Krystal's Bodyguard

by Molly Rice

  Dana turned and whispered, “Not close enough.” Her dimple flirted and her twinkling eyes dared him to take her to task.

  He shook his head, his eyes smoldering. “We were lucky they came home when they did.”

  “You call that ‘luck,’ sweetie?”

  Nico stared after her as she ran up the stairs, the blue satin pajamas flashing between the rails.

  What happened to their agreement? It seemed they both forgot it every time they were alone together. What had happened to change him from a man who always held a part of himself back, who was always on top of any situation? And Dana had changed, too. It was as if she’d declared open war on their treaty, enticing him at every turn, flirting, teasing, daring him to give in to his deepest feelings.

  Was love like this? he wondered. But love, he knew, was what his parents had. He had such confidence in their love for each other and for him, that he’d never felt compelled to go out and look for it elsewhere. That it might strike unexpectedly had never occurred to him; he’d always supposed it would happen when he was ready, when he made the choice, the situation well under his control.

  He saw the pink flesh of her bare foot clear the last step. No situation that involved Dana would ever be under anyone’s control but hers, he ruefully admitted.

  He looked down at the mug in his hand and tried to recall where he’d been headed when he’d run into her.

  DANA CAME AWAKE with a jolt, her nightgown uncomfortably bunched around her legs, her breathing raspy from an erotic dream. She realized she’d been dreaming of making love with Nico. And then she heard it again, the sound that had penetrated her sleep.

  It was the neighbor’s dog barking, intermittently howling.

  She slipped from the bed and went to the window that faced the front of the house. The street was vacant.

  But the dog continued barking and she couldn’t get back to sleep.

  She tiptoed out of her room to the window at the end of the hall, the one that overlooked the back of the house. Nothing stirred in the tree-shadowed yard, either. From this vantage point the roof of the gazebo was almost directly beneath her so that she couldn’t see into its screened interior.

  Suddenly she thought she saw something move beneath a tree beside the path leading down to the lake. A shadow or the figure of a man? Rubbing her eyes, Dana strained to adjust to the dark, to be able to make out which it was.

  There! It had moved again.

  Nico was sleeping just across the hall in the guest room. She considered waking him but decided to make sure there was cause to disturb him.

  Carefully she eased down the stairs, praying they wouldn’t creak and alarm the household. She reached the first floor without incident and began going from window to window, first to peer out into the night and then to make sure each was locked. All of them were, probably the result of Nico’s nightly check to make the house secure. As she passed the front door she saw that the alarm panel was engaged and remembered, just in time, to avoid the intruder beam that was fixed to cover the length of the long hall from the front door to the kitchen.

  She went around through the dining room into the kitchen and though she’d not seen signs of a prowler through any of the windows, she realized the dog’s barking had reached a level of hysteria. When she went into the little powder room off the kitchen she saw the kitchen light come on in the house next door and in the dense, middle-of-the-night stillness she could clearly hear her neighbor, Max Shayle, yell at the dog to shut up.

  The dog responded immediately but then started whining and barking again a couple of minutes later.

  She heard Max swearing and she almost laughed aloud as she heard him pleading with the dog to be quiet.

  The Shayles’ kitchen light went out just as Dana was sure she saw a shadowy figure dart from the brick patio wall to the oak tree beside the glass-enclosed porch on the side nearest the kitchen.

  “But there’s a cop car but front,” she softly mused aloud. She remembered they’d waved at it before turning into her drive when they got home from the Scalias’. As far as she knew, the police were keeping a watch there in case the shooter came back.

  Maybe she should call 9-1-1, have them alert the cop out front. She didn’t think the prowler could actually get into the house, but she wasn’t prepared to take chances.

  Sighing, she turned, planning to go up and wake Nico. No sense having a bodyguard on the premises if she didn’t use him in the threat of danger.

  She felt her way back through the rooms, avoiding the intruder alarm in the hall, her hands out in front of her to keep her from bumping into anything. Suddenly her hands did touch something and it took her only a second to realize it was a human chest.

  Her screams mingled with Nico’s shouts and right behind that, the sound of footsteps pounding down the back stairs and Heather and Krystal calling out, their voices thick with fright. Lights sprang on all around her and Dana screamed again until she saw it was Nico beside her.

  “Stay with your mom,” Heather rasped, pushing Krystal toward Dana. Dana saw that Heather and Nico were both carrying guns and flashlights.

  “You take the back, I’ll do the front,” Nico told his partner, already heading for the front door.

  Mother and daughter huddled together in the kitchen, their chairs close together at the table, Krystal whimpering softly and Dana patting her hair.

  Nico came in shaking his head. “Nothing,”’ he said. “If there was someone out there, they’re long gone.” He went to the pair and lifted Krystal up in his arms. “Probably just a potential burglar, scared off by all the noise we made,” he said, holding Krystal close. “He could never have gotten in,” he assured her, “but it’s just as well he didn’t get a chance to try.” He handed the child back to Dana.

  “I’ll make us all some cocoa so we can get back to sl—”

  The front door slammed, footsteps running down the hall toward them. Heather burst into the kitchen gasping, her face white and panic-ridden. She looked wildly around and headed for the phone, yelling, “The cop across the street is dead!”

  DAWN WAS A FUZZY PINK, blurred by an overcast sky, when the last cop left and the blinking light of a tow truck signaled that it was on its way, the dead officer’s patrol car hooked up to be hauled back to the police garage.

  Dana had gone out to the crime scene the minute Heather started dialing the phone, grabbing a mini tape recorder on the way.

  Nico was only seconds behind her, a notebook in his hands.

  Each working with their own system, they’d examined the body, noting the wound in the cop’s forehead, and the car interior, looking for clues, all without touching anything with their hands.

  They were done by the time blue-and-whites began showing up, their red lights flashing, giving advance warning of their arrival, through the trees that lined the street leading to their road. The ambulance had been alerted that this was a morgue pickup rather than an emergency run and came without sirens. No hurry in this case, Dana had thought as she stifled a sob that broke in her throat

  Now Dana, Nico and Heather were seated around the table in the kitchen, drinking coffee, mulling over the situation, each answer raising a new question. Their shoulders slumped with defeat and fatigue.

  “That takes care of my theory about an aborted burglary attempt,” Nico mourned. “Burglars don’t kill cops. Statistically, they don’t even carry weapons.”

  Dana wasn’t interested in theory or statistics. “The worst part is that Krystal has been exposed to so much violence in her young life, most of it right here on her own home grounds, and none of us can guarantee her that it isn’t going to keep touching her life.”

  “The worst part is that if it weren’t for that neurotic dog, we might all be dead in our beds,” Heather stated, her face still pale, etched with the dregs of remembered horror.

  “I want Krystal out of here today,” Nico ordered. “Can you think of a safe place?”

  Dana shook her head. “
My parents’ estate, but everyone knows who my father is and besides…”

  The other two waited, looking at her expectantly.

  “What?” Nico finally demanded.

  “She doesn’t like my mother,” Dana admitted in a small voice, embarrassed to have to confess such a thing. Especially to someone with the kind of parents Nico had.

  He stood up and went to the phone, dialed, and then apologized for the early hour.

  “Listen, Mama, I know this is an imposition, but I need your help. I need to move Krystal and a woman from my agency today and—”

  Rose Scalia must have interrupted him at that point because as his sentence trailed away, a smile came over his face and he gave the others a thumbs-up.

  “Thanks, Mama, I knew you’d feel that way but I owe you a big one, and I won’t forget.”

  He listened again and then silently held the phone out to Dana.

  Dana started, but didn’t get the chance, to express her gratitude.

  “No more of that,” Rose scolded, “Krystal’s like family, where else would she go but to us? We have plenty of room now with most of the children gone and I’m sure the lady from Nico’s office must be a very nice person.”

  Dana slipped in a weak word of thanks and was about to hang up when Rose added, “Besides, now we’ll get to see more of you, yes, Dana?”

  Dana laughed. “Yes, Mama. Lots.”

  When they woke Krystal to tell her of the plan, she beamed with pleasure.

  But then her face sobered and she stared up at Dana. “But I’ll miss you so much, Mommy.”

  “I’ll come and see you every evening after work, I promise,” Dana assured the child. “And maybe, if it’s not an imposition, I’ll come back and tuck you in at bedtime.”

  “What about school?”

  Nico answered. “Heather will drive you back over here for school and be there when you get out”

  Dana flinched. Wasn’t this a terrible job for Heather? She’d have to stay at the school, in her car, keeping surveillance on the doors from eight in the morning until two in the afternoon. Six hours of eye-fatiguing ennui.

  She mentioned that to Nico while Krystal was in her bathroom getting dressed and Dana began making piles of clothes on the little girl’s bed to be packed for the move.

  “What will probably happen is that Stella will contact the principal, explain as little as possible, and get him to help with the situation by letting Heather come in undercover as the teaching assistant in Krystal’s class or as an education student doing internship.”

  “Will Heather like doing that?”

  Nico shrugged. “Beats sitting in a car doing nothing for six hours. You’d be surprised the jobs we’ve done as cover. This one actually sounds like fun.”

  Dana grinned. “That’s because you’re a nut about kids,” she said.

  “Well, Heather seems to have hit it off with Krys, so I would assume she’ll like a whole classroom of eight-year-olds.”

  Dana plopped down on the bed and put her head in her hands. “God, I’m going to miss her. We’ve never been separated before.”

  Nico came over and held her head against his hip, stroked her hair, murmured words of comfort.

  Dana raised her eyes to his, tears streaming down her face.

  “I think my life is falling apart at my feet,” she said on the edge of a sob.

  “Nah-hh,” Nico mused, “it hasn’t fallen beneath knee level.” He tilted her chin up. “Hey, don’t think of it as being separated from Krys, think of it as getting a little vacation from the kid.” He grinned lasciviously. “And we’ve got the house all to ourselves, Ma, so don’t you fret none.”

  She had to laugh, in spite of her anguish.

  And instantly sobered as she realized the truth in all that nonsensical drivel. They would be alone in this big house, night after night, for who knew how long.

  Nico thumbed the tears from under each eye and then lifted his gaze to her eyes. Time seemed to stand still as he read the message in them.

  “Dana…I—”

  “I’m ready, Mommy,” Krystal announced in a mournful voice from where she stood in the open doorway from the bathroom.

  “Okay, honey,” Dana gasped, surreptitiously dashing the residue of tears from her eyes. She stood up and avoided Nico’s eyes. “I’ll go get your suitcases from the attic.”’

  “I’ll do it,” Nico said.

  “Thanks.” Still keeping her face averted. “It’s the blue set just to your right in the corner.” Dana expelled a sigh of relief when Nico had left the room.

  What was he about to say when Krystal interrupted? Half a dozen dialogues flashed through her mind. They made her blood alternately freeze and burn, sending chills down her spine.

  She had a scenario of her own: they could really let go, make love; wild, passionate, totally uninhibited love…for about forty-eight hours. Get it out of their systems once and for all. The fantasy almost made her weak.

  “Mommy, can I take my Barbie dolls with me?” Krystal was at the shelves between the two beds, looking for things to take that she simply couldn’t live without.

  “May I,” Dana corrected automatically. She sat back down on the bed and shivered. “Oh, baby,” she said with a sigh, “of course you can.”

  Dana cocked her head to the side, propping her chin on her palm, her elbow on her knee. “You really like these?” she asked, nodding at the Barbie dolls Krystal held in her hand.

  Krystal giggled and said, “Yes.”

  “So? What do you see in Ms. Barbie’s future?” Dana insisted.

  “Well, she could be a model.”

  “True.” There was just a tinge of irony in Dana’s voice. “What else?”

  “A dancer, or maybe an actress? How about a housewife?”

  “Sure, she can be anything she wants.”

  Dana stood. “She could be a sumo wrestler!”

  They were still on the bed, rolling around, holding their tummies and laughing hysterically when Nico returned with the luggage. He stood in the doorway, bemused. Hadn’t he left Dana in tears, Krystal looking like she was being sent to the gallows? He shook his head, who would ever understand women, even when they were only eight years old.

  Dana was first to recover herself. She got off the bed and took the nested cases from Nico.

  “Come on, Krystal, fun time is over. How about packing your overnight bag with the things you need from your bathroom? Oh, and run down and ask Heather if she wants to put her bathroom articles in there, too. There’s plenty of room.”

  An hour later they caravaned in two cars to St. Paul. Nico and Heather in Heather’s car, Dana and Krystal behind them in the Lexus.

  “Feels good to be driving again,” Dana said as they came up on the freeway. “Nico’s been driving so much lately that I haven’t needed to.”

  “Mommy, how long do you think I’ll have to stay with Nico’s folks?”

  Dana’s expression saddened. “Don’t know, honey. I certainly hope it won’t be long. But, Krystal—” she glanced over at her daughter “—you do like the Scalias, right?”

  “They’re great. Mom, honest.” She sounded so forlorn as she added, “But they’re not you.”

  They clasped hands, Dana squeezing Krystal’s to signal a shared sorrow.

  Krystal seemed to. sense that Dana’s sadness was as deep as her own. “Don’t worry, Mommy, I’ll have fun there. When I get home from school, I’ll have Myranda to play with and maybe Chianne and Maria, too.”

  She gave her mother a tremulous smile. Dana nodded.

  “And Mama and Papa Scalia are the best grandparents in the world, even if you’re not their own.”

  They nodded in agreement.

  Both of them were feeling better when they followed Heather’s car up onto the driveway of the Scalia family home.

  Chapter Sixteen

  On Saturday, with less than two weeks before the Carter brothers’ trial was scheduled to begin, Dana sat down with Lincoln
Adams, a department paralegal, arranging the man’s research notes for her brief when the phone rang at her elbow.

  She was still talking to Lincoln when she picked up the receiver.

  “Johnson versus Allen… Oh, sorry,” she said into the phone. “This is Dana Harper.”

  The voice was unfamiliar, the words horrifying.

  “You’ll be a lot sorrier if anything happens to your daughter. If you want to see Krystal alive again, you will meet me in thirty minutes. You will come alone and you will tell no one that you are leaving or where you are going. Is that understood?”

  Dana’s heart was pounding so loudly, she couldn’t hear herself agree to his demands. “Yes, yes,” she repeated, desperate to make sure he knew she was willing to cooperate.

  “Please,” she begged, and blinked, bringing Lincoln back into focus. She put her hand over the mouthpiece and said, “Line, this is personal, could you give me a few minutes? I’ll buzz you when I’m ready for you.”

  She caught only the tail end of the address, somewhere near the Uptown area. “‘I’m sorry, I had to get rid of a colleague, could you repeat that?”

  He repeated the address. She dashed it off on a memo pad. “Please, may I talk to Krystal, make sure—”

  “You don’t request anything,”’ the voice rasped. “I tell you what I want you to know, what I expect you to do. I’m setting my watch. You have thirty minutes.”

  She was begging him to wait, to give her some proof Krystal was unharmed, when she heard the dial tone kick in. He’d hung up.

  She sat a minute, trying to think, but panic overwhelmed her. She bent to put her head between her knees, afraid she was going to faint. The image of Krystal came into her mind and she felt her head clear as a surge of adrenaline flowed through her. Snatching up the phone, she dialed the Scalias’ number.

  “This is a mistake, a cruel joke,”’ she said, her voice ringing with false confidence. She let the phone ring twenty times before she hung up. Thought a minute and dialed her house. Again, no answer. She glanced at her watch. She’d used up four minutes and accomplished nothing. She couldn’t delay, she realized. She had no idea of the amount of traffic in the downtown area at this hour on a Saturday. Not to mention getting through Uptown, a place that was always teeming.