Irresistible Force (26 page)

“Okay, but only one. It’s Thursday. I have work tomorrow.”

“We’ll be over here.” Henry pointed to the waiting room chairs where they went to sit. Each whipped out the video device of their choice, instantly engrossed.

When their boss came by a minute later, on his way to a late meeting, Shay gave him a half smile. “Good night, Perry.”

He gave her a smile but didn’t break his stride. As far as she knew, Halifax hadn’t called to dump on her record of model employee nor to address her claims about Eric.

Or was Perry keeping that to himself?

Shay tucked her head down to finish the job before her, and pushed the anxiety away. It scooted four inches and then settled back to peer over her shoulder. Something was wrong. She couldn’t put it into words or even explain it. Yet she still felt
watched
. Sometimes when she was on the street and, most often, when she was arriving and leaving places. Hypervigilance turning to paranoia?

Shay sucked in a breath. She needed to distract herself.
Think of James.

She had gotten his text earlier. And while there was nothing even remotely romantic about it, he had promised to call tonight. She had been waiting to tell him about her week, and what she had done. Maybe she’d tell him when he called, and have it out of the way. Then tomorrow he’d be back, in Raleigh, in her apartment, in her bed.

When she thought of James everything else faded. Nothing seemed to matter when she conjured up memories of him. In his arms, kissing him, loving him, the world stopped. She could breathe freely.

“All ready?” Angie flashed five fingers, a fist, and then five fingers at her. It was 5:05.

Twenty minutes later, they had wedged themselves into a corner booth of a local brewery, a different microbrew in front of each of them.

“Is James coming over to Raleigh this weekend? Or are you going down to Charlotte to crawl all over his gorgeous co—” She glanced at Henry and blushed. “Body.”

“Neither.” Shay hadn’t missed the glance Angie flung Henry’s way. Usually, Angie was unflappable. She said things just to see how outrageous she could be. But with Henry … hm.

“So, you got a guy?” Henry reached for one of the nachos piled on a plate in front of Shay.

“Sort of.”

“He’s a cop.” Angie reached for one, too.

Shay surged forward, circling her arms moatlike around her plate. “Hey! Order your own food. This is lunch and dinner for me.”

“Let’s see. You got your dairy, your protein and vegetable, and your starch.” Henry bobbed his head. “I guess that constitutes a meal.”

“There’s no green vegetable there.” Angie wagged a finger at the platter. “Without something green that doesn’t constitute a full meal.”

Shay reached out and dumped her side order of jalapeños over the top of the stack. “Green vegetable.
Ta-da
.”

“Damn. That was just mean, Shay.” Angie didn’t do jalapeños.

“Serves you right, criticizing my food.” She slipped a chip piled with beans and trailing hot cheese from her plate and leaned forward to bite into it. Maybe she wasn’t fluish, after all. Maybe she was just weak-kitten hungry.

By the time she stopped chewing, Angie’s and Henry’s orders had arrived.

For the next couple of minutes all that happened at their table was chewing and swallowing and more chewing.

Shay watched as each of them slanted speculative gazes at the other when the other wasn’t watching. Something up here. Time to test her hypothesis.

“So, Henry, you still seeing that girl from Durham?”

Henry darted a glance at Angie. “Ah, no.”

“She was so not his type,” Angie chimed in. “She claimed to be an old-school video-game nerd. But she didn’t know Samus Aran from Metroid. Can you even believe that?”

Shay grinned. That answered one question. “So, who are you seeing, Henry?”

He ducked his head. “Not really anyone, at the moment.” He half glanced at Angie again. “Just hanging with Angie.”

O-I-C
. Shay formed the letters for the words “oh I see” with her right hand and then laughed. One really slow week at the office, they had had a contest to see who could communicate most effectively without actually resorting to speech. Nerd entertainment.

“It’s not like that.” Angie put down her fork. “Well, it’s not.”

Shay aimed raised brows at her. “Why not?”

“Because, well, because…” Angie glanced at Henry who had paused in chomping his burger to glance over at her.

Shay decided to push. “Why not?”

Henry dropped his burger onto his plate. “Yeah, why not?”

Angie went deer-in-the-headlights. “I didn’t think—you never said. I don’t know.” She glared down at her plate of Buffalo wings as if daring them to take flight.

Henry picked up his glass of beer, grinning. “I guess that’s settled then.”

Angie looked up. “How is it settled?” Her sweet face went all evil cherub. “You don’t just get to nod and smile, fella. Are we seeing each other or not?”

Henry choked, spewing beer out his nose.

Shay handed him a napkin, trying not to laugh too hard.

“Ah sure. You and me. I’d like that,” he finally gasped out between beery sneezes.

Angel-face Angie returned with a smile to put Cupid to shame. “That’s settled then.”

Shay smiled. Her two favorite people were now officially seeing one another. Maybe when James got back to town the four of them could double-date. Like normal people. Like friends, even.

Unless she decided to keep James locked away all weekend in her apartment.

That possessive thought brought a sudden jolt of emotion with it. She wanted James all to herself.

It was a new feeling.
Waaaay
too soon for that emotion to be taken seriously.

Yet it felt good just knowing she was capable of it.

She’d never met a man and thought, yes, please, that one. On loan. Possibly permanently. The feeling was more than enough for now.

Glad she hadn’t turned down her friends’ offer of company, Shay turned to order another beer for Henry. From the corner of her eye she saw a familiar face. Well, not exactly familiar. The woman from a week ago, the one who’d called herself Carol? Carrie?

Before she could think why she was doing it, Shay was out of her seat. “Be right back,” she told her puzzled companions.

Every sense tingled as she neared the bar. She took in the woman’s long lean body. This time she wore jeans so tight they seemed painted on, much to the appreciation of the males nearest her. Dirty blond hair stuck up under a battered cowboy hat, she leaned on the bar, one hip jutted out while one booted foot rested on the rail. Something about that pose struck Shay wrong. She seemed like a caricature of a hot Southern college girl. Like Angie in costume. A great face and bod, but she wasn’t an undergrad sporting a false ID and a big thirst. She was older.

Shay came up beside her before the woman looked her way. “Carly, right?”

“Right. And you’re ah,
shoot
. I never was good with names.” Shay didn’t help. The woman blinked but her smile stayed wide. “How are you, girl?”

“Why are you here?”

Carly’s smile stiffened at Shay’s tone. “Like I told you, I’m a regular barfly.” She made a big production of looking past Shay, leaning out into the path of customers. “Where’s that hot stud boyfriend of yours?”

Shay’s gaze never left her face. Definitely closer to thirty, with those squint lines. “Why?”

Carly’s attention snapped back to Shay’s. “Ah, look. You’re getting all protective.” She put out a hand to touch Shay’s arm but Shay drew back, halting the gesture.

Ignoring the rebuff, Carly continued grinning. “I’m just admiring, honey. He’s all yours.”

“Right.” Shay let her gaze remain on the woman a moment longer.

When she turned away, she felt as if a hummingbird were trapped inside her chest. She’d just stared down a woman who was thinking about poaching her boyfriend.

Oh my God!
She really had officially reached “my man” status.

Shay saw the doors to the bar kitchen swing open on her right and a huge tray of food emerge. She heard a waiter behind her call, “Coming through— Aw, fuck!” Then things went sideways.

Shay was bumped from behind and stumbled against a customer’s chair as an icy cascade of beer and glassware came flowing over her left shoulder. It soaked her hair, her blouse, the man whose chair she’d fallen against, and splashed every other diner at that table.

*   *   *

“I’m sure whatever beer is left will come out in the wash.”

Angie was holding Shay’s shirt under the hand dryer in the restroom while Shay tried to rinse the beer out of her hair at the sink. “Who was that woman at the bar?”

Shay grabbed for a handful of paper towels to squeeze the water out of her hair. “Someone I met last week.”

“Dry enough.” Angie shook out Shay’s shirt. “She certainly is pushy.”

Shay straightened up. “What do you mean?”

“She came into the office Monday. Said she needed a job and would Perry consider hiring her because you had recommended her.”

Shay went still inside. “What did he say?”

“That’s all I heard. I know he didn’t hire her.”

Anxiety bounded in and leaped on Shay, leaving her staggering around in her thoughts. She was still being followed.

Shay glanced back at the empty stalls to be sure they were alone. “Is she still out there?”

“No, she left as soon as you took that suds bath.” Angie handed Shay her shirt. “You ready for a second beer?”

Shay shook her head stiffly. “My headache’s back. I need to go home.” She pulled her shirt over her wet head. “But you and Henry stay.”

“If you’re sure?”

Shay nodded absently, wondering what that woman could possibly want. Was Carly trying to get information about her for Eric? Was she the stalker he’d hired? Wait, no. That was a man’s voice.

Her headache kicked up a notch as anxiety dug deep claws into her. “I—I need to go home and—”

Angie leaned in. “Say, you don’t look so good. Want me to drive you?”

“No. You guys need a little together time. It’s your first official date.” She was surprised she managed a smile. “I’m really happy for you both.”

Angie beamed. “I know. I’ve liked him for like forever, but did he notice?”

“He has now.”

*   *   *

Every nerve was on full alert by the time Shay turned into her apartment complex. Why would Eric have anyone stalking her after she had confessed everything to Cadwallader Jones?

Her head hurt, worse than before. She’d checked her rearview mirror so many times her eyes had whiplash. Not that she’d know if anyone was following her. It was dark. The cars in her rear-view were shadowy blurs behind their headlights. All she wanted was to get to the safety of her locked door so she could wait for James’s call.

She passed several lanes within the large complex of apartments and town houses. She lived toward the back. As she turned into her lane she thought she saw someone standing in the shadow of the stairwell that led to a block of upstairs apartments. There were always people coming and going, she reminded herself. Nothing extraordinary.

But her anxious mind kicked into high gear and wouldn’t let go of the sight.

Never wavering from gauging the man’s movements, she moved slowly down the lane to find her designated parking space. As she did so, the man reached the sidewalk right in front of her. He was wearing a jacket with the hood pulled up against the chill. And he carried a bundle under one arm.

As she turned into her spot, he suddenly stopped, pivoted, and ran past her, tossing something at her rear passenger wheel.

Shay slammed on the brake but it was too late. She heard the terrible screech of an animal in pain and then silence.

She scrambled out of her car. What had she run over? It made an awful sound. It must be—

“Oh …
no
!” A long-haired cat lay crushed beneath her rear wheel. She recognized it as belonging to a neighbor, though it was rarely allowed out.

A neighbor came up beside her. “I heard a noise. What happened?
Ohhh.
That’s the Sanderses’ cat.”

Shay straightened up. “There was a man.” She swung around straining in the dark for a glimpse of the figure but he had disappeared.

“What are you talking about?”

She turned back. “There was a man. Standing there.” She pointed to the sidewalk. “I saw him as I turned into my space. He threw the cat under my car.”

“I see.” The woman backed up a step. “I’ll just go ring the Sanderses’ bell.”

“Yes.” Shay turned and pushed her hips against the rear passenger door, as if to defend her back as she searched the dark. Who would do—no, why would anyone do such a thing?

The Sanderses’ father came running, with his daughter right behind him.

When he reached Shay, his face was a mix of trepidation and anger. “What happened?”

Shay heaved a shaky breath. “There was a man. He was on the sidewalk as I turned into my space. He ran past and threw the cat under my wheel.”

“Oh, Daddy! Gandalf!” The girl’s shriek of pain stabbed through Shay’s thoughts.

Gandalf.
The wise wizard. Shay felt even worse.

The father turned and grabbed her to his middle, pressing her face away from the sight. “It’s okay, sugar. It’s okay.” His voice was tender for his daughter but the expression on his face when he turned his head to Shay was anything but.

Shay shook her head, her hands rising in protest of the rage on his face. “There was a man.”

“Who would do something like that?”

“I don’t— Someone.” It was a hollow finish.

“Come on, lady. You killed my daughter’s pet. You obviously weren’t looking where you were going. At least show her how a grown-up owns up to something that’s her fault.”

Shay glanced at the crying girl. The bottom dropped out of her stomach. “I’m so sorry. I really am. I couldn’t stop. It all happened so fast.”

The father ignored her and picked up his crying child.

“But there really was someone. He caused me to do it.”

“Do I smell beer?” He took a step toward Shay and she instinctively backed up. “You’ve been drinking!”