Change of Heart (32 page)

As she looked back toward the room, she was glad the closet doors had fixed louvers. They’d be able to see what Peterson did when he got here. She wasn’t worried about his finding her and Eli because she had Abby’s permission to be here. “How did you know I was here?”

“I didn’t at first. But when Jeff texted me that my FBI friend found an empty house, and that you said you couldn’t go to dinner, then Peterson, Abby, and Grace showed up at an expensive restuarant, it didn’t take much to see what you were up to.” They were in the back of the closet, close together in the narrow space. “What do you have on?”

“A black silk shirt,” she said. “Silk against skin is one of the great wonders of the earth.”

“Bet I could get it off,” he said. “And my hands might feel even better than silk.”

They started to kiss but the soft sound of a door opening took them back to why they were here.

When Orin turned on a bedside lamp, they could see him clearly. Just as Chelsea had done, he ran his hands along the bedposts.

The light inside the closet was dim but they could see each other well enough for Chelsea to shake her head no. She’d already looked there.

Orin left the bed and went to the far wall to Abby’s desk. It too was old. He pulled out a drawer, didn’t so much as glance at the contents, but held it up to look at the bottom, the sides, and the back. He examined the front of the drawer, seeming to search for a hidden compartment.

Chelsea made a face at Eli to say that the man was certainly thorough.

Just as Orin slid the drawer back into its slot, the doorbell rang. Instantly, Orin reached under his jacket and pulled out a gun.

Chelsea had to bite her lips to suppress a gasp. It was one thing to be hiding from a man who was trespassing, but another to be caught by a man wielding a gun.

With a look of I-told-you-so, Eli pulled Abby’s heavy winter coat over his head—and Chelsea went under with him.

Eli had his phone in his hand, the wool coat covering the light, and he tapped out a message to Jeff.
DIVERSION NEEDED. ABBY’S HOUSE. NH4.

As soon as he sent the message, he lifted the coat from them and looked back at the room. Orin was looking out the window at whoever had rung the doorbell. It rang again, but he made no move to answer it.

After a few minutes they could hear voices and footsteps outside. Whoever had been there was leaving. Orin stepped away from the window, put the gun back in his pants, and started on the second drawer.

In the pretty little restaurant, Jeff and Melissa were having dinner. Since their first meeting they’d rarely been apart. Jeff was staying in the dreary apartment above the sheriff’s office, and Melissa had come up with every excuse possible to be there with him.

For the last couple of years Jeff had felt restless, as though he wanted more in life. For a while it had been a dream come true to get to follow Eli around the world, even to get calls in the middle of the night. It had even been exciting to visit Eli in a hospital.

But somewhere in there the extreme excitement had become boring. When he visited his kid sister, he found that he envied her her two kids. He wished he could know where he was going to be next month. Hell, he’d like to be sure where he’d be spending the night. At any minute, Eli might call, and Jeff would have to leave.

Right now, for all that Jeff seemed to be on the outs with Eli, he knew their friendship was strong enough to withstand whatever Jeff decided his future would be. But now was not the time for that discussion, for Eli was totally absorbed with Chelsea. After years of seeing his boss ignore women, it was startling to see him so fascinated with one.

Melissa had seen it too. “What will Eli do if Chelsea leaves him?” she asked as the waiter poured the wine.

“Bury himself in work,” Jeff said. “And I do mean that literally. My worry is that when he goes into the field again, he won’t be . . . careful. He takes too many risks as it is.”

“I don’t mean to be negative,” Melissa said, “but I can’t imagine someone like Chelsea settling down and making cupcakes for the school fund-raiser.”

“What about you?” Jeff asked. “You like cupcakes?”

“I’m rather good at baking,” she said, smiling.

“I’m beginning to think that you’re good at everything.”

“I’m—” She broke off because Jeff’s phone buzzed. She knew he had two cell phones, one that he often turned off, but the one with the black cover was always on, always with him. Right now it was on the table beside him.

Jeff didn’t hesitate in picking up the phone and looking at the message. “I have to go,” he said as he stood up, dropped a fifty-dollar bill on the table, and hurried out of the restaurant.

Melissa caught up with him when he reached the valet stand.

Jeff turned to her. “Where does Grace Ridgeway live?”

“I’ll drive you there.”

“No!” he said. “It’s Eli and it’s NH4.”

Melissa glared at him.

“It’s our own code. It means Need Help, Level Four. That’s the top. There might be firearms involved.”

“Oh?” She opened her handbag to pull out a .45. “Like this one?”

Jeff looked at the weapon, then at her. “I think maybe this tells too much about me, but I’m so hot for you right now that if I didn’t have to go save Eli, I’d pull you into the bushes.”

The valet arrived with Melissa’s car. “I have lots of shrubs around my house, and when we finish this, I’ll show them to you. Get in. I’m driving.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jeff said, grinning as he got into the passenger seat.

When Eli and Chelsea heard the siren coming toward the house, they smiled at each other.

Orin looked up at the sound, but he didn’t seem to think it had anything to do with him. He was examining the fourth drawer. But when the dark sedan with its blazing lights stopped in front of the house, he dropped the drawer and ran for the back door.

“Stay here!” Eli said to Chelsea, then leaped out of the closet.

Chelsea didn’t think about what she did, but as she’d always done, she just followed Eli. But when she burst out of the closet, she saw that Orin had a gun pointed at the middle of Eli.

Chelsea’s mind seemed to work with lightning speed. It looked like Eli was going to leap and Orin was going to fire. There was no room for Eli to get away from a bullet.

Remembering the lecherous way Orin had looked at her, she grabbed the top of her shirt with both hands and pulled hard. Buttons went flying—and exposed her breasts in a bra so tiny it was barely a whisper of black lace.

For the flash of a second, Orin’s eyes left Eli and went to Chelsea’s nearly bare chest. And in that second, Eli was able to knock the gun from Orin’s hand. It hit the far wall and went clattering down.

But Chelsea’s trick of exposing herself almost backfired when Eli saw what she’d done. “Bloody hell!” he said just before he made a leap for Orin.

But when Orin saw Eli’s momentary distraction, he ran toward the door. Chelsea tried to step in front of him, but he pushed her so hard that she fell against Eli. She knew Eli was furious at her as he worked to get out of the spiderweb of her long hair and even longer legs.

He tossed her onto the bed, then ran to the door. Chelsea was close behind him.

When he stopped in the doorway, blocking her exit or even from seeing outside, she yelled, “He’s going to get away!”

Eli stepped aside to let her stand beside him. In the backyard near the shed, Orin was clinging to the concrete block wall, frantically and futilely trying to get his out-of-shape body over it. Below him was Rex, the Ridgeway family dog, barking loudly as it jumped up, trying to bite Orin’s heels.

“Get it off of me!” Orin shouted as his thick legs fought to get up the wall. “Get it—” He screamed as the dog clamped its teeth into his calf.

Eli stepped forward, but then Melissa came through the side gate, gun drawn.

“Down!” she ordered the dog, and it obeyed.

“I’m going to sue!” Orin yelled as he fell to the ground.

“You’re under arrest,” Melissa said as she put handcuffs on him and began to read him his rights.

“What for?”

“Trespassing. Attempted child molestation. We’ll come up with something to keep you locked up until we get to the truth.”

Orin glared at Eli and Chelsea. “It’s those two who’ve been stalking me.” As Melissa pulled him toward the gate, he sneered at Eli. “I’ll have you in jail for this! I have connections! I have—”

“Shut up!” Melissa said and pushed him through the gate.

Jeff, who had stayed to one side as he watched it all, went to Eli and Chelsea. “You guys okay?”

“Fine,” Eli said as Rex came up to him and he stroked the dog’s head. “You have any safety pins? For Chelsea’s shirt?”

“Give me a break,” Chelsea said. “I saved your life, so what do a few missing buttons mean?”

“You could have—”

Watching them, Jeff grinned and put his hands in his pockets. “I’m going with Melissa. Chelsea, would you help me pick out a ring to give her?”

That so startled her that she quit arguing with Eli. “So soon?”

“When you know, you know. I gotta go. See you later.”

When they were alone, Eli turned to Chelsea and smiled. “We got rid of them all.”

“That we did. You want to go home and . . .” She shrugged.

“I’d love to.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Home. I like the sound of that.”

“Mmmm,” Chelsea said as she rubbed her bare legs against Eli’s. “So what’s on the agenda for today?”

“I figure you’ll spend every minute on getting dressed. You are planning to go to the dance tonight, aren’t you?”

“You know me so well,” she said as she began kissing his neck. “Dealing with my clothes is just what I’m going to spend the entire day doing.”

He pulled away to look at her. “I don’t like the sound of that. What are you actually planning to do?”

Chelsea rolled to her back. Last night Melissa said she’d turned Peterson over to Dr. Tris, the local physician, with instructions to hold him as long as possible. He’d still be in the hospital during the prom tonight, so there was no danger that he’d show up. As long as whatever he wanted hadn’t been found, he would be a menace. Last night Eli had spent hours on the phone calling people in the government, pulling in favors, to find out about Orin Peterson and the truth behind Gilbert Ridgeway’s death.

Even though no one had found whatever it was that Orin was after, Grace now had a reason to throw him out of her house.

Chelsea knew that Eli was going to try to get her to swear that from now on, the case would be in the hands of the authorities. No more sneaking about in the middle of the night.

“Actually, you’re right. Abby and I are going to do a girl day,” Chelsea said, her eyes wide in innocence. “Hair, nails, feet, all of it. My mom sent the dress for Abby and one for me. And your tux needs to be pressed. It’s a busy day ahead. By the way, Abby sent me a text asking if we knew where Scully was. What have you done with him?”

“What makes you think it was me?”

Chelsea narrowed her eyes at him.

Eli chuckled. “My cousins flew in, and while you were wherever you were all yesterday afternoon, they were giving Scully dance lessons.”