone along. Her phone had a GPS chip, so maybe someone could triangulate the cell towers and get her location. I didn’t know if that was possible or just something they did on CSI. Still, it was worth further investigation.

The two lethargic dogs staggered toward me as I went back to my point of entry. They were definitely buzzed, but the information from the Internet clearly stated that Xanax, in small doses, would not hurt them at all. Make them tired, yes. Cause them any long-lasting residual effects, no. I couldn’t be miffed at the dogs; they were there for protection. But I didn’t want
protection. I just wanted to get out of there in one piece. Before I placed my foot in the fencing, I tossed the last set of burgers to the dogs. They sniffed them, but didn’t seem very interested. Time to climb before they remembered they were actually supposed to keep people like me out of there.

I had just cleared the razor wire when I spotted a car coming up the gravel road.

Damn!

At thirty you get respect … and wrinkles.

I jumped down and
raced toward my car, adrenaline pumping through my whole body. I guess some people do still pay attention to alarms.

Too late. The car had me blocked in. Damn. I was probably going to jail for trespassing.

The bright headlights from the car made me shield my eyes as I watched the black silhouette in my rearview step out of the car and begin to walk toward me. I’d know that silhouette anywhere.

I stepped out of my car. “What are you doing here?”

“Saving your ass,” Liam yelled over the car alarm, his tone laced with amusement.

I placed one hand on my hip and said, “Too late. I already got what I came for.”

“And it’s all memorialized on candid camera,” he said, pointing to a place just below the roofline of the building. There, big as life was a security camera with its red blinking light laughing at me.

“Now what do I do?” I asked, my sense of accomplishment deflated like a week-old balloon.

“I have to get inside and take the tapes.”

“Why you?” I asked defensively. “Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it. I’ve already got a rapport with the guard dogs.”

Liam looked over at the sleeping Dobermans. “What’d you use?”

“Xanax,” I admitted, because I thought it was very clever.

“How much?”

“One and a half milligrams. Why?”

“Well, that doesn’t give me a lot of time.”

I followed him over to the fence. I was treated to a nice, unobstructed view of his butt as he made quick work of scaling the fence. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked.

“Coming with you. Becky is my closest friend, and I’m going nuts trying to find her.”

“You’ll only slow me down,” Liam said as he jogged over to Becky’s car, reached across to open the driver’s-side door, and then, in a matter of seconds, silenced the irritating car alarm. The dogs were snoring, so I felt a little more comfortable going past them as I followed Liam to the small shack that served as an office.

Using a credit card, he managed to make quick work of the lock. The minute the door was opened, a beeping sound alerted. “What’s that?” I asked as Liam dashed around the room opening cabinets.

“Alarm system. We have less than ninety seconds to find the recorder, grab the tape, and get out of here. Start looking.”

In under ten seconds I located the machine mounted in a
cabinet behind the desk. “Here it is.” I pressed Stop and then Eject. The machine slowly coughed up the tape. “Got it!”

“Let’s go,” Liam said as he used the hem of his shirt to wipe away any fingerprints.

I could still taste my own fear, terrified that the dogs had awakened from their catnap—if dogs can actually catnap—and were waiting just outside to maul me to death. However, mostly I was terrified for Becky. I kept reminding myself that in her call to Vain Dane she had said she’d be gone a week or so. Her purse was in the car, which didn’t bode well, but her phone and keys were missing. Maybe she did just need time away.

Luckily, the dogs were still asleep as Liam and I moved quickly back to the fence. I climbed up again, aided by Liam’s hand on my butt. Well, it wasn’t so much aiding me as it was making me hot from the inside out.

Jumping down, I went directly to my car and started the engine. Liam did the same, and then we both did a series of Y turns until we were ready to traverse the gravel road.

Adrenaline didn’t stop pumping in my body until we were safely out on Okeechobee Road, headed east. I was following Liam, fully expecting him to take the I-95 exit back to his place in Lake Worth. Instead, he went over the bridge, and I knew he was on his way to my house.

Just once I’d like it if he asked first. But I didn’t think that would happen anytime soon. He pulled his ratty Mustang into the horseshoe-shaped drive and opened the driver’s-side door. The door, like the rear right quarter panel, was primer gray. I couldn’t imagine restoring a car when there were so many good ones out there to buy. New car smell is intoxicating.

“Why did you come here?” I asked without preamble.

“To stare at you in exercise clothes. That Lycra really hugs your body, doesn’t it?”

“Try to act like a grown-up.”

“I just wanted to hear how things went at the tow yard so I can get a better handle on Becky’s disappearance.”

“So you believe me? Us? Jane and Liv, too?”

“I don’t buy Becky just picking up and taking off. But it’s not out of the realm of possibility.”

Buzzkill.
I walked him to the front door. “It’s late.”

“It’s eleven,” he corrected. “I want you to tell me everything you found in the car.”

“C’mon in.”

While I brewed a pot of coffee, I asked, “Want something?”

He grinned slowly.

I rolled my eyes. “Now you get nothing. By the way, nice disappearing act after the wedding.”

“What?”

“You snuck away in the middle of the night.”

“I was asked to leave.”

“What?”

“Your mother asked me to leave, so I did. I figured if I didn’t, she’d take it out on you.”

“Thank you, but my mother can
always
find something to take out on me. I’m sorry she was rude to you.”

“Not a problem.”

The coffeepot was taking its sweet time. I was leaning against the counter, mug readied in my right hand. I couldn’t help but notice that Liam’s perpetual five o’clock shadow was back and,
as yummy as he might have looked in a tux, the casual shirt and jeans just seemed to suit him better. To the untrained eye, it might appear as if he’d subjected his pale blue and pale yellow shirt to multiple washings over the years. But I recognized Tommy Bahama, and I knew the shirts weren’t cheap. PI work obviously paid better than being a paralegal.

“What did you think of the wedding?” I asked, since the bouquet was lying atop my counter.

“Nice, but excessive.”

“It was that,” I recalled with a grin. “The Huntington-St. Johns didn’t spare a single expense. Lisa hated it.”

One dark brow arched toward that always-mussed lock of hair that practically called my name. “Then why’d she do something so over-the-top?”

“She didn’t. That was all Cassidy Presley Tanner Rossi Browning and Tenley and Tripp Huntington-St. John. The only thing Lisa selected was her shoes, and I doubt she’ll ever wear them again.”

“Not a shoe junkie?”

“She’s a clogs kinda girl.”
I can’t imagine having a wardrobe of rubber shoes.

“The two of you are very different.”

“I know.” The coffee was finally finished. “Want some?” I asked, rescinding my earlier edict.

“Sure. Can we move over to the sofa and watch the tape?”

“Fine by me.” I handed him a mug of coffee with just a splash of cream without asking. That felt a little familiar, and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

Liam’s broad shoulders made my great room seem slightly
less great in size. He had the tape in one hand and a mug in the other. He placed both on the table. “So what was in the car?”

“I’m so worried. I feel totally responsible. Becky’s purse,” I said, then listed all the other items. “I can check her account balance in the morning. I took her debit card.”

“You had no way of knowing she was going to disappear; stop beating yourself up over it. For the bank card, don’t you need to know the PIN?”

“I know her PIN.”

“She’s a trusting soul.”

“She’s my best friend,” I snapped, irritated by the implication. “She has mine, too. That way we can run banking errands for each other if necessary. In fact, I’ll bet I can access her account online.” I powered up my computer and went to the Bank of America site. As I guessed, Becky’s account password was her Social Security number backward.

“Look at this. Becky took one hundred dollars out on Sunday afternoon at twelve twenty.”

“Is that unusual?”

“No, that’s about what she carries around.”

“Crap,” Liam groaned.

“What?”

“She made the withdrawal from an ATM in Publix on the Island.”

“So?”

“No cameras on those machines. No way to see if Becky had anyone watching her. If you’re right and the eBay woman took her, maybe she was stalking Becky.”

God, I was feeling worse by the minute. “What about store cameras?”

Liam shrugged. “I can check into it.” He took a small notebook out of his breast pocket and made some notes. “You shouldn’t have taken the bank card.”

“Why?”

“You should have taken the purse and not just one card. The detectives will wonder why Becky’s car was the only one disturbed and probably chalk it up to Becky sneaking in to retrieve an item.”

Okay, now I felt like a breaking-and-entering fool. “What if she doesn’t take any more of her money out? Wouldn’t that prove she didn’t just waltz away from her life?”

“Maybe, but the sheriff’s office would need a few months of inactivity to raise a red flag.”

I felt defeated. “I didn’t think about that. What about Becky’s phone?”

Liam took a sip of coffee. “What about it?”

“It wasn’t in the car, but isn’t there some way to triangulate the signals off the towers and get a location?”

He nodded. “I’ve got a friend at the phone company. She owes me a favor because I did a thing for her.”

The famous
thing
. “Of course she does.”

“Jealous?”

“Delusional?”

He laughed. “Let’s watch the tape.”

After viewing the video, I was hugely thankful that Liam had come along. My face was splashed all over the place, as was my car. Luckily, Florida doesn’t have front license plates, but it
would have been easy for the police to link my face with my car. “I would have been toast.”

“Explain this whole eBay thing to me.”

I reopened my laptop and ran my finger across the touchpad to wake it up. “You select an item, then place a bid. You can either watch the listing or enter a maximum bid and let the computer do it for you.”

“How do you know who you’re dealing with?”

“It isn’t until payment is made that you get the physical address of the buyer.”

“So you have that on the eBay woman Becky met, right?”

I shook my head. “Since she brought cash, there was no reason for her to go through the PayPal process. All I know is what’s on her profile.”