Chapter 17
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Something odd was happening.
Pamela wasn’t sure what it was. She kept getting an uneasy feeling, but, with the babies sound asleep and Burton sleeping upstairs, she was pretty sure she was safe enough. Still, something felt very off.
She walked to the back door and double-checked that it was locked, then headed to the front door and did the same. Everything was locked, but she couldn’t shake that feeling. She walked up to check on Burton, and he was sound asleep, as in out, out.
She knew she could wake him up. He told her to wake him if there was any issue, but was this an issue? Or was this just a case of nerves? She wasn’t sure. She headed back downstairs and into the office with the playpen full of babies, and she sat down on the floor beside them.
No way anything would happen to them while she was here, yet she didn’t want it to come to that.
She certainly didn’t have fighting skills like the men did, and she knew Burton would wake up and be down in an instant, but she didn’t want that to be the outcome here either.
Yet she could really do nothing for the moment.
She settled down to wait and then decided that maybe she would text Anderson.
She sent off one text, and then a second one, and then, somehow needing that sense of comfort, sent him a third.
When he called her a few minutes later, she said, “Hey, sorry. I know you’re probably busy.”
“I was busier than you know,” he replied, with a note of humor in his voice.
“My brother-in-law showed up, and I tackled him and tried to get some answers. The cops have just shown up, and I’m thinking about going back to the house again, but I don’t want to leave Talia alone.
What’s going on there? Your texts have me a little confused. ”
“Nothing, I was just … I had an uneasy feeling.”
“Wake up Burton,” he stated instantly.
“I don’t want to. I mean, he’s just finally getting some sleep. I checked that the doors are all locked, and everything appears to be fine.”
“It doesn’t matter. We trust instincts, and, if you feel something’s wrong, then something’s wrong.” She hesitated. “Go, right now, while I’m on the phone. Do it.”
She bolted upstairs, and, as she walked into the spare bedroom, Burton sat up and looked at her, his gaze suddenly alert. “Problems?”
She took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to wake you, but … Anderson told me to.”
Anderson told her, “Put him on the phone.”
She handed the phone over to him, and the two men went back-and-forth. Burton got up, handed the phone back to her, and said, “I’m heading outside to take a look,” and he disappeared.
“I’ll feel really shitty if it isn’t something,” she cried out to Anderson, still on the line.
“Better to feel shitty and be safe, than to not feel shitty and be dead,” he said. “We don’t take these things for granted.”
“Christ,” she muttered. “You guys are making me crazy.”
Anderson burst out laughing. “I think you already knew I was crazy.”
“Yeah, and it’s all coming back to me now,” she quipped, with an ironic laugh.
“I remember too,” he said, with a chuckle. “We were playing truth or dare, and I kissed you in the dark one night.”
“Yeah, you sure did,” she admitted, a bit sheepish. “But you thought it was Angel, and Angel was pissed off because it wasn’t her.”
He burst out laughing. “Oh, we were so young.”
“Young and stupid,” she repeated.
“Yeah, I agree with that,” he teased, a smile in his tone. “Look. When this is over, we could always go out for coffee and see if there’s any point in seeing if we could make it now, … at least check it out anyway.”
“Sure, when this is over. When I can breathe and when I’m not afraid of people coming in the back door,” she replied, as she made her way back to the triplets. “Did you find out exactly what’s going on?”
“Only part of it, and it’s not good.” He gave her a brief summary.
“Jesus.”
“I know. Believe me that I’m not impressed either, but the police have Tim right now, and we’ll go from there.”
“But he never did tell you what he was after here at the house?”
“No, he didn’t. He admitted to stealing drugs and selling them, but I don’t know if there’s any connection to the house.”
“And yet he came back here.”
“Yes, but, if we can believe a word he says, he sold the stolen drugs. So they should be long gone. Plus, he’s using again, so his personal stash has probably been used up by now.”
“When Burton comes back inside, we should give the whole house a once-over.”
“That’s a really good idea. I started to do that the other day, then Alice showed up, and my plans took a turn.
I’m staying here with Talia. You and the triplets should be fine with Burton there.
Look. Somebody’s approaching me, and he looks officious,” he said, with a note of humor. “I’ll talk to you later.”
He ended the call, leaving her standing there, staring at her phone, wondering what that was all about. As she turned around to the door, Burton was there.
He shook his head. “I don’t see anything wrong.”
She explained what Anderson had told her about Tim and drugs. Burton frowned, glanced around the house. “It would be foolish to keep them here.”
“Except that Tim is not overly endowed with brain cells, and he certainly hasn’t been an upstanding citizen about anything else so far.”
“No, he has not,” Burton said in agreement. “Where would somebody hide anything in this place?” he muttered, as he looked around. “I mean, it’s a pretty plain, basic house.”
“Attic?” she suggested.
He frowned. “It’s not exactly easy to get to. It’s far more likely that some related data is hidden here.”
“But wouldn’t Tim already have that information with his first-hand knowledge?”
“In general maybe, but not details, not if he didn’t have the info to refer to,” he explained, thinking about it. “Still, it’s quite possible that he may have left some drugs here, and whoever is after him needs this product and thinks that this house may hold the answers.”
“Which would be ridiculous,” she murmured, as she stared at him, “because the last thing anybody would expect is drugs in a house with babies, especially since Tim hasn’t lived here in months.”
Burton’s expression turned somber, and he added, “Yet that’s exactly why Tim would do it.”