The Scotland Yard Exchange Series

by Stephanie Queen

  “Hello, Pixie. Welcome to the party. I’m surprised you didn’t join us sooner,” he said with a smile to her frown.

  “I’m only here because Grace called me—you told me to stay put, and I did and what thanks do I get?” She stomped inside and looked around at the assemblage of officers and detectives, mostly male, and kept her frown in place until they were the more intimidated, David thought.

  “Looks like you could use a drink,” Rick said from the couch. He attempted to right himself.

  “Good idea,” David said and drew her in the direction of the mini-bar. “Please feel free to order yourself anything you like from room service. You know we appreciate your help very much,” he said. He wished Grace would finish changing as quickly as she had earlier that day.

  “Grace is in her room, if you’d like to look in on her.” He gestured at Grace’s door and hoped she was okay. Then he considered looking in on her himself, but Pixie read his mind.

  “I’ll look in on her—you wait out here,” she said, still frowning. She took a swig of the whiskey she’d poured, and then stomped toward Grace’s door and entered after a quick knock. Then she slammed the door behind her.

  David had to stop himself from thinking about Grace’s possible distraught state. He turned on his heel, figuratively speaking, and addressed Dan, who’d just signed off his two-way radiophone.

  “The unmarked car is waiting for Nick out front. If he’s not ready in one minute you’ll have to go in and get him,” Dan said.

  “Never fear.” He sank himself into the role of fearless leader and rescuer of damsels in distress. He erected his usual protective shield around his mind and zoned in on the goal, focusing with a ferocious determination. Outwardly, he knew the only person who would notice a thing was Dan. The man nodded, as if on cue.

  Grace emerged from her room dressed in her funeral outfit, black and tight and short. She was back to her Daisy-Mae-as-a-widow persona. David took some deep breaths and remained impassive. She zeroed in on him and rushed to his side without speaking. He put his hand at the small of her back, and her tension ebbed instantly. Unfortunately his own tension rose. He worked to keep all his rising parts in check. He refused to smile at her. She had too much effect on his focus as it was.

  Leaving her behind would be difficult, even though he knew the danger in doing so was minimal. Leftover anxiety from his wife’s murder still had the ability to interfere with his otherwise impeccable judgment, and the knowledge unsettled him. He needed to resolve this case and he needed to stay cool to do it. He refocused yet again.

  Nick emerged from his room, looking the part of a street person. He had smeared dirt on seventy-five percent of David’s good jacket. He wondered absently where Nick got the dirt. The jacket sleeves were convincingly frayed and the pants looked worn and dirty. Nick nodded at him, marched to the bar and took the bottle of whiskey, and poured the remainder on his clothes and over his hair, saving the last dash for his mouth.

  Dan raised his brows and Rick laughed. David chose to remain implacable, although he inwardly winced.

  “Good job. Your car is waiting. Dark gray unmarked Ford sedan,” David said.

  “A dark gray Ford? Great—no one will know it’s the police,” Nick half-joked.

  “You’ll be dropped far enough from the location so it won’t matter,” Dan said. “Hope your shoes don’t have any holes.” Dan handed him a two-way radio.

  Nick headed out the door. But before he left, David had one last instruction for him.

  “You have until 8:00 p.m. to report,” he said. He felt Grace flinch at his side.

  Nick nodded and left.

  The mob in the room quieted and tensed. Activity slowed and then ceased. Gradually, all eyes turned to David, either openly or surreptitiously. He exchanged glances with Dan. He felt Grace stir closer to his side and breathed in her exotic sweet scent.

  “This is the hard part—where we must all wait patiently.” He looked around the room. There were some uneasy and unconvincing chuckles. The tension remained, as it should. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to make a call.” He nodded to everyone and then gave Grace a reassuring nod as he extracted himself from her presence. That was the truly hard part. But he had to call Oscar and arrange for him to look out for her, and he didn’t need anyone else to know about it—especially not Dan.

  He walked purposefully to his room, taking his phone from his pocket as he strode. He should take Grace up on her offer to fix it for speed dial. She seemed pervaded his thoughts now.

  Grace watched him go. She felt the absence of his hand at her back. She looked around the room and found Pixie sitting on the couch with Rick and talking quietly. Shame filled her until she felt herself turn pink. How could she feel anxious about David when Rick had so much more to be worried about with Theresa captured and being held hostage by a bunch of murdering smugglers?

  She rushed over to the couch and knelt in front of Rick, taking his hand in hers.

  “Don’t worry about a thing, Rick. David has it all planned. He’ll rescue Theresa for you. He’s fearless,” she said. She looked into his bloodshot eyes and he stared back, at first with an uncomprehending look.

  “Of course he will. She’s right, you know,” Pixie put in.

  Rick continued to stare at Grace, and she thought his face warmed up a degree or two.

  “You’re right. I knew he was good all along…been there before,” he said. His speech was blurry. He collapsed back onto the couch and closed his eyes. Grace continued to hold his hand as she saw a tear escape from the corner of his eye.

  She looked at Pixie, who looked devastated herself. Grace went into big sister mode and told herself it was time to step up—they couldn’t all fall apart. Just like when someone got bad news back at the orphanage. She had been in charge of shoring up their courage and keeping up spirits. She was never told to do it, nor was she taught how. She just did it.

  Grace stood and searched the room for Noodles. Animals were always comforting. At the very least, Noodles would distract Pixie and erase the stricken look on her friends’ faces. She spied the small dog under a table and went to retrieve her, weaving around a few men in uniform who nodded at her with respectful silence. She returned to the couch and sat next to Pixie, dropping Noodles in her lap.

  “Watch out for Noodles while I’m out on the mission, okay, honey?”

  Pixie scooped up the dog and cuddled her in. Then she looked up at Grace, squinted her eyes and reverted to her usual skeptical look.

  “What are you talking about? What mission?”

  “You know—where we go and get Theresa back from the bad guys,” she said.

  Rick opened his eyes and raised his brow at her. She winked at him.

  “You’re not going with the cops on that mission. They’d never let you,” Pixie said.

  “I’m going. David would never let me out of his sight. Never again. He told me so. And to tell you the truth, I could never bring myself to let him go off on a dangerous mission without being there with him.” She felt a lump somewhere strategic. “Pixie, what if something bad happened to him? I can’t let him go without me,” she said. She couldn’t help thinking about her parents and how they never came back.

  Pixie didn’t say whatever she had planned to. Because she knew what Grace was thinking. Her best friend had seen her through many nights of nightmares and knew all about her terror.

  “You’re nuts if you think you’re going anywhere,” Rick said. Grace and Pixie both looked at him. “David’s a big boy—a well-trained big boy. You’re worried about nothing.” He looked at them as if he needed confirmation.

  “Of course you’re right, Rick. I’m just being silly. All this crime fighting is new to me. David will be fine. He’ll get Theresa out of there and they’ll all be back in a flash,” Grace said. She bit her lip.

  Pixie looked at her with awe. She smiled at her friend and patted Rick’s hand. He closed his eyes again, but his face looked less tragic. Or tha
t could have been wishful thinking. After a considerable amount of further discussion about David’s prowess, Grace noticed him come back out of his room. He strode over to them after consultation with Dan and the others.

  “You all look very cozy,” David said. His voice had that low reverberating tone that was commanding and comforting in its confidence and never failed to give her chills. He stood dressed in a new jacket and pants.

  “We were just talking about you. Nice suit,” she said.

  “Oh?” he said. His face didn’t change, but his voice had an unmistakable tenderness. “I had the clothes sent up from the lobby shop after Nick absconded with mine. I figured I wouldn’t want them back after he returns, in any event.”

  “So what’s the plan, Batman?” Pixie said.

  “It’s a secret,” he said with his commanding brusqueness. “But once we hear from Nick, we’ll be on the move—no later than eight.” He looked at his watch. “In an hour. You two will stay here with Rick and I’m sending someone else to watch out for you outside the suite.” He looked at Grace with intensity.

  She stood. She forced herself to stay calm, but her nerves jumped and her insides felt like leaping frogs had taken residence. They stood looking at each other. She wanted to say something important, but her feelings were all jumbled with nervousness, and that queasy frog feeling rumbled in her stomach.

  Before she had a chance to speak, the buzzing ring of David’s cell phone blared. As he removed it from his pocket, it grew loud enough to silence the entire room. All activity stopped. Grace clutched her stomach and tensed to the very breaking point. Pixie appeared at her side, probably to catch her if she fainted.

  “Okay. We’re on our way,” he said into the phone and then slid it back into his jacket pocket. He nodded at Rick.

  “I’ll be all right, Grace. You stay here with Pixie and Noodles. It’ll all be over before you know it, and I’ll be walking back through that door to deliver Theresa to Rick,” he said. He didn’t have a tender look. He was all business—as if he really was Batman and she was some Jane Citizen he was fighting crime to protect. She didn’t want to be Jane citizen. She wanted to be Robinette, darn it!

  Dan walked to the door and waved to him.

  “We’ll call I.C.E. and the feds on the way. They’ve been briefed and are ready to move,” Dan said.

  David walked toward the door, and it must have been his gravitational pull, but Grace couldn’t help following close behind him all the way.

  Dan raised his brows at her as he stood in the doorway. She felt all eyes in the room on her. David turned around and looked at her, this time with a flicker of kindness in his eyes.

  Dan’s phone buzzed, and she held her breath. She felt David’s hand reach to her back with the familiar comforting gesture.

  “Esther. I was about to roll…of course I’ll be careful…don’t worry…have Jason stay with you and keep you company,” Dan said. He met Grace’s eyes. “How about if I send Grace over and you can calm each other?” he offered.

  David spun around and nodded.

  Grace thought about it quickly. She was fond of Esther, and the older woman had been through this before. But her jitters didn’t subside. If she needed to be with David, then she’d have to find a way to get away. If she was presumably going to Esther’s, then she would have a better chance of escaping all these police officers—and whatever special detail David had planted in the hall.

  She nodded vigorously. “Of course—I’ll go keep Esther company and Pixie can stay here with Rick.” Her heart lurched with the smile of encouragement David gave her. He would be livid if he knew she was planning her escape to follow him. She’d have to try to stay beneath the radar and not let him see her. She had no idea how she was going to do that, but she was gosh darn sure she was going to figure it out. If he was going to the warehouse and putting himself in danger, then she was going to be there with him whether he knew it or not. And whether he liked it or not.

  She would never again be left behind waiting for someone who might never return.

  “Then it’s settled,” David said. In a quiet voice for only her he added, “Wait for Oscar to get here. Then get your car, and he’ll follow you over to Esther’s.”

  Her pulse lurched and Pixie squeaked, but Grace squeezed her hand as a warning not to say anything. So it was Oscar who was assigned to protect them in David’s absence—that would make it trickier to get away. No matter. She would manage. She had surprise on her side, and she read somewhere that surprise was the ultimate advantage in any battle, even a battle of wills.

  “Great idea,” she said. “But…be careful…please,” she added in a breathless, helpless whisper.

  “Don’t worry about me. We have a huge advantage over the bad guys. We have surprise on our side,” David said.

  Grace smiled and barely stopped herself from letting out a hysterical giggle, but was somewhat comforted by the notion after all. David and Dan walked out the door and pulled it closed. The click of the latch sounded loud and final as Grace stared at the closed door.

  “Now what?” Pixie said. “How will we know when you-know-who gets here? He’s not exactly going to come up and knock on the door with all these…gentlemen around,” Pixie whispered.

  Rick came up beside her, surprising Grace. She didn’t think he’d be able to stand after downing all that brandy.

  “How long will it take? When will they be back?” he asked.

  “It could take two or more hours, Mr. Racer, depending on the circumstances,” one of the plainclothes detectives said to him. Grace realized she was leaving poor Rick.

  “Pixie will stay with you,” she said.

  “Don’ worry, Gracie. I’m planning on passing out—or maybe throwing up—either way I won’t be good company—not until my Theresa is back.” His voice broke.

  Grace threw her arms around him and with Pixie’s help walked him back to the couch. He wept, and when he sat and covered his face all the motion and talking in the room had stopped.

  “Rick, why don’t you lie down in the bedroom?” Pixie said.

  “No! I want to see her when she walks through the door.”

  “Okay. I’ll sit with you. I want to be here when she walks through the door too. How about you, Grace?” Pixie asked her.

  Grace opened her mouth but had to stop and think first. If she weren’t going to the warehouse, she would want to stay here, but she couldn’t tell Pixie that. Her best friend would never stand for it.

  “I don’t think my nerves can handle it. Besides, Esther is waiting for me,” she said. It was true. Her phone buzzed then, and she saw Mabel’s number. This was her chance to escape.

  “It’s Oscar—time for me to go,” she said for Pixie’s ears only. One of the detectives moved to follow her. “It’s all right. I have a private security escort waiting for me downstairs.”

  The man looked skeptical.

  “It’s true. David…Mr. Young arranged it,” Pixie spoke up with an authoritative tone. Wait till Grace told Oscar that Pixie jumped in to protect him from the cops. Miraculously and blessedly, the detective nodded and backed off.

  Grace held herself back from running for the door. She grabbed her bag and scooped up Noodles, gave him a squeeze and a kiss and handed him over to Pixie. They exchanged a look of reassurance. Grace yanked open the door and crossed the threshold.

  Down on the street she waited for the valet to bring around her car and checked her watch, wondering how long she had before Oscar actually showed up—and if she’d recognize him when he did. She belatedly wished she’d thought to bring a disguise for herself. She realized wearing her funeral dress with the tight skirt and spike heels wasn’t the best idea. No matter now. She watched her car glide to the curb and shoved a twenty-dollar bill at the valet’s chest as she met him at the driver’s door. Jumping in her red Mustang, she threw it into gear and pressed down on the gas hard.

  She knew exactly where she was going and how to get there. Lucky for
her she was familiar with the warehouse district. David had a good head start on her and she hoped they were still waiting outside when she arrived. If not, she’d go inside and not stop looking until she laid eyes on him.

  Somewhere deep down, as she cut into the stream of traffic and sped as fast as the narrow street would allow, she realized her behavior was crazy. Maybe she’d have to see a therapist. Then she remembered she needed to call Mabel back. Mabel’s brand of therapy would do.

  As she raced down Commercial Street, she slipped her phone from her bag and pressed number three on her speed dial button to return Mabel’s call. The older woman answered on the second ring.

  “Mabel, I’m kind of in a hurry. What’s going on?”

  “I’ll cut right to the chase. I want you to come and live here with me,” Mabel said.

  For a moment Grace was speechless, and then warmth suffused her. She thought about David and her desire to make her home with him, but his offer was nowhere on the horizon.

  “I love you, Mabel! But it’s only temporary until I find a new place. I’ll pack my bags as soon as the investigation is over.” She checked her watch. “That should be in a couple of hours—tomorrow at the latest since it would probably be better not to move in the middle of the night.” Then she thought maybe that would be a good idea so David could wake up and wonder about her. She sensed he needed something extraordinary to push him past his past.

  “Wonderful, dear. Dinner will be at six. Do try to be here and unpacked by then.” Mabel hung up.

  Grace grinned for a moment, but that was all she could afford. Her adrenaline took another leap when she saw her turn coming up. David was ahead somewhere, and she prayed she’d find him right away.

  Her phone buzzed as she took the corner. She pumped the brakes until the car slowed to a crawl and she got her bearings. On the fourth ring she picked up the phone and answered it, only paying half attention. She was thinking she shouldn’t have answered it at all when she heard Oscar’s voice.