Holiday Illusion (11 page)

Nerves tingling, the latest incident fresh in her mind, she wasn't taking any chances. Her breath coming a little faster, with the palm of her right hand, she slowly pushed the door inward, almost expecting to feel a bullet slam into her. Memories of the shooting just outside the FBI office rushed over her. She shoved them away, forced aside the paralyzing fear and held tight to her courage as she silently prayed for strength. Yes, Lucas was still downstairs, but if she called to him, whoever was in there would either get away or hurt someone in the process.

Assuming there was someone in there. And from the way her life had been going lately, she was going on that assumption. The door inched inward. Wishing she had her gun or some kind of weapon, Anna stepped inside, her gaze sweeping the room.

Empty.

But the closet door was closed and she knew for a fact that she'd left it open.

L
ucas got rid of Marybeth as quickly as he could. He wasn't stupid. His father's plan for him to get involved with the woman simply because of her family background was just plain idiocy in his opinion. When he married, he'd marry for love.

Immediately, Anna's beautiful face appeared in his mind's eye. He gulped. Did he love her? Shoving that thought aside, not yet ready to analyze the intense feelings he had for the woman who kept trying to push him out of her life, he decided to call Mark and check on Paulo.

Mark answered on the fourth ring. “Hey Lucas, what's up?”

The wonders of caller ID. Smiling to himself, he asked, “How's my boy, Paulo?”

“Doing pretty well. Having that woman, Ella, with him really seems to lift his spirits. He likes her and she's great with him.”

“Yeah, she's great, really, really great, isn't she? Yeah, she is.”

“What's on your mind, friend?”

Lucas cleared his throat. “What do you mean?”

“Because you called me but aren't paying attention to me.” A pause. “Ah, I get it. So, how's Anna?”

Feeling transparent, Lucas asked, “Have you ever been in love?”

Silence. Then, “Whoa, seriously? You think you love her?”

“Nah. Well, maybe. Ah, man, I don't know. She makes me crazy, though.”

“Although, now that you say that, it all makes sense.”

“What does?”

“Yeah, you've definitely got it bad. I mean, you followed her all the way back here from Brazil, right?”

“Hey, you know that was for Paulo,” he protested.

Mark laughed. “Keep telling yourself that.”

It stunned him to realize Mark was right. He'd followed a woman home. More than just home—he followed her all the way to another country. Oh, he wrapped it up in a good excuse. Anna needed to come as guardian. He needed to be here as Paulo's doctor. But the truth remained. He'd come with hopes of developing something more with Anna. He'd never done anything like that before in his life, had in fact, spent most of his time
running from
women. Now he was on the other side of the spectrum and it scared him to realize how much she meant to him. But as the idea sank in, it warmed his heart. The more he wanted to see her, to keep her safe, to be with her—and only her.

“One more thing,” Lucas said. “You're a Christian, right?”

“You know it.”

“I just wanted to say thanks for living your faith back in college. I didn't understand it back then, but I respected it.”

“So, what are saying?” Suppressed excitement lent an edge to Mark's voice.

“I'm saying I think I understand it now.”

“Do we need to talk?”

“Nope, let's just say, I believe, okay?”

Mark's joyous whoop through the phone line caused Lucas to grin. He thought about Anna, Paulo and Mark. They were living, practicing examples of faith, what it meant to follow God. He wanted his name added to that list. He thought about the tract, the simple prayer at the end. And knew what he was going to do. Peace flooded his entire being.

“Hey, Mark, thanks, and you're right about Anna. I owe you, but I gotta go.”

Lucas had probably confused the poor man to death, jumping from topic to topic like he'd just done, but the sound of Mark's laughter still ringing in his ear after he hung up the phone told him his friend would survive. Lucas turned and started up the steps to see if Anna wanted to go grab a bite to eat—and have a heart-to-heart chat.

 

Anna moved closer to the closet, stopping by the nightstand to pull the heavy lamp from the surface. Not as effective as a gun, but at least it was something. She crept to the closet, placed her hand on the knob, and took a deep breath that did absolutely nothing to dispel the breathless feeling from her chest.

“What are you doing?”

The whisper sent her spinning toward the door, her heart in her throat, barely blocking the scream threatening to come out.

Lucas stood there, a frown on his face, his body tense as though ready to spring to her aid.

She shot him a fierce scowl and held a finger to her lips. With a nod of her head, she indicated the closet door.

He moved slowly inside the bedroom, sidling over to the closet. Soundless, he gave a little wave of his fingers asking her to hand over the lamp. She did, deciding it might be better for him to clobber anyone who might appear. He had a few more muscles than she did.

Thankful that he was willing to wait to ask all the questions swarming in his eyes, she reached once again for the knob.

And flung the door open.

Nothing.

Adrenaline still surging, it took her a moment to register that the space was empty. He lowered the lamp as she moved to the bed and yanked the bed skirt up.

Again, nothing.

The bathroom. Holding up a hand to forestall any questions, she soft-stepped it over to the bath. The shower curtain was still pulled back to the end of the rod, and the small linen closet she'd left open had been shut, but no one could hide in there.

She opened it anyway.

Towels and toiletries mocked her paranoia.

“What did you expect to find?” Lucas sounded concerned, not like she'd lost her mind concerned, just concerned. He'd been too involved in everything going on lately not to understand if she acted a little paranoid.

“Someone's been in here.”

“What makes you think so?”

She told him about the doors. “I always leave things a certain way, so I know if…” She shrugged.

“So you'll know if something's out of place,” he finished for her.

“Right.”

“Anything else seem touched?”

Her eyes landed on her backpack shoved into the corner under the window. It looked undisturbed. Her small suitcase however, was unzipped. “Someone's been in my suitcase.”

“You're sure?”

She shot him an exasperated look and didn't bother to answer as she crossed the room to inspect it. “It's partially unzipped, more so than I left it before our impromptu swim and subsequent hospital stay. I always rezip it until I get to the middle of this side.” As she explained, she rummaged through it. All of her clothes seemed rumpled, but her personal documents were still in their little bag, documents that included her passport, a couple of credit cards and her medical information such as blood type, medical history, etc. should she have some type of emergency. The bag looked like it had been rummaged through, but nothing appeared to be missing.

Anna shrugged. “Maybe someone in your household wanted to get information on me for some reason.”

Lucas ran a hand through his hair, obviously disgruntled. “Or maybe someone was looking for information to give to the doctor yesterday. Other than that I can't think of anyone who'd have a reason to search your belongings. Let's ask Maddy if she was in here, before we start looking for a suspect with suspicious motives.”

Anna nodded and Lucas went to find Maddy.

While he was gone, she straightened the suitcase, went through each and every item but found nothing missing. Her backpack hadn't been touched, which she thought was odd. Maybe the intruder had been interrupted.

A sound at the door brought her attention around to see Lucas and Maddy coming back her way.

Lucas said, “Maddy says she hasn't been in here.”

The woman looked worried, twisting her hands into knots before releasing them to repeat the gesture again. “I promise, miss, I haven't even been on this floor today. I've been helping in the kitchen like I always do on Thursdays because it's Cook's day off.”

Anna searched Maddy's face and found no hint of deception. She offered a smile. “I believe you.”

Relief showed clearly on her face and her hands relaxed. “Thank you. I really can't afford to lose this job.”

“You don't have to worry about that,” Anna hastened to reassure her, “but can you tell me if any staff has been in here? Or anyone who might have been in the house yesterday or this morning?”

A frown marked her forehead. “No, we had the heating and air conditioning man here because we had some problems with a rodent in the system. The creature must have fallen down the vent and couldn't get out.” She shuddered then shrugged. “But other than the exterminators, there's only been the usual comings and goings.”

“Maddy, do you mind asking if maybe Dahlia or Godfrey went through Anna's things to see if she might have needed something for the hospital stay?” Maddy agreed and left. He looked at Anna. “I know you had benefits through the orphanage, maybe one of them was looking the paperwork.”

“Maybe, but why wouldn't they have said something at the hospital?” She didn't believe the flimsy explanation. And neither did Lucas if his expression was anything to go by. But he was grasping at straws, horrified to think the security of his father's house had been breached once again.

 

Questioning the staff and other household residents turned up nothing. No one could think of why anyone would be in Anna's room and no one had even thought to go through Anna's personal belongings to look for papers for the hospital. Lucas's father, a golfing buddy to the hospital chief of staff, had just assured them he would pay for anything needed.

Lucas paced the sunroom while Anna stood looking out to the ocean below. Her reflection in the glass was such that he could plainly see her face. “What are you thinking?”

She smiled but didn't turn. “You mean you don't know?”

“Probably something stupid like it's time for you to leave.”

“Actually, yes. But even before leaving the hospital, I was thinking I…we…need help.”

Grateful she'd included him in the thought, he walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. She leaned back against him and he relished the trust, the feel of her so close—and yet emotionally she was a long way away. He breathed against her ear, “I don't want you to leave.”

She turned, looked up at him, her beauty taking his breath away. The sad smile that crossed her lips hurt him. “I don't want to leave you, Lucas. But I refuse to stay where you could get hurt. I've said it before, but I've not done much about it. Now, I think it's time to admit it's time for help. I'm going to ask a friend if she'll lend us her expertise.”

“Who?” He moved back, unable to stay so close without pulling her into his arms. She looked bereft at his distance, but understanding, too. He stood next to her, shoving his hands in his pockets, looking out over the ocean.

“I've been racking my brain about who to ask for help other than Justin because, while I'm not sure he's guilty, I can't be one hundred percent sure he isn't. So, I've only come up with one possibility. Jennifer McDougall, a fellow FBI agent. We were actually partners once upon a time, but I haven't talked to her since I left. However, I'm sure she'd be more than willing to help me out if I ask. I also trust her.”

“With your life?”

“With my life.”

“Then why haven't you called her before now?”

Anna gave an almost invisible shudder, but Lucas caught the tremor. “Because it might mean putting her life in danger. Two FBI agents are already dead because of me and this case. How could I—” She broke off. “But now, I'm afraid since it was your car that was chosen in this latest attempt on my life that you might very well be a target, too. And even if I leave now, they'll still come after you simply because of your association with me. I can't just assume that if I'm gone, you're safe.”

She'd really been analyzing this from every direction. Lucas rubbed his jaw, thinking. “So what's your plan? If you don't intend to sneak out in the middle of the night.”

“No.” She shook her head. “No sneaking. We need to be smart. Proactive.”

“You have something in mind, don't you?”

Blowing out a breath, she nodded. “I'm going to that party at de Chastelain's house.”

“What party?”

Slipping her hand into her pocket, she pulled out a paper and thrust it at him. He read the invitation. “Won't he recognize you?”

“I really don't think so. I look a lot different than I did four years ago, plus, I'm going to be disguised as part of the catering crew. Trust me, the man won't look at me twice. Hired help is not worth his time or attention.”

Lucas raked a hand through his hair. “No way. This is all just too crazy. There's got to be a better, safer way.” He paced the length of the room and back. How could he get her to see reason? A quick look at her face told him he probably wouldn't have any luck. But he had to try. “What can I say to talk you out of this?”

Her chin jutted. “Nothing.”

Closing his eyes, he sighed. “I was afraid of that. So what can I do to help?”