“Kid?” Theo lifted an eyebrow as he got into his car.
“You’re younger than me. It works.”
“Ri-i-i-ght.”
“Yep. Okay, I’ll see you there, even if you don’t see me, and drive slowly so I get there first.”
Sucking in a breath, Theo nodded. He watched when Ric crossed the lot to his car, whispering, “Please, God, help us make it through this in one piece.”
* * * *
Ric was a couple of blocks from Theo’s apartment building when Detective Kane called him.
“So far, no one has entered the building through the front door who doesn’t belong there, according to the on-site manager,” Kane said. “The roofs on either side are clear, too.”
“What about the back door?” Ric asked.
“Two men and a woman used it,” Kane replied. “The woman and one of the men were together and went straight to the elevator. The other man apparently took the stairs up, according to what our man watching from the roof of a building across the alley could see through the window in the back door.”
“If that was our man, he could be in Theo’s apartment by now.”
“He’s not. We’ve got a man in there. He’d have let me know if anyone other than Theo came in,” Kane replied. “Where are you now?”
“About to park. I should be there in a couple of minutes. Before you say it, I’m not going to blithely walk into the building. I can be sneaky when necessary. Theo should show up any minute now.”
Kane chuckled, obviously at Ric’s ‘sneaky’ comment, and then said, “We’re ready. My best guess, if that was our man who took the stairs, he’ll be waiting in the stairwell on Theo’s floor and make his move as soon as he sees Theo coming down the hall.”
“What if he’s in the elevator?”
“One of my men checked it less than five minutes ago, including the emergency trap door. No one’s on top of the cage.”
“Okay. I’m parked. I’ll see you…when I see you, I guess.”
After locking the car, Ric took off for Theo’s building. When he was at the end of the block he walked to the alley. Because it was almost six, he was able to stay well within the shadows cast by the lowering sun until he got the parking lot. From what Kane had told him, he was certain Ethan’s attacker was already in the building—but he wasn’t taking any chances. He waited at the back corner of the lot, checking for any signs of movement in or between the cars. As he did, he saw Theo arrive and park in his designated space. It took Theo a couple of minutes before he got out, during which Ric figured he was also checking to be certain no one was around. Then, he hurried to the back door and seconds later was inside.
Ric waited before following suit. As soon as he entered, he moved to where he could see the floor indicator above the elevator doors. It stopped moments later at Theo’s floor. Ric headed for the stairs, wondering, as he took them two at a time, if he’d run into their man before he got to Theo’s apartment.
* * * *
Theo cautiously turned the handle of the door to his apartment, surprised at the relief he felt to find it didn’t open. Stupid me. Of course it’s locked. I locked it when I left.
He had walked there from the elevator expecting the man to jump out from one of the other apartments, or the stairs, and was now so tense that his shoulders ached. All he wanted was to get safely into his apartment. Then, wait for him to try to break in? At least I’ll have company. The cop Kane assigned to protect me is in there.
Unlocking the door, he stepped into the entryway, flipped on the light, and then relocked the door before going into the living room. He frowned when he saw the uniformed officer seemed to be asleep, lying on the sofa. “Got bored and decided to take a nap?” he muttered as he crossed to shake the man’s shoulder. That’s when he saw the blood covering the side of the cop’s head and soaking into the cushion.
“He’ll probably live, if he’s lucky.”
Theo whirled around as a man he knew had to be the one who was after him came through the kitchen doorway. He held a small pistol in one hand, a long-bladed knife in the other.
“Why don’t you have a seat,” the man suggested, using the knife to point to the armchair.
“Why don’t you go to Hell,” Theo retorted, anger spiking in spite of the fact he was terrified.
“Look, brat, you do as you’re told and I’ll make your death relatively painless,” the man replied, stepping closer. “Now sit!”
“Why? I mean, why do you want me dead?” Theo asked as he backed to the chair, unwilling to take his eyes off the man.
“Expediency. With you out of the picture, I will inherit a sizable fortune.”
“And my mother, too?” he asked as he forced himself to sit as the man had ordered.
The man sneered. “My beloved sister has no idea about my grandfather’s will. She took off before he died. I have no intention of letting her know about it, if I find her.”
“Meaning you’re going to kill her, too.”
The man shrugged. “I do what I have to. In your case, you need to die. You will inherit everything if you show up, which could happen if that detective you hired learns who Lily is.” He frowned. “What I don’t get is why you don’t know already. Her name must have been on your adoption papers.”
Without thinking, Theo replied, “Her last name, and anything else that could lead to her was eradicated.” Then he wondered if he just signed his own death warrant. No. He’s going to kill me, no matter what. He clenched his hands together to keep his fear from showing.
“Well, isn’t that a pleasant surprise,” the man said as he took another step toward Theo. “One more question.” He grinned. “Do you want me to shoot you, or stab you?”
Theo swallowed hard, even though he knew the question was rhetorical. Then he answered, looking dead at the man. “Stabbing. You did a lousy job on Ethan. Maybe I’ll get just as lucky and survive.”
“Brave words, from a dead man.” The man moved swiftly as he tucked the gun into his waistband. Before Theo could react, he was behind him, one arm circling his throat. “Say hello to Grandfather when you see him in the afterworld,” the man said.
Theo saw the knife as it descended, coming straight for his heart, and closed his eyes.
A shot rang out, then a second one, and the knife dropped from the man’s lifeless hand as he fell to the floor. Moments later, Theo was pulled to his feet to be wrapped in a tight embrace. “Ric?” he whispered.
“Yep. The cavalry has arrived, and in the nick of time, it seems.”
When Theo looked past Ric, he saw Kane kneeling next to the man’s body, while an officer checked the cop on the sofa, putting his fingers to his throat. “He’s alive,” the office said before making a call for an ambulance. “Better make it two,” he told the dispatcher. “One for a wounded officer, the other to transport a body to the morgue.”
“How…?” Theo looked at Ric.
“One of Kane’s people let him know you were in the building. He texted him—” Ric pointed to the wounded cop, “—and when he didn’t answer, Kane and the officer headed up here. I met them in the hallway and gave Kane the key to the apartment. He unlocked the door and opened it a crack so that they could hear what was happening. When it was obvious the man was about to kill you, they came in and rescued your sorry ass.”
“Sorry ass?” Theo glared at him. When he saw Ric was grinning, he smacked his arm. “Not funny.”
“No, it’s not,” Ric replied softly. “If they had been a second later I’d have lost you.”
“Ric, Theo,” Kane said as he joined them. “I’ll have one of my men take you down to the precinct because I need statements from both of you. I’ll get there as soon as possible, but it’ll be no earlier than seven, and probably later.”
“That’s okay,” Theo replied. “Anywhere is better than here right now.” He shuddered. “Too much blood. Thankfully none of it’s mine, but…”
“No kidding,” Ric said emphatically. K
eeping one arm tightly around Theo’s waist, he walked him into the hallway to wait for the officer who would take them to the precinct.
* * * *
Detective Kane had been correct in stating it would be a while until he could meet with Ric and Theo. Almost two hours, in point of fact. By the time he appeared, soon after eight, Theo was marginally calmer, thanks to Ric who entertained him—to use Ric’s word—with stories of cases he and Ethan had dealt with since he’d joined the agency.
Ric was in the middle of telling him about a runaway kid when Kane came over to take them up to the squad room.
Once they were seated at Kane’s desk, the detective said, “First off, the officer who was attacked will be fine. He’s got a nasty scalp wound and a concussion, but he’ll live, and hopefully be more aware the next time. I stopped by the hospital to talk with him. It seems he was playing a game on his phone as he waited for you, Theo, so he didn’t hear Mr. Chadwick until it was too late.”
“That’s his name?” Theo asked.
“Yes. Harrison Chadwick, or Chadwick Harrison, depending on which driver’s license is legitimate.”
Ric frowned. “He had two?”
“He did. The one from Illinois, for Harrison Chadwick, was in the window of his wallet. The other one, from New York, along with two credit cards with the Harrison surname, were hidden in a secret pocket in the wallet.”
“Not terribly clever of him,” Ric said. “You should only keep the ID you’re using on your person. The other should be in a safe place, like in your luggage if you’re traveling, or at home until you decide to switch them out.”
“Something you do on occasion?” Kane asked, lifting one eyebrow.
“Me? Never,” Ric replied innocently. “I read a lot of spy thrillers.”
Kane snorted softly. “I’ll take your word for it. Anyway, we’re in the process of tracking down which ID is the legitimate one. Two of our people are searching his hotel room. They’ve already found his laptop.”
“How did you know which hotel?” Theo wanted to know.
“He had a credit card receipt in his wallet,” Kane replied.
Turning to Ric, Theo asked, “Did any of the Lilliana’s you found have one of those last names?”
“No,” Ric replied. “But then we know it’s possible she changed her last name. Probably after she put you up for adoption or she wouldn’t have needed to have the information eradicated on the adoption certificate.”
“Debatable,” Kane said. “Whether she changed it before or after, knowing the surname could have led to her if someone wanted to find her.”
“Obviously Chadwick did, or at least he didn’t want anyone else locating her if he couldn’t. It does make me wonder why he didn’t hire a private investigator to do his dirty work.”
“That’s pretty obvious,” Theo said. “He didn’t want her found. Well, not really. He was looking for me. He would have had to come up with a story for anyone he hired to explain why he didn’t know my name.” He shrugged. “Or something like that. I’m too tired to make much sense right now.” He turned to Kane to ask, “How long before you know what his real name is?”
“Hopefully by morning,” Kane replied. “We’ll send his prints to the IAFIS database for starters. There might be information on his laptop, as well.”
“Even if he tried to hide it, I’m sure your computer experts can dig it out,” Ric said.
“They’d better be able too,” Kane replied. “Right now, though, it’s late. Let me get your statements, especially yours, Theo, and then you can get out of here.”
Kane took notes on what they told him, wrote statements for both of them, and after they’d read and signed them, he told them to go home and get “some well-earned rest.”
It wasn’t until they left the precinct house that Theo realized neither of them had their cars.
“So, we’ll cab it home,” Ric said, taking out his phone. “To my place,” he added after hanging up. “You are not going back to your apartment until it’s been cleaned up.”
“By who?”
“There are companies that make a living out of cleaning up crime scenes. I’ll give you the name of one that I know does a good job, but not until tomorrow.”
The cab arrived several minutes later, dropping them off at Ric’s house at eight-fifty-eight, according to the meter. When they got out, Theo eyed the small brick house, saying, “Not quite what I expected.”
“Why?” Ric asked.
“It looks…homey.”
“What? You thought I’d have some ultra-modern one? All glass and steel?”
“Maybe?” Theo replied as they walked up the path to the front porch.
“Sorry to disappoint.”
Theo snorted softly. “I’m not in the least. I like this…well, the outside, anyway.”
Ric unlocked the front door to let them in, disarming and then rearming the security system after closing the door. “To your right,” he said in a tour-guide’s voice, “you’ll see the living and dining rooms. Directly ahead are the stairs to the second floor. To your left is the kitchen and breakfast nook, with my office right behind them.” He grinned. “Think I’d make it directing one of the tours you arrange?”
Theo waggled one hand. “With some training, maybe.”
“You wound me to the quick.” Putting his arm around Theo’s waist, he took him into the kitchen. “Neither of us has eaten. I’ve got frozen pizza, frozen meatloaf, and I think frozen lasagna. Take your choice.”
“Pizza. It’s probably faster.”
Ric got out two—“Because they’re personal pizzas”—and after nuking both of them and making coffee; they sat side-by-side on one of the benches facing the table in the nook to eat.
Ric smiled when he saw Theo’s eyelids drooping even before he’d finished eating. “Time to get you to bed. In the guestroom, before you think I’m planning on taking advantage of you.”
“Right now, I’d probably fall asleep before you got my clothes off,” Theo retorted with a tired smile.
“We wouldn’t want that.”
After sticking their cups and plates into the dishwasher, Ric started out of the kitchen. When Theo didn’t follow, Ric looked back and saw that his head was buried on his folded arms. For a second he though Theo was asleep, until he saw his body shaking.
“Hey.” Ric put his hands on Theo’s shoulders. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Is it?” Theo asked in a muffled voice. “I was almost killed, I saw a man shot to death, Ethan and that cop could have died, and all because I couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
Ric slid in beside him, saying softly, “Look at me.” For a moment he thought Theo would ignore him, and then he sat up, although he kept his gaze lowered. “None of what happened was your fault. Understand? None of it. Chadwick was a greedy bastard who wanted it all and intended to get it, one way or the other. We may never know how he latched onto the fact we were searching for Lilliana, but he did. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out someone hired us and the only logical person would be you. He just had to find out who ‘you’ were.”
Theo nodded. “Still, if I hadn’t wanted to find her…”
“Not. Your. Fault. You can lay the blame directly on his doorstep. If he hadn’t threatened us, we wouldn’t have come up with our plan to find out who he was. That was a stupid move on his part when all he had to do was break in or hide the way he did before attacking Ethan. Once the coast was clear, he could have searched our file cabinets, found your file with the contract, and been home free.” Ric gripped Theo’s hands. “Not to scare the living daylights out of you, but if that had happened, you’d be dead now and no one would know why.”
“You’re right. I know you are. But…”
Ric shut him up by kissing him, then pulled back, brushing one finger over his lips. “There is no but. Got it? You’re alive, so are Ethan and the cop. The good guys won, thanks in part to the fact you were willing to put yourself in danger to st
op him. In my book, that makes you a hero.” He tapped Theo’s lips. “And do not argue. You are! Right now, though, it’s time we both got some sleep. We’ve got jobs and…”
“Oh, God. Mom!”
Ric got up, looking at him with a trace of amusement. “You told her you were sick. Food poisoning, remember? Tomorrow you’ll be feeling better and show up at the office as always. You don’t have to tell her anything until you decide if you want to or not.”
“I guess so.” Theo didn’t look convinced, as he stood, too. He smiled weakly. “Maybe it’ll all look better in the morning.”
“To quote a rather feisty lady, ‘Tomorrow is another day’.”
Theo shook his head as he trudged up the stairs with Ric right behind him.
Chapter 10
“Are you sure you’re well enough to work today?” Donna asked her son when Theo came into their office at the travel agency Wednesday morning. “You look like death warmed over.”
“I’m fine, Mom, honest.”
He was, as much as possible, considering what he’d seen on the TV news as he and Ric got ready to leave Ric’s house.
They were going to take a cab to Theo’s apartment building, at which point Ric would get his car from where he’d left it, before going to hospital to check on Ethan and then on to work.
“What’s wrong?” Ric had asked, coming into the living room.
“That.” Theo had pointed to the TV, and the reporter who was in the midst of telling the audience about a police-involved shooting the previous evening. “Now everyone’s going to know.”
“Know what?” Ric had said when the story ended. “They didn’t say where it occurred, for starters, and your name wasn’t mentioned. You’re ‘the man’ that Mr. Chadwick was about to kill when the cops intervened.”
“I know, but…”
“There aren’t any pictures of your building, which is a good thing. My guess would be Kane or Lieutenant Archer had something to do with that. Probably a trade-off for Kane’s being interviewed about what happened.”
A Secret Uncovered Page 10
