Threads of Love

by Frances Devine

  The waiter arrived with the decadent tower of rich chocolate cake and two forks. “Here you are.”

  “The bill please,” Jason requested.

  Priscilla handed Jason a fork. “I won’t be here for your birthday. So let’s enjoy our time together now. And you do remember you’re taking me to the airport tomorrow?”

  “Right.” Jason’s reply was brisk.

  “Now, soon-to-be-birthday boy, indulge. Tomorrow you’ll do well, and your clients will adore you.”

  “Right,” Jason repeated, laying his fork aside.

  Chapter 8

  Jason stared at himself in the bathroom mirror. His face half shaved, he realized his eyes told the story of a sleepless night.

  “Pleasant, with heavy afternoon showers expected in the foothills,” the morning weatherman blared from the alarm radio in the adjoining bedroom.

  Lucy lay on the fuzzy bathroom rug near his feet.

  “What do I do?” He pushed shaving cream from the corner of his lip. “It’s not fair to either one.” He continued the automated movement of shaving. “Even when I’m with Priscilla, all I can think about is Eve.” He rinsed the razor. Clenching it in his hand, he shook his head and looked at Lucy. “I’ve known her for three minutes, and I’m letting things get personal, very personal. I can’t keep a professional distance.”

  Lucy lifted her head.

  “Priscilla and I have dated for close to a year. I can’t just give up on that, even if her sister appears to eat nails for breakfast.” He turned to the mirror and finished up the last few strokes. “This is crazy.” He splashed water across his face and slapped aftershave over his chin and cheeks, permeating the room with a spicy aroma. “Maybe I can clear my head while I take you for your walk.”

  With the word walk, Lucy was up on her feet, tail wagging vigorously.

  “I’m glad someone’s happy,” Jason said as he scratched Lucy behind the ear.

  Eve finished brushing her hair. It was only part of her morning routine complicated by crutches. But she was ready to attempt hobbling her way to breakfast. This large, luxurious room had become quite small in the past twenty bedridden hours. And there were only four days left to find Gran’s squares.

  As she moved to the door, the telephone rang.

  “Oh no.” Her tightened grip on the crutches made her knuckles white. “If I don’t get out of here soon, I’ll go mad.”

  Resigned to the interruption, she grabbed the phone. “Yes?”

  “Eve, it’s Jason.”

  She swallowed hard. “Jason.”

  “Listen, I’ve sent Bingham to your room with a wheelchair.”

  “Wheelchair?” Her brow furrowed.

  “I’m treating you to coffee in the Express News.”

  “I drink tea.”

  “Eve, please, don’t fight me. He should be just arriving.”

  The words no sooner hit Eve’s ear than there was a knock at the door.

  “Honestly, Jason.”

  “I need to see you.”

  “Oh, all right.” His admission tamed her indignation. “I’ll be there.” She hung up and sighed.

  “Coming,” she called and hobbled to the door.

  Bingham maneuvered Eve to a table where Jason stood waiting, just inside the coffee shop. His security gear, the blue windbreaker and gray dress pants, did nothing to obscure his muscular physique. Still, it was his tense jaw that struck Eve.

  Jason’s nod sent Bingham just outside the entry, and he sat down across the table from Eve.

  “I’ll come straight to the point, Eve.” Jason zipped the words out then paused. He looked into her eyes and leaned back in the chair as if distancing himself from her.

  Eve’s stomach tensed.

  “I’m handing over the investigation of your case to Bingham.”

  “What?” Eve blinked. “But …”

  “I’ve contacted local Colorado Springs authorities. They’re aware of the developments. Frankly, petty theft doesn’t rate high on their to-do list. However, Bingham’s a good man. He’ll get the job done.”

  “ ‘Logan Briggs is mine,’ you said.”

  “Eve.” The word sounded forced. “I’ve betrayed my professional standards. I’ve gotten too close to the case.”

  His words swirled around Eve’s head and sank straight into her understanding.

  “You mean you’ve gotten too close to me.” Her grip tightened on the wheelchair arms. “Is that so bad?”

  “Eve, don’t make this any harder than it already is.” Pain salted the determination in Jason’s voice.

  “You may give up, on the case, but I’m not. I’ll get the giant myself.”

  “Eve, look at you. You can barely walk. You’re just angry.”

  “I’m determined.” She pushed herself from the table. “Stuff breakfast, this conversation is over.”

  “Eve.” Jason tried to take her hand, but she wrenched it away.

  She placed her hands on the wheels and turned the chair to the door. With awkward stops and starts, she guided herself to the exit, just missing a young man and bumping into a chair. Too close to the case. Jason’s attempt to comfort her became nothing more than an empty gesture as she departed.

  Jason ran his hand through his hair. He tried to rise from the chair, but he felt like he was just stomach-punched. Lord, if I’m doing what’s right, why does it feel so wrong? He took a deep breath, struggled to his feet, and made his way out to the hallway.

  “I can see that went well.” Bingham nodded toward the empty wheelchair by the wall.

  “You let her walk?”

  “Limp, more like. Her call.” Bingham grabbed Jason’s arm. “Listen, Jason, you’ve got Priscilla. This one”—he nodded down the hall—“is a wildcat. You’d have your hands full with her.”

  “Wouldn’t I love to have that problem?” Jason exhaled.

  Bingham shook his head. “You got it bad, dude. Forget her, it’s not worth it. She’s a client. Go take your girlfriend to the airport.”

  Jason looked at Bingham skeptically. “You’ll work on getting Briggs.”

  “Hey, Jason, I got your back.”

  “Thanks, Bingham, I owe you one.” Jason took several steps then turned toward his pal. “Would you go help her?” He nodded toward the wheelchair. “She’s got to be in pain.”

  Bingham blew a large puff of air. “She’s really gotten to you.” He shook his head and gripped the wheelchair handles.

  Jason moved down the hall toward Priscilla’s office. “I’m afraid you’re right, Bing,” Jason muttered. “Eve’s really gotten to me. And if I’m not careful, I could fall in love with her.”

  By the time Bingham reached Eve, she was reproaching herself for being so inane. Her leg ached. She settled into the wheelchair without argument. All the while he rolled her along she berated herself. What had made her think she could possibly walk all the way to her room? She hadn’t thought. That was the problem. She was reeling from her sense of abandonment and the fear of never getting her treasure back.

  Be still and know … The words tumbled through her mind.

  “I’m doing security sweeps all afternoon,” Bingham told her. “I’ll continue the employee probe when I’ve finished. Now listen to me, Eve, sit tight and don’t move.”

  After Bingham’s strong directive, Eve settled herself back on her bed and watched him go. She was right back where she’d started twenty minutes earlier. She slapped her hands down hard on the bed.

  “Lord, what do I do?”

  Her cell phone caught her eye. She needed to talk to someone. Someone who could help get her head sorted. “I just hope my heart listens.” Talking to her father was out of the question. He was still unaware of the whole situation. She put a pillow under her leg. Her cousin Zoe may have arrived, but unless something had changed, Zoe had plenty of her own messes to work out. Eve sighed. I need someone who’s near. She brightened. “Isabel.” What was it she had said? Call the front desk and ask for Isabel Escobar
.

  Within five minutes Eve had called her childhood friend in guest services to discover she was only working a half day.

  They were going to lunch at Good Times. Eve wanted to cheer. Not only was she getting out of the room, but off the grounds as well.

  Eve waved as Isabel pulled her SUV to the curb.

  Isabel leaned across to open the passenger door. “Hey, Tiny Tim, jump in,” she teased.

  Eve tossed the crutches in the back and clipped her seat belt on in the blink of an eye. “I’m starving.” She grinned as a fresh surge of energy coursed through her.

  “I can smell those hamburgers grilling,” Isabel joked. She started her SUV forward, but a black pickup pulled right in front of her. She hit her brakes, sending Eve into a lurch toward the windshield.

  Eve laughed. “Hey, Isabel, I’ve been banged up enough, don’t you think?”

  Bills and change flew across the floor from a tipped-over paper bucket at Eve’s feet.

  “When did you take up panhandling?” she asked.

  Isabel chuckled. “Actually, I’m collecting for one of our employees. His youngest daughter is having a kidney transplant.”

  “Oh, tough go.” Eve tried to scoot the money into the fallen bucket with her good foot.

  “Insurance doesn’t cover all of it, and he’s got five other kids to feed,” Isabel explained. “George Spiros.”

  “The elf.” Eve smiled.

  “That’s him. Sometimes we call him Santa’s helper.” Isabel looked out the windshield. “Hey, what’s this guy in front of me doing?”

  Eve watched the driver exit his truck and put something in the back.

  “By the size of him, he must be a football player,” Isabel observed.

  Eve’s eyes widened. “Isabel, it’s him. Oh, my dear Lord, for a second time, it’s him.” She watched the spike-haired blond put a red baseball cap on and jump back in his truck. He pulled the vehicle into the street and peeled off without a glance back at the women.

  “Isabel, follow that truck!”

  “What?” Isabel scrunched her nose.

  “Seriously, follow that truck. Go.”

  Isabel launched the SUV forward. “This is crazy. What are we doing?”

  “A good thing, a Godsend.” Eve leaned forward. “Don’t be obvious, but don’t let more than two cars come between him and us. Just stay with him, Isabel.”

  “Eve Kirkwood,” Isabel wailed, “what have you gotten us into?”

  Chapter 9

  The gravel crackled beneath the tires as the SUV crept up the constricted mountain road.

  “There.” Eve pointed. “Park there in that grove of trees.”

  The black pickup had pulled to a stop ahead of them, and the giant leaped out. He ducked into what looked like a deserted miner’s shack.

  “Okay Eve, I’m starting to get scared.” Isabel pulled into the protected spot, the vehicle well hidden. “So this guy is a thief, and you’re going to get him.” Eve had filled her in on the gist of the situation. “How? You’ll knock him out with a crutch?”

  Eve knit her brow, paused, then pulled out her cell phone. She dialed and held it to her ear.

  “Bingham, I’ve got him.”

  “You’ve got who? This is Eve, right? I’m in the middle of a security sweep.”

  “I’ve got Briggs. Well, I don’t actually have him yet.”

  “This isn’t happening. Where are you?” Bingham’s words sounded like hisses through clenched teeth.

  Eve looked around. “Where are we, Isabel?”

  “I don’t know.” Isabel shrugged. “In the middle of a mountainous nowhere.”

  “Some dirt mountain road,” Eve offered. “We left pavement probably twenty-five minutes ago. And I think”—Eve looked at a nearby mountaintop—“we could possibly be a couple miles from the backside of the meadow where I fell off my horse.”

  “We? Someone’s with you?”

  “Isabel Escobar,” Eve told him.

  “From guest services?” There was a pause. “Eve, I want you to turn the vehicle around, wherever you are, and quietly leave the area.”

  “You must be mad.”

  “Me? I’m not a one-legged female, stuck in a remote area, with an oversized robber at my door.”

  “He’s not at my door. He’s in a barely standing excuse for a cabin. Are you going to help or not?”

  Bingham’s exasperated sigh sizzled in Eve’s ear. “Eve, I said I’m on a security sweep.”

  Eve could hear a rough voice tell Bingham to hang up.

  “Go back down the road, call 911, and let the police handle this, now.”

  “Thanks for all your help, Bingham.” Eve hung up.

  “What’s happening?” Isabel rubbed her palms on her thighs.

  “Looks like the cavalry won’t be arriving. They’re busy sweeping.” Eve’s disappointment fired into resolve.

  “Oh great,” Isabel moaned. “Just great.”

  Jason turned on the blinker and maneuvered his classic Jeep Wrangler to the lane marked for airport traffic.

  Priscilla looked stunning in her silk top and body-hugging skirt. There she sat, chic and fashionable, on the stained seats of his dated Jeep. Though she always suggested they take her Audi, she’d never once complained about the Jeep. At least he had left Lucy at home, which he knew suited Priscilla.

  “You’re quiet this afternoon.”

  Priscilla looked out the window, hands in her lap. “It’s a big conference.”

  “It’s not like you to worry about that.” Jason took her hand. “You’ll have a great time. You love New York.”

  Priscilla gave him a weak smile and nodded. “I do. Very much.”

  They soon arrived at the airport. Jason held Priscilla’s hand as he pulled her large bag through the crowds. At the ticket kiosk, Priscilla scanned her e-ticket.

  “You’ve got everything?” Jason asked.

  “My bag.” She released Jason’s hand and took the handle from his grip. “Shoulder bag, carry-on, purse, ticket. Everything.”

  The crowd hummed around them.

  “You’re taking a lot of gear for a three-day conference.”

  “Um, that’s the thing, Jason. I’m staying in New York for a few days after the conference.” Priscilla ran her finger across her luggage tag. “You needn’t see me to the gate.”

  “I took the time off so I could do just that. How many days, exactly?” Jason took her elbow. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  She pulled away. “Jason, we need to talk.”

  “Right here in the middle of the airport?”

  “Well it’s now or in a text message later.” She lowered her chin.

  “Priscilla?” A foreboding sense raised its ugly head and Jason braced himself. “What’s going on?”

  Jason’s cell dinged its text message notice from inside his pants pocket. Could the timing be any worse? He pulled the phone out and eyed it. “It’s work. Bingham.”

  Priscilla bit her lip, and then a look of relief stole across her face. “Go on, read it.”

  Jason brought up the message. Wildcat up to neck in hot water. Call me ASAP.

  Eve tapped her fingers on her knee. “We can use your vehicle to block the road.”

  “We? Have you got a mouse in your pocket?” Isabel’s dark eyes sparked. “I have a husband and a two-year-old son at home who think I’m lunching with my old friend at Good Times.”

  “Isabel, I’m desperate.” Eve cringed as the words stabbed at her self-reliance, but there it was.

  “And I’m a mom,” Isabel retorted. “I can’t go around playing Russian roulette with cars and thieves.”

  Eve lowered her head. She hadn’t seen this venture from Isabel’s perspective until now. “You’re right, I didn’t think it through. I saw the culprit and spun into action.”

  “Eve, look. This is for the police to handle, not an anxious mom and an invalid.”

  Eve nodded. As much as she hated to admit it, she and Isabel we
re not in the best position to go after the giant. Be still and know. The words danced through her mind.

  A quiet fell upon them until Eve’s cell phone pierced the air. She grabbed it and had it to her ear before it could ring a second time.

  “Bingham?” she whispered into the phone.

  “Eve, what on God’s green earth do you think you’re doing?” Jason’s words fell on Eve’s ears like a resounding trumpet.

  “Jason, he’s so close I can see his earwax,” Eve breathed.

  “Eve, please. Listen to me. I’m in the middle of a situation here.”

  Eve watched as Briggs stepped out of the shack and walked toward his truck.

  “Oh no,” Eve whispered.

  “What?”

  “He’s leaving.” She trembled. “He’s going to get away, again.”

  “Is he carrying a suitcase or a backpack or anything like that?”

  “No, nothing.”

  “He plans to return,” Jason said with confidence. “Has he seen you?”

  Eve glanced around. “We’re pretty well concealed.”

  The giant started his truck.

  “Jason, I’ve got to stop him.”

  “Eve, he will be stopped, but not this minute. I’ll do a stakeout as soon as I can get to it. Can you remember how you got to where you are?”

  “I couldn’t give directions, but I think I could direct someone, if I were in the car.”

  “Could you direct me?”

  Eve felt a tingle dance across her stomach. “Yes.”

  The pickup started moving.

  “He’s heading this way.”

  “Get low,” Jason yelled.

  Eve sunk down, pulling Isabel with her. She could just make out Logan Briggs driving past. He left only clouds of dust behind him.

  “He didn’t see us.”

  Jason blew out an extended breath.

  Eve sat back up. “You’ll follow through?”

  Jason’s voice quieted. “Yes, Eve. Listen, I do care about you.”

  The words engraved themselves into her heart.

  “Go straight back to the hotel and stay there. I’ll see if I can get any help from the CSPD, but I’ll need you to get me to the scene.”