Target (16 page)

“My God,” Nick said.

“Tell me what he said and did,” Matt said. “Don't leave anything out.”

Aurelie gave it to him move for move, word for word, leaving out only the embarrassing bits. If she had to talk about the rest of it later, it wasn't going to be in front of Nick.

“We need to find out if your nose is broken,” Buck said when he had returned to stand over her while she took the pills and emptied a big glass of water in a few gulps. “It doesn't look crooked.”

“Right now I don't care if it is,” Aurelie said, absolutely honest.

“Could just as well have been a knifepoint,” she said.

“I wish I'd had some idea of what was going on,” Nick said.

If Aurelie didn't know better, she'd think she was a bit drunk. “I drove back to the apartment to get cleaned up and put cream on the scratches before I came here. Why are you here, Nick?” She hadn't questioned his presence until this moment.

“I've got business with Matt. So you were attacked at home but instead of coming to me when that freak let you go, you went to take a shower and drive here?”

“Yes.”

“Aurelie—”

“You said you have business with Matt. I've got business with him, too. There's a sick killer on the loose and I can't hold back any information that could help track him down.”

“He didn't kill you,” Nick said. “He just played a dumb trick.”

“If someone did to you what he did to me, you might not brush it off as a dumb trick. From what he said, we've got three days to do what he wants or he'll be back. He described how he'd kill me if that has to happen. I think I'd like to pass.”

“Damn.” Nick slid forward on the chair and stretched out his legs. He ran his fingers into his hair. “He wanted to scare you and he made a good job of it.”

“He'd have scared you, too,” Aurelie said. “I think he killed Baily for exactly the reason we thought—because he thought she was Sarah.”

“The same guy?” Nick said.

“Yes, the same guy. How many homicidal lunatics do you think we've got in this town? He may not have intended Baily to fall off the roof, though. Have you thought of that? He could have done to her what he did to me—try to terrify her into giving him the information he wants.”

After packing up the first-aid kit, Carly brought in a tray filled with coffee mugs and offered them around. “Dr. Halpern's on his way over,” she said.

Aurelie puffed at a curl that had dried and strayed over her face. “I'm not going to consult a doctor here.”

“Be reasonable,” Nick said. “At least he can decide what treatment you need.”

“I'd like to go to the clinic myself. After I finish here.”

“The doctor's already coming,” Carly said, but she looked sympathetic. “It'll be okay. You can be in a room with him on your own.”

Nick looked about to argue but closed his mouth.

“Matt,” Aurelie said. “I need to tell you some things that we've been keeping quiet about. We didn't do it to make life hard for you. We've learned to keep our business to ourselves, is all.”

Nick jumped to his feet and paced. “You didn't need to come and get yourself mixed up in all this,” he said. “I was about to fill Matt and Buck in when you got here. That's why I came.”

“Did you tell them about Baily's briefcase?”

Something close to hurt entered Nick's expression. “I intended to. I also intend to discuss our background. Yours, mine and Sarah's.”

“And the theft, Nick. That's probably the most important for the moment.”

“That, too.” He looked unhappy enough to make her doubt just how clean he had planned to come. “We can't leave anything out anymore.”

“Including Colin?”

He stared at her. “Yes, including Colin.”

“Good. You think he's here, don't you?” She touched her tummy and winced. “It's the creepiest thing I can think of.”

“Can we settle down a bit before we spill everything?” Nick said. “There's a lot to say.”

“Who is Colin?” Buck asked.

Aurelie looked at Nick. He shook his head. “He led the commune my mother went into when she was expecting me. He became her partner. Then he killed her.”

“You can't prove that, can you?” Matt said.

“No, but all I need is time.”

“Yes,” Aurelie said. “That's another reason Colin wants to get rid of us all. We're untidy and we may be able to cause him big trouble. But he wants his priceless ruby back first. He said it was called the Vulture Ruby.”

Silence met her statement.

“He said the stone was smooth and dark and talked about a king's life and people dying for it—being torn apart by vultures. The stone gets warm when you rub it. He said that, too.”

“That's all real clear,” Matt said.

Nick had been carrying his coffee mug around. He took a mouthful and grimaced. “Cold. Look, there's about sixteen or so years of history to go over. I know we can't afford to put it off, but let's see to Aurelie and get her back to Delia. She'll be looked after there.”

“I'm not going anywhere to be looked after,” Aurelie said. “Thanks for the offer anyway. I've got my own past to deal with. Sarah and I both do.” She realized she should have Sarah's agreement before going on.

“Good evening all.” A man wearing a navy blue tracksuit stood in the open doorway. He carried a bag that suggested to Aurelie he was the doctor. “Mitch Halpern. Who's the patient?”

“She is,” Nick said promptly, pointing at Aurelie. “Someone attacked her. She isn't sure but she thinks he used a claw from a dead bird to scratch her.”

Halpern, around six feet, muscular, hard-jawed and with dark blond hair, raised his eyebrows. “Is that some kind of voodoo ritual around here?” he asked. “Or maybe a fertility right?”

Carly laughed but collected herself quickly.

“I don't know anything about voodoo,” Aurelie said. “But what he did hurt.”

“D'you know who he is?” Halpern asked.

Aurelie sighed. “Here we go again. No, I don't know him. He grabbed me from behind and put a bag over my head. I could need a shot of antibiotics because I can't be sure I got all the cuts clean enough. But I tried. I really scrubbed them.” She winced.

“We'll decide what we need to do,” Dr. Halpern said. He had the kind of eyes that seemed permanently narrowed. They were hazel and filled with humor. “We'll find out when you had your last tetanus shot. You're holding your abdomen. Scratch you there, did he?”

“Yes,” she said and barely stopped herself from slapping him away when he lifted the front of her T-shirt a couple of inches.

“Somebody got busy here,” he said. “Whoever did this meant business. Could have been from claws. Chicken, maybe. Having this jammed in your waistband isn't helping, either. Do you always carry?”

The other three men crowded around. She knocked Nick's hand away when he attempted to take the gun, then slid it out and gave it to Matt. “Take a look,” she told him. “It's pretty in its own way.”

“I didn't know you had a gun,” Nick said.

Aurelie gave him a small smile. “Seems like a good idea,” she told him. “Don't you approve?”

He shrugged. “I'm probably overreacting to everything at the moment. I can't stand it that you need to tote a firearm around.”

“Businesslike piece,” Buck said of the 9 mm Glock. “Isn't it heavy for you?”

“It's perfect for me,” Aurelie said. “I'm a woman who lives alone, and I've got a license.”

“Do you know how to use it?” Buck asked.

“Yes.” The question annoyed her.

“I take it you didn't have it with you when you met bird man,” Dr. Halpern said, more interested in examining her than the gun.

“I don't believe him, but he suggested it could be a vulture's claw. No, I didn't have my gun. But the next time he shows up, I will.”

“I don't think that's a good idea,” Matt said. “Using a gun for show can get a woman into big trouble.”

“It could get a woman or a man into trouble,” she said. “But I have no intention of using it for show.”

“I
don't know what to say,” Aurelie told Nick.

“Thanks would do it,” he said. He had followed her back to her new apartment and carried in all the boxes and bags packed in the Hummer. He put down Hoover's oversize fuzzy bed and smiled at Aurelie. “I'm glad to do it. Everything's upstairs now.”

Hoover climbed into his bed and turned around and around before flopping down. He sighed and closed his eyes.

“Is he actually a guard dog?” Nick asked.

“Of course. He looks scary.”

“Would he bite an intruder?”

“Intrude and find out.”

“Ouch.” Nick grinned. They were actually relaxed together. Too bad he couldn't trust the resumption of diplomatic relations to continue.

Draped on a cushy lilac-colored velvet sofa, Aurelie rested her head on one overstuffed arm. “I don't like getting those shots,” she said. “Why couldn't I wait to see if there could be a problem before that sexy doctor started shooting me up?”

If she'd hoped to annoy him, she'd failed. He cocked his head to one side. “The sexy doctor knows his stuff. The shots are precautionary and they can't wait. Anyway, they used to be a big deal but they're nothing now.”

“Says you.” She frowned at him. “Thanks a lot for helping me out. You'd better get home and sleep. Matt made it sound as if we could expect business tomorrow.”

“Security became an even bigger issue tonight,” he said, her scratched face annoying him all over again. “You bet we'll have business to do.”

He found Hoover's bowls, filled one with water and rooted around until he found a bag of food so he could pour some in the second bowl. These he put down in the kitchen.

The dog swayed slowly up behind him, nosed him aside and somehow sucked about half the bowl of food into his mouth at one time. He retraced his steps, climbed back into his bed and spat out a heap of kibble. These he ate a few at a time.

Nick shook his head.

Next he turned to the bedroom, and stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. “Do you have to climb over the bed to get to the bathroom in here?”

“Not quite,” Aurelie told him. “Now you've seen everything there is to see in this place. And I like it, which is what counts.”

“You sound defensive, Rellie.”

“I can see what you're thinking,” she said. “You think it's too small.”

Anything he said could be wrong. “Where's your bedding?”

“In the green box…No, Nick, you don't have to do any of that. I'll be fine now, thanks.”

“It's no trouble.”

“You're a good guy, Nick Board. You always have been.” Aurelie swung her feet to the floor but stayed on the couch. “Since Sarah and I were kids you've been looking out for us. Do you know how special that is?”

“It's been special for me, too.”

He located the green box. His personal battle raged. If he played it safe, behaved like a choirboy, there was a chance they could return to a semblance of the way their lives had been. Without using the words, Aurelie had just offered him a rope to hold while he crossed back to the safe side of the river.

The safe side of the river wouldn't be enough. He'd slip and make another intimate move. Or, glory hallelujah, she could make the slip. He almost laughed at himself.

The only sheets he found in the box were flannel. The ones on the top had holly sprigs all over them. “Why are these sheets here?” he asked. “Flannel. There must be another box.”

“The holly ones are on top. Those are my favorites, but leave them, please. I'm not an invalid.”

Nick pulled out the holly sheets. “You're kidding,” he said. “You don't sleep in these things? They've got to be so hot.”

“I like them.”

He didn't miss a subtle change in her tone, a moving away. “Aurelie? You okay?”

“Great.”

“Why do you do that?” He went back to sit on the couch with her. “You're not feeling great so why do you say you are?”

She drew up her shoulders. “It must be a habit. I didn't know I was doing it. I think Matt got more than he planned on tonight, don't you?”

Which meant he was supposed to change the subject. “Yes. Now it's all out, or most of it, I don't know how we ever thought we'd keep our past quiet forever.”

“We thought we could because that's the way we wanted it to be. Matt may have seemed low-key about the information, but he was really mad we didn't tell him about the theft as soon as we knew about it.”

Matt hadn't tried very hard to cover his feelings. “I don't blame him,” Nick said. “Delia messed with everything. She didn't realize what she was doing, but you know how cops are. Don't touch their crime scenes.”

“They're right,” Aurelie said. “It's as much our fault as Delia's. We should have insisted on calling Matt immediately.”

“We did what we've always done,” Nick said. “We closed ranks. It's worked for years so it's a habit.”

“It's not going to work anymore,” Aurelie said.

“No. But I did feel the ice melt between Matt and me this evening. He'd started treating me like a suspect—or a stranger. We've always been close.”

“You can thank me for that,” Aurelie said. “You couldn't be roughing me up and be at the police station at the same time. Glad I could give you an alibi.” Her crooked smile made him sigh.

“I'd rather I'd been the one he went after,” he said.

“I know that.”

He got up again and returned to the bedroom. Climbing around the bed to get the sheets on wasn't easy for a big man. The thought of flannel sheets with holly on them, in Louisiana at this time of year, puzzled him. And amused him. Who knew why people did what they did?

“Nick.”

He threw the pillows on the bed and went back to the living room.

“What does this place remind you of?” Aurelie asked.

“Well…” Besides the lavender couch there was a matching chair, all curves and softness, and a purple carpet. Two small tables in front of the couch had circular glass tops balanced on painted wooden bases resembling the balls sometimes pictured on the noses of cartoon sea lions. “I don't know.” Any opinion he gave could be a disaster.

Aurelie laughed and the sound made him grin. She hadn't laughed much in the past few days.

“What's funny?”

“Look at the chandelier.”

The chandelier, suspended low over a kitchen table covered with a star-splotched cloth, sported dangling wooden hearts, flowers, caterpillars…and kites, all painted in bright shades. “Interesting,” he said.

“That's a loaded word,” Aurelie said. “But you still don't know what this place reminds you of?”

He started to shake his head but frowned instead. “A child's place?”

Aurelie pointed a long forefinger at him. “You got it!”

Nick perched on the chair. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to say or how he should react.

“It's like every little girl's dream,” she said. “It's adult whimsy, really, but I just got the impression that some children—the ones with parents who live to make them happy—could come up with a miniature version of this.”

He might not be Mr. Sensitive, but he knew longing when he heard it. “This is pretty miniature, Rellie.”

“Both Lynette and Frances are whimsy types,” Aurelie said. “I can imagine them thinking this would make someone happy…Maybe make them feel safe.”

He breathed deeply. An edginess attacked him. This was going to be one of those make-or-break moments when a man had better not put his foot in his mouth. “Does it make you feel safe? Is that why you wanted it?”

The smile she gave him lit up her face.

Score one for Nick, and her happiness made him feel triumphant.

“Exactly,” she said. “If I spread my arms and ran around I could touch all the walls in no time. With the bedroom door open, I can see the whole place. It would be hard for anyone to hide in here. And it's cozy. And there's no upstairs. I hate upper floors. They were the only thing that freaked me out at Lafource.” She shut her mouth as abruptly as she'd taken off with her rush of enthusiasm.

“Upstairs?” Nick moved beside her again and studied her face, her eyes. “Why would you dislike a place with an upstairs?”

Stricken
. Deep in Aurelie's eyes lay revived pain. “No reason,” she said. “I don't even know why I said that. Thank you for helping me out and looking after Hoover and everything. Lock your doors tonight, hmm?”

This time he didn't feel like backing off. “You're scared. Big surprise. We're in the middle of something damn scary. I'm not going to tiptoe away just because you tell me to and leave you here to work yourself into a basket case.”

“I'm not going to do that.” She turned her face away. “I tend to tell you whatever comes into my head. I guess I should be more careful with that.”

“That's a threat. Or at least a warning not to try to get too close. Why? If any two people should be close it's you and I. I won't be going anywhere, so get used to it.”
Here it comes.
He braced himself to be told off.

“Sarah and I don't talk about it—about being children,” Aurelie said. “Once or twice we've mentioned it and it's made us upset. It doesn't seem to matter how far away we get from all that, it's still painful. It all comes back.”

Nick sat quietly. He couldn't know the right thing to say so he didn't say anything.

“Mrs. Harris lived upstairs. At the house where Sarah and I were from when we were really little until we left. She'd call us by banging on the floor with a stick.”

“Mrs. Harris?”

“We think she was our grandmother, our dad's mother, only she said we had to call her Mrs. Harris. She wasn't always upstairs, just for the last five years after she got sick.”

“I'm sorry,” he said. “There must have been other people around.”

Aurelie shook her head. “No. Mrs. Harris got our clothes out of a catalog. The groceries were delivered from the town. We went to school but we weren't allowed to say anything about Mrs. Harris or why we lived with her. We were only supposed to say she was our guardian if someone asked.”

“Rellie—”

“I've got to get it out now. I always thought that if I ever did, it should be with Sarah, but I'm only telling you, and she has to make up her own mind if she ever wants to talk about it. It was in Oregon. On a cliff. We could look at the sea. The house used to be white but the paint mostly came off and Mrs. Harris didn't want anyone coming around any more than they had to, so it stayed that way. We looked after ourselves, and when she got really ill, we looked after her, too.”

Nick glanced around the room. “No wonder this seems so special to you.”

She hunched her shoulders. “I've been over it a long time now.”

He barely stopped himself from arguing.

“We walked into town to school. Other kids made fun because our clothes were funny. Sort of old-fashioned. But they were good quality—at least to begin with. It got cold in winter because we didn't have proper things for the seasons. I think that's because Mrs. Harris didn't go anywhere, so she didn't think about it.”

“Poor kids,” Nick muttered.

“No, we were fine. We didn't go hungry.”

Just short of about everything else a child needs.
“That's good.”

“When Mrs. Harris couldn't move much anymore, she stayed in her bed and we went up when she banged the floor. It was dark up there and we were afraid she'd be waiting somewhere and jump out at us. Which was stupid because she could hardly move. She didn't complain, just said even less and asked for what she wanted. Soup. Tea.”

“This is making me furious,” he said, probably unwisely. “Someone should have been checking in on you. Where were your parents?”

“She said our mother led our father into bad ways—her term—and they did drugs and loved San Francisco and what she called the wild life. She said our mother died and our dad left us with her. He never came back. I think she was ashamed because our dad was her only child and she couldn't feel proud of him.”

“So you girls had to suffer.”

She wrinkled up her nose. “We did the wrong thing in the end. I can't make excuses, but we panicked. She didn't bang on the floor one night and eventually we crept up there. Mrs. Harris was asleep so we just went down again. We slept down there and everything.”

Nick decided he had to let her find her own way from here on.

Aurelie looked at him, and away again. “We had a phone but it never rang. Mrs. Harris used it to call the grocery order in, is all. We kept picking it up in case she was talking, but she wasn't, not for two days. And she didn't bang on the floor. So we went up again. She was still asleep.” She rubbed her face. “She hadn't moved since the last time.”