The Marquesa's Necklace (Oak Grove Mysteries Book 1) (19 page)

“Six it is.” He let go of my hand and opened the car door for me. “Drive safe.”

Elijah watched as I pulled out of the hotel parking lot. I drove safely all the way to the city limits. Then I unleashed the horses and watched the red needle rise. But I couldn’t drive fast enough to leave behind the tears.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Precisely at six, Elijah knocked on my door. By then, all traces of tears had been washed away, and supper ready to pull from the oven. I’d prepared a baked cheesy-mushroom spaghetti dish—one of my standards. It made plenty, and leftovers froze well. He must have read my mind, because he brought a large bottle of pinot noir. I wondered if he planned to get me drunk. But no, I reminded myself, he wasn’t interested in me. He was doing this for Jake.

Besides, I also invited the boys, Luke and Joe, for supper. I figured it was time they had the chance to size up Elijah. They’d been right in their opinion about Jake, and I hadn’t listened. I wanted to see what they thought about his cousin. And if Elijah could make friends with their dog, then he should be able to make friends with them, right?

They arrived a few minutes later carrying a bowl of tossed salad, the perfect addition to the meal. Luke set it down on the table, and turned to me with a wink.

“Have a seat, Harmony,” he said, grinning. “Let us take care of the rest.”

I didn’t know what he was up to, but didn’t have much of a choice because Joe was holding the chair closet to the kitchen for me.

“You must be Elijah,” Luke continued, looking at my other guest, “Why don’t you sit at the other end? That way Joe and I can get anything that’s needed from the kitchen, and Harmony can sit and enjoy the food.”

Joe chimed in. “It’s only fair since she slaved over a hot stove all afternoon.”

It was hard to hard my smile when I figured out what the boys were up to, effectively separating Elijah and me. Elijah didn’t stand a chance against the two of them. I enjoyed even more the polite grilling they put him through. It reminded me of my dad giving my first date the once-over. At least they were getting information from him. That police report was still untouched.

I knew very little of Elijah’s story until then. He lived in Florida, the Orlando area and worked for the same company, Shifter Technologies, for fifteen years. I did some quick math and estimated that made him about three years older than me. He didn’t have a police record—that counted for something.

Let’s see, what else. His parents lived near him in Florida, so he could keep an eye on them and help out when they needed something. More points. He had two older sisters and no brothers. That must have been interesting growing up. I wondered if there was a picture of him somewhere in a dress. No wife, no children. My heart fluttered at that one, but I told it to calm down. He was doing this for Jake.

Elijah took it all in stride. I decided he got double points for the way he answered everything so politely. I’m not sure why it mattered—it was like that TV show where the points are made up and don’t count for anything. My brain told me it was too good to be true and he was hiding something. I just needed to convince my heart.

After the main course, we adjourned to the front room for coffee and cookies. Luke and Joe finally backed off their questioning, but they sat together in the love seat so Elijah and I had to sit in the chairs I moved in from the dining area.

We barely got settled in when I heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, actually two sets of footsteps—one clomped, one pattered. Before I could move, Joe jumped out of the loveseat and dashed for the door, one hand reaching towards his back. He carried a handgun tucked into his pants sometimes, but he wore his shirt loose that night, and I hadn’t realized he had the gun with him. Elijah jumped to his feet as well, moving to put himself between me and the door.

I never felt so safe and yet so vulnerable at the same time.

Joe smiled when he peered through the peephole. “It’s just Sarah and a friend,” he announced as he opened the door. I was a little surprised by Sarah coming back, but I was astounded by who she brought with her. It was Detective Thomason and I caught them holding hands. No wonder she wasn’t brokenhearted over not-Eric.

After the awkward but obligatory hugs, Luke moved so they could have the loveseat. I got the story from Sarah when we were in the kitchen later making more coffee. She’d started going over and checking up on Freddie—yes, Freddie—when I disappeared. And since she knew I wasn’t interested in him any more, she didn’t fight it when they seemed to connect. Still, she seemed relieved when I hugged and kissed her and gave her my blessing to pursue the relationship. I wouldn’t stand in the way of true love.

That didn’t mean I trusted him. But I was willing to forgive him, for Sarah’s sake. Besides, when he looked at her, I saw in his eyes what I never saw when he looked at me.

We sat around sipping coffee, gossiping and talking smack about Florida sports teams for a couple of hours. That made two nights in a row that friends filled my apartment. And that’s when the place started to feel like home again and I knew I wouldn’t be moving. The memory of seeing it trashed didn’t compare to the beauty of the shared laughter of the people I cared about and who cared about me.

Sarah and Freddie left first—he was worn out. I wondered how he had made it up all those stairs in the first place. He must have been healing quicker than the doctors expected. Luke and Joe left next, leaving me alone with Elijah.

Without a word, he helped me clear the coffee table of the last few glasses and napkins. Then, like a proper hostess, I walked him to the door to say goodnight. There was a moment—just a fraction of a breath—when he had that look in his eyes. The look that said he wanted to kiss me. Instead, he turned on his heel and started down the stairs. As I closed the door, he said, “See you in the morning.”

So I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised when I walked down the stairs and found Elijah sitting there, drinking coffee, patting Piper and reading my paper. He scooted over on the step to make room for me and handed me the front section. Smiling brightly he said “It’s a beautiful morning, isn’t it Harmony?”

Now, normally I was a morning person. But I stayed up after everyone left to wash dishes and finish cleaning. I hated waking up to a messy kitchen, and doing housework kept my mind off of Elijah. And I still hadn’t read the police report. So I was short on sleep and grumpy.

“Hmph,” I snorted into my coffee cup.

He had the audacity to laugh at me. “Sorry we kept you up so late.”

Guilt washed over me. “It’s not that,” I explained. “I enjoyed myself last night. I’m just tired of this whole thing. I mean, a little adventure in a girl’s life is fine, but I’d like to get back to normal one of these days.”

“Normal being?”

“I get up and do all my morning stuff, get my laptop, drive to the library, do my research, come home, eat supper, read. Normal.”

We sat and listened to the chickadees greet the morning. Winter was on its way, and I was determined to savor these last few days of decent weather.

“If it helps any,” he said, “They finally ID’d the second guy. His name is Robert Hillerman, and he’s a suspect in more crimes than you can imagine. There’s a rather handsome reward offered for his arrest.”

“We’ll split it four ways. That’s only fair.”

He nodded and drank his coffee. “So what are your plans for the day?” he asked eventually.

“Get my laptop, go to the library and work. Any objections?”

He put his coffee cup down and stretched, and then stood. “I’ll see you there,” he said as he picked up the cup.

I may have stared at him. He smiled. “The library’s Wi-Fi is great. I can work from there and keep an eye on you at the same time.”

From his expression, I knew objecting would do no good. So I clamped my mouth shut to fight off the curse word on the tip of my tongue, counted to ten, and then counted to ten again. I gave Piper a final pat through the fence, stood, and headed upstairs.

When I came back down, he was gone, coffee cup and all. But when I pulled into the street after backing Dolores out of the garage, he was standing by his car, waiting for me. I sighed, stopped beside him, and rolled down the window.

“It doesn’t make any sense for us to take both cars,” I said. “Hop in.”

Elijah grinned. “Let me grab my laptop.”

I thought he’d take a table next to me, but he didn’t. He sat several tables away, close to the main doors, but with his back to them. I thought about it, and realized the spot gave him a good view of everything happening around me. No matter how deep he seemed to be in his own work, he knew whenever I got up to get more books, and stopped to watch me until I returned to my seat.

We settled into a routine. Elijah would be waiting for me in the morning, and we’d sit and read the paper together while we drank our coffee before going to the library. I insisted on driving, and we’d eat lunch at the little cafe down the street. After work, we would head back to my place and cook supper together. After supper, he’d stay for a little while, and bring me up to date on the progress Scotty and Lando were making on their research into Jake’s travels. Which wasn’t much. They still hadn’t found any information on the necklace. He always listened for me to lock the door behind him when he left.

Wednesday night, I invited him to go to the Pink Flamingo. I figured he’d show up there anyway. He laughed and joked with my friends, flirted with each of them, without ever stepping over the invisible line and going too far. The perfect gentleman.

Too perfect. He never touched me. And I wanted him to. I kept reminding myself he was doing this for Jake. Not for me. So why did I let myself care about him?

This went on for a week. I started to think that as long the two men who abducted me were in custody, I was safe.

Of course, I was wrong.

Chapter Twenty-Five

I glanced one more time in my rear-view mirror. “Your seat belt fastened?” I asked between gritted teeth. I moved my right hand to the gearshift and tightened my grasp on the steering wheel with my left.

“What’s up?” Elijah asked.

“Hold on.” I downshifted. “We picked up company a few blocks back.” He braced himself with one hand on the dash. I swung a hard right. The black car behind us followed. The light at the next corner turned green just before we got there. I turned left at the last possible moment. I had to give credit to the other driver, because he stuck with me.

I considered cutting through the parking lot of the 7-11, but this time of the morning too many people stopped for their caffeine fix on the way to work. I didn’t want to put anyone else in danger. We needed to move out of town. I headed north in a zigzag pattern, sometimes using side streets, then veering back onto the main street. Elijah was on his phone talking to the 911 dispatcher.

“They want to know if there’s a plate on the front and if we can get a tag number,” Elijah said softly so as not to break my concentration.

I barked a harsh laugh. “I don’t want to let them get that close.” They were already too close for comfort. “I don’t feel like finding out if they have guns or not.”

“Good call.” He relayed my message to the person at the other end of the call. “There are patrol cars on the way.”

“We don’t have time to wait.” We’d already passed the city limit sign. I knew what I needed to do, and it wasn’t waiting for the cavalry.

My plan was to increase the distance between our vehicles on the S-curve coming up. Dolores was more agile than the black sedan had a right to be, and hopefully, more powerful as well. And I suspected I knew these roads better than the other driver.

I made it through the curve without a problem, and had room to spare when the road straightened out. “Hang onto your hat,” I said to no one in particular as I slowed.

“What are you doing?” From the corner of my eye, I saw his knuckles turn a shade whiter as his grip on the dash tightened.

“Wait and see.” In the rearview mirror, I saw the other car closing the gap between us. Just before the next bend in the road, I swung hard and braked at the same time. The maneuver was tricky with a manual transmission, but I feathered the clutch just right and ended up with the car pointed the direction opposite from where we had been going. I could only imagine the consternation of the other driver when he had nowhere to go but forward.

I patted Dolores’ dash, stepped on the gas, and glanced over at Elijah. His lips were a tight line, and his face pale.

“What was that?” he asked, his voice strained.

“Bootlegger’s 180. But we’re not done yet.” I’ll give him credit. He didn’t object when, after going back through the curves, I pulled a hard right onto a side road instead of heading to town. With thick bushes along the side of the highway, this little road was hard to spot. I backed into a turn-around, the perfect place to keep an eye out for oncoming traffic without being seen myself.

We sat there for a few seconds, me with one foot on the brake, the other on the gas pedal and the gearshift in first. “What are we waiting for?” Elijah asked.

“That.” I watched as the black car roared down the main road. Taking my time, I pulled back onto the side road, and headed the opposite direction. I wasn’t going to risk damaging Dolores by catching up to our enemies and trying to run them off the road. “Are you still on the phone with 911?” I asked.