The Throwbacks (29 page)

“Whatever you say, boss.” Her words were wispy and she cleared her throat. “It’ll be exciting to look at a police line-up—I’ve always wanted to do that. Crazy, huh?” She hoped the sudden brightness in her voice didn’t sound as false as it felt. But it was only partially false, she had to remind herself—she really did think it would be an exciting experience.

“I’ll sleep in the chair and ottoman over there if you have a spare blanket.”

If he thought anything was amiss, he didn’t let on to her. He rose from the couch, leaving her cold. She bounced up to get him his blanket and hurried through her nighttime routine so she could turn out the lights and get to tomorrow.

David woke with a start, and at first he thought it was because of the awkward angle of his head and shoulders as he slept in the chair. The chair back wasn’t quite high enough to accommodate his height. The room was still dark, and he glanced around for a clock. Then he heard a metallic clanging noise loud and clear.

He rose from the chair in a swift but stealthy motion, plastered himself to the wall next to the window and allowed himself a look down from an impossible angle.

He heard the clanging again and saw someone climbing up the fire escape. In their attempt to be quiet, the ascent was slow, but David knew he had no time to get down to the street and chase him from there. Trying to stop him from this window, he’d get his head blown off. He looked around the moonlit room and cursed the tiny open floor plan. His eyes adjusted and he studied Grace’s sleeping form for a millisecond.

He moved to the couch, lifted her from it, carried her to the bathroom and deposited her into the shower before she was fully awakened by his action.

“Don’t make a peep—we have an intruder about to make his entrance in fifteen seconds,” he said. Before he closed the shower curtain on her now-alert face, she reached out to squeeze his arm and mouthed something without a noise. He wished he knew what she was trying to say, but then he was glad he didn’t. He squeezed her hand back before dashing from the room and back to the window where the fire escape rattled louder than before. He grabbed his jacket, found his gun and took his place near the window.

Then the noise stopped. Noodles climbed up on the lamp table in front of the window and started yapping his brains out.

“Fine time you picked to be a watch dog,” David said out loud. He crouched low and grabbed the dog from below and petted his head. His excited little body trembled. As David listened to the retreating steps, much quicker and louder than the ascent, he ventured a look and saw the man about to reach the bottom.

“Shit!” David dropped the dog and ran for the door. Luckily, he’d slept fully clothed—for a variety of reasons.

He ran down the stairs and made a sharp turn to the right when he banged through the door to the street. He saw the man at the corner and for a split second they looked at each other before the man turned and bolted. David started after him, gun drawn, and pulled his phone from his pocket to call in backup. He was in good shape, but not street-chase shape—not like the old days, he thought as he pressed the number for the police HQ and told them to get a car out there.

“Make it quick. I’m in pursuit and he’s starting to lose me,” he grunted as the man took a turn down an alley. David’s advantage was an intimate familiarity with Beacon Hill, including this alley. He knew there were a dozen doorways and gates the man could disappear into and wasn’t surprised when he made the turn and the man was nowhere to be seen. He retreated to the street corner and called the police again to let him know where he was. He’d wait for them to get there.

“Noodles! Here, puppy!”

“Bloody hell!” David’s heart nearly stopped when he heard Grace’s voice. She wasn’t far from him—and the would-be intruder. He raced in her direction, looking everywhere and frantic that the intruder might get an idea and find her first. He rounded the corner two blocks from her building and bowled into her.

She screeched and fell backwards, but he caught her against the brick wall at the edge of the sidewalk before she collapsed against him.

“What are you doing out here, Grace? On the dark streets with intruders running around is no place for you to be, especially in that get up.” He kept her back against the wall, standing in front of her and letting the wall hold them both up. He held onto her shoulders with an iron grip and noticed her short robe covered only the black nightie, leaving far too much skin exposed. Sure enough, when he looked down he saw she had bare feet.

“Your white skin is like a siren out here calling to every man with an ounce of evil lurking in his mind—and that includes me, by the way.” He took a large breath because he realized he was all out of wind.

His pulse was beating fast, and he went into breathing regulation mode to calm himself. The sirens were finally heading their way.

“Noodles got out—I don’t know where,” she said in a sob and leaned closer. He wrapped an arm around her and guided her back toward her front door.

“Let’s go back inside and regroup. I’ll talk to the police and enlist their help to find Noodles. He scared the intruder away, you know—he did what he had to do to protect you when the chips were down.”

“You realize Noodles is a girl, don’t you?”

David smiled but turned away when he noticed the tears escaping down her cheeks. He needed to stay professional now more than ever. Even if he would like to do nothing more than console this woman right now. But she needed his protection more than anything else—even more than Noodles.

The police car pulled up beside them as they reached her building. They hadn’t spotted the intruder, but they did get another call of a disturbance in the area and figured it was him on the run. They hadn’t seen Noodles.

“Let’s go back inside,” David said. When they opened the door, they were met with shouting.

“Ouch! You damn dog! You’re out of here!” A man’s voice came from the hall just inside the front entrance.

“Oh no.” Grace blanched with fear. She hadn’t shown anything besides concern up until then.

“What is it?” He was about to draw his gun when he heard the familiar barking.

“Noodles,” she breathed, less than happy. From the hallway, a man stomped toward them with Noodles in his outstretched arms. He shoved the dog at Grace, who took Noodles and squeezed the dog into her chest. David stepped in front of her to block the man’s view of her chest and her legs and everything else she might have exposed. The man did not look friendly.

“Ms. Rogers, I can see that this is your dog and you know we do not allow dogs. I, along with other tenants, was rudely awakened in the middle of the night.” He paused and looked at his watch. “At 4:00 a.m., to be exact.”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Lord. I’ll take care of Noodles—”

“No, I’m sorry, Ms. Rogers. A mere apology is not enough. You will need to move out. Immediately. By the end of tomorrow. I’ll have your eviction papers ready in the morning.” He glared. “I have tenants lined up to rent this place for more money than you pay—and they don’t have pets!” He stomped off down the hall and back into his apartment and slammed the door.

David looked at Grace. She was white, her mouth open and mute. Tears rolled freely down her cheeks and Noodles whimpered, sensing her distress and licking her face. He wanted to embrace her, but something held him back. He’d like to think it was good sense, or at least self-preservation. But he was afraid it was pure fear.

If he did anything right now, he would be lost to her because he wouldn’t be able to prevent himself from jumping in with both feet and vowing to take care of her for the rest of his life.

The problem with that, of course, was that his life was bound to be far shorter than hers. Then where would she be?

“I’m sorry, Grace,” he managed to say while keeping his distance. Only his hand remained on the small of her back because he couldn’t seem to move it. He couldn’t let himself pull her into a hug, but he couldn’t bring himself to step away and remove his hand from that highly magnetic spot.

He was saved from pondering further what to say or do when the door crashed open and Dan O’Keefe walked in. His erstwhile lifesaver in action.

“What the hell happened, Sherlock?”

“N
OODLES chased an intruder off. Let’s go upstairs and I’ll fill you in.” David was glad to be back in detective mode where he belonged and felt at home. He’d worry about that being his singular identity later. Someday. When he could afford to take another look in a mirror without keeling over from horror.

“Outdone by a dog, eh?”

David chose not to respond to that comment. They all walked up the stairs to Grace’s apartment. He sat with Grace on the couch. Dan walked the three steps to the other side of the room and took a seat in the small chair. Grace clenched Noodles to her chest, barely letting the small pooch room to breathe. David couldn’t stop himself from thinking the obvious—what a way to go. If it weren’t for her sniffles and bowed head, he would have plunged into the details of the unfolding investigation right away.

He put his arm around her, still wary about getting too close, but not heartless enough to ignore her pain.

“Don’t worry, Grace. We’ll make sure you and Noodles have a place to stay first thing in the morning,” he said.

“Why? What’s going on? And by the way, in case you haven’t noticed, it pretty much is first thing in the morning.” Dan glanced out the window and pointed at the emerging sunlight.

“My landlord evicted me because Noodles woke everyone—but she was scaring the intruder away—weren’t you, Noodles?” she said. Then she looked up with her teary eyes.

“Strictly speaking, I’m not supposed to have a Noodles in this apartment, so it’s better that we move. We’ll be okay. It’s just that I’ve lived here for the last ten years. Since I graduated college.” She turned to David. His heart melted completely and whatever had been holding him back gave way.

“I’ll arrange a mover to put your things in storage. You can pack a bag of essentials for you and Noodles for now and we’ll book into the Parker House Hotel. I know the manager there and he won’t mind Noodles at all. We’ll get the two-bedroom ‘Mayor Curley’ suite if it’s available. I’ll be staying with you until we lock up everyone involved in this case.” He didn’t give her a chance to say yes or no. Then he looked at Dan, who merely nodded his approval.

“Sounds like a good plan for the duration. I’m sorry to say, Grace, you’re a target and you will need the kind of protection David can provide.” Dan leaned forward in the chair, bracing his forearms on his knees. “As for the case, any idea who intruder number two is—the mysterious man in the shower? We haven’t had any luck with Arturo Diego giving us info. He’s insisting on silence until he talks to his attorney, who will of course tell him to keep quiet.” Dan frowned.

“By the way, I would get skewered by my wife if I didn’t remind you that tonight we’ve planned the so-called get-together to celebrate your exoneration. They’re supposed to make it official this morning sometime—right?”

David nodded but didn’t add his thought that a celebration might be jumping the gun. He didn’t know if he’d get a clean exoneration, but he didn’t mind—as long as the ordeal was over and he could put it all behind him.

“Of course you are invited, Grace,” Dan added.

“I would be delighted! That instantly puts me in a better mood. I’m sure I can finish packing up my things here quickly. But Noodles…”