Unbreakable Hearts (10 page)

“Ready to fire this baby up?”
Jeff asked, aiming the remote at the DVD player.

“As ever.”

The movie started, and she and Jeff began their ritual of quoting Mr. Gower, Martini, George’s mother and the others between mouthfuls of popcorn and Milk Duds without batting an eyelash. They’d seen the movie so many times they knew almost every line.

Halfway through
, Tilly put her hand on Jeff’s and squeezed. “Dad would be proud of you, you know.”

Jeff gave her an endearing
look, squeezing her hand right back. “You too, Till.”

***

“Sure you don’t want to stay here?” she asked when the movie was over.

“Nah.
I need to get home. Need to call Jen back anyway.” He grabbed his cell and called for a taxi.

“O
kay. Let me pack up some stuff for you then.”

She went to the kitchen and rounded up severa
l items she knew he wanted, putting them in a plastic shopping bag. Jen wouldn’t be back until Saturday evening, so she wanted to make sure he had enough to eat for the next two days.

“Th
anks for everything, Till,” he said through a yawn as she came back into the living room.

“You’re welcome.” She handed him the bag. “I’m glad you came over. Glad we got to talk to Mom together too.” They’d called halfway through the movie to check on her and their grandma and to wish them a Happy Thanksgiving.

“I need to get up there soon, just tough getting time off.”

“She understands. Plus, she and Nana are coming into the city to shop sometime next month, so I’m sure you’ll see them then,” Tilly told him.

“Yeah. Well, your cooking was once again amazing. If this picture taking gig doesn’t work out for you, you might look into opening a restaurant.” He grinned at her then leaned down and kissed her cheek.

She chuckled. “Yeah, I’ll
be sure to check into that… never.” The taxi honked for him. “Get home safely. Love you.”

“Love you too,” he said then he was out the door and gone.

Chapter 10

After Jeff left,
Tilly locked the door behind him. Resting her hands on the backs of her hips, she stretched her back. Sitting for two hours had made her sore on top of all the standing and walking she’d done that morning, so she went to the kitchen and took one of the muscle relaxers she’d been prescribed when she’d strained her lower back the month before when she’d foolishly rearranged her furniture by herself. She didn’t take the pills often since they made her sleepy, but since she’d only be working at home in the morning, not daring to brave the Black Friday shoppers, she knew it’d be okay if she slept in just a little.

T
urning out the kitchen light, she headed upstairs and after showering, went to bed. She’d just drifted off when she was awakened by a noise downstairs. Thinking Jeff had come back for something she turned over and wrapped herself more tightly in her comforter. The pills she’d taken made her so sleepy, she just couldn’t find it in her to get up and see what her brother had forgotten.

She
was just nodding off again when she felt a presence in her bedroom.

“Jeff?” she asked sleepily. “Did you forget something?” She turned over and faced the door of her room to see the silhouette of her brother standing in it. When he
didn’t answer, she squinted her eyes to see him better. “I can’t see without my contacts. What’re you doing back? Did you forget something?”

“Yeah,” he whispered.
“My coat. Go back to sleep.”

“Mmkay,” she murmured as she turned back over, cuddling into her blankets.
“’S’cold out. Can’t believe you went out there without your coat. Lock up when you leave… love you.” And she was out.

***

Graham stood in the doorway looking at the woman lying in her bed. How simple it’d be to violate her in oh, so many ways. He stayed in the doorway watching her for another minute to make sure she didn’t get up, then went back downstairs finding her studio. Going inside he grabbed two cameras from her desk then left moving through the kitchen toward the back door. Suddenly, he stopped then walked back through the kitchen to the foot of the stairs. Staring up at the top of the landing, he knew it’d be so easy to go back up there. His heart beat hard in his chest at the thought of binding and gagging the woman and taking her by force, which made his dick get hard. God, she was such easy prey. He put his foot on the first step to go up, but a cell phone suddenly ringing from somewhere in her studio pulled him out of his fantasy.

Damn.
Maybe next time. He went back through the kitchen and out the back door then jogged to the street where he’d parked two blocks away. Getting in his car he drove back to his in-laws’ house. He hoped the little maid would still be around and up for a good fucking; he’d use her to play out his rape fantasy and get it out of his system. Maybe.

***

Tilly awoke the next morning feeling well rested. She hated taking those damned pills since they knocked her plum out, but she’d actually needed the sleep since she’d been a bit wired before the parade shoot and hadn’t slept well the past couple of days. In the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of coffee then went into her studio to look over the pictures on her laptop.

While waiting for it
to come to life, she checked her cell phone for any messages and seeing that she’d missed a call from Jeff, she returned it as she sipped her coffee.

“Yo,” he answered.

“Nice and formal this morning, aren’t we? Hey, just saw where you called last night. What’s up?”

“Was just gonna inform you that I’d be heading that way for lunch
today. I, uh, kinda got hungry when I got home last night and finished off what you sent,” he explained sounding a little sheepish.

“You ate all that?” she asked with a laugh.

“I’m a growing boy,” he replied, laughing with her.

“Good grief. That was enough to feed two people for at least two days,” she teased.

“Well, you shouldn’t be such a good cook then I wouldn’t feel the need to scarf everything down in one sitting.”

“Yeah, yeah.
Flattery will get you another piece of pumpkin pie.”

“That’s what I was hoping
. And some turkey and stuffing and green bean casserole and yams and…”

“All
right. I get it. What time are you coming by?”

“Around one.
That good for you?”

“Yep.
C’mon in. I’ll have a trough set up for you.”

Jeff snicker
ed. “That’d be nice.”

They hung up then
she opened the folder on her laptop that contained the pictures she’d loaded of the parade. Oh, they were fantastic! She was so excited that she’d gotten such great shots. As she worked, she got so caught up in arranging the pictures in different categories and emailing out to different vendors, that before she knew it Jeff was hollering from the living room for her.

“Back here!” she answered.

“Wow. You look great,” he said with a snort when he walked into her studio.

“Hey. That’s not very nice. I went to bed with my hair wet and
haven’t straightened it yet. Besides, my glasses make a pretty good headband, don’t you think?” She got up and smacked him on the arm.

“
Mm hm. Hey, guess what? Sean McAdams works homicide and he’s been giving me tips, letting me shadow him some so I have a clue to how it all works. He’s working a case right now. Businessman killed in his office yesterday morning. Shot right between his fucking eyes. Brains on the wall behind him. Sick, huh? Sean thinks it was a disgruntled employee. Anyway, I’m loving it. All I’ve gotta do is study up, take my test and cross my fingers that I pass and they want me.”

“Uh, yeah, pretty sick,” she said scrunching up her nose.

“Gonna go fix me a plate,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

“Wait a second.” She
stood staring at him for a few seconds, digesting what he’d just told her. “You’re serious about becoming a detective?” When he nodded, surprisingly, she was okay with it and nodded back at him. She went to her cabinet and grabbed one of her cameras then proceeded to snap several shots of him saying, “Let me take some pictures of you before you get famous, Sherlock. Actually, I’ve had a couple shots toward the end that have fuzzy spots on them. Need to see if maybe I’ve got dust on the sensor.” When he started posing like a model in his police uniform, it made her snicker, but when he did “Blue Steel,” she was done and put the camera down.

“Finished?” he asked.

“When you start acting like a bigger dork than you are, I
have to call it quits.”

“No one likes a quitter.”
He chuckled. When he saw that she was caught up in what she was doing, he went to the kitchen. 

“What the hell?” she yelled several minutes later.

Jeff came into the room eating from his plateful of leftovers and sat down at the table she had in there. “What?” he asked, mouth full.

“This is the wrong
Nikon. I know the one I used yesterday was in here because I loaded the pics from it when I got home last night. I thought maybe I’d put it up and just forgot.” She frowned then went to the cabinet and grabbed a point-and-shoot, checking it. “This isn’t the one I used yesterday either! The cameras I used are gone!”

She g
ot up and started looking in the drawers of the computer desk, wondering if maybe she’d put them in there. When she didn’t find them, she left her studio and walked through her house thinking maybe she’d absentmindedly left them somewhere else.

“Called Jen last night.
Her folks asked her when we’re getting married,” Jeff said, following her still eating.

Tilly stopped and looked at him. “
Oh? What’d she say?”

“She told them we’re too young
, thank God. I mean, I love her and I think I’d like to spend the rest of my life with her, but we’re only twenty-five. We’ve both agreed to wait until we’re at
least
your decrepit age.”

Tilly snorted
then cut him a dirty look. “Yeah, ‘cause twenty-seven’s just ancient. But I’m glad you guys are waiting. I think it’s smart.”

“
Yeah.”

“Wait. Did you come back by last night because you forgot your coat?
” She looked at him with a frown.

“Huh? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

At that moment, she felt her heart jump into her throat. “Oh, my God. Someone was in the house last night,” she said in disbelief.

Jeff sat his plate down. “What? What’re you talking about?”

She told him what’d happened, that she thought it’d been him standing in her doorway.

“Jesus, Till.” He was now in
full police mode and began walking through the house checking it out. He went out the back door then a minute later came in again making a call on his shoulder mic. “We’ve got a possible 10-21 at…” He proceeded to give Tilly’s address but she wasn’t listening. She heard him say something about footprints in the snow but she was too busy internally freaking out thinking that a strange man had been in her house, had been in her bedroom! Oh, God!

Over
the next hour a detective and a whole crew of technicians showed up to dust for fingerprints and cast the footprints outside her back door. She watched as they covered her cameras and laptop in the fine powder, knowing they’d probably be ruined. Only her brother bending down eye level with her seemed to bring her out of her befuddlement at watching it all.

“Tilly? Hey, Till?” he said, leading her
by the shoulders to sit in a chair then he squatted down in front of her. “Hey, you okay?”

She looked at him
, still half out of it. “What?”

“I asked if you’re okay.”
When she just kept looking at him as if she didn’t know what he was saying, he asked, “Do you want to go to the ER? I think you’re in shock.”

That seemed to wake her up
some. “God, no. I’ll be fine. Just a little stunned is all. What’d they find? Do they have any clues?”

He frown
ed. “No. They didn’t pull any prints. Guy was probably wearing gloves. He jimmied the window by your back door open. That’s where he came in. You’re gonna need to install an alarm system.”

“Yeah.
Okay, I’ll call someone today. That way I’ll be safe tonight,” she said distracted, still freaked out that a stranger had been in her house.

“Oh, you’re not staying here tonight,”
Jeff informed her.

She star
ed at him, still slow in taking it all in. When what he’d said finally got through, her eyebrows came down and she looked at him confused. “Uh, yes, I’m staying here. Why wouldn’t I stay in my own home?”

He frown
ed back at her as if she was totally nuts. “Maybe because some asshole broke into your house last night? You think that might be a good reason?”

“Well, where am I supposed to stay then?” Now the panic was setting in as everything
became real.

“You can stay with Jen and me,” he offered.

Jen was coming in that night and they only had a small loft apartment. Yeah. That wasn’t going to work.

“I’ll stay at Quinn’s
. She’s supposed to fly in tonight. I’ll call and let her know,” she said distractedly and guessed Jeff thought that was a good idea because he nodded in approval. She woodenly moved toward the stairs so she could go to her room and gather her things.

“Hey,” Jeff said from behind her. When she turned around, he enclosed her in his arms, holding her tightly. And that’s when she started to cry. “Aw, Till, it’s gonna be okay. We’ll keep you safe.
Promise.”

In barely a whisper she said, “I thought it was you.
What if…”

“Shhhh.
Let’s not do the ‘What ifs’ okay? It’ll only upset you more and just piss me off.” He pulled back and looked down at his big sister. “You go get your things together and I’ll try to clean up a little, okay? Then I’ll drive you to Quinn’s.”

She nodded then went upstairs to pack. She couldn’t help but shudder when she walked into her room knowing that a little over twelve hours before, a man she didn’t know had stood in her doorway and watched her sleep. God, what if
he’d hurt her? Or worse? She’d been so out of it with the stupid pills she’d taken, she wouldn’t have been able to even put up a fight. And why had he taken her cameras and not anything else that she’d noticed was missing? What could he want with them?

Then a
horrible thought hit her. Could it have been Doug who’d come in and taken them out of some kind of sick revenge for her breaking up with him? It only made sense since Jeff had threatened him, embarrassing him in front of her. She’d have to tell Jeff her suspicions, which almost made her feel better. If it was Doug, at least it was someone she knew. Better the psycho you know than the one that you don’t, right? But either way, it was upsetting and she knew it’d take some time for her to get over the feeling of being violated.