Foundation of Love: The Gypsy Blessing 2 (30 page)

Another voice yelled from further away, “The safe’s open, but that girl’s gone, Wickham!”

“I’m gonna kill her!” Wickham swore. “Are your guys stupid or what, Smith?” He called out louder, “Clean out the safe and
look
for her, you idiot.”

Lydia’s sneaker squeaked against the floor. Elizabeth closed her eyes, listening for some indication that the men had heard it.

“Come on, everyone look for her,” Smith yelled to his men.

Elizabeth heard the men leave the warehouse. After looking around the dimly lit building, she made her way over to the ledge and glanced over. An experienced tree climber, Elizabeth wished she had not fired the man who kept leaving the lift under the ledge, thinking it was a dangerous liability. Ironically, if it were there now, they could scale their way down. She knew Lydia would have been able to make it, too. But now, the only possibility to hide was to go up.

Glancing at the label to see what was inside, years of experience told her that the heavy crate they were now hiding behind would not tip over with one person’s weight. She gestured to Lydia that they were going up and whispered into her ear, “Lie flat in the middle of the crate. They won’t see you up there. Quietly.”

Elizabeth cupped her hands together to boost her sister up. Lydia put her foot in, and Elizabeth lifted. When Lydia was up on top, Elizabeth sighed in relief. At least Lydia was following directions and was now safer.

She heard the door at the top of the stairs open and moved further away from it. If they
did
find her, she didn’t want to be anywhere near Lydia and give away her location. Elizabeth continued to move away from the beam of the flashlight until she was at the edge of the floor. She looked down. Her precarious position almost guaranteed a fall, and at this height, she would be hurt badly, if not killed.

Afraid they would hear her, Elizabeth tried to slow her breathing. With no room to put her heels down, she was virtually hanging off the second floor that stretched only partway across the warehouse to give access to the forklifts. As she shifted her weight and hugged the container in front of her, the wooden crate creaked. She froze, eyes wide with terror, praying that noise would not lead them to her hiding place.

As she stood in this position, she heard the door open and close again. She really needed to be up on top of a crate, like Lydia!

Feeling for some sort of handhold, she found nothing within reach. Her lack of height had not bothered her for years, but there was no getting around the fact that what she needed to do was simply impossible for someone of her limited stature. If only she had inherited her physique from the Bennett side of the family like her sisters, she would not be in this predicament.

The door at the top of the stairs opened yet again. Were they gone now? She didn’t see any more flashlight beams. Was it safe to get away from this ledge? She tried to keep her breathing to a minimum and listen.

Looming high above her, the shadow of a man appeared from around the side of the crate. Someone took hold of her arm.

They found me!

She was being dragged forward and couldn’t try to escape for fear of falling. She clamped her lips together to remind herself not to scream—no sense in letting them
all
know where she was in case she was able to get away from this guy.

The man pulled her around the side of the crate and into his arms as a familiar voice whispered into her ear, “Are you okay?”

She released the breath she had been holding with a gush of air. “Will!”

“Why didn’t you wait for me?”

Knowing sound echoed around the warehouse, Elizabeth placed her hand over his mouth and shook her head.

He whispered, “Lydia?”

Elizabeth pointed up at the top of a crate.

William whispered, “Police are here.” He pointed to her and then at the top of a crate away from the ledge. She nodded. He boosted her up the same way she had done for her sister, and she settled quietly in the center of the crate. She was expecting to see William hoist himself onto another crate, but he didn’t. All was quiet for several minutes until she heard the click of the door and heard the shuffle of a number of footsteps. A couple of minutes later, the lights turned on. She was blinded for a few moments, but when her eyes adjusted to the light, she looked around the tops of the crates. She could see Lydia, but nobody else. Lydia waved. Elizabeth almost laughed.

What sounded like Larry’s voice on a radio echoed through the warehouse from somewhere nearby. “All clear.”

William’s voice came from the other side of the crate. “Would you like to come down, or are you comfortable up there?” She turned to look for him and saw his head pop up. “I have a ladder this time. Scoot on over here, and I’ll hold it for you.”

Elizabeth looked over and saw a police officer helping Lydia down.

William held the step ladder with one hand and kept the other hand on her lower back to support her. When both feet hit the floor, William took her into his embrace. “Please don’t do anything like that again. You should have waited for me.”

“When I saw Wickham hurt Lydia, I
had
to try to get her out of here. You would have done the same for Georgiana.”

“I know from experience that so would you.” William breathed deeply into her hair.

Elizabeth shivered in response.

“You’re cold. I was in such a rush, I don’t have on a jacket to give you, but maybe the police have a blanket.” As William stepped away to ask the police officer who was talking to Lydia, he glanced back at Elizabeth. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Pulling her to his chest once again, he rubbed her back for a few moments. “Maybe you should take my shirt—for now, anyway.” He turned away from her and stripped off his t-shirt.

She hugged it to her chest. “Thank you... I was dressed for bed, not for running around town and being with a bunch of people. This tank top is one of my favorites to sleep in, even though it’s been washed until it’s almost threadbare.” She blushed. “I didn’t think anyone else would ever see it. Even at the dorm, I always wore a robe when I got out of bed with this on. When I realized Wickham was with Lydia, I followed without even thinking about what I was wearing.”

~

William almost laughed. Oh, yes! He absolutely, positively, and most definitely
had
noticed her shirt, and when he had, without a doubt, he’d been able to tell she was cold. Heaven help him!

He had also observed that the male police officer seemed more than a little interested as Elizabeth slipped on William’s t-shirt. William moved to block his line of sight and glared.

~

Once she was wearing William’s shirt, Elizabeth walked over to Lydia, but the police officer held out his hand to stop her. “We need to take your statements separately, Lizzy.”

“Can I just give my sister a hug, Kyle?”

“I’m supposed to keep you two away from each other.”

“Why, so we won’t sync our stories? We’re
victims
here, Kyle.” Elizabeth was clearly annoyed.

The police officer narrowed his eyes at Lydia, who had tears flowing freely down her cheeks, and then raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth.

“Please?” Elizabeth begged.

“All right, but just a minute.”

Lydia threw herself into Elizabeth’s arms. “Do I have to tell them what I did?”

“Yes, absolutely.”

Her sister sniffed. “But I don’t want to go to jail.”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, Lydia, but you should know by now that you’re responsible for what you do. Thank God you’re all right, but next time, you might not be so lucky. You’re going to have to change your ways.”

“I know. I never would have gotten into this mess if I’d listened more to you and Jane. If I hadn’t followed what you told me to do tonight, I wouldn’t have gotten
out
of it, either. It scares me to think what could’ve happened if you hadn’t shown up, Lizzy.”

Lydia glanced at William, who was a few feet away—trying to distract the police officer from the fact that they were talking, if Elizabeth had to take a guess.

Lydia said, “Maybe I should have listened to mom about going after Will instead of George, but Will’s so serious! He’d be much better for you, Lizzy.”

Elizabeth felt William’s gaze on her, but she didn’t want to look at him; she didn’t want to be able to see in his eyes whether or not he had heard Lydia. She also wished the lights were still off so the darkness would hide her blush. “Will and I are friends, Lydia.”

“I saw that hug before. He would be—”

“
Now
is not the time for this conversation, Lydia,” Elizabeth scolded.
Never
would be soon enough for me!

Surprisingly, Lydia let the subject drop. The police officer approached. “That’s enough—you really shouldn’t be talking at all.”

William pointed to Elizabeth. “Can
I
talk to her?”

The officer shrugged. “My only instructions were to keep the women away from each other until they’d made their statements.”

Elizabeth let go of her sister and nodded. “Can I call our house and let my parents know where we are?”

The officer answered, “Yes—make it quick, and make sure to tell them not to come down here. They won’t be allowed in.”

~

As Elizabeth made her phone call, William tried to decide which he liked better, Elizabeth wearing the almost transparent tank top or Elizabeth wearing his shirt. His tee was huge on her, but she still looked beautiful. Or was it just seeing her in
his
shirt that sent a thrill through him? He wasn’t sure, but he did know he wanted her to keep it... Maybe she’d wear
his
shirt to bed, too? William shook his head to clear where this train of thought was about to take him.

When Elizabeth was finished with her call, William said, “I’ll have to make a statement, too. I’m not sure about Rich and Charles... I came in just as the police arrived, and they ran interference for me so I could get into the building. I think I might be in a bit of trouble for that.” He grimaced and then smiled widely. “I finally got to punch out Smith when he came down the stairs. What was
he
doing here?”

“I might have caught the answer to that on tape.” With a glance at the police officer, she pulled out her cell phone again.

“Who are you calling?”

“Dan...” She started talking into the phone. “It’s Lizzy. The store was just robbed, and they caught Smith and two other guys in the act. If the police do their interrogation the right way, they might be able to find out all they need to know about the building department investigation.” She pressed end and looked up at William, who was looking at her strangely. “What? If Dan can get a confession from Smith and the others, maybe they won’t need
you
to do anymore undercover work, and there won’t be delays for Lambton.”

William held back his smile, but it was in his eyes. “You think well under pressure.”

“That’s what I’m told.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, some people don’t appreciate that ability. They think I’m trying to show off.”

“I value it as a skill.”

If the lights weren’t already on, Elizabeth’s smile could have illuminated the entire warehouse.

Again, William needed to change the subject. “From what I understand, they lost Wickham, but you didn’t lose any merchandise. They were still loading up the truck when the police arrived.”

“It makes sense, really. Wickham worked here, so he knew the store and probably had figured out the best way to escape if he was ever cornered here. For example, if I had seen him in the warehouse, I would have recognized him, and there would have been trouble.” She hesitated. “There was cash in the safe...”

“I’m not sure—Since I had received your text and knew where you were, I told Rich and Charles to tell the police and went straight upstairs once I was inside.”

Larry approached. “Hey, Lizzy, Darcy. You both know that you shouldn’t have entered the building, right?” They nodded as Larry shot them both a scolding look. “Lizzy, the safe doesn’t look forced—”

“No, it was me. I hoped if the safe was open, Wickham wouldn’t look for Lydia when he discovered she was gone.” She pointed to the top of a crate. “There’s a tape recorder up there, Larry. I think I recorded some of the bad guys’ conversation. Wickham’s fingerprints should be all over the labels on the crates they were loading. He said he changed them to fake ones so nobody would open them.”

“Bad guys?” Larry smiled and wrote what she said on his pad. “Not bad. If the tape isn’t admissible in court, at least we’ll have some information to use while questioning them. What made you think of grabbing a tape recorder?”

“Just a hunch.” She glanced at William and touched her phone. William raised his eyebrows in answer.

“I need to take your statements. I thought I saw a break room during our search...”

Elizabeth answered, “Yes, please! I need to sit down. I’ll make some coffee for everyone—if I’m allowed. It’s freezing in here.”