Chapter 11
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Pamela sat in the downstairs office with the babies sleeping in their playpen, just staying close, when she heard the front door open.
She froze, wondering if it was safe to even look. When she heard Anderson’s calm, quiet voice, she got to her feet and snuck out of the office. He saw her come out, worry obvious on her face, and he opened his arms.
She couldn’t help herself. She raced into them and buried her face against his chest. “Good God,” she whispered when she finally could. “That visit from Tim terrified me.”
“It sounds as if Tim terrified himself.”
“Good,” she snapped. “How dare he come back around here.”
He stared at her and added, “We don’t know for sure it was him, though it sure seems it was.”
“He really wanted to get inside. He tried his key, but it didn’t work. And the fact that he couldn’t get inside made him angry.” She shivered.
“Talia must have changed the locks on the house,” he murmured. “Good on her.”
Stepping back, a bit calmer now, Pamela asked, “How did you do with the police?”
“I stopped in at the detective’s office and told him about Tim’s appearance at the house,” he began in frustration.
“Colt acted as if it was more a case of a random breaking-and-entering. When I reminded him that we were looking for my sister’s husband as a possible suspect, Colt just nodded and stated, so far, there had been no sightings. ”
“But we did sight him.”
“At that point, I reiterated that there was a sighting, that he came to the house, and that he tried to get in.”
“So, Detective Colt does know now.”
“Yeah, for all the good it did me. I’m not sure he believed me.
I told him that I would send him the security videos as soon as I got home.
I’m just beyond frustrated with this whole process,” he snapped.
He shook his head and raised his hands in an apology.
“I shouldn’t be taking it out on you. I’m just … ”
“Stressed and frustrated, I get it. I was so worried,” she shared. “I’ve been staying in the same room with the girls, just in case.”
He eyed her in surprise and then smiled. “Thank you for watching over them.” She just nodded, and he continued. “First things first, let’s check that everything is locked down tight.”
“Okay, how do you want to go about it?”
“We’ll do a quick sweep, double-checking doors and windows, to be sure nothing has been altered.”
She watched as he did his sweep. With that done, he nodded. “Okay, nothing has changed in terms of lockdown, but obviously some things have changed in Tim’s life.”
“I rechecked the files when the case was first given to me,” she shared, “and we didn’t have much information on him. The police didn’t seem to have much either.”
“No, he works for an international company. I’ve reached out to them, but they say they haven’t had any contact with him and will let me know if they hear anything.”
She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and asked, “Do you believe that?”
“No, I don’t. Unfortunately Tim’s quite likely to run and to get away clean before anybody’s even aware that he’s gone.”
“Which is also very depressing.”
“Yeah, it is,” he muttered, “but we won’t go there right now.”
She smiled. “Glad to hear it. It seems as if things are always one step away from being dire.”
“No, not at all,” he countered, smiling at her. “That’s not how I would look at this. We are getting somewhere.”
She nodded. “I just want to make sure that wherever that somewhere is, the babies are safe.”
“Agreed, of course,” he replied. “We will sort this out, I promise.”
“I know. I’m sorry,” she added. “I shouldn’t be complaining. I’m supposed to be helping.”
“You have every right,” he stated, turning to her. “You’re the one who came face-to-face with the intruder, and yet, if he no longer lives here—”
“Exactly, if not his home anymore, why was he here? What was he after?”
“Was he after the children? Because, if he was, that’s a whole different level of problem that we aren’t really equipped to handle yet,” he noted thoughtfully.
She raised her eyebrows at that.
He shook his head. “Not your worry, at least not right now.”
“Yet somehow it feels like my worry,” she muttered in exasperation. “All of this feels very … personal now.”
He asked her, “Do you want to leave?”
“No, of course not,” she declared, staring at him. “It’s just frustrating that this is happening and that we can’t seem to get any official action on it.”
“That’s part of the process,” he noted. “We’re looking at something very different right now, and it’s concerning.”
“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” she muttered. “All of this is very concerning.”
“And again, that’s not your problem.”
She shook her head. “You’re starting to piss me off by saying that.”
He laughed. “Good. I would rather see you pissed off and angry than anything else.”
“If all this keeps up,” she told him, “you will definitely see me pissed off. And nobody better come after those babies,” she muttered.
“How come you didn’t end up with half a dozen of your own?”
She shrugged. “Because I didn’t end up finding the right partner for having a half dozen of my own,” she stated, with a laugh. “I always thought I would have kids by now, but it just didn’t happen.”
“Meaning,” he asked, “it didn’t happen, can’t happen, or just not the right time?”
“All of it, I guess,” she replied, waving her hands carelessly. “What can I say? It hasn’t happened, so I don’t have any answers on that.”
He didn’t say anything more but headed upstairs to the spare bedroom. She traipsed along behind him. Anderson added, “The nanny cam will let us know if they’re awake. I can’t believe you even got them to sleep this long.”
“They are doing great,” she stated warmly. “I don’t know how long they’ll sleep though.”
“Probably only another moment or two,” he noted. “I hope they take their time, but, if you hear them, can you go to them? Meanwhile, I’ll check the security footage.”
He went into the small closet, and she stopped in wonder and muttered, “I didn’t even know this was here.”
He nodded. “I insisted on it when I got into security. Talia was living here, sometimes alone for a long time, depending on Tim’s travel schedule for work, and I wanted to ensure she was safe.”
She smiled at him. “You really did become a protector, didn’t you?” He shrugged and she laughed. “Even if you don’t acknowledge that trait,” she pointed out, “it still applies.”
He didn’t say anything more, already busily clicking away on the keys. As soon as he came to the footage from today, he went back to the kitchen cam and smiled. “Is that the guy who tried to come in?”
She looked at the image and gasped. “Oh my God, yes, that was him. I’m so glad you caught that.”
“Yeah, I caught that,” he stated, with a note of satisfaction. “That is her husband, Tim, and the father of those girls downstairs. Now the question is, what was he doing here, and what will he do about it now?”
He quickly made a copy of the video and sent it to the detective.
“At least now he has proof,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, if he cares.”
“Don’t say that,” she muttered. “Remember that part about how I firmly believe in the law?”
“Good, I’m glad you do,” he grumbled, rolling his eyes. “What you have to consider is that, just as you’re overwhelmed with cases, so is he. And it becomes a priority only if we have an active emergency, and I don’t think my sister’s case is really in the running.”
“And yet she could have died, and, though I hate to say it, she still could.”
“I know. I know,” he murmured. “It’s one of the things I struggle with. But we’ll keep going, thinking everything is good and it’ll only be a matter of time before they wake her up.”
“And what about Burton?”
“He’s at the hospital. The admin finally agreed to let him stay, at least for a little while.”
“That’s good,” she said.
“Yeah, well, I don’t know how good it is, but, at the moment, he’s been given permission to stay, and that’s after a friend of mine made a phone call. And now at least we have something in place,” he shared, as he hit Send on the email he was working on.
“Good,” she replied, “because, so far, this doesn’t sound all that great.”
“No, maybe great isn’t the word I would use, but it’s progress. The fact that Tim came here and took the chance of getting himself caught on camera says a lot. What I don’t know is what is here that he thinks he should have.”
“So, you’re not thinking it’s the babies?”
“It could be,” he admitted, turning to face her. “Absolutely it could. I’m just not sure that’s what he was after.”
“Would it make sense?”
“In some ways, yes. I mean, if it were me, yeah, I would be here after my children, but I’m not sure that’s the case with Tim. It’s just one more thing we’ll have to keep an eye on. I’m sending this to Burton too.” And, sure enough, he had barely sent it off when Burton phoned him.
“So, that’s him?” he asked in a hard tone.
“Yes. So, keep an eye out for him.”
“Oh, he was just here,” he declared. “We had a discussion, and I told him that nobody but family was allowed in and that he wasn’t on the list of family who had been cleared. He told me that he was family, but he didn’t say that he was her husband.”
“Did he give you any other information?”
“No, he was cagey about saying anything but was definitely angry and frustrated that I was even here. So damn-good timing that we got this hospital security put together.”
“You’re not kidding. I don’t know what he’s up to or why he’s playing games.” Anderson was frustrated as hell, and just then Pamela touched his arm. It was an instinctive reaction, but it seemed to be the right thing to do because it calmed him down. “I’m glad you’re there, Burton.”
“Yeah, me too. Don’t worry. I’m here as long as necessary.”
“Yeah, but you can’t be there all night.”
“Yes, I can,” he argued, with a hint of amusement. “You forget that I’m the one who’s good at sleeping and waking up at a moment’s notice. I’m not leaving, not now that we know that this asshole has been here.”
“The fact that he wouldn’t tell you who he was and why he was there is also a problem.”
“Not his only problem,” Burton declared. “He looked … I don’t want to say terrified, but I guess terrified would be a good description.”
“Oh, now that changes things entirely.”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought you would say,” Burton noted. “I didn’t get that he was here for Talia’s sake. It seemed more like he was here for something, for his own sake. And yet I don’t know how that would make any sense.”
“It will make sense eventually,” Anderson told him.
Pamela heard the pain in his voice.
Anderson added, “We’ll get to the bottom of it soon enough.”
And, with that, he ended the call.