Chapter 25 - Trouble Comes to Those Who Wait
Chapter 25
Trouble Comes to Those Who Wait
An hour later, Andi stared at the clouds outside the dirty windows of the third floor of the bookshop. It seemed more like it was lit in evening shadows than midmorning sunshine. The beautiful town of Honey Creek looked like faded photos. Andi paced across the junk piled in the storage room. Old furniture, books in no order, broken toys. In one corner, a worn-out fireman’s uniform rested as if the body that once occupied it had turned to dust.
All were waiting, watching, planning. The sheriff had returned and was murmuring into his phone. The lawyer had disappeared and no one seemed to miss him, and Andi’s older brother was fixing a broken chair for some reason. The temporary prisoners of the third floor were pacing, like lions in a cage.
Thirty minutes ago, they were talking, but now all seemed to move to their corners.
Andi was complaining more to herself than Danny that no one was doing anything. “I bet no one has been in this room for years except a few adolescents. Who knows where they found their reading materials?” She kicked an empty box out of her way.
Dan didn’t even look like he was listening. She wasn’t even sure he knew she was talking. In less than an hour her deputy had lost interest in her or anything she was saying. It seemed he was putting a puzzle together blindfolded.
It occurred to Andi that most of their conversations were arguments anyway, and she was always the one who ended up yelling. As she folded her arms and moved away from him, she had a rare glimpse into her own emotions. For a second, she felt lost and numb. She wondered when she’d hardened. She used to say she cared about people, that was why she took the tough assignments.
Once her job had been exciting. She was making the world a better place. She loved what she did, but somehow she no longer felt anything. No caring, no fear, no joy. Sometime over the years of working mostly alone she’d turned into a machine.
She saw the kid reading one of the comics that he’d found on a shelf. She wanted to feel something for him but she’d been undercover for so long, pretending to be someone else forever. She didn’t know what was real anymore.
“Two brothers,” she murmured. “I have two brothers.”
She looked out at the park in the center of town. Logging the facts. A dozen ladies walking the square. A little girl running across the grass chasing her dog. A man with rounded shoulders and a plaid jacket apparently was acting as a crossing guard for the old ladies.
Harry Pratt.
Once she heard a name, she remembered it. The civilian cop. Maybe she’d turned into him. Running around helping people who didn’t need her.
One old lady bopped Harry with her umbrella.
Not that Andi cared about the man on the street or even the deputy. She’d been trying to get rid of Dan for days, she lied to herself. She had more important things to worry about than Danny.
She had somehow let him get too close. She’d made him think she cared about him.
The moment she lied to herself she felt a pain in her chest.
A memory drifted in her mind. The deputy had curled around her and cuddled her against him.
Her skills told her that she needed to vanish, get out of danger. If she ran, the people around would be safer. The last thing she wanted to do was get involved with the locals.
But she couldn’t run, not this time. This was her birthplace. These people had stayed with her, trying to help. For the first time in a long time, she was beginning to know what normal was like. A family dinner. Talking to people walking by. Teasing the deputy.
A tear rolled down her cheek. She looked at Zach, and for a moment mourned the life she could have had if she’d known she had brothers.
She walked over to the kid and put her arm around him. In another few years, he’d be a man. Until then, she’d watch over him, even if it was from a distance.
He looked up at her, confused. “Are you a person in my life that I’ll only see once? Or are you gonna be around?”
She pulled him closer. “I’m going to be around. I don’t know how it could happen this fast, but I love you.”
Zach hugged her hard and then pulled away fast, wiping at his eyes. “Can I call you Sis?”
“I hate that name.” Andi smiled. “But I guess I’m stuck with it.”
From half a room away, she met Rusty’s gaze and caught his wink.
“Darn, I’ve got two people in my life I’ve got to worry about now.” Andi laughed.
“I already take care of myself. You don’t have to watch over me. But you can bet I’m going to watch over you.” Rusty crossed the room to join his kin.
Andi started to say, “I can take . . .” She stopped. No one ever listened; she might as well give up. She turned to Zach. “There are more people you’re going to want to meet. My stepfather may not be my real dad, but he’d take you in and teach you all sorts of things. He’s an ex-marine.”
Her brothers shared a look. “Great. I guess we’re going to have to build another bedroom,” Rusty said.
“Can we paint it marine green?” Zach asked.
“Why not.”
“He took me in. I’m sure he’ll take you guys too.” Andi smiled. “My mom will love you too, but I’m warning you, she can’t cook.”
Andi moved back to pester Danny. All these feelings were too much for her. She needed a distraction.
The deputy was the perfect target.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you hid the magazines here when you were a kid.” Andi turned on Danny as she tried to push feelings away. She’d meant to tease him, but when she looked up Danny was staring at her.
She picked the nearest magazine, which happened to be Playboy, and hid behind it.
Andi’s brothers slipped out before they accidentally got involved with the deputy’s ribbing. Her brothers were not raised near one another but they were alike. Quiet.
Andi almost giggled. The deputy wasn’t taking the bait to argue. He just stood and walked straight to her.
“I ever tell you that I love men with red hair?” She couldn’t see his face. “Well, I won’t.”
“I figure you’ll get around to it.” He still didn’t look at her.
She stepped closer and faced him with the Playboy as a barrier. “Think of something to do, Deputy. I never was good at stakeouts. I like the action.”
“There is nothing to do, but maybe you could take your clothes off so I can compare you and this model. I’m betting you’ll win,” he answered as he picked another issue. “Your brothers should leave soon, so we don’t have much time. It won’t take them long to get ready for the plan.”
He grinned. Sparks were practically flying out of her eyes.
The deputy started thumbing through another old Playboy magazine he’d found under the desk. When he turned the page sideways, she walked by and slapped his reading material from his hands.
He stood. She pushed him back down on the desk and a book tumbled to the floor and landed on the dirt. She picked it up. Hardback. Small, yellowed with age. She could barely read the letters. “Legends of Our People by Elan Dosela.”
She passed it to him and sat down on the desk.
Danny turned the book over in his big hand. “Dosela is Bear’s neighbor who is going to let us cross her land at dawn. I remember hearing about one of her ancestors. Folks used to claim he was a writer. Old-timers say his stories were about his people. If we get on her land maybe I’ll show her this book.”
He smiled and passed the treasure back to Andi. “How about reading a chapter in our story, honey?”
She lifted the cover. “Look at this,” she said as she studied the text, forgetting she was still leaning against his chest. “This book must be priceless.”
He settled her next to his knee and she began to read.
Andi was aware Danny was watching her as if she was the third-floor entertainment. As she read, her words began to flow faster with excitement.
“You don’t wait for anything, do you, Andi? I’ll bet you were born early and you’re one of those readers who reads the last page first.”
She looked away from the old book, thankful no one was listening. With him now sitting on the desk, they were eye to eye for once and he had just read her correctly.
“I see you, Andi. I really know you.”
“You just said that so Rusty wouldn’t consider beating you up for suggesting I take off my clothes.” She turned to the book again. Big brothers protect their sisters, she thought.
Andi smiled. She liked having a big brother. “But I can hold my own in a fight.”
Dan winked. “Either you’re bored or just looking for a victim. Strip and we’ll fight. I’ll even let you win.”
She gave him that look that silently said he’d spouted something dumb, then she backed away. “We’re hiding out, remember?” With her fists on her hips, she started lecturing again. Danny might be two years younger than she was, but she swore he was born yesterday.
Every time she looked at him like he was too dumb to remember to breathe, the deputy just smiled.
She moved closer. There was something touchable about a man who didn’t make a pass but had “come get me” in his eyes.
Reason won out and she stepped away. “We’ve got to keep our heads in the game. The men looking for us won’t hesitate to leave collateral damage.
“I’ve survived a hundred times because I can read people. I can read a man. Whether he carries a knife or a gun. Whether he’ll fight or run. If he’s all talk or action. And most of all, I can always tell when men lie . . .”
She moved so close her nose almost touched his. “How about I read you? You don’t want to hurt anyone. You back down because you’re worried about your strength. I see no fear, only worry.” She studied him for a minute more.
She saw his eyes fill with sorrow. He stared deep into the corners of the room as if looking into the past.
Andi pushed. “You have hurt someone you didn’t mean to. Right?”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “I did hurt someone years ago, but I’d stand in front of you and fight to keep you safe.” He snorted. “Even if you are as mean as an alligator. I know it’s my job, but it’s more than that and we both know it is.”
“For the hundredth time, I can take care of myself. But I have to ask, Why me? Why care? I’ve been nothing but trouble to you, Dan.”
He thought for a minute, then answered in a low voice. “Because, now and then, I see fire in your eyes. Maybe I’m waiting for one day when I’ll see that fire when you look at me.”
Andi wasn’t used to rare honesty. “The other day you said you wouldn’t start anything but you’ll finish it.”
He grinned. “Maybe you don’t read men as well as you think you do.”
The urge to slug him came to her mind, but there was another feeling. Without hesitation she leaned near and kissed him on his cheek.
Moving slow, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulled her near and kissed her full-out. She was so shocked she didn’t move. Danny wasn’t taking; he was giving.
She’d never been kissed like this. Tender, gentle, pleasing. This was not the beginning of passion on a one-night stand. This wasn’t trying to conquer or prove skill.
She wanted more, but reason won out. This game between men and women was nothing more than a tug-of-war.
When she moved away, he didn’t try to stop her.
She walked across the room from him, away from allowing herself to feel. For the first time she wanted to turn around.
Danny moved to the window. His words came flat, without emotion. “The old ladies are putting on plastic rain hats about ten minutes late. They’re determined to get their steps in.”
Andi moved to the window. The sheriff moved into the room as a trooper pulled up by Noah’s car and parked beside two other white cars. Almost a dozen women headed for more coffee.
Dan leaned forward, touching his chest against her back and wrapped his hand around hers. “I just got an idea of how we’re getting you to your brothers. We split up.”
“Makes sense. The gang doesn’t know about them.”
Dan continued, “I’ll go down and look like I’m watching for you. Even ask folks outside if they’ve seen you.”
Pecos began to listen.
The sheriff said, “I’ll slip down the fire escape and come running. That should give Dan time to get you away.”
“No. Andi can slip in with the walkers,” Dan said.
All at once everyone was talking.
Dan held her tighter. “I’ll set it up. Give everyone ten minutes to get in place. Your brothers are gone. The sheriff will make it to the station so he can run out yelling.
“While everyone is watching outside, slip downstairs and mix in with the walkers.”
He moved his hands around her waist and tugged her to him one last time. “You have to disappear.
“Once you’re downstairs, button up the raincoat and pull up your hood as far as you can. Go out with the ladies. One of the walkers is your height and she’ll know where to take you. Tell her I said to get you out of town fast. She knows where everyone lives.”
“She might not agree to this plan.” Andi couldn’t just go up to an old lady and ask such a favor.
“She will.” Danny started downstairs. Since he had a grip on her hand, Andi came along.
“Why are you so sure, Danny?”
He grinned. “She’s my granny and she’s always packing. You’ll be safe.”
When they reached the landing, he turned. He stared at her for a minute and for once she didn’t say a word.
Without a sound. Without a touch. He leaned forward and his words touched her cheek.
“I’ll find you. This between us isn’t finished.”
She pushed the little book she’d been carrying against his heart. “Keep this for me until I see you again. I’m not finished with it, or you.”
Danny pushed the book back. “No, keep it with you. You’re going to Eliza’s ranch. That’s where it belongs.”