Explosive Situation

by Terri Reed

She pressed her lips together to suppress the amusement of being proven right. He had a wide streak of chivalry. Even for someone he undoubtedly considered the enemy. Deciding to go with it and appreciate his thoughtfulness rather than cling to her independence, she said, “Bottom right. I’ll wave from the window.”

  He gave a satisfied nod. “Okay. Good night, Olivia.”

  “Good night, Henry.” She popped open the door and found Riley waiting to take her place in the front seat. “It was really nice to meet you, Riley.”

  “You, too,” the younger woman said. “I hope I see you again.”

  Taking one of her business cards from her suit jacket pocket, Olivia held it out. “My cell phone is on this. You call me if you ever need anything. Even if it’s just to chat.”

  Riley palmed the card. “Thank you.”

  As Olivia withdrew her hand, Cody let out a soft bark.

  Riley laughed. “He says good-night, too.”

  Smiling, Olivia hurried to unlock the building’s front entrance, then went to her apartment door and unlocked the double bolt that her father had installed when she’d moved in right after Roger’s death. She hadn’t wanted to stay in the ultra-modern condo they had shared. Too many memories, most of which she didn’t want to keep.

  Once inside her small one-bedroom unit, she secured the door, flipped on the lights and went to the window. Drawing back the curtain, she waved at the vehicle idling at the curb. Henry waved back before driving the SUV away.

  A stark and cold sense of isolation invaded her, making her insides quiver. Not since the night her late husband had stormed out of her life had she felt so alone.

  But soon there would be a little bundle of joy for her to love. Until then, she had to deal with the loneliness disturbing her sense of peace.

  With a sigh, she dropped the curtain and faced her apartment. The quiet surrounded her, unnerving in its completeness.

  “Kitty?”

  A soft meow came from the bedroom. Her faithful companion couldn’t be bothered to come greet her. Maybe she should get a dog.

  * * *

  Henry pulled away from the Carroll Gardens apartment building. He kept an eye on the curtain of Olivia’s window as it fluttered closed. She had moved away from view. He didn’t like leaving her knowing she was alone. He’d heard about the death of her husband, but it hadn’t seemed quite the appropriate topic to discuss. Not that he wanted to discuss it. He didn’t want to get involved with this woman. She was an irritation. A burr under his flak vest. Even if he did feel sympathy for her loss and had, surprisingly, enjoyed her company tonight.

  Watching her with Riley and having Cody give her his stamp of approval with the lick at the training center created conflicting emotions within him. There was something so very vulnerable about Olivia. Yet formidable, too.

  Maybe it was the fact that he suspected she was pregnant, if what her sister had said was true. Or that Olivia was a widow, still grieving her late husband. Or maybe it was the stress of the day getting to him, stirring up uncomfortable feelings he had no business entertaining. She was a superior officer and investigating him. How much more taboo could any feelings for Olivia be?

  Yes, it had to be the stress of the day or the blow to his head.

  Well, more like the stress of the past three, almost four months, to be exact. Ever since the night Davey Carrell tried to grab Henry’s sidearm. The ever-present frustration reared as Henry merged into traffic, heading toward their Cobble Hill neighborhood. Bright headlights moved in behind the SUV, causing apprehension to slither over his flesh.

  His paranoia was getting the better of him. On the way to Olivia’s apartment there had been a moment when he’d suspected they were being followed. But the silver sedan had veered away and turned down a side street. Then the car reappeared at the next block, turning into the driveway of a parking garage a half block past Olivia’s apartment. Clearly, he was losing it.

  But as he drove into his neighborhood, he was sure the car behind him was the same silver sedan that had been tailing him since he left Olivia’s apartment. Just to make sure, he went right at the stoplight and headed away from the street where his two-story condo was located.

  “Where are we going?” Riley asked.

  Watching the rearview mirror, Henry replied, “Just circling the block.”

  He was halfway down the block when the silver sedan made the turn.

  Heart rate doubling, Henry turned down another block. Sure enough, the car followed. As they passed beneath the illuminating glow of a streetlamp, he caught a better glimpse of the silver sedan and the empty space where the front license plate should have been. Tensing, he made another quick turn.

  “Henry?”

  Not wanting to scare his sister, he said, “Being cautious.”

  Who was driving the sedan? Why was he, or Riley, being targeted? Did this have something to do with Davey Carrell? He tightened his grip until his knuckles hurt. Rounding the block, he kept a vigilant eye on the rearview mirror. The sedan didn’t follow.

  Shaking his head, he sped home and parked in his designated spot. He climbed out, retrieved Cody from his compartment and ushered Riley, along with the pizza box, up the steps to their condo. He made her wait at the front door while he and Cody cleared the place. Once he was satisfied there were no dangerous surprises waiting for them, he said, “We’re good.”

  Silently handing him the pizza box, she headed to her room, but he’d glimpsed the anxiety in her dark eyes as she passed him. His chest tightened. He’d do everything in his power to keep her safe. After letting Cody out in the small fenced-in side yard of the condo, Henry secured the premises for the night.

  Too wired to sleep, he kept the lights off as he stood guard, pacing between the windows at the front of the condo and the ones lining the balcony. Cody whined, wanting Henry to go to bed. But he couldn’t. He was going to listen to his gut. If it was God talking to him, he had every intention of paying attention.

  In the wee hours of the morning, a low growl emanated from Cody, raising the fine hairs at the back of Henry’s neck. He bolted upright from the living room recliner. When he reached the kitchen, he found Cody standing at attention in the moonlight streaming through the glass insert of the balcony door. His tail raised high, his ears back.

  A shadow passed by the door, momentarily obscuring the ambient light.

  Henry’s heart jackknifed with adrenaline.

  Someone was on the balcony.

  FOUR

  Heart hammering in his chest, Henry didn’t want to alert the intruder as he spoke softly to Cody, “Good boy. No bark.”

  For a second, Henry debated retrieving his weapon from the gun safe in his bedroom. But it would take precious time and he wanted to act now. Hurrying to the hall closet, he grabbed his dad’s Louisville Slugger. Hefting the bat in his hands and staying in the shadows, he returned to the kitchen. With Cody at his side, he approached the door leading to the balcony and quietly unlocked the door, then wrapped his hand around the knob.

  On a deep breath, he yanked open the door and hit the light switch, throwing the five-foot-wide balcony into sharp relief. The platform, guarded by a wrought iron railing, ran the length of the condo’s second floor. A medium-height, slender man wearing dark jeans, gloves and a black hoodie that cast his face in shadow stood outside the window to the room Henry used as an office.

  “Halt, police!” Henry yelled and rushed toward the prowler. Cody scrambled past Henry, his teeth bared as he growled menacingly.

  The hooded man dropped to a crouch for a split second as if he could hide before jumping to his feet. Cody latched on to his pant leg. With a vicious kick, the intruder dislodged Cody. The sound of fabric ripping filled the air as Cody tore away a chunk of the pants. Once free of Cody, the man grasped the railing with his gloved hands and swung over the side, dangling there for an instant before
dropping away.

  “No!” Henry reached the spot where the prowler had just been. Bracing himself, because he was positive the guy would have broken a leg or something from the fall, he leaned over the railing just in time to see the would-be burglar shimmying down the drainpipe to the ground below. “Hey!”

  Without looking up, the man scaled the side yard fence and disappeared out of sight. Then his pounding footfalls echoed through the still night as he ran away. There was no way Henry would catch him. Frustration beat a steady rhythm at his temples. After checking that Cody hadn’t sustained an injury from the kick, Henry darted back inside and called the precinct. He explained the situation to the night dispatcher.

  “I’ll alert patrol to be on the lookout for anyone matching that description,” the dispatcher promised.

  Doubting they’d catch the guy, Henry said, “Can you send a CSI team to my residence? Specifically Darcy Fields.” She worked often with the K-9 team and was an ace forensic specialist. If there was any evidence that could lead to the intruder’s identity she’d find it.

  “Will do, Detective Roarke.”

  After hanging up, Henry went to wake Riley with Cody at his heels. He cracked opened her bedroom door, allowing the hall light to spill into the room and flinched at the mess. Clothes hung half out of her dresser drawers and shoes lay haphazardly on the floor like little traps for him to trip over. Stacks of books, six to ten high, appeared ready to topple if he so much as breathed on them. Her messiness was another source of contention between them. He didn’t understand how Riley could operate in such chaos.

  Carefully, he and Cody picked their way across the room to her full-size bed. She lay twisted in her covers, her sweet face relaxed and her arms wrapped around a large stuffed animal that Henry had won for her at Coney Island several years earlier.

  Tenderness filled his chest as he sank onto the bed. Cody sat at his feet. “Hey, munchkin,” he said, using the childhood nickname their father had coined when she was an infant.

  She stirred, rolling to her side away from him. He gently nudged her.

  “What?” she asked, though her eyes remained closed. “I’m sleeping.”

  “We have a situation,” he said. “Someone tried to break in.”

  That grabbed her attention. She twisted to face him. Her dark eyes went wide as she blinked away sleep. “Break in?”

  “A crime scene unit will be here soon,” he told her. “You don’t have to get up. I just didn’t want you to be frightened if you woke up and heard noises.”

  “Are we safe?”

  He smoothed back her hair. She looked so much like her mother, Susan. Henry had always liked his stepmom. She’d tried hard to forge a relationship with him, even though he’d been less than receptive until he’d become a young adult. “Yes. We’re safe. But if you’d feel better I can leave Cody here with you.”

  “Don’t you need him?”

  “I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “He’s already done his job tonight.” For which Henry was grateful. Cody was better than an alarm system...but he might have one installed anyway.

  Riley scooted over to make room for the dog. “Okay.”

  Henry patted the bed. Cody jumped up, sniffed at Riley and licked her face before turning in a circle and settling down beside her. Riley slipped her arms around Cody much the way she had been hugging the stuffed toy.

  A sharp knock at the front door had Henry rising to his feet. “I’ll let you know when they’ve gone.” He reversed his trek through the minefield of her room, leaving Cody curled by her side.

  At the front door, he greeted Darcy Fields, a petite blonde with pale brown eyes and dimples in her cheeks. She carried a case filled with her equipment and wore her uniform of khakis, dark blue polo shirt with the NYPD logo and dark shoes, now covered with paper booties. Her team of two male techs filled the space behind her.

  “Hi, Darcy. You got here quick.”

  “We were just finishing up at a crime scene nearby when I received the call. Came straight here. Not much in the way of traffic at three o’clock in the morning.” The forensic specialist led her team into the condo.

  “I appreciate you coming,” he said. “The prowler was on the balcony.” He led the way through the condo. Stepping out to the terrace, he said, “He must have climbed up from below.” He told her how the man had swung over the railing.

  “Agile trespasser,” she commented. “Was he wearing gloves?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. But Cody snagged a piece of his pant leg.” He pointed to the scrap of material on the ground where Cody had dropped it.

  She quickly bagged the evidence, then turned to the two men with her. “Head to the ground level and see if you can find any footprints in the soft dirt of the flowerbed that we can use.”

  The two men nodded and retreated out the front door.

  “I’ll dust to see if there’s any pattern in the grain of the gloves the suspect wore,” Darcy said. “It may or may not be helpful. And I’ll look for stray hairs or epithelia on the material. Let’s pray we get a match in one of the many DNA databases.”

  “I should have tackled him,” Henry muttered.

  Darcy gave him a sharp glance. “Aren’t you being investigated for excessive force?”

  Henry flinched. “Yes.” Though he didn’t see what that had to do with this situation.

  “Then it’s probably better for you not to have any physical contact with a suspect,” she said.

  He grunted, not liking the accuracy of her statement. He had to trust that Darcy’s crack skills would produce some evidence to lead to the intruder. But until the guy was caught and brought in, Henry would remain in the dark about why he had wanted into his house. What had he been planning to do?

  Henry gazed out at the darkened street and vowed he’d do everything in his power to keep his sister safe.

  * * *

  The next morning, Henry awoke from of fitful rest. The only reason he’d been able to get any sleep was the assurance that two patrol officers were watching the condo building. After checking in with the officers and letting them know he was up and about and they could go have their day off, Henry made a strong pot of coffee. He didn’t particularly like the stuff, but there were days when he needed it.

  His head hurt where he’d sustained a gash from the flying debris after the garbage can explosion. He really needed to go see the doctor and have the bandage changed. But thankfully no blood had seeped through. That was a good sign.

  He popped a couple of over-the-counter painkillers with some water as the coffee percolated. Just as he was pouring himself his first strong cup, he heard Riley’s door open and the pad of Cody’s feet coming down the hall. Leaving his coffee on the counter, he grabbed Cody’s leash and collar from the basket near the front door.

  “Here, boy.” He opened the front door as Cody hurried up to his side and sat patiently waiting for him to put on his collar and lead. They went outside so Cody could have a few moments on the grass. The early morning air was just beginning to heat up with the promise of another hot July day. There were few people out and about. Saturdays were generally quiet. Still, Henry kept a vigilant eye out for any sign of the silver sedan or for strangers who didn’t belong in the area.

  When they returned to the apartment, Riley was dressed and making scrambled eggs. Henry unleashed Cody and made sure there was fresh water in the dog bowl. The dog sniffed at Riley’s pink backpack sitting on the edge of the couch before jumping up on to the cushion and lying down. Henry wandered back to his cup of coffee, which had grown cold. He dumped it out and poured himself a fresh cup. He leaned back against the counter. “You’re up early.”

  “Nicole called and woke me up,” she replied with a quick glance. “We’re making plans for the upcoming concert. We thought we’d get ready at Kelsey’s place.” Riley’s expression turned hopeful. “You aren’
t really serious about going with us to and from the concert hall, are you?”

  He rounded the corner of the counter and sat back on his stool. “Dead serious. Especially now. With bomb threats and someone trying to break into our condo. We have to be vigilant and use caution.”

  Her shoulders slumped as she dished eggs onto plates. When she sat the plate in front of him, it bounced slightly with her agitation. “I’m eighteen. I don’t need a babysitter. Nicole’s nineteen and Kelsey’s eighteen, like me. We’re adults now. I don’t need your permission. And I certainly don’t need you as my shadow.”

  There was so much in her statement to unpack and pick apart, he couldn’t decide where to start. “First off, you may be eighteen, but you live under my roof. When you move out and start adulting, I will have no say in your life. But until then, you have to abide by my rules.”

  She huffed and rolled her eyes. “That’s so lame.”

  A flash of memory hit him along with a sense of déjà vu. Though he couldn’t recount the exact words, he was certain he’d had a very similar conversation with their father when he was Riley’s age. Arguing with her about this wouldn’t be productive. So he chose to go with the more obvious issue. “We can’t ignore the danger.”

  “What does that have to do with me? You’re the cop, the one putting his life on the line. Not me. I’ll be fine.” She glared at him as she dredged up an old argument.

  From the day she realized what his job entailed, Riley had resented his career. He understood from the grief counselor they’d both seen after the tragic death of their father and her mom that Riley’s anger was a mask for the fear of losing him, too.

  He rubbed a hand over his whiskered jaw. There was no delicate way to give her a reality check. “Did you forget what happened yesterday? You were within striking distance of a bomb.”

  He recalled Olivia’s comment that it had been an unlikely coincidence that Riley was at Coney Island the same time as the bomber was texting Henry. Had the bomber known his sister was there? Had she been targeted? Or was it a strange fluke that they intersected? He wished he had answers to the questions plaguing him.