As West explained the situation, Cady’s heart pounded in her throat. How could she have been so careless, messing with the latch without having West check it out first? Now that they had discovered the intruder’s access point to the house, she’d allowed herself a false sense of security. A natural reaction. Perhaps their adversary had a background in psychology, because here, where she’d let her guard down, is where they had laid the booby trap.
“Hold still and let me find out where the explosive device has been planted.” West knelt by her side and gazed closely at the depressed latch. He made a humming noise.
“What?” Her voice came out far sharper than she’d intended, but his seeming calm was getting on her last frayed nerve. Every molecule in her body wanted to scream and run, which was the very thing she could not do.
“Leading out from the latch are wires embedded in the wall under a thin layer of new plaster. Even I might have missed them before pressing the latch.”
“Way to make me feel better about doing a dumb thing.”
“Did I?”
“No.”
“I didn’t think so.” More humming and then a cluck of his tongue. “Very clever.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“The device is embedded in the false wall between the basement and this hidden room. I’m going to have to scrape away the new plaster to get to it.”
“With what?” Cady cautiously switched her weight from one foot to another without letting up on the pressure against the latch.
“A soldier never goes anywhere without his knife.”
“Hurry! Please!”
“Hang in there. You’re doing great.”
More of that fake calm. Cady gritted her teeth. Scraping sounds continued for an eternity.
“Here you are, you lousy little critter,” West intoned softly, clearly not talking to her.
“Are you addressing the bomb, or are you referring to the person who planted it?”
“Both.”
“Can you disarm it?”
“Yep. Just did.” West rose with a small cylinder in one hand and what looked like a battery pack from a toy in the other. “The cleverness was in the concealment. This IED is super simple. Disengaging the battery pack from the canister renders it harmless.”
Cady remained frozen in place, staring at the deadly device. She could scarcely haul in a full breath.
“You can let go of the latch now,” West prompted, his words and expression soft and tender.
With a cry, Cady released the latch and threw herself into his arms. He drew her in against his strong chest. His heart thrummed against her ear in double time. He hadn’t been nearly as calm as he’d pretended. Sobs broke from her throat and she let the tears flow. His soft murmurs of assurance spread a warm balm through her. And was he showering kisses on the top of her head?
Cady lifted her face to his and the kisses fell on her lips. She responded in kind. When was the last time she’d felt so secure and at home? Before Griff died, of course.
Griff!
Gasping, Cady wrenched herself away from West and turned her back on him. Did he groan softly with the separation? Her insides echoed the groan, but she couldn’t do romance. Not right now. Especially when her eager reaction to West might be nothing more than intense relief. And his? Well, he’d already made it clear he was in the grip of survivor’s guilt over Griffon’s death. No, it was better and wiser for them both if they kept their relationship to nothing more than friends.
Composing herself through sheer willpower, she turned toward West. “Livvy could be waking up for her feeding anytime. I need to return to her.”
“Of course.” West nodded, his face impassive. “I’ll call the authorities to dispose of this IED. They’re going to be very interested in this secret passageway, too. I doubt they’ll volunteer to stop up the hole for us, though.” He grimaced.
“Thank you...for everything. After I feed Livvy, she should go back to sleep. I’ll try to grab a little more shut-eye in the rocker recliner in her room so the police can have free access to my room.”
“Sounds like a plan.” West nodded as he pulled out his cell phone.
Cady hurried up the steep stairway toward her chief treasure in this world, her daughter. If circumstances required her to give up this house to keep Livvy safe, she’d do it in a heartbeat.
Several hours later, Cady roused to find herself in her daughter’s room. The silence in the house indicated that the authorities had come and gone. How could she have slept through the muted ruckus? The fact that she had done so was a clear indication of how exhausted she had been. Still was. Refreshed did not describe how she felt right now.
Time to be up and at it, nevertheless. Livvy was stirring in her crib and would be up for the morning soon. A quick shower would go a long way to fortifying herself for whatever was going to come at her today, though how it could be more nerve-wracking than last night’s near-miss with the bomb, she couldn’t imagine.
As soon as she was showered and dressed, Cady put in a call to Mr. Platte’s office, and that sweet-voiced receptionist of his said they could stop in anytime after lunch. The man had no court scheduled so he would be in the office attending to paperwork.
Cady ended the call and went downstairs. She stepped into the kitchen with her daughter in her arms to find West seated at the table nursing a cup of coffee. He was wearing the same clothes as last night, so a shower and change had not yet been on his morning agenda. The responsibility he felt for her had to be wearing on him. After their kiss last night, would they be able to regain a natural camaraderie?
She gazed at him, searching for words that would come out casually. West didn’t seem similarly tongue-tied. He greeted her with nonchalance, showing no sign that their kiss was in his thoughts. Her heart pinched. Did he regret kissing her last night? Did she? She probably should, but she didn’t. She’d lock that moment away in her heart as a special memory to overlay the terror of the previous minute when he disarmed the IED.
“Have you heard an update on Darius?” she asked.
West nodded. “He’s awake, and the doc says he’s going to pull through.”
“That’s great news.” A smile broke out on Cady’s lips. “We should go visit him before we head for the lawyer’s office.”
“Let me grab a shower first. I’m feeling as ripe as the muskmelon I ate with my breakfast this morning.”
Cady laughed as the humor untied much of the knot in her chest that she seemed to be carrying around permanently these days. “Sure thing, Mr. Melon.”
West grinned and rose. At the sound of feet on the stairs behind her, Cady gasped and whirled. A thickly built man wearing a grit-streaked yellow coverall stepped out of the open basement door, followed by another younger man in similar garb. They were each carrying tools and large plastic tubs with metal handles. She gaped at them.
The first man glanced at her, then focused on West. “We’re done down there. We drilled and inset bars across the opening and then applied concrete. The ’crete will set within twenty-four hours, but the bars will keep out any intruders until then.”
“Thanks for the quick work on short notice.” West nodded at the men in the coveralls, who headed toward the front door. Then he turned to Cady. “Sorry you were startled. I neglected to tell you how accommodating the cops turned out to be—Detective Rooney, especially. He got right on the horn to a contractor who owed him a favor... Well, as soon as he finished reaming me out for us traipsing through the tunnel and fudging up potential fingerprints by disarming that bomb myself.”
Cady barked a laugh. “Did he think it would have been better if you’d let it explode?”
“With Rooney, who knows? But I think hauling the contractor out of bed was as close as he’ll ever come to apologizing for his wrong assumptions about you. Saves me and Brennan a messy job, too.”
Cady inhaled a long breath and let it out slowly. “Wow! Knowing that tunnel is sealed lifts a great weight from me.”
“Ditto,” he said. “Why don’t you grab some breakfast while I clean up.”
As soon as West returned from his quick washup in the bathroom, and Cady finished a piece of toast and jelly, they were on the road.
“Did the cops explore that underground tunnel?” She glanced over at his strong, appealing profile and her wayward heart gave a little kick against her ribs. Inappropriate reaction. She squelched it.
“Nope,” he said. “They agree with me that the shaft is getting ready to fall down around someone’s head. It’s not worth risking people’s lives. They sent a K-9 in there and the dog nosed around for a while but came back without signaling human presence. Our creeper was long gone, and it would be pointless for them to return to the tunnel now that it’s been discovered. For safety reasons, we may have to dig up the yard to expose the tunnel and fill it in before it collapses all of a sudden with someone standing on top of it. I wonder how far it goes. Probably to the edge of the property. Maybe under or around the utility shed?”
Cady shrugged and shook her head. “Could be farther out than that. When the home was first built, it sat on a sizable acreage that was gradually sold off as the family fortunes diminished, the cost of living increased and suburban sprawl gobbled up all the land it could get. The home is the last bastion of our family’s heritage, which is one reason my great-aunt was so persnickety in her will about its ownership.”
“Where do you think the tunnel ends up?”
She shrugged. “Maybe the family crypt that sits beneath the chapel in the local cemetery two blocks away.”
West started to laugh but she shot him a dark look and he sobered. “You’re serious. A Gothic house with a secret passage and a family crypt?”
She allowed a small smile to play across her lips. “Those scary historical romance novels need a basis in fact. Our family is a real-life illustration, complete with deep, dark secrets...apparently.” She grimaced. “Maybe if H. died—for whatever reason—we will find her remains in the crypt with a nameplate and pertinent dates. We should go there, as well the lawyer’s office.”
West whistled low under this breath. “I guess we add to our to-do list.” His glance over at her telegraphed a question. “Everything about this house is intensely personal to you, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Growing up, we moved around a lot. If we stayed anywhere more than eighteen months, that was a long time. But at least twice a year, sometimes more often, we would make the trek to Glenside. We might stay for a few weeks when Daddy was between jobs, or just for a holiday visit. My times there were the happiest of my childhood. Whoever has been creeping around doing violence is trying to tarnish those memories. I’m not going to let them.”
Famous last words. She turned away from West’s perceptive gaze and stared out the window at the passing boulevard. He was giving all he had to protect her. It wouldn’t do to let him know how insecure she was about the outcome of this duel of wits with their devious and determined adversary.
West didn’t need Cady to tell him how scared she was beneath that courageous front, though it might be healthy if she let her feelings out. Why did she believe she had to be brave all the time, even in front of close friends? Were friends all they could ever be? His heart throbbed. Their kiss had been, hands down, the most glorious thing that had ever happened to him. But the wonderful moment had passed all too quickly, and now they were back to square one in their relationship. Maybe not even that. It was as if she continually took one step toward him and then two steps back.
And what was the matter with him that he was wasting time thinking about their relationship right now? Head in the game, buddy. He gave his full concentration to driving. Sort of.
When West escorted Cady and Livvy into the hospital room, Darius was sitting up in bed. A cast encompassed his left arm and road rash decorated one side of his face.
West strode up to his friend and scowled down at him with arms crossed over his chest. “You look terrible, man.”
Darius grinned with one side of his swollen mouth, clearly taking the gruff insult for the expression of affection that it was. “Better than you’d look if you’d gone toe to toe with the grille of a speeding vehicle.”
Brennan rose from his seat on the opposite side of the bed, yawned and stretched his arms. “Babysitting this dude has been a bore and a half. Lazy lout sleeps all the time.”
“That’s me being productive by promoting my healing.” Darius shot a mock scowl toward Bren.
All three of them, along with Cady, joined in a chuckle. Darius offered West his uninjured hand and West clasped its warm strength, silently thanking God for his friend’s survival.
“Now, out of the way, dude.” Darius waved West aside. “The real healing has arrived. Let me get a look at my honorary sister and niece.” He motioned toward Cady and Baby-bug.
Smiling, Cady stepped up to the bed and settled Livvy in a supported sitting position on the covers beside Darius, who chuckled and tickled the baby’s cheek. Letting out a tiny chortle, she waved at her honorary uncle’s fingers and accidentally grabbed hold of one and hung on to it. If a face could melt into warm goo, Darius’s did exactly that.
“What’s the update?” Brennan interrupted the pleasantries.
West filled them in on Cady’s and his adventures in the night. His short, terse treatment of the bomb incident drew angry mutters from this team, followed by murmurs of satisfaction that the intruder’s access to the house was terminated.
“That’s my report,” West concluded. “What about you, Darius? Why do you think the killer went after you and the neighborhood watch guy?”
“Yes,” Cady said. “Did the man who packed the baskets tell you something worth a hit-and-run over?”
“The cops asked me that, too, this morning,” Darius responded.
“Detective Rooney?” Cady made a sour face.
“No, Detective Leticia Grace.” Darius pronounced the name with a lilt, as if it deserved to be set to music.
“She seems like a decent human being.” Brennan rolled his shoulders in a shrug.
“And easy on Darius’s eyes, I presume?” West added, staring pointedly at his partner in the hospital bed. The man maintained a poker face.
“Is she single?” Cady asked.
Brennan chuckled. “Mr. Smooth, here, managed to finesse that information out of her with a little counter-interrogation, and yes, she is.”
“Are you going to ask her out?” Cady persisted, a smile lighting her face.
Darius held up a forestalling hand. “Hold on, there. We’ve got to settle our present business first. But after that I might give it some serious thought.” A tiny grin flashed across his face.
“Back to Cady’s original question,” West said. “What did Mitch Landes tell you that made trying to kill both of you a necessity?”
“I don’t know for sure, though he did get pretty chatty when he found out we’re both Philadelphia Eagles fans. We jawed football for a while, then he loosened up and answered my questions about the gift baskets.”
“There must have been something critical in all that jabber,” Bren put in. “And our enemy knew Landes told you as soon as the words came out of his mouth. The cops found a listening device in Landes’s home like the one in Cady’s. It had been stuck to the inside of his mail slot, which was next to the living room, so it could have been put there anytime when Landes was gone and the person wouldn’t even have had to gain access to the house.”
“Scary sneaky.” Cady shuddered visibly.
West frowned, mentally seconding her assessment.
Baby-bug started to fuss mildly. Cady picked her up and put the baby to her shoulder, patting her small back.
Darius furrowed his brow. “The only thing that stands out to me is the dude bragging about himself for, as he put it, his ‘exemplary citizenship that is so lacking in today’s culture.’” Darius emphasized that final phrase with a one-handed quotation mark sign. “On the way to deliver Cady’s gift basket, he said he stopped to help a middle-aged woman change her flat tire. I told that to Detective Grace, and she admitted Landes hadn’t shared that tidbit in their original interview with him. The flat-tire woman could have accessed the basket while our guy was busy helping her out.”
“Did Mr. Landes offer a description of the woman?” Cady’s voice emerged rather breathless and her face took on a pinched look.
West stepped closer to her. Please, God, for Cady’s sake, let the description not match her mother.
Darius nodded. “She was about five feet four inches tall, heavyset, had short, light brown hair with sprinkles of gray and ‘cat eyes,’ his words not mine.”
Next to West, Cady let out a sharp gasp. He swiveled, barely in time to support her as her knees buckled. He helped her into a nearby chair.
Cady’s gaze riveted on him as she sat clutching her daughter like a lifeline. Her lower lip trembled, and she was as pale and shaky as that day he’d charged into her bedroom to save her from the intruder.
“Cat Eyes,” she whispered hoarsely. “That was my mother’s nickname growing up, because her eyes are amber. Just like mine. My mother is a murderer. She’s trying to kill me!”
That final sentence emerged in a forlorn wail that ripped sharp claws through West’s heart.