Second Thoughts (21 page)

“Derek said he had plans for tonight and would be late, but he wasn’t very communicative beyond that. Now I see why. If he makes it home at all tonight, I’ll be surprised.” He bent and bestowed a kiss upon her forehead. “I couldn’t be happier for the two of you. And Kristy feels the same way. Your marriage wasn’t a mistake. The divorce was.”

“Uhh.”

He entered the store, leaving her standing there in her daze. Finally, she shook it off and made her way to the car. Apparently she was going to have overnight company tonight, whether she was ready or not.

She slipped behind the wheel, closed the door, and stared at the windshield. Slowly, she felt her expression smoothing out as stupefaction left her. And she supposed the smile taking its place was on the dreamy side to anyone who happened to notice.

Then she shook that off as well and inserted the key in the ignition. First things first.

* * *

Moose’s house was white with green trim, had a manicured lawn, a brick planter full of red zinnias, and a forest-green front door. When he opened the door for her, Connie cast a quick look behind her before she slipped inside.

“There’s nothing illegal about entering my house,” he said dryly.

“Very funny.” She dug inside her bag and came up with gloves and a flashlight she handed to him.

“Oh.” He blinked. “Yeah. Good idea. I guess.”

Derek appeared at the other end of the room. “It’s about time.”

When she gave him his burglary supplies, he frowned at them, then her. “Just how much experience have you had with this kind of thing?”

“A couple of standup comedians,” she muttered as she passed him. She found the kitchen by following her nose. Derek dried the two casseroles after she’d washed them. She watched him layer the first lasagna, and then heard John Denver come to life in the next room. She cut off a piece of Monterey Jack and went to join Moose.

As the big man rocked gently in an upholstered silvery green rocker, he motioned her toward the twin avocado armchairs that faced him. She sat down and they stared at each other. When he stretched long legs out and crossed his ankles, the chair stopped rocking. He clasped his hands over his ample stomach. “You’ve got balls, Aunt Connie.”

She choked on the cheese, got it down, then gave him what she supposed was a wry smile. “I notice you didn’t mention brains.”

“No, I didn’t. But if this caper works, Max will owe you. And so will I.”

“And if it doesn’t work?”

“I don’t want to mention that, either.”

Derek entered the room, munching on his own piece of cheese. “Thirty minutes.”

“You made enough for leftovers, right?”

“Uh-huh, and there’s an extra one in your freezer.”

Moose’s eyes lit up, and Connie smiled. She hoped Darlene was a good cook.

“I don’t drink,” Moose said, “but occasionally I get wine as a gift. I’ve got a good burgundy, if either of you would like some.”

It took a while to uncork the wine, even with both men working on it—or perhaps because both men were working on it. Connie watched with amusement, offered to help, but neither man would let her near it. Uncorking wine was a manly thing.

When his guests had their drinks in hand, Moose saluted them with a bottle of Perrier. Derek sipped, then nodded. He liked burgundy, but Connie thought it was too heavy. She wished she’d asked for Perrier.

“Nice sound system,” Derek commented, settling back in the other avocado armchair. “So you’re a country fan.”

Moose nodded. “I wasn’t always. Max introduced me to it. Not everybody likes it, though. I can put something else on, if you wish.”

Derek waved off the offer. “I like almost anything. And as far as Connie’s concerned, if it isn’t classical, it’s noise. She’s too hard to please, so don’t even try.”

When Connie gave him a pointed stare, his answering grin told her he’d said it solely to get a rise out of her. And he’d succeeded. Annoyed with herself instead of him, she broke eye contact.

Then Derek said offhandedly, “We need to decide on tonight’s transportation.” He rotated his glass and watched the gently swirling wine. “Taking three cars will turn Hayworth’s street into a veritable parking lot, just begging for attention. We’ll take my car.”

Connie looked back with a frown. “You don’t think that snazzy red convertible will draw attention? I have a dark-green sedan that no one will look at twice, so I should drive.”

“I know the way,” Moose said. “It only makes sense that I drive. I don’t have a lot of legroom, but we’ll manage if Uncle Dare rides in the front. Aunt Connie will fit anywhere.”

“I’ve got plenty of leg room in the front and back,” she countered. “And that classic Mustang is as much of an eye-catcher as Derek’s convertible. I repeat, no one is going to look twice at a nondescript, green sedan. I’ll drive.”

“If you want room, I’ve got as much as you do,” Derek said, his voice growing testy. “I repeat, we’ll take my car.”

“Think, Derek, think,” Connie said. It was amazing how fast the art of argument came back to one. “For crying out loud, you might as well wave a flag from the aerial with our names and addresses on it.”

His problem wasn’t with which car they’d be using, she knew, but in who would be driving it. She could settle this quite simply by handing over her car keys, but she wasn’t going to do that. Sure, he was a better driver than she—simply because he was the more experienced, simply because he always did the driving—but he was also too damned domineering.

“Uh, Uncle Dare, she may be right. If someone mentions having seen a red convertible around there when it all went down, don’t you think your brother might become just a tad suspicious?”

Connie watched Derek struggling with the new odds and the logic. Then, in surrender, he merely stopped arguing and glared at his wine instead of at her. He still didn’t know how to lose graciously, but at least he recognized he’d lost.

Dinner was good; it might’ve been the best lasagna Derek had ever made. But it was over too soon, and it then seemed to take forever for night to fall. Moose was so antsy he gave up on playing host. He excused himself to do laundry, and then he cleaned out the refrigerator. Derek played solitaire at the dining room table. Connie paced.

As she neared him yet once again, Derek put his cards down and gave her a hard stare. “So help me, if you pass by me one more time, I will forcibly put you in a chair. And I will not be gentle about it.”

She stopped. “How can you be so…so…so calm?”

“I am not calm. I’ve got more butterflies in me now than I ever get waiting for my camera cue.” He picked up his cards. “If I had someone like you at the studio, I’d have gone bananas a long time ago.”

She walked back to the front door. Her pacing path had been severely shortened.

But when she turned back around and found his gaze still on her, she sensed that he understood at least an inkling of what she was feeling. “Why don’t you go help Moose fill ice cube trays or something?” he suggested.

“Because he’s through with the ice cube trays,” Moose said, appearing in the kitchen doorway. He walked to the table, rested his arms across the back of a chair
, and regarded Derek with envy. “It appears you’ve got something in common with Max, Uncle Dare. He was always the cool one. It was never yours truly.”

Surprise crossed Derek’s face, and then he said, “At first I wouldn’t have considered that a compliment. But now I do.”

Moose’s gaze then flitted hesitantly between his guests. “At the risk of starting another argument, I’d still like to take my own wheels. You can follow me, I’ll make the change into Aunt Connie’s car just before Hayworth’s house, and we can separate right after our getaway. We shouldn’t be tied together any longer than we have to be. Uncle Dare can then come back for his car any time.”

Derek executed an indifferent shrug. Apparently he’d accepted the fact he’d lost this round to his ex-wife. From her spot near the front door, Connie nodded.

“Settled.” Moose straightened. “We should go. It’ll take an hour to get there, and the sun has finally set.”

Connie froze. She stared at her companions as if they were her executioners.

Both men watched her.

“We can call it off,” Derek said hopefully.

Moose’s expression was unreadable, but she doubted he’d complain if she backed down.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. “No, we can’t.” She turned, opened the door, and led the way into their night of crime.

The Hayworth house was in an affluent neighborhood
, and, in the view of tonight’s visitors, conveniently set back from the road and out of sight of its neighbors. Connie parked a half-mile away among a copse of trees that surrounded a park, where the car wouldn’t be readily seen, nor   should it arouse suspicion.

The sedan wasn’t equipped with a keyless entry feature, which greatly annoyed Derek. He could unlock his convertible’s doors in an instant from several feet away, as he
’d told her more than once.

“Just how fast is a fast getaway going to be if one becomes necessary?” he asked, as if accusing her of something. The man was spoiling for a fight.

“If you’re going to talk about getaways, you should keep your voice down,” Connie said calmly, refusing to give him what he wanted. Keeping her cool would irk him even more. “And the doors will open fast enough if we don’t lock them.”

“Once I get out of the car, I’ll keep my voice down. And the doors will open just as fast for a car thief, won’t they?
What are we going to do when we get back here if the car isn’t here?”

“We’ve gotta lock it,” Moose said reasonably. “If it happens we’re being chased, we’ve already lost.” Once out of the car, he paused.
“Uh, Aunt Connie, in case you’ve got one of those hide-a-keys—”

“No hide-a-key.”

“And no cell phone,” Derek muttered. “She travels light.”

They each took care to close their doors gently as they exited into the balmy night, and they cast furtive looks around the deserted park. Since there were no sidewalks, they walked the edge of the road and tried to look like three neighbors out for an innocent evening stroll.

After a few minutes, Derek glanced curiously at Moose. “You know the house and the neighborhood.” His voice was midway between a whisper and normal. “But you didn’t say how you knew it.”

“Business. I handle his stock portfolio.” His voice was also quiet, but closer to normal.

At his companions’ surprised looks, Moose explained. “Pure coincidence. He has no idea I even know Max. He got my name from a satisfied client and invited me out here. More convenient for him if I made the trip, and with his kind of money, he gets what he wants.”

He hesitated, then added, “I don’t like working with him. He left his previous firm because he’d lost money, but it was because he didn’t follow their advice. And he’s not following mine either. He’s a bully and needs someone to bully him back, but that’s not the way I like to do business. He should be looking for another firm soon. If he doesn’t, I’ll suggest it.”

Connie found herself walking faster and faster in order to keep up with her companions. She slowed them down, and, two minutes later, had to slow them down again. The second time, she wasn’t as nice about it.

But once they approached the house, no one needed a reminder to slow down. They continued past the gated driveway into a row of dogwood trees before Moose came to a stop. A tall hedge on the other side of the road hid them from that house. A shorter hedge was behind the trees, between them and Hayworth’s place. Distantly, a dog barked.

“So this is it,” Derek murmured.

“Uh-huh,” Moose answered.

“You’re sure there are no dogs.”

“No dogs.”

“And no security system.” Derek looked at Connie.

“That’s what the man said. And he wouldn’t let me sell him one, either.”

Derek shook his head in disbelief. “A house like this, in an area like this, it doesn’t make sense. He must be stupid.”

“He is,” Moose said. “But mostly just cheap. That’s why he hasn’t put money into security.”

“And unscrupulous,” Connie added. “I don’t like him.”

Derek looked at her. She thought his expression was on the condescending side.

“Well, he is,” she said in response to his implied criticism. “And I don’t.”

“Remind me not to get on your bad side,” Moose said. “Now shut up and help me find the break in this hedge. It should be…” He paused and pointed. “Right there.” He’d no sooner pointed it out than he was through it. For a man his size, he moved fast.

Connie’s gaze swept the area. Nothing moved. Derek motioned impatiently for her to follow Moose, then he followed her. They found themselves at the side of a driveway that appeared to meander through the grounds. The fastest route to the house from the road certainly wasn’t the driveway.

“Okay,” Moose said, slipping his gloves on. “You two stay here, just in case. I’ll make a quick run around, then come back for you.”

“Wait,” Derek said. “Maybe—”

“Must we have an executive discussion over every move we make, just as we did over which car we’d use?” The big man sounded irritated.