by Keene, Susan
I mentally walked through the Penthouse. “No, only my personal belongings, I love the thought of decorating the house with you. Is there anything from the Mansion you want?”
“Actually, there is my desk. It was my father’s and his father’s before that.”
I took his hand. “Where do you want to put it?”
“I thought we could make an office out of the den. We have more rooms here than we will use. It’s large enough for both of us to have a part of it and still have a love seat and a couple of chairs.”
He faced me. “I think it’ll be perfect here. The only thing that would be better would be if you would marry me.” In his other hand, he held a tiny box.
It was the last thing I expected at that time. I stood stunned while he opened the plush red container and took out a ring. I had never seen anything like it. When I hesitated he told me, “It was my mother’s engagement ring. I won’t push you into marriage. Since in my heart, I know you love me and we’re heading toward getting married, I would like you to have this.”
Ryan slipped the ruby and diamond ring on my finger. It was hard to look away from it. “I do love you. I have for a long time.”
He pulled me into a hug and kissed me. “If I had known all it took to have you say you loved me was a ring, I would have given it to you sooner.”
He kissed me again.
CHAPTER 30
W hen we got back to the Penthouse, Ryan and I toasted our engagement. We had a lovely night and lingered in bed until after ten the next morning. I sat up and put my feet on the floor. “I hate the thought of leaving this warm bed but I need to get ready, I’m supposed to meet Amy at noon.”
“I need to go home and do some work. I’m so glad our belongings will all be in the same place.”
I smiled at him and headed for the shower. I couldn’t decide whether to take my ring off or leave it on while I showered. I had my hand up so I could admire it. Ryan came in. “I thought I’d join you.”
“I’m trying to decide if I should leave it on or take it off while I shower.”
He pulled me to him. “Wear it. If anything happens to it, we can fix it.”
I leaned back so I could see his face. “But it was your mothers.”
“I know, rings can be replaced, you can’t. Enjoy it.”
I kissed him and stepped into the shower that had been running the entire time. The hot water felt good. Ryan washed my back. “I can’t play,” I said. “I want to be warm and dry before I go out in the cold.”
He let go of me. “Spoil-sport.”
I put on slacks and a heavy sweater, a ski jacket, a scarf and a hat. Ryan said I reminded him of Nanook of the North.
Amy sat at a table with two lattes, bagels, and cream cheese. She was dressed almost the same as I. We both chose black.
I joined her. “We can’t stay here long, I’ll melt.
She looked me up and down. “I know. I couldn’t decide if I should get drinks or not. It’ll take a half an hour to get my clothes off if I need to go to the bathroom.”
I shed my hat, scarf, gloves, and coat. “So what’s our plan?”
She pushed my latte in front of me and picked her own up to take a drink. I grinned and stuck my hand out so she couldn’t miss my ring. “Ryan gave it to me last night. We went to look at the house. I turned around and there he was, ring in hand.”
“Congratulations. Did you two set a date?”
“Heavens no, I’m not ready to get married again.”
Amy put her hand on my arm. “Don’t wait too long. You deserve to be happy, and I don’t think I know another couple as compatible as you and Ryan.”
I couldn’t help but ask her about Nathan and Jake. “Have you heard from Jake?”
“No, we decided a clean break is best. I realized I miss the long newsy phone calls we shared more than the time we spent together. I hate to admit it, but had he not found someone else I might have had that relationship forever. It was comfortable.”
I drank my coffee and ate the bagel. “How are things with Nathan?”
She lit up, her eyes sparkled and she giggled a little. “We went to the wedding. I haven’t had that good of an evening in years. He’s been doing your work at the agency. I tried to pay him but he said it was an assignment from Ryan. I think he must wake up in a good mood and go to bed in one.”
“So do you know personally if he wakes up happy or not?”
Her face turned crimson red. “No, he hasn’t even kissed me goodnight. I hope he doesn’t look at us as a platonic pair. I would like it to progress.”
“You heard Ryan. Nathan’s interested. Maybe you should give him a nudge.”
She laughed.
The office was toasty warm. I took off my coat. “Can we afford to have the heat on like this?”
Amy handed me the checkbook that lay on her desk. “Maybe you should take a look.”
I went into my own office and sat down. “How did we get so far ahead?”
She sat in the chair across from me. “It happens when your partner is famous. Since Sophie gained the spotlight as you, the phone has been ringing off the phone. Many of them have been skip tracing. Nathan and I had access to Ryan’s equipment. We could sometimes finish four a day.”
“Wow. How many do you have pending?” I asked.
She walked back to her office and returned with a manila folder almost an inch thick. “These are only the ones we have to leave the office to investigate. There’s another one in there from Southern Marshall Foundries. They want a background check on all of their employees. They’re talking about offering stock to their workers and switch to employee-owned. I don’t follow their reasoning, but they are paying big bucks for us to do it. Again, with Ryan’s machines, they are each back within a few hours.”
“It looks as though you don’t need me.”
“Oh yes, I do. I love to work with Nathan, but I have to dress up all the time, full makeup, you get the idea.”
“Amy, you like him more than you want to admit.”
She smiled but ignored my comment. “This one’s interesting. Someone was stealing out of cars in the Central Neighborhood of St. Peters. It’s been going on for several weeks. Now they steal packages off of porches.”
“They can’t catch them on camera?” I asked.
“No. He wears a ski mask and there doesn’t seem to be a getaway car nearby. It’s contained in a fifteen block area. Here’s a drawing of the area. Makes me think it’s someone in the neighborhood.”
I took the map from her. “It does. It would explain why whoever’s stealing is close enough to walk home. What do the police say?”
“They always come after the deed’s done. They patrol but can’t be everywhere at the same time. If the culprit knows the neighborhood well enough, he could take shortcuts through yards and never get caught. I’m ready to tackle it.”
I was excited about doing what I was trained to do. For the next ten minutes I told her about Jonathon Gaddu and Tony, and Sophie going back to New Jersey to see what the status was there. “When the two of them return, the four of us are going to pay one more visit to Mother and try to get her to tell the truth since half the cat is out of the bag already.”
She sat straighter in her chair. “I don’t care how long you’re gone. I want you to get your life back. I can’t imagine finding out your entire childhood was built on lies.”
“Before we leave today, I’m going to make a copy of your map. Maybe I can find a pattern.”
She went to the copy machine and made two copies and handed me one. “Okay, see you tomorrow. Let’s meet here and take my truck.”
When I arrived back at the apartment Ryan was watching PBS. It was the Life and Times of Billy the Kid. He looked up when I stood behind him. “Since when are you interested in Billy the Kid?”
He didn’t look away from the TV. “Since Chili fell asleep on me and I didn’t want to bother her.”
I plopped down beside him with such force C
hili bounced and woke up. She stretched, yawned, climbed over on me and went immediately back to sleep. “There, you’re free.”
“You just burst my bubble. I was sure she couldn’t do without me.”
“I moved closer to him. “Can I mend your feelings with a kiss?”
He pushed the button on the remote that turned the television off. “No, but two or three might help. He picked up the map I had laid on the table. “What’s this? Are you and Amy searching for buried treasure?”
I told him about the neighborhood thefts. “The police gave Amy a map of the area. It has the houses marked, the day, the time they were robbed and what was taken. We each took a copy to see if we could pick out a pattern.”
“Can I help? I love a good map.”
We moved to the table in front of the balcony window, pulled our chairs closer together, and studied the map.
We drew lines from the first robbery scene to the second, to the third and so on. When we were finished, I traced the route with my finger. “It’s so random, it has a pattern. Do you see it?”
He looked at the map again and to me. “Have you ever heard of the Gambler’s Paradox?”
“Yes, I’ve heard of it, but it’s all about square roots and expectations. I think whoever the thief is went about it in a methodical way. Look.” I took the pencil and put the point on the paper. Follow the map with me: the first block, fifth house, tenth block, sixth house and so on. According to that pattern, he will be in the third block, tenth house Tuesday. That address in 2527 S. Windsor. Do you agree?”
Before he could answer, my phone rang. It was Amy, she seemed excited. “I figured it out. It’s a pattern.”
I interrupted her. “Where will he be tomorrow?”
“Nowhere, but Tuesday he’ll be at 2527…”
I finished her sentence for her. “South Windsor.”
“Great minds,” she said. “Tomorrow’s only Monday. I guess we get a day off.”
“Okay, see you.” I hung up told Ryan I had the next day off.
He took my hand and we went back to the couch. “Good. Tomorrow we can go to the house and pick the paint colors for the rooms. I don’t know about you, but I think the rooms don’t match our personalities.”
I sat. “Me too, let’s go to the paint store and get some swatches of the colors we like. We can get one for the painter and one to take with us to pick out the furnishings. I’d like to take Chili. She has been alone too much lately.”
The next morning after breakfast we headed to our new house. Ryan had Chili under his arm. She was content and didn’t want to come to me when we got into the truck.
At the house, we let Chili out in the backyard. She was in heaven. She ran and played. I didn’t realize she could run as fast as she could. Ryan and I strolled through the house deciding on colors. The rest of the day we shopped.
The next day I was at the office at nine o’clock sharp. We drove two blocks south of where we predicted the thief would strike next.
As we pulled up to the curb Amy looked at me. “Now that we’re here, I see a problem.”
“I see it too. There are six blocks of houses behind us with sixteen homes on a block.”
Amy looked around at our location. “I don’t know why we didn’t think of this. We don’t know which way he’s coming from or which way he’ll try to escape.”
I rolled down my window. “If we don’t figure something out soon, we’ll blow our opportunity to catch him.”
She put her gloves and hat on. “I’ll duck behind the bushes of the house next door. The only other place to hide is in that playhouse in the side yard of that house over there.”
I bundled up and ran to my spot. When I was settled I looked to see if Amy was well hidden. She was. I knew where she was and I couldn’t see her. The time dragged. With the cold closing in on me and the lack of movement I got sleepy. My eyes were about to close again when I saw movement.
I perked up immediately. It was a person weaving between the houses, stopping now and then to look around. There wasn’t a package on the porch of the house we had picked out. There was one at the house where Amy hid and one in a box the owners had constructed to keep their deliveries dry at the house two doors away from where I was.
My gun was in my inside coat pocket where I could easily reach it. It was fifteen minutes before he reached his target. He looked around and walked backward to avoid the camera installed on the corner that could identify him. He opened the lid on the box and took out the package it contained.
He weaved back the direction he came but by a different route. When he was out of my field of vision I ran to the truck. Amy sprinted to the passenger’s side and jumped in. “Go. Go.”
When I got to the next street I turned left and drove slowly down it looking in every nook and cranny. Amy got a glimpse of him two houses up on the other side of the street. I sped up and stopped one lot behind him. Amy jumped out of the truck and ran around the other side of the yard so she’d be in front of him.
The robber ran. Amy stuck her foot out before he had a chance to get too far away from her. When he went down, he grabbed Amy’s leg and took her down with him. As I left the truck it was still rolling. The man was on top of her and about to hit her when I stuck my Glock in his nose. “Move and I’ll shoot you.”
He was a big man. In one push he rolled Amy off of him and into my wrist. My gun fell out of my hand but I didn’t stop. When he was nearly out of our reach, he looked back at me and said. “Little lady, you need a different occupation.”
He made a mistake. He stopped to catch his breath. He paused long enough for Amy to grab his leg. He didn’t fall, but it slowed him down enough for me to catch up. His back was to me. I pulled my leg back as far as I could and kicked him between the legs. He fell like a bag of rocks and writhed in pain. I reached up and pulled the ski mask off his head. It was the subdivision president who hired us. While Amy called 911, I nudged his hands̶ they were still holding his crotch̶ with my foot and told him, “Don’t ever call me little lady.”
The police were there within minutes. Amy and I spent the time wiping the dirt and mud off of our clothes.
She walked closer to me so the perp couldn’t hear her. “You’re getting pretty good at dropping men with a kick.”
I didn’t care if he heard or not. “No one should call me little lady. Because a woman is short doesn’t mean she is inept.”
An officer came to interview us. “Do you have some identification?” He spoke to both of us. We each showed him our PI badges and licenses. He handed us one of his cards and told us to drop by the station to read and sign our statements sometime the next day.
Amy dropped me by the office to pick up my car. “No need to come to the office tomorrow. I will need a day to get warm and tend to my bruises.”
I couldn’t help but agree. ‘I’ll call you late morning.”
I rode home with my heater on high. I was still cold when I got there.
CHAPTER 31
N o one greeted me when I stepped off the elevator. Ryan’s truck was parked in the lot and even if he was busy, Chili never missed an opportunity to welcome me home.
I scanned the room. A light shone from the hallway that led to the master bedroom. The light got brighter as I got closer. There on the bed lay Ryan, fully dressed, propped up on two pillows with a novel on his chest and one hand on Chili, who was sound asleep on her back with all four feet in the air.
I’m not a quiet person, but I didn’t have the heart to wake them. There were some PJ’s hanging in the bathroom. With one hand I got them and with the other hand I took a quilt off the shelf.
They were so cute and comfortable. I stood in the hallway and watched them for a long while, went to the living room, changed into my comfy clothes and fell asleep on the couch.
My phone rang. It was on the other side of the room. I scrambled to get it before it woke my roommates. “Hi, how’s it going up there?”
“We’re about done.
We should be back by Wednesday evening. It was as I told you. I own everything expect for the money he took from the safe and another fortune in bearer bonds I forgot about. He has enough money to lavishly support ten people. He left notes in the safe about how much money he wanted me to give everyone. Your name was on the list. There is a post-it note stuck to it that says, and I quote. It’s a good thing you didn’t want to be an actress. You’re horrible at it.”
I was flabbergasted. “So he knew it was me all along. It makes me more anxious to confront Denise Madison or whoever my mother is. There are some pictures of his boys and wife that aren’t here.”
I looked up. Ryan stood at the door with Chili in his arms. “What about the business and his men?”
“He let them all go with more than generous severance. If they like the Mafia life, we heard Jimmy Angelo has announced the territory as his and he is daring anyone to dispute it.”
I motioned for Ryan to come sit beside me. “Sounds like you’ve been busy. Safe travels and we’ll see you soon.”
Chili crawled out of Ryan’s arms and came to me. I finally got the kisses I expected hours ago. “How long were you there? Did you hear any of that?”
“Most of it, want to fill me in?”
“Sure.” For the next few minutes I repeated the conversation for him.
I rubbed his arm. “It is barely ten o’clock, why are you so tired?”
He moved closer. “Once in awhile, it all catches up and I need to sleep. Tonight is one of those nights.”
“Are you sure that is all it is?”
He kissed me on the cheek. “Yes. Let’s turn in.”
We must have both been tired. We slept all through the night and until mid-morning when Chili insisted she had to go outside.
CHAPTER 32
S ophia and Tony looked exhausted when they arrived at the apartment.
Tony took their luggage to the bedroom. “Ryan, I hate to ask, but can you help me carry some of our belongings from the car?”
