Standing behind Lia in the alley at the pharmacy’s back door, Isabel shivered in her lightweight fleece jacket. “I dread the thought of winter. The only good thing about it is Christmas can’t be far behind. Hey, Lia, let’s unpack your Christmas order!”
Lia glanced over her shoulder as she turned the key. “On a Saturday night?”
“Sure. It’s only nine o’clock. Besides, I can’t wait to see your selection. With your taste in gifts, I figure I can do half my holiday shopping right here. If you get into toys, I could do all of it.” She followed Lia inside. The desk lamp cast a dim glow about the small room.
“All those boxes came yesterday.” She flipped on the overhead light and pointed toward a cluttered corner beside the basement door. “If we can at least organize some of it, then stocking the shelves won’t take as long.”
“We’ll have to do that soon. You know how women like to Christmas shop early.”
“That’s good, since I need to sell it all as quickly as possible.” She shrugged out of her coat.
“Lia, did you know the petition has over 300 names on it?”
“Really? I guess somebody in Valley Oaks does like me.”
“It’ll work out—What’s wrong?”
Lia clutched her arm and stared beyond her shoulder with terror-stricken eyes.
Isabel turned around. “What?”
“That door’s open!” she hissed.
A few feet behind her, the door leading into the shop was all but shut. A hairline of the night-light shone around its frame. Lia always kept that door locked! Isabel pushed her friend back toward the alley door.
Lia was rooted to the floor.
She shoved harder. “Go! Someone might be in there! Or upstairs!”
That got a reaction. Five seconds later they were banging shut Isabel’s car doors and she had the engine running. She slammed the car into gear, and they flew out to Walnut where she braked a short distance across the street.
They craned their necks to look out the back window toward the alley, their breath coming in short bursts. “Lia, we should call Cal. The cops. We need a phone.”
“My keys are back there in my coat pocket! The door’s not locked. Maybe I didn’t even shut it.”
“Hon, I don’t think that matters at this point. You’re sure you locked the inside door tonight?”
“I never not lock it. Yes, I’m sure.”
“Then we better get help.” She pondered where to go. Except for two restaurants and the gas station, the town had folded up for the night. “You know, the whole world has cell phones except you and me. And I’m not using the pay phone in the grocery story parking lot. Let’s go to my house.”
Lia grabbed her arm. “What’s that noise?”
She listened.
“It’s the alarm! I didn’t turn it off when we ran outside!”
“So the cops should be on their way?”
“Soon. Security calls me. If I don’t answer, they call 911.”
“All right. We’ll wait.” She cracked her window open. Cold air seeped in with the blare of the alarm. Nearby two renovated houses faced the street; one was an insurance office, the other a real estate company. Both closed, of course. “That’s obnoxious. If you had neighbors, they would call the police.”
“The video store is open! It’s always so loud, though, they probably can’t hear it. I doubt they’d even bother to call if they did. The kids who work in there are strange. Isabel, this is ridiculous sitting here. If somebody were inside, the alarm would have sent them running by now.”
“But we haven’t seen anyone.”
“They could have run out the front or been long gone before we got here. I’m tired of being afraid in my own home. Between those stupid phone calls and Nelson disrupting my life, not to mention that insurance company mess, I’ve about had it.” She opened her door.
“Lia! Wait! I’ll drive back into the alley.” Isabel’s hand slipped off the gear shift. Adrenaline pumping, it took her long moments to maneuver the car in reverse. “I don’t think you should go inside. Cal would say do not go inside.”
“For goodness’ sake, this is Valley Oaks. Someone is just trying to scare me, not hurt me. If they were going to hurt me, they would have done it before now.” She climbed out.
Isabel followed more slowly. The alarm was deafening here. She hesitated. They really shouldn’t go inside.
But Lia already had her hand on the doorknob.
When he heard the report, Cal was out on Coal Creek Road 20 miles southwest of Valley Oaks. Technically, the call wasn’t his jurisdiction until his shift started at 11:00. Technically, Benny Richards could handle it. Technically, he should butt out. Technically, he should cruise west.
But it was Lia.
He switched on his lights and roared north.
Since a week ago Friday night, when he had come within a gnat’s length of kissing her, Lia came to mind every time he picked up his tube of toothpaste, every time he drove near the town square, every time he walked out of the Community Center, every time he prayed—and he was getting into the habit of praying throughout the day. Often.
Technically, Eliana Neuman was invading his space.
Richards’ cruiser blocked the alley. Cal parked on the side street, cut the engine with one foot out the door already, and then halted before bounding down the alley.
Was this getting personal?
Richards would look at the simple facts. A brick had been thrown through Lia’s alley window. Morphine was missing from its place on the shelf. There had been no sign of forced entry. She could be responsible for those things and made up the story about the phone calls.
But he knew her, and intuition said she wasn’t responsible.
Intuition or something else? The impenetrable dark eyes, the smooth skin, the sense of humor, the mouth that reminded him of a bow tie? The beautiful black hair she cut off the day after he touched it?
He slammed the car door shut and strode to the alley door. After a quick jab to the doorbell, he turned the knob. It wasn’t locked. He went inside and spotted them through the open door leading into the store. Benny Richards stood against the wall, notepad in hand. Lia and Isabel sat in the wicker chairs, confusion on their faces and in their slouching shoulders. A quick scan of the pharmacy revealed nothing out of place.
Richards threw him a puzzled look. “Huntington, what are you doing here?” With graying hair and medium build, Benny still cut a daunting figure in his uniform as he loomed over the women.
Resisting the urge to pull Richards down with him, Cal sat. He also used his size to intimidate. This wasn’t the time. “Just following up. Lia, how are you doing?”
A shadow of relief crossed her face but was quickly replaced by a baffled frown. “The Oxy-Contin is gone.”
It was listed with the Schedule II narcotics, those the Drug Enforcement Administration tracked. A powerful pain reliever, on the street it was known as oxys. It was a step up from the morphine and codeine that anyone could recognize. “Somebody knows what they’re doing. What happened?”
Richards answered, “We’ve been through this, Cal.”
“Humor me. I was here when she discovered the other missing drugs.”
The cop rolled his eyes.
Lia glanced anxiously between the two of them until Cal leaned sideways, blocking her view of Benny. “Isabel and I…” She spoke quietly, not in her normal big-city friendly tone. “We came in about nine. That door was open a crack, and I know it had been locked.” She stopped.
“What did you do next?”
Isabel groaned. “We got out of here, but then the alarm went off, and Lia marched right back inside.”
He touched Lia’s shoulder. “Lia Neuman, don’t ever, ever do anything like that again. Do you understand?”
In the norm, she would have argued with him, pointing out that the alarm would have scared off anyone inside, that she was going to get to the bottom of this nonsense. She only blinked unfocused eyes, as if her mind were miles away.
He lightly squeezed her shoulder and dropped his arm. “What did you find inside?”
Isabel answered, “Everything looked normal until Lia checked the narcotic drug shelf.”
“Lia, how certain are you that you locked the door?”
The black eyes seemed to recognize him again. “I never don’t lock it. Today I locked it about two o’clock when I went up to the apartment.”
“Any visitors after that?”
“No. I only used the alley door. I went out and did errands in Rockville, came home, and then Isabel picked me up at seven.”
Richards shifted his stance. “And Isabel didn’t come inside at that time?”
“No, I told you I met her outside in the alley.”
“So she didn’t see that this door was shut or locked?”
Lia shook her head.
Cal knew what Richards insinuated. No one to vouch for Lia’s story. He didn’t want to go there. “What about the key you moved from the desk? Is it still hidden?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t look.”
He stood. “Let’s go.”
She seemed uncertain, and then she slowly made her way into the back room. He followed, concerned about her hesitant movements. There had been no smiles, no jokes, no outburst of frustration, no sign of determination to fight this. Fear was closing in, obscuring her typical spunky demeanor.
Alongside the washer and dryer, a shelf held laundry items. She lifted off a box of powdered detergent. It wobbled in her hands.
Cal reached over, took it from her, and set it on the dryer.
She dug inside of it, spilling granules of soap powder every which way.
“Here, let me.” He pulled her shaky hand from the box and plunged in his own. “Maybe there’s a print on it. How far down did you bury it?”
“Not far. What’s he getting at? Deputy Richards.” Fear was evident in her strained whisper.
He ignored the question. “Maybe we should dump this—”
“I know what he’s getting at.”
“Don’t worry about it, Lia. It’s just procedure.” His fingers landed on the key. “Here. Obviously no one found it.” He lifted it carefully by its edges, pulled a tiny plastic bag from his pocket and slipped in the key. “Sorry about the mess.” He held the box at the edge of the dryer and brushed the spilled granules into it.
“So.” Richards had entered the back room. “How’d they get in so smoothly without a key?”
“I figure the first time they found the key in the desk drawer right next to the door. Obvious place to keep it. They borrowed that for a while and had a copy made. Actually, this looks like a copy. Lia, where’s the original?”
“On my key ring. No, that’s not right. There was only one original. The one in the desk.”
“The one that should have been in the detergent box here?”
She nodded, her forehead scrunched in a frown.
Proved his point. “Benny, did you check upstairs yet?” He scanned the small back room and spotted the basement door. The basement. Why hadn’t he thought of that before? There must be an outside window to it. “Or the basement?”
“Not yet. Terry’s on his way to check for prints.”
“Okay. We’ll go upstairs, see if anything was disturbed there.”
“Let’s get a search warrant first.”
“Richards, she’s not hiding anything.” Behind him, he sensed Lia stiffen.
Benny’s eyes narrowed. He paused before answering. “Let’s just make sure we do this one by the book.”
In the end they allowed Lia to gather a few personal belongings. She was going home with Isabel.
Cal hovered near the bathroom door while Lia rummaged through the medicine cabinet. She stuffed things into a clear plastic baggie she had grabbed from the kitchen. Cal hoped that his presence would prevent Richards from digging through her overnight bag. The other deputy waited downstairs with Isabel while Terry dusted for prints.
“Here, Cal.” She held the baggie up now in front of his face. Inside was a toothbrush holder, toothpaste, a hairbrush, a bottle of facial lotion. “Satisfied?” She brushed past him. “Come on, let’s go search my dresser drawers!”
At least her hints of anger were an improvement over despair. He stood a discreet distance from her open bedroom door as she reached into the closet.
“You’d better search this, too!” She pulled out a black duffel bag and flung it toward him.
He caught it. “Lia, I’m sorry. It’s for your own protection.”
She slid out a drawer. It crashed to the floor, silky contents spilling over the edges.
Cal entered the room and pulled her into his arms. “It’s okay.”
She cried softly against him.
“Shh.” He touched her head, holding her tightly. “Lia, don’t worry.”
“Do you think I took the drugs?” Her upturned face was damp with tears.
The night vanished. For one eternal moment there was no time, no investigation, no past, no future, no one waiting downstairs. There was only Lia. He kissed the crease between her brows, he kissed the corners of her eyes, he kissed her dewy cheeks. And then he kissed her lips, and he wondered why he had waited so long. He only stopped because the cop niche in his mind signaled there was an urgent matter at hand.
They stared at one another.
She swallowed. “Calming the distressed victim, I take it?”
“Mmm, something like that.” He smoothed her hair back from her face. “Please don’t cut any more off?”
She pushed herself from him, gave him a half smile, and knelt beside the drawer.
“Need some help?”
She pulled out something yellow and flannel. “Will you grab Soot there? She’d better come with me.”
He noticed the kitten slinking down the hallway and retrieved it.
“Cal, I want to be here when you search things.”
“No, you don’t. It would feel like a violation.”
She crossed her arms and shuddered.
“Lia, I promise, I’ll take care of your belongings.”
“It’s not just that. There’s…something else.”
There was a twisting in his stomach. “Something else?”
“They might plant evidence. They want me out of town.”
Relief surged through him. She wasn’t hiding anything. “Who does, Lia?”
“People like Benny Richards.”
“No, no. Benny’s a good guy. Hey, where’s my Miss Impressively Independent?”
The tears spilled again. “Oh, Cal. Did you like her?”
“I liked her a lot.”
“But you never kissed her.”
He grinned. “Next time I see her I will.”