Head Over Heels (12 page)

“Yes. Since Fred doesn't bark when he hears a noise, I'm going to start changing the locks right now, the front door first. The thing is that now, I'm going to have
a different key for every door in the house, instead of being able to use the same key for all three doors. But it can't be helped. I have to use hardware store locks because I refuse to pay for a night call to a locksmith. I usually only use the front door and the door leading to the garage anyway.”

“I live in a town house. I only have one key. The back is a patio door that only locks from the inside. Since I'm here, would you like me to hold a flashlight or anything?”

He retrieved his tools from the shed while Marielle tucked Fred back in his habitat, and they met at the front door.

“I found out from the clerk at the key booth that it was a girl who was here. That narrows the list of suspects, but any possible reason escapes me.”

“I'm just so shocked any of my girls would do such a thing. I trusted all of them. But then there have been a bunch of them this last week that I don't know. The more I think about it, the more it bothers me. I don't even know how anyone in the group, even the core group, would know where you live. Not that they couldn't look you up in the phone book, but I never told any of them your last name.”

Russ nearly dropped the screw. “You're right. I certainly never told anyone my last name. It's not important to them. They all address me by my first name. I think I would faint if anyone called me Mr. Branson.” He mentally shuddered. The nurse at the hospital had called him Mr. Branson. That experience alone could give him nightmares for the rest of his life.

“Tomorrow we'll have to watch all the girls and see
if we think any of them was missing for an hour in the middle. It complicates things that we split up into two groups. Just because someone wasn't in my group doesn't mean they were gone. They were probably in your group. Everybody but one.”

They didn't talk much while they changed the four locks. Russ didn't want to change the lock to the shed in the dark, but he didn't have to worry too much about someone tiptoeing into the shed in the middle of the night. He could do it in the morning.

They were nearly done when his stomach grumbled noisily. He felt himself blush so intensely that the burn extended all the way to his ears. “I haven't had supper. When I discovered what happened I wanted to take care of all the details fast. And now that I think about it, you probably haven't had supper, either. Can I make you something?”

“I actually helped myself to some toast while you were gone. You said to make myself at home. I hope you don't mind.”

“Of course I don't mind, except that toast isn't supper. I can fire up the barbecue and make us a couple of burgers in a few minutes. Interested?”

“I really should be going. I have to get up early.”

“Won't that nap help? I'm cooking anyway.”

She stared at him. He didn't want to beg, but he was ready to start thinking of more reasons she should stay.

He wanted her to stay.

Needed her to stay.

But having her stay was such a bad idea. He didn't
want to start something he couldn't finish, and he couldn't finish anything with Marielle.

“Burgers sound like a great idea, but only if I can help.”

Relief washed through him. “Deal.”

To eat faster, he defrosted a couple of patties in the microwave, then went outside to cook them while Marielle cut up a tomato and fried an onion.

He had just flipped the burgers the first time when the patio door slid open behind him.

“I just thought of something,” she said.

He turned around to see Marielle poised behind him, holding his biggest knife, the tip pointed skyward.

“If it was anyone else holding that knife like that, I'd be nervous.”

Her cheeks turned to a charming shade of pink, and she lowered the blade. “Do you remember the other day when one of the computers was left on at the center, when we were positive they had all been shut off? Do you think someone got into the church unauthorized, too?”

“That's interesting. And highly possible. Have your keys ever gone missing for a short period of time?”

“Never. My keys are always either in my pocket, or in my hand.” She turned and walked back into the house before he could respond.

The computer that had been on was his old one from the office. Now someone had been into his computer at home. He had no idea what anyone might want on either computer. He certainly didn't do online shopping at the youth center, nor had he ever used his personal credit card at work.

His first instinct was to change the passwords on the computers at the center. The only people who were supposed to know the password were himself, Marielle and Pastor Tom, and in just over a week, it would be only Marielle and Pastor Tom.

He flipped the burgers again. Again, the patio door opened behind him.

“I thought of something else. If someone is trying to steal programs, we should check the box in the corner at the center tomorrow and make sure everything is still there. Those programs cost a lot of money, even if they're not the latest versions.”

“Good idea. I think these are ready. Are you done in there?”

“Yes. You have a very nice kitchen for a man.”

“Do you mean that I have a nice kitchen with lots of stuff that's designed for a man, or I have a nice kitchen despite the fact that I'm a man.”

“Uh…”

He laughed. “It's okay. I like to eat, so it only makes sense that I like to cook.” And now, he could afford to cook anything he wanted to eat, in contrast to when he was growing up, dividing a box of generic-brand macaroni-and-cheese so it could feed three people for supper, when none of them had eaten lunch.

They prepared their buns, but when they were ready to take first bites, instead of eating, Marielle folded her hands together on the table and looked up at him with expectant eyes.

She wanted him to pray.

He hadn't prayed for years, especially not out loud.
He'd asked God many questions, but he hadn't actually prayed.

He looked down at his burger.

He had lots of things to be thankful for. The most obvious—a good job. A good home. Friends. A gas guzzler for a vehicle—but it was almost new, trendy, and it had been his choice to buy it.

He glanced at Marielle. He wanted to add her to his list of friends, but she was certainly more than a friend, yet not a friend at all. They'd spent a lot of time together, and the better he came to know her, the more he liked her. But they couldn't continue this thing, whatever it was, when his “volunteer” time at the center was over.

Still, for now, he had a lot of things to be thankful for. Not the least of which was the reason he had met Marielle in the first place.

He was alive and mobile. Sometimes, what was important simply came down to basics.

Russ folded his hands on the table and bowed his head. “Dear Lord, thank You for this good food, and that we're here together, safe and sound. Amen.”

She paused, giving him the impression she had been expecting him to say more, but finally she answered with a soft “Amen.”

They took their first bites simultaneously.

“That wasn't so hard after all, was it?”

He smiled. “No. It wasn't.” Actually, it had been pretty easy. It had also felt good. “Now that the panic is over, I wanted to thank you for coming over so quickly.”

“You're welcome.” She smiled. “That was pretty easy, too.”

“Point taken. I hope finding out who is behind breaking into my house will also be easy. Even though nothing was broken and nothing was taken, I feel violated. My personal space has been invaded, and there was nothing I could have done to stop it. Although, I suppose instead of just having a noisy alarm, I should have gone the extra mile and gotten a monitored system. Then the police would have come.”

“Hindsight is always twenty-twenty.”

After finishing her burger, Marielle stood. “I hate to be rude and rush off, but I'm really tired. I think I should get home and get to bed.”

Russ stood as well. “Don't worry about the mess, I'm just going to throw everything in the dishwasher.”

Once at the door he reached forward to wrap his hand around the doorknob, but he didn't turn it. “This feels really strange. I should be escorting you home, not throwing you out the door.”

“I came on my own. I can certainly get home on my own.”

“I know you can. I just wanted to end the evening right.” He shuffled closer, making it clear without actually having to say it that he wanted to kiss her good-night.

She looked up at him, studying his face.

“Okay,” she said, her lips curving into the most delicate of smiles. “Close your eyes.”

His eyes drifted shut in glorious anticipation. She picked up both his hands, including the one on the doorknob, and wrapped her tiny hands around his.

Her touch made his heart beat double time.

“Good night,” she whispered huskily.

He held his breath, waiting.

Her lips brushed his cheek, then settled in for a loud popping smooch.

“See you tomorrow,” she said quickly.

The door opened and closed behind her before he had a chance to open his eyes.

“C
an I bring the doughnuts tomorrow? Actually, we should alternate days.”

“That's a kind offer, but you don't have to do this, you know.”

“I know that. But I want to. Indulge me.”

Marielle stared up at Russ. She'd almost indulged him last night. He'd made it more than obvious that he wanted to kiss her. And she had kissed him—only not the way he wanted.

Oh, but the man could kiss, especially for someone who claimed that he didn't date much. The few dates he went on must have been something that would jump off the page of a woman's journal.

Yet as much as she sensed he wanted to move forward, she also sensed a hesitation.

She also had her own reasons for hesitating. When both of them were unsure of the wisdom of what they were doing, that was enough of a reason to stop.

Together they turned to watch Jason digging through the box of program CDs. Russ lowered his head so he could talk softly enough not to be overheard by others. “Jason hasn't said any of the programs are missing, and all the computers were still off when we got here, so everything must be fine. At the same time, after my keys going missing, I'm still nervous.”

Brittany walked to the desk. “Marielle, where are the disks you had here with the stuff to make the brochures? I need one.”

Marielle quickly joined Brittany at the desk, not that she expected Brittany to be wrong. She opened the drawers, just in case, but they weren't there, either. “Russ! All the disks are gone! The whole pile of them!”

He strode to her side. “I don't understand. Didn't you say that all you had on them was clip art and digital images?”

“Yes. Every one of them was the same, too. But they were here last night. I think.” She bowed her head and pressed her fingers to her temples. “I can't remember at what point I lost track of them. I remember knocking over the stack shortly after I got here, but I don't remember if the stack was on the desk when we locked up.”

“I know. We were too busy talking about my keys. This could be unrelated.”

“Or it could be
very
related.”

Russ turned around slowly, looking at all the window-sills, which were just below eye level for him because he was so tall. “I don't see anything amiss in the dust patterns. No one has come in or out through the windows. They must have disappeared during the session.”

Brittany turned to her. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

Marielle turned to her. “We're not sure. I don't know if I forgot where I put the disks, or if someone took them. But it doesn't look like anyone broke in, and there was nothing important on them, so I must have just left them somewhere.”

Brittany shrugged, then walked across the room to sit at the computer next to Jason.

Marielle's eyes met Russ's across the room. She took that to acknowledge their nonverbal agreement that both of them would keep an eye on all the girls present, first and foremost, to try to determine if any one of them went missing for any amount of time, and second, to find out if any of the girls knew Russ's last name.

When they split into two groups to continue with their projects, Marielle paid far more attention to everyone in her group rather than focusing on the program. She either knew each step, or she didn't.

This time when they took the break for the doughnuts, Marielle kept an attentive eye on the door.

No one came in, no one left.

When they were done the tutorials, all the teens gathered in small circles to chat. Marielle watched the group from one side of the room, Russ from the other. But everyone behaved completely normally. It made Marielle almost feel like she'd imagined everything.

After the teens left, Russ followed his usual routine. “I think I know who our mystery nonthief might be,” he said as he began powering down the first computer. “I don't know her name, but that girl with the blue
T-shirt and pierced nose was acting really strange. Jumpy. She was nervous about something.”

“Okay. We'll both keep an eye on her tomorrow. Now let's make sure everything is locked up.”

 

This time, Russ left extra early in order to arrive at the church before Marielle.

It was Friday.

Double-duty day.

This time he didn't say more than a simple greeting to Pastor Tom when he opened the door. Today, Russ had other things to think about. Like catching the culprit.

He set about checking the room carefully, and not in a rushed way as he had the day before.

His injuries were healing. Today nothing hurt when he got down on his hands and knees and checked to make sure everything was as he had left it.

He had trusted that Jason applied the metal loop attachments properly, but today, Russ wiggled and pulled on every one, just to make sure.

Everything was secure.

He looked at the time, confirming that Marielle still wasn't due for another twenty minutes, so he climbed on a chair and pushed up on the ceiling tile where he'd hidden the keys. After checking them, he stacked them in what looked to be a haphazard manner, then pulled his digital camera out of his pocket and took a picture, just so he'd know later if they'd been moved.

He also checked the locks on the windows and took a picture of every one of them from the proper angles, so the dust patterns were plainly showing.

When he was done, he unlocked the door from the inside, pending Marielle's arrival, and began his routine of turning all the computers on.

He had booted up the last one when the door opened.

He rose and turned around as he spoke. “Hey, Marielle. You're late this…”

“Hey, Russ. Uh…” When Jason saw only Russ and no Marielle, he skidded to a halt and looked around. “Where's Marielle?”

“I don't know. She's late.”

“She's never late. The only time she was ever late was the day of your accident. She told us about that the day it happened. She was pretty shook up.”

Russ's gut tightened.

He didn't want to think that she'd been in an accident, but she did drive through the busy downtown core every day to get here, and accidents happened all the time.

Lord, please keep her safe.
The prayer zipped through his mind, surprising him. But at the same time, deep in his heart, he knew he was doing the right thing by asking God.

Russ pulled his cell phone off his belt clip and hit the button to auto-dial her number.

The door opened at the same time as a melodic ring tone began.

Russ looked up as Marielle ran through the door, fumbling with a big bag from the doughnut shop, her purse and her cell phone.

“Hello?” she muttered into the phone.

Russ blinked, trying to process her voice coming through the cell phone at the same time as he heard her live, in front of him.

“You're late,” he said into the phone while watching her face.

Her eyebrows crinkled and she looked up at him.

“Not funny,” she mumbled as she snapped the phone shut.

Russ also closed his phone and hooked it onto his belt clip. “I was worried about you. Where were you?”

Her eyes were haunted. “I was at the doughnut shop. While I was inside, someone broke into my car.”

“What was stolen?”

She hustled across the room and set the bag of doughnuts on the desk. “That's the thing. Nothing. It was hot, so I left the window down about an inch, but someone somehow managed to unlock the door and get in. When I got back to the car, someone had gone through my glovebox and looked under the seats, because everything was a mess. But nothing seemed to be missing. But then, I don't have anything in my car worth stealing.”

Russ ran his fingers through his hair. “This is getting really strange. Jason, do you know that girl who came here yesterday wearing that blue T-shirt and a blue earring in her nose?”

“Yeah. That's Tamera. Colin's sister. She's never been to anything like this and she was really nervous, but when we got home she said everything was okay and she had had a really good time. Why?”

“Oh. Never mind.”

Marielle turned to Jason. “Who do you know that comes here that has a car?”

“Nobody. I know a couple of people in the group
who have their license, but they don't get the car until their dads get home from work. Why?”

“I was wondering if anyone who came here might have left the group for a little while and gone out driving.”

“Not that I know of. That doesn't make any sense. Why would anyone do that? This place isn't open very long, and no one wants to miss anything.”

“That's good to hear. Now I have to hurry and get ready.”

Russ watched as Marielle pulled a digital camera out of her purse.

“Well,” he said. “That's certainly worth stealing.”

“That's why it's in my purse, and I don't leave it just sitting in the car, even if I'm only gone for a couple of minutes.”

He patted his own pocket, now lumpy and making his pants hang lopsided because of the weight of his own digital camera.

“We're going to get pictures of all the girls tonight.”

“Don't you think that's going to cause a bit of an uproar?”

“Nope.” Marielle grinned from ear to ear. “Tonight, after the supper break, I've got a guest coming who's a makeup artist. She's going to do demos on everyone, so I'll have a chance to get before and after pictures of all the girls, and any boys who choose to submit themselves.”

Russ raised his eyebrows. “Boys?”

“Male movie stars wear makeup. They are just not as obvious as the girls. Some men and teenage boys are now starting to wear makeup when they want to look their best.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. I know a guy in one of my classes who wears nail polish. He just picks guy colors.”

Russ didn't think there was any such thing as a “guy” color when it came to nail polish, so he thought it best to pass on that one.

“Then when we're done, we can look at the pictures, rule out the obvious ones, and take the rest down to the person at the key booth to see if she can identify who made those keys off your key chain.”

“She really wasn't very cooperative.”

“It doesn't hurt to ask. The worst that can happen is she'll say no.”

The usual hoard of teenagers started arriving, cutting their conversation short.

Russ watched as Marielle interacted with them. They loved her. She fit in comfortably, and when she was with them some of their slang and jargon slipped into her speech patterns. He was positive that she didn't dress like that at her workplace, yet she was completely at ease wearing casual street clothes that looked like something the kids might find cool, rather than a more stuffy outfit.

She was the picture of everything he'd worked to get out of and never look back.

Except he was looking right at her.

His world rocked on its axis.

The disparity of his goals and what was happening around him was making his ulcer act up for the first time in over a week. He reached into his pocket for his package of antacids and popped a couple in his mouth.

As much as he liked Marielle, he was making a path
for himself, and that was to move forward with his life, not backward into what he once had been.

This assignment was temporary. If he chose to do so, when next week was over, he would be able to once again move ahead with his career.

Except he'd promised Marielle that he'd come back and help her when she needed him.

Words his mother taught him echoed through his head.

“But let your ‘Yes' be ‘Yes' and your ‘No' be ‘No.' Whatever is more than these is of the evil one.”
Matthew 5:37.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Russ had never made a promise he wouldn't or couldn't keep. And he'd promised he would teach the youth center participants computer skills.

When he sat in the chair at his old computer it didn't take long for the original group to follow him. Marielle led her group, and both took a break at the prearranged time.

This time, instead of paying for pizza, Marielle sent a couple of the boys to her car, and they returned carrying a couple of large coolers filled with sandwiches and fruit.

“Did you make all that last night after you got home from my place?” asked Russ.

“Yes.”

“No wonder you wanted to get home so fast. Why didn't you tell me? I could have helped. At the very least I could have helped you pay for it.”

“I did fine. Help yourself, there's lots for everyone, including you.”

Marielle waved her hands in the air to silence the
group. “Let's pray, and then we'll eat!” She lowered her head and folded her hands in front of her. “Dear God, thanks for this food, for this group, and for this fine building to meet in. Amen!”

“That was short,” said Russ.

“My longer prayers are for my private time with God. You know, I think the only times I've ever heard you pray was just before we eat.”

“That's because I don't think it's right to pray only when you want something,” he said.

“Pastor Tom told me that his Sunday message is on the power of prayer. Would you like to come? I'll bet that you learn something. Please? If you can't come for yourself, will you come for me?”

“I'll think about it.”

“I'd really like it if you came with me.”

“I'll let you know. Now let's eat. I have a feeling that if we don't grab some food now, we're not going to get any.”

He managed to get a sandwich, but he hadn't taken more than a couple of bites when the door opened and a woman carrying a big pink plastic tote walked in.

“Susan! I'm so glad you could make it!” Marielle exclaimed.

Susan smiled sweetly. “I'm glad to be here. Are we ready to start?”

“Yes!” Marielle gathered all the girls together, then called Russ.