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Kat held her breath, waiting to hear what Ryan did next in the hallway. She didn’t dare move—not even to dry the perspiration on her palms—for fear she would make a sound that would attract his attention.
But as the seconds ticked by and her initial rush of adrenaline subsided, she began to reevaluate the situation. Why would Ryan be making such a ruckus if he were here to snatch Lucy? It didn’t make any sense after Ryan himself had acknowledged how easy it was to eavesdrop in this building. Kat was letting Lucy’s irrational fears get to her.
Kat stood up. On her way to the door she detoured past the couch in order to give the abruptly awakened Matty a reassuring pat. But Matty clearly didn’t appreciate the gesture. The tortoiseshell scrambled upright and started licking the spot Kat had touched with her sweat-slicked hands.
“Where are you going?” Lucy whispered.
“To see what Ryan wants,” Kat told her.
Lucy’s mouth gaped open. “Are you crazy? What if he kidnaps you too?”
“It’s two against one. If he tries anything, we’ll fight him off.”
Lucy balked. “I’m not going out there.”
Lucy’s resistance made Kat hesitate. Although she didn’t think Ryan had any interest in her, the consequences if she were wrong were severe enough to give her pause.
Kat looked at Matty, as if the tortoiseshell might be able to provide her with some guidance. But Matty was still busy grooming herself. She had expanded her focus past the section Kat had sullied and was now chewing on a particularly troublesome patch of fur, her pink nose wrinkling from the effort.
The sight of Matty going about her normal business gave Kat the shot of courage she needed. If Matty didn’t think Ryan’s appearance in the hallway was a big deal, why should she?
It was faulty logic, she knew, given that Matty rarely concerned herself with matters that didn’t revolve around the tortoiseshell herself, but it wasn’t as if Kat could avoid Ryan forever. The guy only lived one floor down. And unless Andrew ended up arresting him after all, at some point their paths would intersect again.
Before she could second-guess herself, Kat strode over to the door, picked up Tom, and turned the lock.
By the time she swung the door open, Ryan was already heading for the elevator at the other end of the hallway. He turned around, looking surprised to see her.
“Katherine,” he said.
“It’s Kat,” she replied. She firmed her grip on Tom, unsure whether the gesture was to protect him or her. “I heard you calling for Lucy out here.”
Ryan nodded. “I thought she might want to help look for Janice.”
“Look for Janice?”
“Yeah. Larry asked me to help him organize a search party. He’s waiting downstairs for us now. I know Lucy and Janice are friends. I thought she might want to help.”
Kat digested that. Larry must have seen Cameron Daily on the news and taken his plea to heart. “So you don’t know where Janice is?” she asked, just to be sure.
Ryan scratched his head, a look of befuddlement distorting his features. “How would I know where she is?”
Emboldened by Larry’s presence in the lobby and Ryan’s subsequent inability to drag her out of the building without attracting their landlord’s attention, Kat stepped closer to him. “Ryan, I have to ask you something.”
“Okay.”
“What were you really doing last night?”
He blinked. “What do you mean?”
“You claimed to have been at the park watching the sun set, but you were gone for three hours. And I saw the shoes you had on. Those weren’t walking shoes.”
He heaved a sigh. “All right. So I might have made that up.”
“Where were you really?”
“I was on a date.”
“A date?” Kat hadn’t expected that.
“Not a very good one, but yeah. We didn’t click. And I didn’t want to say anything in front of Lucy because, you know . . .”
“Because you like her,” Kat filled in.
He nodded.
Kat could have laughed in relief, but the forlorn look on Ryan’s face stopped her. She didn’t want him to think she was laughing at him or his failed date.
At least now she knew where that alibi Andrew had mentioned had come from.
Tom had grown restless in Kat’s arms. He wriggled around until she set him down. Once his feet hit the floor he headed for Ryan, his nose pointed upward as he sniffed the air between them.
Ryan backed up against the elevator. “What does it want?”
“Tom’s just saying hi.”
Ryan bit his lip, then said, “Hi, cat.”
It wasn’t until Ryan shoved his hands in his jeans pockets and drew his shoulders up to his ears that Kat realized he was actually afraid of Tom. That small revelation solidified her belief that he was innocent. After all, could a man afraid of a little—okay, a slightly larger than normal—house cat really be capable of kidnapping a woman? It seemed ridiculous.
Tom didn’t give any indication that he was conscious of Ryan’s discomfort. He marched right up to the big construction worker, sniffed one of his sneakers, then released a meow that could wake the dead.
Ryan shrank closer to the elevator. “Could you, like, um, get it away from me?”
Kat snapped to attention. “Of course.” She stepped forward and gathered Tom back into her arms.
“Thank you,” Ryan breathed, his shoulders dropping away from his ears.
“Sure.” Kat scratched Tom’s head, and he immediately began purring. “But just so you know, he’s harmless.”
“I don’t like cats.”
Kat didn’t comment. She didn’t think anything she could say would banish Ryan’s phobia. Nor did she want to get into a lengthy discussion as to what had caused it. Right now Janice needed their full attention.
“You said Larry is organizing a search party?” Kat said.
Ryan nodded. “He’s in the lobby.”
Lucy’s voice rang out behind them. “I’ll join you.”
Ryan’s head jerked sideways. When he caught sight of Lucy approaching from Kat’s apartment, his eyes lit up.
Bubbles trotted beside Lucy, his tongue lolling out. Kat figured Lucy must have brought him along for protection.
Lucy halted in front of them. “Let’s get moving. Janice is waiting for us to bring her home.”
Kat didn’t miss how Lucy had directed the words at her and not Ryan. Apparently Lucy didn’t plan to acknowledge Ryan’s existence or do anything else that might be misconstrued as a romantic interest.
“I’ll just return Tom to the apartment then,” Kat said.
Lucy nodded. Ryan didn’t say a word, his eyes pinned on Lucy. The guy looked as smitten as anyone Kat had ever seen.
Kat started down the corridor. Lucy had left the door open, and Matty was now sitting in the doorway, her green eyes trained on the Irish setter at the other end of the hallway. Her location and stance seemed designed to deter unwelcome houseguests from reentering her domain.
Kat nudged Matty back inside, deposited Tom on the floor, and shut the door. By the time she rejoined the others she expected to find the elevator ready and waiting, but nobody had even pressed the button. Ryan was too busy staring at Lucy, a goofy grin on his face, and Lucy was petting Bubbles with an intensity that suggested she couldn’t be bothered to talk to anyone.
“Are we taking the stairs?” Kat asked.
Neither Ryan nor Lucy responded. Nor did either one make any move toward the stairwell. Bubbles was the only one who acknowledged her question. He looked at her and barked.
“I guess not.” Kat resisted an eye roll as she reached around Ryan to press the elevator button.
Kat’s cell phone rang before the elevator could arrive. She fished it out of her jeans pocket and glanced at the display as she answered.
“Hi, Lady Fairchild,” she said.
“Kat!”
Lady Fairchild’s frantic tone quickened Kat’s pulse. “What is it?”
“Something has happened. I just went out to my mailbox to collect the day’s delivery. I would have done it sooner if I had known, but I didn’t think of it. Usually it’s all junk. I didn’t expect there to be anything important in there. I certainly didn’t expect a letter. It was just sitting there, no postmark, no return address, no stamp. Just my name.”
“I don’t understand.” Kat gripped her cell phone harder. “What are you trying to tell me?”
“Don’t you see, I got a letter. It’s about Janice.” Lady Fairchild let out a cry that raised goosebumps on Kat’s skin. “Oh, Kat, it’s a ransom note.”
