Chapter 15
It was very strange, Ali thought, to be sitting here at the Foxworth headquarters, watching the camera feed on the big flat-screen and hearing the words spoken through an earpiece, while the scene was actually happening live right next door to her house.
It was also fascinating. The Foxworth man, Liam, had dressed the part, at least what was probably the part in Liz Hollen’s mind.
A worn, rather ragged shirt and a pair of equally worn khaki cargo-style pants.
Hung in a loop sewn into the side seam of the right leg he had what Quinn told her was a nail puller.
It looked to her like it could be a rather effective weapon if necessary.
He also had a utility knife in one pocket, which could serve the same purpose if you didn’t mind getting up close and personal.
Yet they were logical things a carpenter would have handy.
As for Colby, he looked…nice. Really nice.
As he probably normally would try for when he came to pick up Grace for their precious hours together.
Clean, new-looking jeans and a lighter blue long-sleeved Henley, with a flannel-lined jacket half-zipped against the chill.
Oddly, she found herself fixated on how he moved, how he walked up to his ex’s front door in long, graceful strides, although he’d probably be embarrassed by the word graceful.
They had just driven up the Hollen driveway in an older pickup truck that also fit the image, a vehicle Quinn explained they kept on hand for just such situations. The excuse they were going to use was that Colby’s car had broken down and Liam had offered the ride.
And as she sat watching and listening with the Foxworths, she was a little amazed at how accurately they had pegged her neighbor. Colby had told them she always had Irene, the woman she called her child minder and housekeeper, answer the door, so she could keep him waiting on the porch.
“Have you even set foot inside that place?” Ali had asked when they’d been planning.
“One,” Colby had answered dryly.
“One-foot distance, or one foot?” she asked, smiling despite herself.
“About both. She threatened to call the cops if I went any farther.”
“Lovely.”
“I didn’t mind. Place is as cold as a winter storm in the Cascades. Not like your place.”
She’d been glad Hayley had interrupted them at that point, so she didn’t react and speak out of the sillily warm feeling his words had given her.
So now she sat watching, rather nervously, what Quinn had called the first phase of the operation.
Cutter padded over and sat beside her. Ziggy was quietly snoozing in the bigger dog’s bed, worn out from all the playing the two dogs had done this morning.
She automatically reached out to stroke the dark fur on his head, and felt again that odd sense of calm.
And remembered how the dog had raced ahead when she, Hayley and Ziggy had arrived, how she had laughed when he’d raised up and batted at the large, square handicap door switch, opening it for them.
“Here we go,” she heard Liam say as the front door was pulled open.
Ali watched as Irene looked curiously at Liam, then at Colby. She said something, so quietly it came through as an unintelligible murmur. Her expression was too neutral for Ali to read. Even as she thought it, Hayley confirmed her feelings.
“She either doesn’t care, or she’s experienced enough not to show her own feelings while at work.”
“Colby said she’s always been civil to him at least,” Quinn said as the woman closed the door, leaving the two men on the porch.
A couple of minutes ticked by, and Ali was growing more and more irritated on Colby’s behalf as he was, clearly intentionally, kept waiting.
“She’s quite the manipulator, isn’t she?” she muttered.
Hayley nodded. “Frequently used way to remind people you’re in charge is to keep them waiting.”
“Because of course your time is more important than theirs.”
Hayley gave her a sideways look. “You have some strong feelings about this.”
She let out a sigh. “I hate people who play power games all the time. It’s one of the reasons I left the city and came here.”
“Well, there’s a lot fewer of them here, I promise,” Hayley said.
As distraction Ali looked around the room again.
It had the air of a comfortable great room in a well-designed house, which had been a surprise to her because of the commercial look of the outside.
If someone had hired her to take the utilitarian building and make it feel like a home, it might well have ended up something like this.
Which made her like these people even more than she already did.
And now it was personal, not just by reputation.
“And who is…this?”
Liz’s voice, with more than a little undertone of distaste in it, came clearly through the earpiece, and Ali’s gaze shot back to the screen. As predicted, she was looking at Liam as if he were some sort of insect that had found his way too close to her door.
“Liam,” Colby said. “New apprentice.”
“Really.” It wasn’t a question, and her undertone was one of disbelief. Probably that anyone would want to learn a trade that was actually useful.
“My car broke down, so he gave me a ride,” Colby explained.
“Too bad you can’t afford a decent one,” Liz said.
“Pleased to meet you, ma’am.” Liam had apparently had enough of being ignored. Ali drew back, smiling because she couldn’t help it. He had truly poured on that Texas drawl. And it made Liz’s nose curl and go up even farther.
And then she spotted the truck. The truck that was so obviously a working man’s vehicle, with racks above and a ladder and a tool box in the bed.
“You expect my daughter to ride in…that?”
“I cleaned it out, ma’am, I truly did,” Liam said earnestly, still with the exaggerated drawl, as if trying to impress in a job interview.
“We’re not leaving town,” Colby said.
“You’d better not.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He was sounding weary now. Or better, bored with dealing with her. She couldn’t help smiling at the difference Foxworth had already made in his outlook. His voice had the same tone when he said, “Will you call Grace, please?”
Yes, bored, especially the almost blatant insincerity of the politeness. And she guessed there was nothing that would insult someone like Liz more than being found boring.
There was a moment of silence, and Ali got the definite impression Liz was weighing whether a battle now and over this was worth it. Apparently she decided it wasn’t, because she then turned her head and yelled toward the back of the house.
“Grace, now.”
So quickly Ali knew she had to have been anxiously awaiting the call.
Grace appeared in the doorway, looking up at her father excitedly.
She gave Liam a puzzled look, but clearly getting away with her father was more important than any questions she had.
She grabbed Colby’s hand and started for the porch steps.
“You have until 6:03,” Liz said loudly as they headed for the truck. “And don’t ruin her dinner.”
Grace didn’t look back, but now that she was close to her dad Ali heard her mutter, “It’s already ruined if she’s there.”
She had to smother a sharp laugh so they could hear anything else, and she saw Hayley was also chuckling, and Quinn was grinning.
“I like this kid,” he said.
They heard the vehicle doors slam shut, and then Colby making sure Grace was belted in. The motor fired up, and they started to back out the long driveway.
“That woman’s like crossing a mule with an alligator,” they heard Liam mutter, in his real voice now. “Not a critter I’d want to ride.”
They heard a giggle, clearly from Grace. And Ali wondered yet again how Colby kept himself from just grabbing the smart, adorable child and running to somewhere, anywhere, his ex couldn’t find them.
Judging by the change in background noise, they were on the street. The cameras showed only the empty porch now, front door closed, so she focused entirely on the vague sounds of a vehicle driving coming through her earpiece.
Then came Grace’s voice, with a worried note.
“Are you okay, Daddy? The man who came to fix the window said it was bloody.”
“I’m fine, sweetheart.” Ali felt her throat tighten at the pure love that rang in the man’s voice. “It was just a cut, and… I think it turned out to be worth it.”
“You’re funny. How could a cut be worth it?”
“You’ll see in just a minute,” Colby promised.
Ali knew it was true, because she’d just driven that same route about an hour ago.
She remembered them saying their headquarters was just down the road, but she hadn’t expected it to be this close.
She’d noticed the entrance when she’d gone by before, but had thought it was to a house nicely hidden back in the trees.
An idea struck her, but she only made a mental note of it when Cutter got to his feet and trotted to the door. Once more he hit the door switch with a well-directed paw, and it began to swing open. The dog squirmed through the moment it was open far enough.
“They’re here,” Hayley said.
Ali hadn’t heard a thing, but obviously Cutter had. She got to her feet. She felt a little anxious, but at the same time glad the Foxworths had included her in this. They all needed to be on the same page, Quinn had said.
“What is this place?” Grace asked with lively curiosity evident in her voice.
“This is where I hang out,” Liam answered her, sounding like he was grinning.
Then, almost simultaneously, Ali heard the sound of tires on gravel, and Grace’s exclamation. “There’s Cutter! Is Ali here? Is that why we’re here?”
She felt a burst of inner warmth at the hopefulness in the child’s voice. It was a new feeling for her, and she couldn’t deny she liked it.
When the door swung open again, Cutter was the first through, with Grace beside him, stroking his back. Then the child looked up and spotted the humans in the room.
“Ali! You are here!” The girl ran to her and threw her arms around her in an energetic hug. Ali hugged her back, beyond moved at the child’s open trust. Especially having heard the difference in her while speaking of her mother.
“I am,” she said, smiling widely.
A small yip drew Grace’s attention. “Ziggy is here, too!”
“I didn’t want him to feel abandoned. He and Cutter played until he needed a nap.”
Ziggy ran excitedly toward his friend, tail wagging madly. Grace dropped down to her knees to hug the puppy to her.
“Shall we all sit, and we’ll work out our plan of action?” Hayley suggested.
Grace’s head came up at that. She looked as if she wasn’t quite sure what it meant.
She looked at her father, who smiled warmly back at her.
He took a seat on the big couch and beckoned her over.
She hesitated, then decided, and scooped up Ziggy before she ran over and climbed up beside him, the puppy on her lap.
Ali noticed that Colby immediately reached out to pet the dog as well, as if it was the natural thing to do.
Funny what small things tell you.
She took a seat on Grace’s other side, delighting in how the clearly deliriously happy Ziggy couldn’t stop squirming, trying to collect pets from all three of them.
Her gaze met Colby’s, and for a moment seemed to lock in place.
For an instant she was surprised she hadn’t heard a click, because it felt as if two parts had connected somehow.
She wasn’t sure what that meant. Or didn’t mean. All she knew for certain was that she wanted to help these two, and that she was happy Foxworth was going to let her.