And then, of course, there was Mason.
“Am I putting out pheromones or something?”
“I certainly hope not, lest I be forced to fight for you, like a stag.” Then his sour expression softened. “You’re a lovely woman, Allison. You’re also clever, and possess an inner strength that’s only enhanced by your sweet nature. It shouldn’t be surprising that the men around you have noticed. It’s only surprising to me that it seems to have taken them so long.”
Allie opened her mouth. Closed it.
“Since I appear to have rendered you temporarily speechless, this is probably a good time to go inside and have another look at your palm.”
“What?” Allie shook herself out of her stupor. “Oh. No. It’s alright, really. I… what are you doing out here, anyway? Shouldn’t you be on stage?”
“Ah, just getting some air. Tommy felt himself sufficiently recovered to resume his role this evening. I’ve been helping out backstage.”
“Oh.” Although his expression was perfectly neutral, Allie thought she detected a hint of disappointment in his tone. “You wish you were still up there, don’t you?”
“I… well, to be perfectly honest, yes. Theater, particularly small, local theaters, has a sense of camaraderie, of engaging in a sort of costumed lark with one’s mates, that… isn’t always that easy to recapture in larger productions.” He smiled, and it was rueful. “Filling in for Tommy made me remember why I fell in love with acting in the first place.”
“How did you get started? Were you very young?”
Mason studied her for a moment. “That is a tale I would love to tell you. Over dinner tomorrow.”
“Is that a bribe?”
“I prefer to think of it as a… bridge to another scene.”
“Just to be clear,” she used his expression. “You’re asking me out on a date.”
“I believe that’s still the custom.”
Allie shook her head. She would probably live to regret this, but what the hell. Even when you played it safe, life had a way of dragging you down bumpy roads. Maybe it was better to walk right onto them with your own two feet. “Okay. I’ll have dinner with you. But only because you’ve made me curious.”
She reached up to adjust the strap on her purse, catching her scraped palm in the process. Which caused her to recall the fact that she’d dropped her keys when she’d fallen. “Shoot. I have to go.”
“And we haven’t even gotten to the appetizer course.”
“No, smartass, I dropped my keys. When I fell. I’m going to borrow Bran’s car so that I can go back and look for them.”
“Something wrong with your car? Obviously there must be, since Officer Ogler dropped you off.”
“That’s Lieutenant Ogler,” Allie said, her tone dry.
“My apologies. I have temporary possession of Tucker’s truck. How about I give you a lift back to the Dust Jacket, and I’ll have a look at the battery while you search for your keys. I do know my way around that make of car, if you’ll recall.”
“No. I mean yes, I remember that you’re familiar with Jags.” He’d helped her out with another problem last summer. “But that’s not where I dropped the keys.” It would be much easier to simply borrow Bran’s car and look for the keys herself than to explain everything to Mason. Except…
Paranoid though she might be, she didn’t relish the idea of going back over there alone. And, as Mason had recently reminded her, being independent didn’t mean she had to be stupid about accepting help when it was offered.
“We’ll have to make another stop first.”
“That, my dear, is not a problem. Just give me a moment to tell Branson I’m leaving.”
“MAYBE Alan picked them up,” Allie said.
Mason shone the heavy-duty flashlight he’d borrowed from Tucker’s truck, along the ground. Aside from some leaves, a bottle cap and a gum wrapper, there was nothing except asphalt and concrete.
“Why wouldn’t he have given them to you?”
“I don’t know.” She sounded despondent.
“Perhaps we should retrace your steps. Maybe you dropped them before you fell. What is it?” he said when he noted the expression on her face.
“Nothing,” she said, far too quickly. “I just know that I had them in my hand as I was… walking. So I couldn’t have dropped them. Until I tripped, I mean. And fell.”
“Allison,” he said as he studied her. “What is it that you’re not telling me?”
“What makes you think that I’m not telling you something?”
“Let’s just say that the acting gene was not evenly divided between you and your twin.”
She huffed a breath, ruffling a lock of inky hair, and her tone when she responded was faintly mutinous. “I got spooked, okay? I had the pepper spray in my hand – it’s attached to my key ring – and I know I had it because I was making sure not to drop it as I ran. It was after I… bumped into Alan, here at the intersection, and stumbled, that I must have let go of it.”
Mason stared at her for a long moment. “Just so we’re clear, you were walking down the darkened street – alone – and something frightened you enough that you not only pulled out your pepper spray, but you almost ran in front of a car.”
Allie drew herself up to her full height. Which, to be honest, wasn’t quite as impressive a display as she might have hoped. “You and your condescension can go on back to the theater now. Or England. You can always go back to England. They have flights real regular-like.”
“What scared you?” Mason asked, ignoring her suggestion.
Some of the sass went out of her tone as she looked back down the street. “It was nothing. I thought someone was following me, but I’m sure it was just my imagination. I’ve been edgy since… since you found that arm. I guess it’s been bothering me more than I thought. Not knowing whether it was deliberate.”
“Whether the man was murdered, you mean.”
Her gaze cut back toward his. “Yes. It’s just so creepy. And I’m sorry. I know that can’t be a pleasant memory for you.”
“No. But sometimes what we imagine is often worse than the reality, and it begins to play tricks in our head. It’s understandable that you’d be unsettled, Allison.”
She sighed. “Thanks. Thank you for not making me feel more ridiculous than I do already.” She glanced around the empty intersection. “Well, I guess there’s no point in hanging around here any longer. I’m pretty sure the keys are gone.”
They headed toward Tucker’s truck, which Mason had parked in the lot of the little museum next door.
“Did you have any sort of identification on your key ring?”
“No.” Allie shook her head. “And I have copies of the keys to the house, the store and my car. I had a spare key to your cottage on there, though.” She gave him a rueful look. “If all of your stuff is gone when you get back, you’ll know who to blame.”
“I’d say your car is probably more interesting to potential thieves than my toothbrush. And without identification, it’s a pretty remote possibility that whoever found your keys would know where to use them.”
“Unless…”
“Unless?” Mason prompted as he opened her door.
“Nothing.” She shook her head, and climbed into the seat.
“Allison.” He put his hand on her thigh, his grip firm enough to indicate he failed to find that answer satisfactory.
“Getting a little high-handed again, aren’t you? Oh, alright,” she said when she judged by his expression that he was prepared to stand there all night. “Unless it wasn’t my imagination, and someone was following me. And if they overheard me talking to Alan, it wouldn’t be that difficult to figure out who I am. He – or she – could have hidden nearby and picked up the keys after we drove off.”
“And that potentially puts your business and your home at risk from intruders or thieves.” He tilted his head. “Why were you hesitant to mention it?”
She sighed. “Because my
colleagues and my family might wonder why I suddenly got a wild hair about changing all the locks, which means I’d have to explain the circumstances under which I lost my keys, which in turn will make people worry. And like I told you yesterday, I’m tired of being the center of that kind of attention. I just want to be normal for a change.”
Mason understood that sentiment far more than he would have thought possible.
“Do you think this… Alan will say anything to your brother?”
“I don’t know him well enough to say for sure, but I think he’ll respect my wishes. Unless he feels there’s a good reason not to.”
“And both your home and your business have alarm systems, am I correct?”
“Yes.”
“Then it seems to me that you can mention that you appear to have lost your keys – without going into specifics – and are worried about them falling into the wrong hands. It wouldn’t be out of the question if you suggested changing the locks, or at the very least if you reminded everyone to be vigilant about the alarm systems unless and until your keys turn up.”
Allie considered. “That could work. Especially since I don’t know that they might not turn up. Because I don’t know that I was being followed, or that some Good Samaritan didn’t find the keys and will turn them in to the Museum, since it’s right next door, tomorrow.”
“There you go. Checking in with the Museum seems like a brilliant idea.”
“And it’s an off chance, but I can call Alan in the morning and ask if he has them. Maybe they’re even in his truck.”
This time Mason murmured something noncommittal. He didn’t want to encourage any more interaction between Allison and the cop than he absolutely had to.
“Well,” he said, climbing into the driver’s seat and stowing the flashlight behind him. “Since you don’t have your spare car key with you, how about I give you a lift home and then I can have a look at your battery in the morning.”
“Provided my car is still there.”
“It will be,” he said. “I’ll keep an eye on it, since it’s parked practically right outside my window.”
“Mason.” Allie touched his arm before he could turn the key in the engine. “Thank you. You made me feel… steadier.”
“That,” he told her with a small, very pleased smile “might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“OH. My. God.” Rainey fanned herself as she came out of the Dust Jacket’s kitchen. Her wide brown eyes were glassy when she carried the tray of fresh apricot scones to where Allie was stocking the day’s baked goods. “Can you maybe have car trouble more often? Because the sight of a good-looking man in jeans bent over a car engine is one thing, but when the man has an ass like that, it becomes a religious experience.”
Allie slid her a sideways look.
“Oh come on. Don’t act like you haven’t noticed.”
Allie sighed. “Why do you think I came out here to stick my head in the refrigerated display case?”
“Good plan.” Rainey held the tray while Allie used tongs to arrange the scones. “You better bring a fire extinguisher along on your date tonight. When you spontaneously combust, at least Mason will be able to keep the flames from spreading.”
Allie slapped the last scone onto the plate in exasperation. “Tell me you were not eavesdropping on my private conversation this morning.”
“I was not eavesdropping on your private conversation this morning. Branson was eavesdropping on your private conversation this morning. I bribed him with an iced mocha to tell me what y’all said.”
Allie shook her head. This was the price, she knew, of asking her brother – the gossip queen – to drive her into work at seven o’clock in the morning.
“Maybe I should carry the extinguisher, in case Mason spontaneously combusts over me.”
“I would concede your point if it weren’t for the fact that he’s pulled his hair back in a little ponytail. Did you see that little ponytail, Allie? With the strands of dark gold hair straggling down so that all you notice is those cheekbones? I almost swallowed my tongue.”
Allie’s lips twitched. “I think maybe you’re the one in danger of combusting.”
“Don’t I know it. Here.” She took the tray with alacrity. “I’ll take that back to the kitchen.”
“How helpful of you.”
“I try.”
More amused than annoyed, Allie started double checking the stock of cups, bags, napkins and straws so that she wasn’t tempted to follow Rainey into the kitchen. She had a difficult enough time keeping her head when it came to Mason without Rainey fanning the...
Okay. Enough with the fire motif.
The swinging door opened again behind her, and Allie called over her shoulder. “Let me guess. He’s taken off his shirt, resulting in the loss of all feeling in your extremities.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
Allie dropped the box, sending straws skittering all over the floor. She whipped around to see Mason leaning indolently against the counter, mouth quirking.
And damn it, the ponytail was hot.
“Not nearly as dangerous as sneaking up on a woman in close proximity to boiling liquids.”
“Just in case there was any question, I’d prefer the tea you promised me in a cup as opposed to covering my person.”
“I’ll bear that in mind. Did you get the car started?” she asked as she bent over to scoop up straws.
“Well, yes.” He retrieved a straw that had landed near his booted feet. “However…”
When she heard the hesitation in his voice, Allie glanced up. His expression no longer held the slightest trace of amusement.
“Is there someplace we can talk?” he asked, his voice pitched low. “Privately.”
“Sure.” Allie’s brows drew together. “Is something wrong?”
“I’d rather wait to discuss it when we’re not in danger of being overheard.”
“At least you’ve figured out how this town works. Give me just a second.” She put the last of the wrapped straws back into the box and sat it on the shelf. “Rainey! Can you come out here a second?”
Rainey popped up like an eager jack-in-the-box, ears practically flapping. “You called me?”
“Can you unlock the front door and mind the counter for a bit? I have to talk to Mason.”
“Oh.” Her gaze darted between the two of them and she smirked, clearly coming to her own conclusion. “Sure thing, boss.”
Allie rolled her eyes as she led Mason to the office. She peeked back into the hall to double check that there were no errant siblings or overzealous employees lurking about, and then closed and locked the door. On second thought, she unlocked it. A bolted door would only give Rainey more cause for speculation. “That should keep Rainey occupied, and Josie is busy in the kitchen.”
“I know.” Mason looked slightly wary. “She scowled at me as I came through.”
“That just means she’s accepted you.”
“I hate to think what she might have done if she hadn’t.” He started to run his hand through his hair, recalled that he’d pulled it back, and reached to pluck out the band.
Allie made an inadvertent noise of distress.
He stopped, arm arrested in mid-motion, and Allie could have kicked herself.
“It’s…” Might as well just tell him. “It’s really sexy like that.”
The startled look in his eyes shifted to something more potent. His lids dropped, his chest expanded, and Allie wondered if he intended to just throw her down right there on the desk.
And why that sounded like a perfectly reasonable plan of action.
But then he closed his eyes. “Don’t distract me.” And they popped back open. “Not right now, at least.”
“Sorry.”
Allie went to sit behind the desk – it seemed prudent – and gestured Mason to the other chair. “What’s up?”
“First, a question. When was the last time you u
sed your rear lighter?”
“My what?”
“In your car.”
“Oh.” Allie thought it over. “I have no idea. I use the front one to charge my phone sometimes, but… why, is there something wrong with it?”
“Well, I was able to successfully jump your battery. I let the car run for a bit, then turned it off and restarted it just to be sure. Only it wouldn’t start. So I went through the process again. I thought that maybe it was just a bad battery, but asked Tucker to come out and give his opinion before I sent you to the shop, and after he’d looked it over he checked the lighters.”
“I’m assuming there’s some sort of mechanical reason why he thought to do that, but I confess I have no idea what it is.”
“Nor do I, but then I’ve discovered that writers often possess odd bits of information about subjects that normal humans would look at askance.” Mason pulled something small, silver and crumpled from his pocket and placed it on the desk.
Allie eyed it in confusion. “Aluminum foil?”
“Apparently if you put it in the lighter it creates a junction of some sort – you’ll have to ask Tucker the specifics – which amounts to a continuous drain on the battery. Normally it takes a day or two for it to drain completely, but it seems that your battery was on its last leg anyway.”
“Of course it was.” Allie sighed, and studied the ball of foil. “Back in my day it was toilet papering houses. I blame the internet for giving pranksters more sophisticated ideas. Thanks.” She glanced up at Mason. “I’ll call and see if I can get a new battery delivered.”
Mason tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Don’t you find the timing a little… coincidental?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that someone sabotaged your car, likely while you were doing your tour last evening. And immediately afterward, you felt that you were being followed.”
A chill crawled over Allie’s skin, but she quickly dismissed it. “My car was unlocked – my fault – and therefore an easy target for mischief. It’s spring break for a lot of the schools, so it’s really not that surprising. Besides, how could whoever sabotaged it know that my battery would drain immediately? You said it normally took a day or two. Not to mention that they would have no way of knowing that I’d decide to walk to the theater to borrow Bran’s car, rather than calling a cab or walking next door and asking Sarah or Tucker for a jump.”
Admit One (Sweetwater Book 2) Page 12
