Chapter Thirteen

“Aldric?” Darrell pressed. “Are you alone?”

His question took a few seconds to sink in. Aldric glanced around the store. Yes, just him, alone, no customers or staff, and standing behind the counter with his hand on Elliot’s old-fashioned landline phone. He nodded. “Jonas doesn’t work today, and Elliot’s at a client’s, discussing an acquisition that he or she wants.”

Darrell holstered his gun. “And did something happen?”

“A phone call.” Only just realizing now he was still touching the phone, Aldric dropped his hand.

“From…?”

“I don’t know. Anonymous!” Aldric shook his head, like a dog coming out of water.

“Sit down.” Darrell helped Aldric walk the few steps to the chair behind the counter and his hand on Aldric’s shoulder had Aldric bending at the knees to drop into it.

“Where can I get some water?” Darrell asked, and Aldric wondered if that was worry or irritation he heard in Darrell’s voice.

“Oh. There.” Aldric pointed to the table he now knew to be saber legged, which meant the legs flared out like curved swords. It held the tea-making equipment that he still associated with his first day here—even though Elliot made the fragrant brew twice a day, before lunch and before dinner—and also a glass jug filled with water. The glasses set out around it didn’t match it or one another. “Thank you. I’m fine.” Darrell saw him when he was overwhelmed too often, for one reason or another.

“What did the person on the phone want?” Darrell kept his voice light, as if the matter were nothing, and seemed more focused on handing Aldric a paper napkin.

“They—he, I think—said to bring Buck’s favorite Japanese puzzle box and hand it over if I value my life.” His teeth chattered as he said the last part. He felt stupid for being so upset, but the call, the rough, disguised voice, was just registering with him, as well as the words that had been spoken. He slid off his glasses and polished them with the napkin.

“Hey.” Darrell slipped behind him and rubbed his back. “It’s okay.”

Aldric twisted to see him. “It’s a prank, a cruel joke, like we said, right?”

Darrell brushed a soft kiss across his cheek. “Did it sound like a prank?”

Aldric shook his head. “N-no. It was…it was scary.”

“Do you know which box they meant? Which was his favorite?” Darrell continued in his soothing voice, and Aldric could just see him interviewing people like that, dealing with them in that reassuring way. A far cry from how he’d interacted with Aldric at their first meeting. The difference almost made Aldric snort.

“I do now. The caller described it. Hexagonal with white inlays. There are a couple of hexagonal ones, and a few have pale inlays or applique bits on, but only one box fits the description. Huh. Like those diagrams you learn in math.” He drew circles with both forefingers.

“Venn diagram.” Darrell said it as though he understood what Aldric was talking about, what he was seeing in his mind’s eye. “And take it where and when?”

“The Spanish Mission in two hours’ time.” Aldric waved a hand in the direction he thought the missions lay, in San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. “The San Jose Mission,” he added before Darrell could ask which one in that calm voice that didn’t make questions seem like an interrogation.

It occurred to him that this was probably a police matter. Well, Officer Williams was here. And, damn, Darrell looked good in his uniform. When Aldric thought about him, which was a lot, he pictured him in that, not in jeans or slacks. Aldric’s mind also dwelt on Darrell’s nightstick, and his handcuffs. He raised his eyes to Darrell’s face, seeing the tightness there and the clench to his jaw.

“You’re angry with me?” The question slipped out before Aldric could put a brake on it.

“What? No, not with you—because of what’s happened to you!” burst from Darrell. “I’m furious that call scared you, babe. And I’m angry with whoever made it. When I catch them—” He grimaced and shook his head.

Aldric passed him the glass of water, and Darrel’s well-shaped lips kicked up a little on one side before he drank. Aldric was scared, yeah, and despite his efforts, he hadn’t done a good job of hiding it. That Darrell was angry for him and concerned about him thrilled him. He took the glass back from Darrell just so he could touch his hand. When, after he’d set the glass down, Darrell caught his hand and held it, it felt as though he’d won a prize. Run a marathon. Run a race then won a medal.

“Elliot told me to close up and not be here alone,” he said, thinking of his boss’ concern.

“Oh?” Darrell’s voice sharpened, his eyes narrowing.

It must be his cop antennae twitching.

“Is he jumpy? Nervous?” Darrell prodded. “Or acting different?”

Aldric frowned, thinking. “I don’t know. No. he’s just caring. Protective, I suppose you’d call it. He’s—”

The bells tinkled, signaling that the door was opening. Darrell shoved himself in front of Aldric and placed one hand on his holstered weapon.

“Aldric?” Meredith’s voice was higher than usual and she sounded confused.

“It’s Meredith, from the restaurant over the road,” he hissed at Darrell, bobbing his head around Darrell’s body so their neighbor could see him—as difficult as that was when he’d gone rigid with nerves. He pushed to his feet then brushed against Darrell and felt the taut thrum of tension in him too.

“Is everything okay? Not more vandalism, or, God, not another attack?” she questioned, her gaze on Darrell.

“No. Officer Williams is just checking in,” Aldric answered. “Did you want something, Meredith?”

“Erm, yeah. Elliot usually gets a dinner today and the boss wanted to check on him since he hasn’t called his order in.”

“He thought he might be delayed, but he mentioned he’d be back here later, so he’ll want dinner,” Aldric guessed. Elliot ordered from Cabot’s Brasserie at least twice a week and insisted Aldric and Jonas join him as his guests if they happened to be around.

“Well, let’s hope he’s back before we close!” Meredith knocked on the wood of a cabinet near her then left.

Darrell took a few steps around the store, and Aldric studied his back view. Darrell was not an over-muscled jock, and wasn’t even particularly tall, although he was strong, his body buff. Aldric liked him the way he was. He followed him and stroked a hand down Darrell’s back. It was as toned as he remembered. Fantasized about.

“Careful.” Darrell jerked away, his gaze on the store’s glass windows.

Aldric hoped Darrell wasn’t doing what he thought he was and decided to test his suspicions. “Are we going back to the drive-in for our next date? If we wanted to go for a meal out, the restaurant across there is really good. Oh, you probably know it, as you live near here, right?”

“Aldric.” Darrell twisted over his shoulder to glance at him. “Not now.” He turned back to the door when the bells sounded, and it opened again. “Sean. Officer O’Hara.”

“Thought you were only gonna be a minute?” Darrell’s partner said. He came in, studying Darrell. “What?”

“Shut the door and turn the key.” Darrell raised his chin at it, then crossed to the window to pull the blinds down.

“What’s up?” Sean looked at Aldric. “Developments?”

“Can we talk in that office in the back?”

It wasn’t a question, not when Darrell was leading the way as he spoke. Aldric hadn’t been able to appreciate seeing Darrell as a patrol officer the night they’d met and had tried to imagine him working at the station, or out on the beat, like something from a TV show. But now, with him filling in his partner— this was how he’d envisioned Darrell on the job.

“A puzzle box?” Sean reared back in his chair when Darrell reached that part of the story. “Like in Hellraiser?”

“What?” Aldric didn’t understand, but saw Darrell fighting a smile.

“Movie,” he replied. “Maybe. You’ll get used to Sean, Aldric. He’s…imaginative.”

Sean’s forehead creased. “So you two are friends, now? While working on this?”

“Sean, listen.” Darrell glanced at him and swiped a hand over his mouth. “I haven’t called this in.”

Sean frowned. “Because you still think it’s a prank? On who? Both the widow and this store? Or maybe it’s revenge?”

Darrell flinched a little at that, and Aldric wondered why.

“But seems to me we’re back to robbery.” Sean scratched his red head. “Is this particular box valuable?”

“No. It’s modern, and even the older ones were common. They were used as decorative jewelry cases. Look.” Aldric reached for the guide to the trinkets he’d been studying. “They’re just carved wood, some of it in mosaic patterns. I showed you before. In the safe, when you were checking that it was secure.”

“I can’t recall.” Darrell didn’t meet his eyes. “And they’re not here now?”

“They are. Elliot hasn’t taken them to the depository yet. Do you want to see them?” He directed that at Sean, who was looking uncomfortable. Not waiting for a reply, Aldric led the way to the small, secure room next door to the office that served as the premises’ walk-in safe then keyed in the code to open it.

Inside, he took up the hexagonal box. “This one must be the one in question.” He pressed some of the pearl inlay squares.

“Don’t open it!” Sean ordered, his eyes wide and his hands out as if to brace for an explosion.

“I can’t. I don’t know all the moves. I’ve only managed to open this simple rectangular one, and that was done by pure luck,” Aldric admitted. “Lots of times, if you do make the mechanism work, you don’t know you did it, so you lock it again.”

“This one’s similar.” Darrell picked up a five-sided box.

“Why would you want a similar… Fuck, Dazzle! Sorry, Aldric.” Sean grabbed Darrell’s arm. “Tell me you want a decoy box to take to Fuentes and let him handle this.”

“This?” Aldric asked.

Sean nodded. “I know my partner. He’s planning something crazy because Fuentes has been as useless as tits on a boar hog.”

Darrell snorted but didn’t speak.

“Like a trap?” Aldric’s mind raced as Darrell followed Sean out of the small room, arguing and persuading his partner that they should be the ones to hand the artifact over, not Aldric. Aldric locked the safe, catching references to Sean being similar in build, to a recent operation they’d pulled off and how well they worked as a team.

“We’d need to study the drop zone and we’d need backup stationed at three points,” Sean protested. “How is that gonna happen when Fuentes is ignoring this whole thing?”

“Here.” Darrell freed an old map from a rack on the wall. “You can pull up a map on your cell too and so can I.” He took out his phone.

“We’re in uniform,” Sean pointed out.

“We got clothes in the car. Come on.”

Aldric still didn’t understand when they left the store, promising to be back within minutes. He heard a buzzing noise. Darrell’s phone, left on the table, was ringing. A handsome face filled the screen. The guy Darrell had been trying to talk to at the museum. Mateo, it said. The door opened and the two men were back.

“Darrell.” Aldric indicated his phone, needing to ask about the call. About Mateo.

“Thanks.” Darrell slipped it into his pocket. “Right. We’ll change and go,” he announced.

“But…okay.” Aldric, confused, forced himself to switch tracks. “It’s the end of my hours, anyway.” And he could find a way to ask about the phone call on the journey.

“No. Not you. You’re staying here.”

Sean pulled a baseball cap low on his head. “A decoy box and a decoy courier. I dunno how you talked me into this.” He vanished into the back.

“I’m not going? But—” Aldric was still protesting when the police officers set off…which was when his stubborn streak set in.

Darrell thinks I’m weak and feeble, does he? His final words had been to keep out of sight, to stay safe. So he was supposed to hide behind closed doors, while Darrell had…adventures. Like with that Mateo guy. Well, Aldric would show him. He grabbed his jacket and keys, making sure the store’s van keys were among them, then locked up, intent on following Darrell.