* * * * *
They all stood outside the restaurant and Eris watched as Rob handed Drew five dollars and told him to go get whatever he wanted for dessert. Rob and she had both baulked at anything else to eat when Drew suggested it.
The boy took the money and turned to Eris. “Can I go meet up with some friends?”
She smiled. “Sure, have fun but don’t stay out too late.”
“Thanks.”
Drew turned and ran off to some unknown destination, leaving them in an awkward silence. Rob gave her another look she couldn’t decipher before dropping an arm around her shoulder and starting toward home.
“So what’s on our agenda for this evening?” He walked at a slow, easy pace.
Despite knowing she should be building a fortress around her heart where this man was concerned, she liked the way our sounded coming from him. “I need to be at the shop by eight.”
Rob didn’t seem to hear her as he stopped and dropped his arm from her shoulders. Taking a step toward one of the many newsprint stands, he lifted the lid and pulled out a copy of Moon and Stars, a local tabloid devoted to the occult.
He stood on the sidewalk reading the front page of the paper and then flipped through it before turning his glare toward her. “I thought you said that you didn’t have a fan club?”
“I don’t,” Eris snapped at his cold, accusatory tone.
“Then explain this.” He shoved the newspaper toward her and she grabbed it. She scanned the first page before looking back at him and meeting his gaze.
“I knew nothing about this. You’ve got to believe me, I’ve never been a part of Orbit’s so-called followers. I was her friend and I worked with her but I didn’t belong to them and I surely never expected them to turn their attention from Orbit to me.”
“It’s just another complication we don’t need—and what pisses me off is someone out there has been spying on us! There are pictures showing us coming out of Orbit’s house, in the alley after the truck almost ran you down and leaving my apartment building after we spent the night there. Whoever this person is, they’ve even done their research and know you’ve inherited Orbit’s estate.”
“That’s a matter of public record. Anyone could have gotten hold of that information if they wanted.”
Rob grabbed her hand and started back toward the apartment at a much faster pace. “True, but I’m getting tired of being blindsided every time I turn around.”
“These slugs used to hound poor Orbit, she said it was a job hazard. She couldn’t retrieve her morning paper without a picture showing up in that rag.”
“That might be true, but it doesn’t explain why they’ve decided to come after you.” Rob walked faster.
“They probably think I’m going to be the next Orbit and are trying to get a scoop on the story.” Her legs were long, but not long enough to keep up with his steps. “Why the hurry?”
Rob slowed down. “Sorry. I don’t like the fact that you’re being watched like this, it makes me uneasy. I also need to call Matt and have him track down this photographer.”
“Why do you want to find him?”
He turned and there was a predatory gleam in his eyes. “If he got pictures of us in that alley, he might have gotten a picture of the truck and driver that tried to run you down.”
“God, I hope he did.”
Back at the apartment, she made her way to her room so Rob could make his phone call. Once the bedroom door was closed behind her, she opened the biweekly tabloid and flipped through it until she found the picture she wanted.
She took a good long look at it and groaned. Her family was going to be livid. She could already hear the shocked gasp and see the censored looks. Glancing back down at the picture, she hoped it wasn’t as bad as she’d first thought.
Eris flopped back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. It was worse than she first thought. Man oh man, it was going to be a long time before she heard the end of this.
She rolled back over and looked at the picture again, this time trying not to think about the fact it was her in it. If she looked at the picture from an artistic viewpoint, it was actually well done and extremely erotic. Despite the high quality of the pictures, the invasion of privacy bothered Eris and she wondered how much it was going to cost to buy the negatives from the photographer.
Forcing herself up, she started getting herself ready for the evening ahead despite the urge to find a hole and crawl into it. Grabbing clothes from her closet, she prepared herself like a soldier going into battle.
* * * * *
“I can’t believe you did this!”
Carmen placed her outfit for the evening on the bed before addressing her brother’s statement. “You’re only angry because there is nothing you can do about it.”
“I’m mad because it’s wrong and it goes against everything I stand for.”
Carmen sighed. They’d been growing apart for years. “Your beliefs aren’t mine. You never understood how much I’ve suffered, how long I’ve waited to live my own life. I won’t put up with your control any longer. Go away.”
“Please listen—”
“Leave. Now.” Carmen waited until she was alone to release the air in her lungs. She wouldn’t cave to his wishes because only the strong survived. She was living proof of that fact, she thought as she continued to dress for a night out on the town.
* * * * *
Rob closed his new cell phone as he checked the back door to the shop once again. The DuBose family was way too trusting, in his opinion, and leaving the back door unlocked during business hours was a bad habit they needed to break soon. The store needed a back door that automatically closed and locked, a panic button or two and an upgraded camera system. Tomorrow he’d have a talk with her father about the changes they needed to make.
The swinging door separating the storefront from the back room dropped back into place behind him as the doorbell chimed. Rob automatically reached for his gun as he turned to see who’d entered the shop. His hand stopped when he saw who the customer was.
The man was in his late sixties, in good shape with a head full of gray hair and the same startling green eyes as Eris. Even though they weren’t in any physical danger, he wasn’t so sure about the damage that was about to be done.
He watched as Eris turned from the counter and looked toward the door. The inviting smile on her lips disappeared in a flash when she caught sight of their visitor. As she straightened, she brushed the hair around her face back behind her ears and faced her grandfather squarely.
Now the tailored pantsuit, crisp white shirt, black pumps and uncolored hair made perfect sense. She’d come to work prepared to battle her family, and it looked as if she were about to run into it head-on.
The older man tossed a newspaper on the counter with a loud slap. “You don’t even bother to call me about this.”
“Hello, Grandfather. It’s nice to see you also.” Eris smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.
Criswell huffed. “Don’t smart mouth me, young lady.”
“I’m not going to argue with you, but I’m not going to listen to another lecture from you about how I should get my life together.”
“I wasn’t going to do that,” Criswell exclaimed. “I came here because my own granddaughter didn’t have the decency to call and tell me about these horrid pictures. Brian, of all people, told me.”
Eris leaned forward until she was nose to nose with her grandfather. “Brian is a brainless flunky you hired to spy on your grandchildren and tattle on them. Do you know we all sit around and dream up evil ways of disposing of the man?”
“Brian obviously hasn’t worked out as well as I’d hoped but I didn’t come here to discuss my mistakes. I came here to talk about your indecent public display.” With that, Criswell opened the paper and pointed. “You were raised better than this.”
Eris took in a sharp breath and stepped back as if she’d been slapped. The look in her eyes was that of a little girl wh
ose favorite doll’s head had been ripped off by the neighborhood bully.
Rob closed the distance between himself and the older man. “I’m Rob Jackson, the other person in those ‘indecent’ pictures.”
Rob held his hand out toward the older man in hopes of redirecting some of his anger off Eris and onto himself. Criswell turned toward him and, in that instant, Rob knew he’d made an enemy who would enjoy nothing more than ruining his life. He could tell the older man was attempting to maintain his temper and not give anything away as they shook hands. “Your granddaughter is a beautiful, intelligent woman. Don’t let those pictures make you forget that.”
Eris gave him a thankful grin before she turned back to her grandfather. “It’s not as if we posed for the pictures, Grandpa. Someone’s been following me around snapping shots at the worst possible moments.”
“And I’ve got someone working on finding out who that is. I’m as unhappy about this as Eris and plan on putting a stop to it as soon as possible. What we all need to remember is the boring pictures of us walking down the street together most likely didn’t get printed. Those photos wouldn’t be newsworthy,” Rob reminded the older man.
“True—and I should know that.” Criswell ran a hand over his face. “Guess I blew a gasket when Brian handed this to me as I was leaving the office this evening.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me? Brian has been coming between us since I refused to date him,” Eris said.
“I hadn’t thought about it, but he is always bringing you up in a negative light.”
“Yes he does, and considering he talks with you every day, that’s a lot of digs coming my way.”
“Think I’ll have to pay more attention to what Brian is saying and when. If I’ve been extra hard on you, Eris, I’m sorry. I never meant to make your life difficult. If it makes you feel any better, I was rougher on your mother than your uncles when she was growing up.”
Rob watched as Eris leaned across the counter and gave her grandfather a hug. “You’re forgiven this time.”
The pair talked for a couple more minutes before Criswell left the store and Eris returned to cleaning behind the counter. Rob gave his head a mental shake at the family interaction. By all he could tell, everything was good and forgiven between the two. He shook his head because he found it hard to believe Eris forgave her grandfather so easily. Another family life fact he’d obviously missed out on while growing up in his dysfunctional household.
“Oh my God.”
Rob turned to see what upset Eris so much and watched as she placed two objects on the counter. “What are those?”
“Earrings.” She looked up at him and he could see the pain in her eyes. “These were Orbit’s and they were in the lost and found.”
He walked over to the counter and peered down at the items. “You’re sure they were hers?”
“I’m positive. I gave them to her for her birthday two years ago.”
He reached out and took one of her hands in his. “How can you be so sure they belonged to Orbit?”
“I commissioned them. One of a kind, made for my friend.”
“Could she have left them here, sold them or given them away?”
“No, she wore them every night she worked.”
“Okay, I’ll need the artist’s name so I can verify that he hasn’t duplicated the design.”
“Orbit’s aura is still on these but it’s faint.”
“I understand, but I need the artist’s name.”
Eris looked him in the eye. “I’ll get it for you and won’t even argue about it.”
Rob smiled. “Thanks, now where is the VCR so I can review the security tapes? If we get lucky we’ll see who left these behind.”
Eris grimaced at his words.
“What?” He dreaded her answer.
“Our system is a twelve-hour looping system.”
“Damn.” Rob started toward the back room and heard Eris move in behind him.
“We never figured we’d need more than that. The store is open almost every day and if it’s closed longer than that someone checks on it daily.”
He found the archaic system and turned it off. “The store is now officially closed. Considering our lack of luck on this case, I doubt these appeared in the last twelve hours, but I’m going to take a look anyway. While I review the tape, why don’t you give your parents a call to see if we can pinpoint the day the earrings appeared here? I’m going to lock the front door and then we’ll see how lucky we might be.”
* * * * *
Three hours later, as he handed the earrings and tape over to LD, Rob knew exactly how unlucky they were. It didn’t seem as if they could get a break no matter how they tried. Eris’ mother had discovered the earrings after opening the shop this morning but had no clue how they got there. Zane had closed the evening before and he didn’t remember seeing anyone with them either.
His quick review of the tape showed nothing of great importance, but he was going to have his team review the tape in case there was something he missed. The earrings were going to the police department for fingerprinting, although he held little hope anything would be found.
“How’s Marie doing?” Rob asked as he and LD walked toward the shop’s front door.
“Grumpy, moody, bossy and ready to have these babies. I keep reminding myself this won’t last forever. It might seem like it, but it won’t.”
Rob chuckled. “Who’s with her now?”
“Tammie, and if I don’t get these items delivered so I can hurry back with their order from Peking Duck, there’ll be hell to pay.”
He laughed as he locked the door behind LD and returned to the back room where Eris was still on the phone talking to her parents. She stood with her back to him and a phone pressed to her ear.
Walking up behind her, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. It took her a couple of seconds but then she leaned into him. She ended the call and turned in his arms, resting her head on his chest. He held her there until she started to move away.
Moving a hand, he cupped her face and lowered his mouth to hers. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but the slow, achingly sweet kiss was not it. He felt her move into him as her arms wrapped around his neck and knew it wouldn’t take much to change the direction of this encounter. He broke the kiss and regretted the loss of warmth immediately. “We should head home.”
Eris locked the metal gate that covered the front doors to the store and dropped the keys into her pocket. She turned and watched as Rob surveyed the dark streets. Her eyes drifted across the street to the alley and she wondered who was down there waiting to get her. “Oh my gosh, I’m getting as bad as you.”
“What are you talking about?” Rob asked without taking his eyes off the street.
“You’ve got me searching the shadows, wondering what evil lies within, and I don’t like it.”
Rob turned to her and even in the dark she could see the seriousness in his eyes. “Well, I like it. You’ve been way too trusting in the past.”
He turned away and looked up and down the street one more time. “Damn, I wish we’d driven tonight.”
The tone of his voice did nothing to curb the uneasiness she felt as they started toward her place. “You’re scaring me.”
He slipped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as they walked. “Fear isn’t a bad thing; it can often save people’s lives when they heed it.”
She first thought the gesture was meant to be comforting—that was, until he put her between him and the building. It was then she realized he was shielding her as much as possible from some unseen danger. “What’s wrong?”
“Not sure, but something is off. It’s too quiet, if you know what I mean.”
Eris looked around and for the first time noticed the lack of pedestrian traffic. She jumped and moved closer to Rob as a black sports car drove unhurriedly past them. “Slow night, they happen.”
“Open the door.”
Eri
s didn’t even consider questioning him as she retrieved her keys from her pocket and unlocked the security gate. Rob reached around her and shoved the heavy door aside.
“Could you hurry it up?”
“I’m working as fast as I can,” she answered as she shoved the key into the front door. The lock was barely disengaged before Rob shoved her through the door.
“Get in the back room.”
“Rob—”
“Eris—”
His words died as tires squealed only seconds before glass exploded and bullets sprayed the storefront. Rob dove at her, taking her down to the floor and covering her body with his. He rolled them to the side and slowly they inched their way behind a display case as bullets flew above them and glass showered the floor. She watched as he pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. His mouth moved, so she assumed he was talking to someone, but the roar of the gunfire drowned out his voice even in such a close space.
The sudden silence was almost as terrifying as the onslaught of the automatic guns. Before she could wrap her mind around that, he was shoving her toward the back entrance. The strong smell of gasoline filled the air as Eris scrambled through the swinging door.
Rob came through right behind her. “Keys, have you got your keys?”
“No, I lost them in the store, but there’s an extra set hanging above the desk.”
“I’ll get the spare keys.” He ran to the other side of the door, retrieved the keys and turned back to her.
The floor beneath her feet vibrated and what sounded like a freight train roared to life in the other room. The dividing door blew open, slamming against the wall as flames shot through the opening. Eris screamed as flames licked up the opposite wall and the sprinkler system kicked on. Pictures and paperwork went up like Roman candles on the Fourth of July even as the water sprayed down on them.
“Eris!”
She turned to see Rob trapped on the other side of the flames. “There’s an extinguisher beside the file cabinet!” she called to him.
Bayou Heat Page 19
