Glass Houses (23 page)

They finished with him holding Olivia high while she locked her ankles behind him.

He felt the water begin to cool but saw no sign that she had noticed. Slowly she relaxed her legs and slid down to stand.

Limp and pliable, she leaned against him, ran her fingers through the hair on his chest and down to his navel, the base of his penis and beneath to cradle him. He put a hand on the wall and locked his elbow. Something was happening again, the supposedly impossible at this point. Olivia hadn’t missed the fact. She slipped lower, held his legs and kept right on gliding her breasts downward. Gentle fingers took hold and rubbed him over her nipples.

Blood plummeted from Aiden’s head. He used both hands on the wall. Just watching her caused an ironclad erection. But then she took him just a little way inside her lips. The tip of her tongue sought his erogenous places. “Olivia?” What did he want to say?

She raised her flushed face to look at him, and her eyes sparkled. The woman could destroy him, but he’d gladly be destroyed by her.

Strength rushed through him, and he picked her up, turned her around, and bent her forward. “Brace yourself, sweetheart,
”
he told her, guiding her hands to the wall. The water was close to stone-cold now. He’d have to remember that she seemed to like it that way, and the falling temperature wasn’t cooling anything for him.

Holding her breasts, he entered her from behind, reveling in the pounding together of their flesh, in her exultant gasps.

At last, and with the water finally turned off, only their rasping breath filled the space.

“This is crazy,” Olivia said, and she meant every word. “I have never done an
ything like it before. Not…
well, not, that’s all.”

Aiden retrieved her bra. The panties would never be the same.

Banging on the cabin door stilled them both.

“Who would it be?” Olivia whispered. “What are we going to do?”

“You’re going to stay here,” he told her.

In a moment, he was wrapped in a towel and closing the bathroom door behind him. He looked through the curtains to see Dierdre standing there with a tray of steaming food in her hands and a world-class frown directed at Boss, who eyed the food and slobbered on her coat. She raised a foot, and he figured out why the pounding had been so loud.

“Hold on,” he yelled. “Coming, Dierdre.”

He opened the door an inch or so and smiled.

Dierdre smiled too, only she wasn’t looking at his face. “Breakfast,” she said shortly. “Stand back. I’m coming in. You’ve got trouble, and you won’t be leaving unless we give you the
all clear. You own a Morgan?”

Already standing back to let Boss pass, Aiden blinked and took the tray from Dierdre as she entered. “You’re breaking the record for changing subjects. Why would you ask a question like that?”

“Cal and I are supposed to be using this cabin, remember,” she said, and closed the door. “I asked about the Morgan because I need to know.”

He really didn’t have much choice but to pile on yet another chance confidence in this woman. “Yeah, I own a Morgan. Why?”

“And you lied when you said you weren’t a cop?”

“Maybe.”

“
Good enough. Eat. Take anything you want from the box with you. It’s all cheap and it can all be replaced. Besides, you’ll pay us back.”

Olivia emerged from the bathroom wearing a towel and a sheepish smile. “Good morning, Dierdre. You’re too kind to us.”

“Two men came in last night,” she said, ignoring Olivia’s
comment. “Arrived when you were on your way back here,” she told Aiden.

“Yes,” Aiden said. “In the car that’s parked at the other end of the cabins?”

“That’s the one. I wanted you to get some sleep or I’d have come earlier. Cal and I have been watching. If you’d showed signs of coming out, we’d have stopped you from being seen. They asked a heap of questions. But we haven’t seen a big, blond man with a dark-haired woman. The big man is a cop. The woman is English. She doesn’t dress so well.”

Aiden and Olivia looked at each other.

“Mad as wet hens, they were. Probably still are. Seems they think they’ve been led on a wild goose chase by someone called Lemon. How’s that for a name? Just wait till they get their hands on Lemon. He’s their contact. How are they supposed to get things done when they can’t trust their contact.”

“Names?” Aiden asked.

Dierdre smiled with one side of her mouth. “Smith and Brown.”

“Of course,” Aiden said. “I should have known.”

“Oh, dear,” Olivia said.

Aiden hitched at his towel and said, “Whoever it is isn’t here by coincidence, sweetheart. Next thing we do is get away and do some figuring.”

“No problem,” Dierdre said. A sequinned green beret had replaced the beaded hairnet. “Leave it to me. You’ll see a red truck—that’s mine—leaving. I’ll be guiding a black Caddy to the highway. They’ll be in it. Give ’em a head start befo
re you get on your way. Okay?”

“Okay,” Aiden and Olivia said in unison.

Dierdre went out and started to close the door, then poked her head back inside and said to Aiden, “If I was thirty years younger, I wouldn’t be letting you leave so easy.” Her laugh wasn’t completely silenced by the shutting door.

“I want to get on the road as fast as I can,” Olivia said.

“Because you feel
…
” He stopped himself from saying
she was embarrassed to be with him like this after they’d been intimate.

She gave him a shrewd stare. “Because we can’t afford to let more time get away from us.”

Aiden took up a styrofoam cup of very hot coffee and drank gratefully.

Standing to one side of the window, Olivia pulled the drape out a fraction. She ate toast and watched.

“That’s my job,” he told her. “Sit down and have your breakfast.”

“Try not to be condescending,” was his reward for being thoughtful. “There’s Dierdre’s red pickup. She must keep it parked on the other side of the cafe.”

Short of getting physical and hauling her away, he’d have to let her play sleuth. “And?”

“Nothing else yet. She’s out of the pickup and going inside. Not inside, just looking inside. Now she’s returning to the pickup and getting in. T
hat big black car is by the café
.” Aiden tapped a bare foot.

“Stop that,” Olivia said. “Daddy does that. Makes me nervous. Here come two men. One thin, one heavy. The thin one’s going to drive. He’s—”

“What?” Aiden asked, taking hold of her when she leaped away from the window. He managed to look from the window himself and saw both Dierdre’s red pickup, moving now, and the black Cadillac, also moving, or jerking forward in spurts.

“Those were them,” Olivia babbled. She tore a Nikon out of her bag and returned to the window to start taking rapid shots. “At least I’ve got the car and its license plates. All these hours we’ve been as good as neighbors with Mr. Moody and Mr. Fish.”

Aiden watched the smooth way she handled the camera. “Moody and Fish,” he said slowly. “That’s who I thought it was going to be.”

“Right,” Olivia said, still clicking. “Of course you did. I haven’t been around criminals long enough to think like one.”

He let that pass. “Ryan Hill has to have a connection to
them—which would explain why he’s after the photographs, too. They’re all in it together.”

Olivia left the window. “Get dressed,” she said, and it was an order.

Her businesslike recovery amused and pleased Aiden, but he hadn’t forgotten the other issue between them. Olivia had thrown her towel aside and hopped around naked, pulling on the oversized green sweats with only a cotton T-shirt underneath.

“You’re going to make a great partner—in more ways than one,” Aiden said. He got rid of his own towel and took her by the shoulders. “You’ve got it right. We’ve got to move fast now. But repeat after me. It’s
not
over.”

Sixteen

“
I
s it a long way from Des Moines to Dubuque?” Olivia asked. Aiden was driving fast toward this Dubuque and chortling about Cal’s announcement that Moody and Fish wanted to go to a meeting in Dubuque but Dierdre had sent them in the wrong direction.

Aiden wanted to shout with relief at the sound of Olivia’s voice. Since they’d left Usterbee, she had shut him out of whatever she was thinking about. He knew what she was thinking about. “Long enough to take ’em more than three hours to make it back,” he told her. “If they get all the way to Des Moines, anyway. And by then they’ll already be three hours or so late. For a meeting in Dubuque. It’s great. I don’t know why Dierdre and Cal decided they liked us, but we’re lucky they did.”

“And Moody and Fish think you’re driving a dark blue Morgan.”

They had to have been given that tip by Fats, Aiden decided. Fats knew about the Morgan, but not the Rover. He’d seen the Rover’s discarded tarp at the warehouse and hadn’t been smart enough to check around thoroughly and make sure what car Aiden was driving. “I think Fats Lemon gave them that brilliant
information. He knows I’ve got one. And I don’t know exactly how he knows, but Lemon’s telling them where we are.”

“If he is,” Olivia said, “how would Dierdre be able to get them to go the wrong way?”

Aiden was wondering the same thing.
“
They could be out of touch with him now. And look on the bright side. His crystal ball could have clouded up so he can’t get a make on us anymore.”

“I’d drink to that,” Olivia said. “Who do you think they’re supposed to meet in Dubuque? Fats?”

“Makes sense. Cal heard them mention the name.”

“They were shouting when I went by last night—earlier this morning,” Olivia said, and regretted the reference when she’d vowed to herself that the events at the cabin would not be repeated or mentioned, or even thought about again. “They must shout at each other so much, they don’t notice. Cal couldn’t believe the way they talked about looking for an American policeman with a dog and driving a Morgan.”

Aiden knew he was taking a risk on her sense of humor, but said, “They probably know Boss’s with me, too. That should be enough to scare the pants off ’em.”

Olivia was smoothing the place between Boss’s eyes. She looked sharply at Aiden and grimaced. “Oh, right, very funny.”

He felt his shoulders lower an inch or so at the prospect of resumed talks. But minutes ticked away to fifteen, then thirty that passed without another word from Olivia, and Aiden couldn’t think of any way to trick her out of her withdrawal again. His shoulders stiffened once more and he gripped the wheel tightly, concentrating on the road to keep his mind off the woman beside him—and other things. But he had to glance at her occasionally. She’d crossed her arms. The hand he could see was fisted, the knuckles white. Was she regretting what they’d done together? Dumb question. He visualized her in the shower, in the dark pink underwear turned darker by the water, yet at the same time transparent.

He took his right hand from the wheel and made a move
to touch her. Instead he rubbed Boss’s head where the dog balanced between them.

“Ca
l
and Dierdre didn’t have any doubts that Moody and Fish were following us,” he said when he couldn’t stand holdi
ng the peace another second. “
When I went into that warehouse, I intended taking the Morgan. Luck was on our side. We’re going to have plenty of time to catch up with Fats and hide this car. More than plenty of time. I’m going to pray Laurel and Hardy aren’t too tired to keep on yelling when they do turn up.”

“You want to hear their plans so you’ll understand what they’re up to, rig
ht?”
Olivia said.

“I want to hear what route they plan to take so we can try to make sure our paths never cross again. Now I’m looking for a likely place to get off the interstate and look for some stores.”

“Why?”

“Hey, if you’ve decided you prefer going without panties, we won’t bother.” And that comment, he thought, was a
big
mistake.

From the angle of Olivia’s head, she might be examining the occasional yellow birch between wide shoulders at the edge of the highw
ay, and the fields of golden corn
stubble beyond. The fields stretched to the horizon on either side with many miles between farmhouses and their scatter of buildings and grain elevators. Blustery wind tossed up fine debris from shorn cornstalks and speckled a gunmetal sky with low clouds. Every mile or so, a billboard flapped like a garish sail on a square-rigged man-o’-war.

Aiden doubted his passenger was actually seeing much of anything out there. “We can keep on going for another hour, if you prefer.”

Olivia couldn’t bring herself to look at him. “I’d like to stop soon, please.”

“No problem. We’d have to sooner or later. We need new mugs.”

“Excuse me?”

“New…
disguises. We need disguises. Doesn’t take much. I’ll get us fixed up.”

“I’m not the type of person who dresses up. I always detested fancy-dress affairs. Wouldn’t go if I could help it, and I’m not starting now.”

Aiden saw a road sign. “You are starting now.” When he was older and had more time, he might be able to humor dense females. Not now. “This isn’t a party, ma’am, it’s a friggin’ war, and we need uniforms the enemy isn’t going to pick off at a few hundred yards.” He considered mentioning red coats and white tights on English soldiers supposedly blending into forests, but thought better of it. “Just go along with me. I’m the one who really needs a change of face. But I can’t risk you looking so out of place with me that you draw attention. Clackitakit Mall next right. That’ll do.”

If he thought she would follow him like another dog, he was wrong, blast him. “You don’t even know what shops they’ll have. You don’t just go to any town and expect them to have a fancy-dress shop.”

Fancy-dress shop.
“
We call them costumes here, not fancy dress. I’m not looking for that kind of costume. Leather’s good. Easy, and we need easy.”

Olivia did stare at him now.
“
Leather?
What can you mean?”

“You’ll see. Hey, we’re in luck, Wal-Mart. Who needs a mall? I love Wal-Mart. Whatever you need, they’ve got. And since money’s tight, we need some deals. They’ve got deals.”

“Money,” Olivia said quietly, and frowned.
“
No,
I don’t believe this.”

Was she petrified or disgusted, or both? Aiden would be so incredibly angry with her. She buried her face in Boswell’s neck and closed her eyes tightly. How could she have completely forgotten Vanni’s call?

“What did you say?” Aiden pulled off the road and drove a long entry access to the store. With hunched shoulders and rigid posture, Olivia was clinging to Boss. Her face was obscured in the dog’s fur. “Olivia?”

When she lifted her head, her white face alarmed him. Her
eyes were huge and even darker than usual. “Tell me now.
Now,
Olivia. What the hell’s wrong?”

“Ryan Hill’s back in New York.”

He shot into the first vacant parking place and slammed on the brakes. “What did you say?”

“Oh,” she said, her features crumpling. “Have I made a hash of things by forgetting to tell you? Perhaps it doesn’t make any difference. Vanni called while
you were in the shower and I…
it just went out of my head.”

When he didn’t shout at her, she felt even worse. Daddy always shouted when he was really cross and she hated it, but at least one knew where one was. Aiden could look so menacing with absolutely no particular expression at all on his angular face—except for deadly disbelief in his intensely blue eyes.

“Honestly, it didn’t as much as enter my head from that moment to this.”

Oh, my goodness. The way he switched off the car and turned sideways to face her was devastating. His nostrils flared, and a white line formed around his mouth. He propped his upper arm on the back of his seat and made motions with the key he held between finger and thumb, small but threatening motions. At least, she thought they were threatening.

“Before or after,” he said finally.

She didn’t understand him.

“Before or after—no, you were in the shower before I got there. And I left the bathroom b
efore you. When Dierdre came.”

This was getting worse. “Not this morning,” she said, aware of how silly and small her voice sounded. “Last night. When you were in the shower last night. Before I tried to—” She couldn’t bring herself to finish.

“Before you tried to run away? Before I took you back and we slept together—until this morning when we showered together? Didn’t all those things happen after you took a call from Vanni, I assume on
my
phone? Then we dressed, and packed the car, and went to talk to Cal, and ate breakfast. Are you mad, or did you decide to help the enemy?”

He was going too far, and she wouldn’t put up with it. “That’s silly.”

“Silly?
Silly?
You decide to withhold vital information and I’m silly to be angry?”

“First, I didn’t do it on purpose.” She felt someone watching them and glanced out of the window at two teenaged girls leaning against a pole. They gestured at Aiden and Olivia and giggled together. “I’ve told you now. Stop trying to frighten me, and I’ll tell you the rest.”

This was, Aiden decided, a nightmare. To be trapped in the company of an airhead female who couldn’t seem to understand that she was in danger of being very dead, very soon.

“You’re so wise to be quiet,” she said, raising her chin. “It’ll make matters much quicker and more pleasant. Vanni said Ryan Hill’s got a lot of evidence against us.”

“There isn’t any, so he can’t—”

“Don’t interrupt, please. He
says
he’s got evidence. Your person in charge wanted to send out an ABP, but there was some question about the qualifications of certain people. Apparently one of them might not have the right skills and could kill us by mistake. So they aren’t doing one of those things. The investigation is still unofficial.”

Aiden prayed for patience. “APB, not ABP. All Points Bulletin. Why didn’t you get me from the shower?”

Her expression brightened. She gave him a delighted smile and wagged a finger. “Vanni told me not to. He said he didn’t have time—or I think he did. He
told
me just to give you a message. You see?”

“I see that you didn’t give me the message.”

The lovely smile dissolved. “I am now,” she murmured. “Vanni said Ryan wants to make sure we’re never able to present any evidence we have against him—not that I think we do have any. And—oh, dear. Ryan Hill will be pursuing us himself. That’s the way Vanni put it. And he said you’ve only got to say the word and he’ll come to help us. And he’ll send money. That’s what made me remember. When you mentioned money.”

Ryan was tailing them, had been tailing them since when? Probably yesterday. He took her by the shoulders, gently enough, and shook her slowly back and forth. “How could you have done anything else but tell me about Ryan the second Vanni mentioned him?” He shut his eyes. “That gives me one good idea about how we’re being traced. If Ryan is all over the precinct, he’s perfectly capable of snooping around and getting information Vanni’s got on his computer. Damn it. I’ll have to warn Vanni.”

“Vanni said for me not to get you. And you know he doesn’t want you to call him back.”

“I know all about that. Vanni has to call the shots on when we talk now.”

“Yes, and he’ll call again. He said he would.”

Aiden rested his brow on Olivia’s. It helped to feel how softly feminine she was, because he could switch on his natural protective urges then, rather than follow other instincts and break every one of her tiny bones.
“
Okay, okay. I don’t understand, but I’ll have t
o accept that you don’t always l
i
n
e on all cylinders. Now it’s even more important to make sure we aren’t recognized. We don’t want to be seen at all if we can pull that off. Let’s go shopping.”

They got out of the car and Aiden said, “Show’s over,” to the grinning teens. They giggled and sighed, and Olivia didn’t have to guess who was turning their oversexed minds to mush.

She had to trot to keep up with Aiden’s long, loose-limbed strides. They went into the shop and Aiden took a cart. “What size are you?” he said.

“What size are
you?”
she snapped back, incensed at his audacity.

“Big,” he said. “Underwear first.”

She ran her eyes over racks of serviceable cotton panties, then some made of nylon. “I prefer silk.”

“Those are silk,” he said, pointing a long finger. “It says so.” And before she could study the selection, he whipped a black, lace-trimmed thong from the bar and held it against her.

“Aiden,”
she said through her teeth. “People are watching us.
”

“Again? Think of us as public servants. We’re providing entertainment. That looks like the right size.” The minuscule black panties landed in the bottom of the shopping cart, to be followed by similar garments in an array of colors.
“
Now, the other. Thirty-eight?”