The Nosy Neighbor (21 page)

Lucy stretched inside the quilt she was wrapped in. She felt blissfully warm and contented. “Seven-thirty at night!”

“Uh-huh. You’ve been asleep for over five hours. It’s supposed to snow through the night and finally stop by midmorning tomorrow.”

“What did you cook, Jake? Hey, I thought you didn’t know how to cook,” Wylie grumbled as he kicked his quilt aside.

Jake flapped his arms to get them to move. “My one and only specialty, red-hot chili. We have biscuits and pie and, of course, fresh coffee. Let’s go, let’s go. I’m starving.”

Lucy was on her hands and knees trying to get upright. Every muscle and bone in her body protested. Jake reached out a hand to pull her to her feet. She winced in pain as she limped her way to the downstairs bathroom.

Jake braced his feet solidly on the floor before he held out his hand to Wylie.

“Son of a bitch,” Wylie seethed. “I hurt, Jake.”

“Stop whining and get your ass upstairs and cleaned up. Work the kinks out.”

Wylie eyed the stairway and knew he couldn’t make his legs go up them. “I’ll just wait for Lucy to come out. So the FBI called…”

“Yeah, and they sounded…pissed that neither you nor Lucy was here. They did say it was urgent, Wylie. I think Lucy should call them after dinner.”

“Yeah, well, that’s Lucy’s decision,” Wylie said as he staggered, with Jake’s help, toward the downstairs bathroom. His eyes shut, he leaned wearily against the wall and waited for Lucy to come out.

•   •   •

Lucy pushed her chair away from the table. “That was really good, Jake. I ate way too much. Where did you learn to make biscuits?”

“I followed the directions on the box. It wasn’t like I had anything else to do. You guys were wiped out, and I didn’t know how long you’d sleep. How about some pie?”

Lucy shook her head, as Wylie said, “A small piece and some more coffee. Lucy’s right, Jake. The chili was hot and delicious. Thanks for taking over.”

Jake bustled about the kitchen but talked as he worked. “Lucy, are you going to call that guy at the FBI?”

“In the morning. What could he possibly have to tell me that’s urgent? The morning is time enough, and besides, it’s almost ten o’clock. They’re just guessing that I’m here. Somebody probably alerted them that we were in Watchung. Like that’s urgent. I’ve read enough novels about the FBI to know everything they do or say is urgent with them. I told you before, I don’t trust them. I think I just overreacted yesterday. There’s no way Jonathan could get here in this storm. If I had to take a wild guess as to the ‘urgent’ call, I’d say they probably have information that he’s on a flight here or his flight is grounded. I’ll start to worry when there’s something more for me to sink my teeth into.” Lucy grinned suddenly. “Let’s not forget these three killer dogs who are guarding us. As I said, morning is time enough.”

“Lucy, this might be a good time for me to start testing you if you’re up to it. I’d like you to develop your powers of ESP so you can call on them if you ever find yourself in a dangerous situation.

“Do you remember when I first got here, I told you both about the Pentagon’s secret projects. They wanted to investigate extrasensory phenomena to see if the sheer power of the human mind could be harnessed to perform various acts of espionage. It was written up in the
New York Times
sometime during the mideighties. They spent millions of dollars, according to three different reports. I’m in the process of trying to track all this down. I don’t know what it will mean other than to prove maybe you’re one of those people whose mind can be harnessed. I don’t think we’re talking espionage here, but maybe something damn close to it. On the other hand, it could really have nothing to do with you, and your condition is just temporary, a freak occurrence that will dissipate in time.”

“I don’t want to be a freak of nature. I just want it to go away,” Lucy said.

“No, Lucy, you don’t want it to go away until this crisis is over. You and I are going to go in a quiet room, and I’m going to work with you. We’ll see if we can rein your, ah, new talent, in to the point where you can control it and call upon it if you need to. I am almost certain, when your life returns to normal, your…talent will fade away. We should get a weather update before we start.”

Wylie looked up from his pie. “Why?”

Jake shrugged.

When Coop and Sadie barreled through the laundry room and raced to the sliding doors Lucy bolted out of her chair. “You didn’t close the blinds, Wiley,” she admonished as she ran into the windowless laundry room.

“What the hell…” Wylie, too, was off his chair, running toward the sliding doors. Coop was growling and snarling as he raced back and forth, Sadie on his heels. Lulu cowered by Jake’s feet, begging to be picked up. He obliged.

The little dog’s trembling limbs brought Jake to attention. “Lock the damn doors, Wylie.
NOW!”
Wylie didn’t have to be told twice. He slammed the latch into place and dropped the dowel standing in the corner into the track. He looked confused when he turned around to stare at Jake.

Lulu in one hand, the cordless phone in the other along with the sticky Post-it, Jake headed for the laundry room.

Lucy cowered in the corner beside the dryer, her hands cupped over her ears.
Damn snow…bitch…ruin my life…
Her face was whiter than the snow that was blanketing their immediate world.

Wylie and Jake both dropped to their knees. “What? What’s wrong, Lucy? Did you
hear
something?” Jake demanded.

Coop was even wilder by then, running and leaping on the back of the couch and down on the other side as he tried to paw at the vertical blinds covering the sliding glass doors. Sadie sat up on her haunches, throwing her head back and howling, an ungodly sound.

Jake took command. “Get it together, Lucy, and call the number. I’m dialing it for you. You can do this. They said it was urgent.” Jake identified himself, and said, “Agent Lawrence, I have Miss Baker for you. Hold please.”

Lucy dropped the phone twice before she was able to bring it to her ear. Her whole body shook from head to toe when she said, “This is Lucy Baker.”

“Where are you, Miss Baker?”

“What difference does that make? What is it that is so urgent?” She let her head rest against the wall as she listened, her eyes closed. Wylie and Jake both reared back when Lucy barked, “How do you know that? If you’re trying to frighten me, you are certainly succeeding! No, I haven’t heard from Jonathan. I’m not home, and I don’t have my cell phone with me. I suppose Jonathan might figure out I’d be someplace close to home, but that’s a bit of a stretch to my mind. However, he did call the day before when the storm was just beginning. He does get weather reports, and he does watch television while he’s away, so there’s a good chance he knows about our weather conditions. As you said on more than one occasion, he’s not stupid. It’s only logical for him to think I wouldn’t go far. Unless Jonathan has magical powers, how could he possibly know which house I’m in? I don’t know why the dogs are barking, Agent Lawrence. How could he possibly get to me? We have four feet of snow outside. It’s a blizzard. I thought you were FBI. If you knew it was Jonathan, then why didn’t you pick him up? How many damn times do I have to tell you, I don’t know anything about Jonathan’s activities. I don’t give a damn what you think, Agent Lawrence.”

Wylie sat down on the floor across from Lucy. She was getting mad.
Good,
he thought. Better she should be mad than a cowering basket case. Color was coming back to her cheeks, too. The dogs were still barking and howling.

“Yes, we did go to the house in Watchung. My friends knew some men who have expertise in security systems. They dismantled the systems and turned them off. They don’t work now. You said it was my house. Why shouldn’t I go there? I wanted to see what I own. There was nothing in the house except some high-tech equipment. And there was a Chevy Suburban SUV in the garage, a car you never mentioned in your catalog of fancy vehicles. It was a waste of time and energy going there. Go check it out yourself. I’ll give you the code to the house alarm and there’s a card for the gate. Everything else is off. Why didn’t I call you? Why should I? The last time we spoke, you said, when you left, that you would be in touch. To me that means you were supposed to call me, not the other way around. Well, goddammit, Agent Lawrence, if you are so sure of your facts, why aren’t you here protecting me? I’m a taxpayer. Well, if you can’t get here, how do you expect Jonathan to get here? I don’t believe you, Agent Lawrence. How could Jonathan be here, and what do you mean by
here
? I’m not home, so where is here?”

The trio looked at one another. Wylie thought the phone conversation was over and reached for the phone. Lucy shook her head.

“Fine. Yes, I understand. Well, dammit, get a horse and sleigh and come and get me.” Lucy pressed the button to end the call. Jake and Wylie looked at her expectantly.

“They think Jonathan is here. Like in the neighborhood or somewhere close. They said they tracked him when he left Zurich, but they lost him in New York. He’s using another name and some kind of disguise. Real cloak-and-dagger stuff. They had him right up till he went through customs, and that’s when they lost him. They think he’s coming for me. What
are
those dogs barking at?”

Wylie locked his gaze with hers. “Either someone is out there moving around, or some kind of animal is invading Coop’s turf. I don’t know, Lucy.”

“I
heard
him. I know it was him. If I
heard
him, that has to mean Agent Lawrence is right, and he’s close. My God, he might be in the backyard.”

“What did you hear, Lucy?” Jake asked.

“I heard the words
damn snow,
the word
bitch,
and then the words
ruin my life.
Maybe it was Dick Palmer, the guy who lives across the street. He’s always fighting with Marion. He talks like that. He’s always calling Marion a bitch and saying she ruined his life. I think that’s how they communicate. You know, by fighting with one another. Everyone on the street knows what a miserable person he is. He hates being home. I don’t know why those two stay married. It could have been Dick. It could have been Jonathan, too. I don’t know. Nothing else is coming through. I’m trying, but there’s nothing there. If Agent Lawrence is right, we’re sitting ducks.”

“The guy would have to be Superman to get through that snow. Look what it did to us, and we only crossed the yard. How could he get here from New York? Everything is shut down tight. The airports are closed. The train station is closed. For sure there are no cabs out and about. The police are citing people who try to go on the roads. I heard that on the five o’clock news,” Wylie almost shouted.

“Look, I do not know how he got here, but he could be here, and you two know it. Explain those tracks at my house. Well?”

Wylie threw his hands in the air. “I have a gun. I’m not much of a shot, but if push comes to shove, I know how to take off the safety and I know I could plug someone if he broke into my house. I have two baseball bats, too. Think about it, Lucy, the guy can’t have a weapon. He could never get one through the airports. Not even a knife. Yeah, I suppose he could have bought one in New York, but how likely is that?”

“I have a gun, too, at my house. Jonathan knows I have it. Maybe it was he who left those footprints, and he was trying to get it. To kill me with my own gun. Oh, God! Why is this happening to me? I didn’t ruin his damn life, he ruined it himself. Did you close all the blinds, Wylie?”

“Yeah. Listen. How’s this for an idea? Let’s all go to Rachel’s house.”

“Why? He doesn’t know where you live, Wylie. He doesn’t know anything about you other than that you are a neighbor whose dog I was watching. You could live in any one of the twelve houses on the block. Why go to Rachel’s house?”

Wylie shrugged. “It was a thought. You know, confusion, throw the guy a curve, that kind of thing. I guess you’re right. If he doesn’t know where I live, there’s no point to moving out. I’m going upstairs to get the gun, though. Do you want me to go to your house and get yours?”

Before Lucy could respond, Jake said, “Yeah, Wylie, get her gun. Bring yours down here. I know how to shoot. Actually, I’m a fair marksman.”

“Okay, where’s the gun, Lucy? Is it loaded?”

“Of course it’s loaded. Why have a gun if you don’t keep it loaded? It’s not like I have children living in my house. It’s in my night table drawer. The table on the right side of the bed. There are a few extra clips, too, so bring those. Are you sure you don’t mind going out again?”

“Hell, yes, I mind, but I’m going to do it anyway. In case nobody noticed, the dogs are quiet now. It was probably only a stray animal, maybe a possum or a squirrel, whose weird scent set them off. Sit tight, I’ll be back.”

Lucy wondered if Wylie really believed what he was saying or if he said the words for her benefit. She made no move to leave the corner of the laundry room. Sadie trotted into the room and sat down on her lap. Coop sat alongside them both. She stroked their silky heads as Jake followed Wylie out to the foyer.

“My gun is in the top dresser drawer under my socks. I’m going to take it with me,” Wylie said as he donned his ski jacket and hat.