The Ties That Bind (18 page)

"I," Annie announced, "will make the call to Garth Sheridan."

THE RINGING OF THE PHONE beside the bed did not rouse Garth from a deep sleep. He'd spent the evening doing a great deal of thinking, and when he'd finally undressed and dropped into bed, his mind hadn't switched off. He'd been lying awake with his arms folded behind his head on the pillow for almost an hour when the jarring sound of the phone disturbed his restless, brooding mood.

His first thought was that the caller might be Shannon, and Garth grabbed the receiver with a sense of urgency. He wasn't prepared for the scolding voice on the other end of the line. Annie O'Connor identified herself immediately, and in no uncertain terms launched into her description of what had happened to Shannon.

"Are you listening, Garth Sheridan? Shannon could have been raped or killed tonight. What's all this fine talk about protecting her? All that jazz about it being a man's duty to take care of his woman? Who was it who gave Dan and me a lecture on the necessity of getting married because a man had an obligation to protect his woman and child? I've got news for you, Garth-telling Shannon to put new locks on her door and to give up driving a small sports car does not constitute protecting her. A man who cared about her would be with her seven days a week, not just on the weekends. At least my Dan doesn't leave me alone five days a week and expect me to cope with intruders, broken plumbing, car problems and heaven knows what else while he's gone."

Cold fear washed through Garth as he listened to the tirade. "Annie, stop for a moment. Please. Is Shannon all right?"

"All right? Yes, she's all right, if you can count being attacked by an intruder and having to flee into the night as being all right. She's sitting here on my sofa right this minute, and do you know what she's holding on her lap, Garth? That stupid bid proposal you left with her."

"The bid package?" Garth was stunned.

"It's what the intruder wanted," Annie told him. "It's what he nearly strangled her trying to get. But she didn't give it to him. She stabbed the guy in the arm and raced out of the cottage with your damn proposal. The next thing Dan and I know she's standing on our front doorstep after having run for Lord knows how far in the fog."

"The cops..."

"Dan has already phoned the cops," Annie informed him with blunt satisfaction. Someone had to do it, and you certainly weren't around to take the responsibility, were you?"

"Annie," he interrupted desperately, "let me talk to Shannon."

"She's drinking brandy, trying to recover. What good will talking to you do? You're two hundred miles away. Besides, I think I hear the local law arriving. We're going to be very busy explaining things to them for a while. Why don't you call back later, Garth?"

She hung up the phone before Garth could tell her he wasn't about to call back later and that he intended to speak to Shannon immediately. Angrily he started to redial and then realized he didn't know Annie and Dan's number. Getting it from information took precious minutes. By the time the phone was ringing in Annie's cottage, Garth was rigid with tension. He was ready for Annie's righteous vehemence when someone finally picked up the receiver on the other end.

"Just a damn minute, Annie. Don't you dare hang up on me. I want to speak to Shannon now."

"Hi, Garth," Shannon said wearily.

"Shannon? I thought it would be Annie again. What the hell's going on?"

"I'm rather busy at the moment. Garth. The cops have a lot of questions for me to answer. I'll have to call you later, okay?"

"No, wait, it's not okay...." Frantically he tried to keep her on the line, but he knew she was about to hang up again. "Damn it, Shannon, hold on, I've got a few questions of my own."

"You don't have to worry about the bid package, Garth. I've got it."

"Shannon!"

The phone clicked in his ear, and Garth slammed his own receiver back into its cradle. Helplessly he stared out into the darkened garden beyond the bedroom window. His insides were twisting with rage and frustration. Two hundred miles away. He was sitting here two hundred miles away while Shannon went through hell. Garth got to his feet, wanting to knock a hole through the bedroom wall, anything to relieve the helpless tension. Grimly he brought his simmering fury back under control.

It was nearly one o'clock in the morning. If he left immediately he could be at the coast shortly before five. Hell, driving at this time of night he should be able to do a lot better than that. Garth reached for a pair of jeans and a shirt. He was going to go out of his mind sitting here. He had to get to Shannon.

The drive to the coast seemed to last forever, although Garth had never made better time. He had the highway to himself, and the Porsche sliced through the night as if it owned it. Garth drove with ruthless efficiency and little regard for the speed limit. His only goal was to get to Shannon. Three hours later he was pulling into her driveway. He hadn't encountered any fog until the last few miles, but now the mist was annoyingly thick. The light over her front door was on, and the Fiat was parked nearby. There was no sign of activity within the cottage. She'd be in bed, Garth decided as he got out of the Porsche. By now the police would have come and gone.

When there was no answer to his knock, Garth's inner tension peaked again. Belatedly he realized Shannon might have stayed the rest of the night with Annie and Dan.

"Shannon?" He pounded once more and then loped back to the Porsche. He remembered the cottage Shannon had pointed out as the one belonging to Annie and Dan. Shoving the keys back into the ignition, Garth put the car in gear and slammed the vehicle onto the narrow road.

SHANNON HEARD THE POUNDING KNOCK on Annie and Dan's front door quite clearly because she was sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Dazedly she awoke, remembering vaguely that she wasn't in her own home. The crashing knock on the door came again, and this time Garth's voice accompanied it.

"Dan? It's Sheridan. Open up. Is Shannon with you?"

Shannon shook off her sleepy haze and sat up on the sofa. "I'm coming, Garth." She traipsed to the door, yawning widely as she opened it. For a moment she simply stared at his haggard expression as he stood beneath the porch light. "Hi."

"Hi, yourself," he muttered, reaching out to catch hold of her shoulders with both hands. His gaze raked her from head to foot. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay."

"Hell, Shannon, I thought I would go crazy after Annie called." He pulled her into his arms, locking her securely to him. "I was so damn far away"

Shannon's voice was muffled against his shirt as she found her face pushed firmly into his chest. "I know."

Dan's voice came from the hall doorway. "Well, you made pretty good time. Garth. I didn't expect to see you for another hour or so," He yawned. "Need a place to sleep?"

Garth shook his head. "I'll take Shannon back to the cottage." He looked at the other man over the top of Shannon's head, keeping her close. "Thanks, Dan. I owe you."

There was a curious smile in Dan's voice as he answered. "You don't owe me a thing. Shannon's the one who saved your bid package for you."

"Damn the bid package," Garth said with great feeling. "It was worrying about Shannon that drove me out of my mind."

"I know just how you must have felt," Dan offered calmly. "Maybe you'd better take your own advice and marry the woman."

Garth's voice hardened. "I told you I've already offered." His hands tightened on Shannon as she tried to lift her head.

"What good would being married have done?" she managed, the words still muffled because of the way he was holding her. "You'd still have been in San Jose tonight."

It was Annie who responded to that comment. She'd materialized in the hall behind Dan. "Precisely my point," she murmured. "Good night, Garth. Take her home and get some sleep. You look like you need it."

Garth didn't need a second urging. He glanced down at Shannon. Seeing her still wearing her jeans and a pullover, he said, "Let's get going. We've got a lot of talking to do."

She yawned delicately and then slipped out of his arms to find her shoes. When she came back toward him she was holding the box of papers that contained the
Carstairs
bid. "Here. I almost forgot. You can have it. I really would rather not be responsible for it any longer."

Without looking at the document she was pulling from the box and handing to him. Garth took it. The expression in his eyes was raw. "Shannon, I never meant for anything like this to happen. It never occurred to me that you would be in danger because of this."

"I know." She turned to wave good-night to Annie and Dan. "Thanks, you two. I'll see you tomorrow. I mean today. It is today, isn't it? How time flies when you're having fun. I'm ready, Garth."

He walked her out to the car and put her into the passenger seat with grave care. Shannon smiled fleetingly.

"I'm not an invalid. I'm really very much all right."

"You may not be an invalid but I feel like a basket case." He slid behind the wheel and started the engine with a disgusted shake of his head. "I never want to go through anything like this again."

"I'll second that. You must be exhausted after that drive."

"I couldn't go to sleep now if my life depended on it," he told her as he drove back to the cottage. "I'd like some explanations and answers, honey. I know you're tired and you've been through a lot, but..."

"I don't mind. It'll be dawn soon, anyway, and I always was an early riser."

"Just tell me what happened right from the start."

She did. When they reached the cottage Garth made tea, and twenty minutes later she concluded her tale. "The police said they searched the area, but with all the fog it was impossible to find anything useful. Not even a car. Personally, I think whoever it was
was
long gone by the time the cops got here. The same fog that made it hard for the authorities to find anything also made it tough for that turkey to find me. Thank God."

Garth massaged the back of his neck as he sat nursing his tea. "You're sure he wanted that copy of the bid proposal?"

Shannon nodded. "No doubt about it."

"I don't get it. How could he even know you had it?"

"Beats me." She sipped her tea, realizing that it was very comforting to have Garth here at last. She shouldn't get accustomed to the feeling, Shannon reminded herself. "No, wait a minute. He said something about having realized he'd put it in the wrong tote at the party."

"I haven't told a single soul about that second copy of the bid. The only one who knows about it is the guy who copied and stole it in the first place."

"He kept mentioning a 'client.'"

"Yeah, of course there's a client. Must be someone who's willing to pay well."

"Or someone who's dangerous," Shannon mused. "I got the feeling the guy in my studio was nervous, maybe even downright scared about not being able to deliver. Said he'd make a deal with me. Split the profits."

Garth considered that. "I'll have to call Bailey immediately."

"Who's Bailey?"

"An industrial security firm. They specialize in this kind of thing, and I've used them before. They're the firm that supplies my guards at
Sherilectronics
. They're good. I put them on this right away on Monday. But when I told them to look into the situation I was concerned only with finding out who might have made the copy of the bid. I didn't think the package itself was a danger."

"Why not?" Shannon asked curiously.

"Because I didn't think things would go this far, damn it!" Garth's mood caused him to explode in an unexpected burst of rage. "I'd intercepted the stolen bid. I figured that would be the end of it. A smart thief would cut his losses at that point and figure the situation was too hot. Besides, time has just about run out for him. The facts and figures in the bid package are only useful to a rival up to the time when the bids have to be turned in to
Carstairs
. This is early Thursday morning. All the competitive proposals go to
Carstairs
on Monday. After that, it doesn't matter who sees the bid package."

Shannon frowned. "Weren't you concerned that there might be another copy of the bid package floating around? The only hard part was copying it the first time because you had so much security in force. Once the thief had made one copy of the original, he could have taken it to any photocopy shop and had another made. Heck, he could have had ten others made."

"If that were the case, there wasn't a damn thing I could have done about it. But it's not likely that whoever stole the first copy would make any more if he could avoid it. It would be dangerous and highly incriminating if the document turned up in his possession. At any rate, I think we can safely assume now that there's only one copy. Otherwise, the thief wouldn't have been so desperate to get back the one in your possession. My guess is that the transaction was supposed to take place the night of the party and when the copy of the bid disappeared, there wasn't another to take its place. Which," Garth finished roughly, "is why the jerk came looking for it. But I still can't figure out how he knew you had it."

"I told you. He seemed to know who owned the tote bag," Shannon said dryly. "When it disappeared and the bid with it, he assumed I'd decided to work my own scam."

Garth stared at her from suddenly narrowed eyes. "Your own scam?"

"A perfectly logical assumption for him to make, don't you think?" she asked with a flippancy she was far from feeling.

Garth looked as if someone had hit him in the stomach. "Oh, my God, Shannon."

"I know. I was a little shaken myself."

Garth sat quietly for a moment, dealing with the ramifications of what she had just said. Shannon watched him, knowing he was working through some things in his mind and when he was finished she was going to find herself facing a formidable creature. Mentally she braced herself.