“Maybe I wanted the excuse to see you in person.”
Chapter Eleven
Laurie wasn’t so sure she believed that. Not after how the night before had ended.
“Tell me what Daisy said.”
She related everything, including the other woman’s description of the man. “Dark eyes. I mean, that probably could describe the eyes of half the men in town, right?”
“It could.” Tuck was thoughtful. “That seems like a huge coincidence. But if this is related to the robbery, why two weeks later? That makes no sense.”
A thought occurred to her and she drew in a sharp breath. “What if this guy is targeting me, Tuck?”
He looked down at her, his eyes filled with determination. “I think it’s probably too early to assume that yet. Do you think Daisy would be okay giving me an official statement?”
A small smile teased Laurie’s lips. Daisy loved to talk – she would be thrilled to have an officer pay her a visit for information. She might even reward him with a piece of apple pie. “I’m sure she would be perfectly fine with that.”
“Good. I’ll work on that tomorrow.”
“I appreciate it.” Laurie had a nagging feeling that she was missing some kind of connection. She wouldn’t have been able to say why, but she knew that she played a part in all of this somehow, even if a small role. If only she could figure it out. Did she think her life was in danger? Not really. But it gave her the heebie jeebies all the same.
Tuck stopped walking. He took her hand and tugged her gently so she was facing him before releasing it. “We’ll pray that God will help us figure this out. Everything is going to be okay.”
She nodded as the woodsy smell of his aftershave permeated her senses. Everything about him made her feel safe.
“Look. I wanted to apologize for yesterday.”
Of all the things he might have said, that was not what she had expected. “That isn’t necessary.”
Tuck stopped walking and touched her elbow. “I think that it is. I know my comment about us being friends bothered you. Which was the last thing I wanted.”
“It was silly of me to take offense at what you said. There’s nothing to apologize for.”
“I don’t think anything about you is silly.”
Tuck’s expression was open and she just wished she knew what he was thinking. She took in a deep breath to steady her nerves. “I had the impression… Or at least I thought…” Closing her eyes, she tried to form the right words and work up the courage to let them pass her lips. “I thought there might have been something there. Because of that, I took what you said way too personally. I was wrong and I’m sorry about that.”
Feeling incredibly uncomfortable, she started down the path again. After only a couple of steps, she felt his strong hand gently hold her arm and tug her to a stop. She pivoted around and sought his eyes for an explanation.
“You weren’t wrong.”
The intensity in his gaze warmed her from the inside out. “I wasn’t?” Her words were breathless as she spoke them.
Tuck collected the strands of her hair that were blowing freely in the breeze and deposited them behind her ear. “Look, I had a relationship in the past that fell apart because of my job. It really did a number on my confidence.”
“What happened?”
They walked side by side as he told her about Jana and how much she had come to resent the interruptions his job brought to their lives.
He shrugged. “What kind of guy doesn’t know his fiancée is unhappy enough to cancel their engagement?”
“A guy who’s fiancée isn’t honest with him?”
“I wish it were as simple as that.” He kicked a dirt clod with the toe of his boot and it tumbled down the slight embankment and into the pond.
Laurie stopped their progress. Ducks swam by and she watched as the ripples from their movement traveled across the surface of the pond. “It never is. Look, even if it was all your fault, are you really supposed to torture yourself over it for the rest of your life?”
“I was actually okay with that. Until my issues started to affect someone else I’m beginning to care about.”
Her breath caught as his gaze slowly explored her face and settled on her lips.
~
The sound of Laurie’s soft voice brought Tuck’s attention to her eyes. Determination simmered there, along with a dash of hope.
“You realize I have my own issues, right? I spent most of my adult life trying to get out from under my parents. You said it yourself. I’m stubborn.”
She rushed her words and he did his best not to grin. Yes, she was stubborn. And nervous. He found it adorable. “Did they insist that you go into the family business?”
“My parents are very well off. My sister and I were raised by a nanny. Everything was provided for us and they insisted we continue to take money from them. My sister has lived off the support they’ve offered. I wanted to prove I could handle life on my own. It may not be pretty, and I may have had to start from the bottom, but I’m doing it.”
He wouldn’t have guessed she came from a rich family. Thinking about where she was living now, he realized just how much effort she was going to in order to prove to herself, and anyone else, that she could do it on her own.
“I admire that. Even if they don’t say so, I imagine your parents are proud of you. They should be.” He lightly ran the back of a finger down one of her cheeks, marveling at the softness of her skin. Almost as if he were painting it himself, her face turned a light shade of pink in the wake of his touch. “Come on, it’s going to be dark soon. We’d better head back.”
They’d made it halfway around the pond and it was getting cold. They walked significantly faster getting back to their cars.
Laurie cleared her throat as she rubbed her hands together to create some warmth. “We’ve established we both have things we are battling with in our past that we can’t seem to shake. Any suggestions on how to deal with it?”
Tuck reached over and tucked one of her hands into his own. He didn’t really have any answers for her. Instead, he spoke the one thing that seemed to echo through his whole being. “Together?”
She squeezed his hand and gave him a shy smile. “I like the sound of that.”
“I’ll come by and pick you up around five tomorrow and take you to get your gun. Will that work?”
“Perfectly.”
He pulled her hand closer and brushed his lips against the smooth skin of her wrist. “Be careful going home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He thoroughly enjoyed the small smile on her face and the light pink that colored her cheeks as she climbed into her car and disappeared from view.
~
Tuck’s Tuesday morning was a busy one. He had checked in with Laurie before getting an official statement from Daisy Belle. It had only been five minutes after getting back to the station when he and Lance were called out on a report of a break-in.
The partners pulled up in front of a pediatrician’s office, a group of people milling around in front. When they approached, the group parted like water from oil and they walked to the door.
“Doctor Patterson.” A middle-aged gentleman held a hand out and shook both officers’ hands. “One of my office assistants and I arrived to find the door like this. We called the police immediately.”
“Has anyone been inside yet?” Lance asked them.
“Not yet. We wanted to wait for you to arrive first.” Dr. Patterson threw the broken door a hedged look. “We’ll have patients arriving soon. I need to find out what kind of situation we’re looking at and if we’re going to need to close for the day.”
Tuck gave a swift nod. “I understand. Officer Davenport and I’ll go in and check out the offices. But I can tell you that you’ll probably need to close the office at least through lunch. We will do some investigating and all of this broken glass will need to be cleaned up.”
The transparent door itself was busted. Shards littered
the walkway in front. With the sunlight getting stronger, the glass glittered like ice crystals. The door was still closed and locked.
Ducking to avoid sharp edges, Tuck led the way into the cheerful waiting room. Everything seemed in order. A colorful train table sat on one side, and a low bookcase filled with board books sat on the other.
Opening the door, Tuck motioned for Lance to check out the various exam rooms while he headed into the office area. Hundreds of file folders littered the floor. The large sets of file cabinets had been broken into, and several of the drawers were pulled all the way out. Was the intruder looking for something specific or making a mess? It felt like a game of hopscotch as he made his way across the room without stepping on anything.
“We’re all clear back there,” Lance announced as he walked into the room. “Wow.”
“Go ahead and ask Dr. Patterson to come on in.” Tuck jotted down some notes and pulled a camera out to take a few pictures. He especially focused on the file folders. Lance returned with the doctor.
“We’re going to need to close for the day – maybe longer,” Dr. Patterson said, his voice just above a whisper. His office assistant nodded her agreement, her eyes wide.
More than sympathetic, Tuck turned to the man. “We’re going to need to take a lot of photos and dust for prints.” He looked at the mess in front of them. “Someone was likely looking for something specific. We’ll need to go through these files. I would like to compare them to your computer records and see if any of the files were taken.”
“Of course.” Dr. Patterson couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the pile of folders and white papers. “Karen, go ahead and put up a sign letting everyone know we’re closed.” He turned to Lance. “Can we access the computer? We would like to start calling patients and let them know that we’re closed today.”
Tuck listened as the doctor and his partner conversed. His mind was spinning as he tried to make sense of the last couple of weeks. The word among the people watching outside was vandalism, but he had a suspicion it was more than that.
~
Laurie sat down to finish the post processing for the last session she had waiting. It was somewhat unusual for her to finish a session and not have another in line waiting for her attention. She was going to enjoy it, because she had two new clients later in the afternoon and evening and then the appointment with Serenity and Gideon on Sunday.
Thinking about the Chandler family made her smile. Remembering the walk at the duck pond with Tuck the night before widened that smile even further and made her heart skip a beat.
Forcing herself to focus, she pulled up an image of a chubby baby girl. The toothless grin on her cherub face would light up any room.
Because Laurie preferred a clean processing look to her photos, she increased the brightness and contrast only slightly. She carefully removed the crust under the baby’s nose and lightened the photo a tad. When she was happy with it, she cropped it and saved it in her finished folder. She went through the whole session like that, happy to have twenty-one images to present to the family.
Her cell phone rang and she was glad for the excuse to take a break. She still needed to move smaller images to her website. That way, the family could view them from their own home.
“Hello, this is Laurie with Capturing the Moment Photography. How can I help you?”
“Hi Laurie, this is Serenity Chandler. Do you have a minute?”
“Of course! Is everything still on for our photo shoot?”
“It should be. I saw on the news that they are predicting bad weather for tomorrow night and I was worried about it. Are you super booked? Do we need to cancel?”
Laurie hadn’t even heard about the change in the weather. She brought up the report on her computer and looked it over. “It looks like we have about a 50% chance of snow tomorrow. I don’t think we’re going to have any problem. If, by chance, we get some record-breaking snow storm, then we might have to change our plans.”
“I didn’t want to inconvenience you by cancelling with little notice.”
“Don’t worry about that. If the weather gets that bad, I’ll probably be cancelling our appointment myself. Let’s take it a day at a time and see what happens. Even if it does snow, there’s a good chance it’ll all melt in plenty of time.”
It had been a couple of years since they last had a major winter storm. The idea of snow made Laurie smile – though she did hope it would wait until after the photo session
“That’s great.” Serenity sounded relieved. “I’m looking forward to this session and I’m trying to prepare Gideon as best I can.”
“I can’t wait for it, either. It’s going to be fun! He’s an amazing little boy.”
“I appreciate that, thank you.”
They said their goodbyes and Laurie returned to her laptop. She had it set up in the studio. The light was much better and she liked to be available in case someone walked in off the street. It proved to be a good thing, because she had two separate customers come in and book sessions with her for Valentine’s Day.
The afternoon flew by. Laurie looked up in surprise when Tuck walked through the door. She glanced at the clock and stood quickly when she saw it was a few minutes after five. “Oh my goodness, I’ve completely lost track of the day. I’ll be ready to go in a couple of minutes. Let me take my laptop upstairs, get a jacket, and lock everything up.”
He laughed, holding up a hand. “Take your time. Is there anything I can do?”
“No, thanks!” she called over her shoulder as she shut the laptop and unplugged the cord. “Have a seat and I’ll be right back down.”
Chapter Twelve
Tuck watched as Laurie carried her laptop upstairs and reappeared a few minutes later. She locked the apartment door and gave him a bright smile. “How has your day been?”
“Insane. Yours?”
“Same. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
He told her about the break-in at the pediatrician’s office as he drove them to the sporting goods store.
“How long will it take to go through all the files and see if any of them are missing?”
“I’ll be surprised if we get any information before the end of the week. It was a lot of paperwork – you should have seen it. It was like someone had taken the folders and held them in front of a fan. They were everywhere. The chief has us scheduled to help go through them over the next couple of days.”
He caught her worrying her bottom lip. “We have no idea if this is related or not. There’s no sense borrowing trouble if we don’t have to.”
He knew it was easier said than done. Answers would only come with time. If there was anything in his power to make it go faster, he would do it.
At the store, Tuck waited as she filled out the paperwork. He was going to feel a lot more comfortable once she had a firearm at her apartment. The next step was to make sure she got some practice with it so that she was feeling confident about her abilities should she have to use it. A situation he truly hoped she was never faced with.
When everything was finalized, they were escorted to the front where Laurie paid for the Smith & Wesson and two boxes of ammunition. Walking away from the store, she confessed, “There was a lot more to that than I thought there would be.”
“At least they weren’t busy. I wish I could offer to take you out for dinner or something. But the chief has enlisted Lance and myself to help with the files tonight.” He glanced at her as he pulled out of the parking lot. “What time are you supposed to be at mom’s house for the photo shoot?”
“Two o’clock. I wanted to get there early enough to still have some good light to work with. We’re going to see what the weather’s like and decide whether the shoot will be indoors or out.”
He noticed her opening her mouth to say something else, but she closed it again without a word. “What’s up?”
“I don’t want to step on Serenity’s toes. But she seems lonely. A lot of my customers belong to a suppo
rt group here in town for families with children who have special needs. I thought about giving Serenity the information in case it might be something she was interested in.” She gathered her long hair at the nape of her neck and pulled it over her shoulder.
“You can mention the group to her. But I think one of Gideon’s therapists said something about it in the past and she wasn’t interested.” He had been worried about Serenity as well and was impressed with Laurie’s ability to read other people. “It doesn’t hurt to tell her about it, but don’t push it. She gets defensive easily.”
She absently wrapped a curl around one of her fingers. “I know I don’t have experience as a parent, but I’ve heard several of my customers tell me that they felt alone until they found this group. I think it might be good for her.”
“I don’t doubt that you’re right. But Serenity has a lot of things she needs to work through in her past and in her life in general. She’s exceptionally hard on herself – much harder than she needs to be.” Tuck’s heart ached for his little sister. It had been an answer to prayer when she had agreed to move into the Chandler house, even if she insisted on paying at least some rent while she was there. He wished he could help her more, but she kept everyone’s at arm’s length.
He reached over to take the hand that was fiddling with her hair. “I appreciate your wanting to help. I think taking the photos tomorrow will be the best thing you can do right now. There’s one thing I have learned about my little sister. She has to come to a decision or a change in her life on her own. No one can push her to do anything she isn’t ready to do.”
“I’m looking forward to the shoot. Are you going to make it for dinner?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.” He pulled up to Laurie’s studio, put the truck in park, and turned to her. “I actually thought we could spend the day together. We could go have lunch and hang out a bit, then I could drive us over to Mom’s house.” Tuck watched her face, praying she would say yes.
Finding Peace (Love's Compass #1) Page 9
