Time Thieves (21 page)

“Or they died and someone couldn’t bear to get rid of it. At least that’s what I wondered initially.” She took another deep breath. “I’m wondering if these people ‘disappeared’ and the families put the possessions in the locked up attic.”

“Why? So they could forget about them?” he asked incredulously.

“Or for them to have again, should these people come back.”

“And you’re not thinking that they disappeared as in just having gone out for a walk and never coming home again?”

“Like my father?” At his nod, she shook her head. “I’m thinking my father crossed through this thin veil and is living in another dimension.”

“What?” He sat back and stared at her. “Do you really think your father is alive?”

“I believe he is, yes.” At the doubt and chagrin on his face, she added, “And I think Madge came from that side. She might have been from here originally and either found her way back or came across accidentally.”

“Sari…do you really think your house is some kind of waypoint? A place where people can move between two different realities?” he asked it in such a gentle, reasonable tone of voice that she didn’t take any offense.

“I don’t know what I believe. Do I want to believe my father is alive and well? Of course I do. Have I spent my whole life wishing it? Of course I have,” she cried out. “My mother constantly drilled into me that he was gone. The problem is something that you don’t know about. Something my mother refused to ever let me talk about.”

Ward leaned forward, his gaze locked on hers.

She smiled wryly. “Yes, we lied to the police all those years ago. But there was a very good reason.”

“And that was?” he asked sharply.

“You’d never have believed me,” she said simply. “My own mother didn’t believe what had happened, and she saw it too.”

“Sari,” he warned.

She hurriedly added, “This is hard, you know. I’ve never said this to anyone.”

“Just tell me.”

She chewed on her bottom lip, undecided. She might as well. Yesterday’s event defined who she was today.

If she wanted to see where the relationship went, she’d need to see how he felt about her childhood mystery. She was falling a little bit more in love with him every day. She knew it. She’d had a mad crush on him years ago. That the same feelings had stirred up again only meant they’d been inside all along. Waiting like a buried seed for the right conditions to sprout.

She started to explain about the last day she’d seen her father. “He’d just been fiddling with it, trying to do something according to his notes. He was putting it away to visit with me when the watch fell off the table and we both dove for it, but his arm was longer, his hand bigger. I saw him reach for it…” she stopped, tears even now collecting in her eyes at the memory.

“I heard my mother walk back into the room with the hot chocolate she’d gone to make. I watched as my father’s fingers closed over it. He grinned, then something went wrong. His face thinned, became almost see through. He got a really weird look on his face, like he knew something. Something he didn’t have time to share. He opened his mouth and said, ‘Something’s wrong.’ Then there was a moment where I could hear everything so loud. And see everything so clear. As if the answer to everything was there at my fingertips. As if the world had stopped and opened up endless possibilities.”

She stopped and sniffled.

“And then what?” prompted Ward. She glanced up at him. At least he looked more involved. Less like he wanted to wring her neck.

“Then,” she said. “He disappeared.”

Silence.

“He disappeared. In front of my eyes. In front of my mother’s eyes. He just disappeared into a puff of air. No bells and whistles. No big bang. He just faded from our sight.”

Ward stared at her, an unfathomable look in his gaze.

She snorted. “It’s true. That’s why we couldn’t tell the police.” She shrugged. “Like they’d have believed us or anything else we’d have had to say back then after that.”

She appealed to him. “You haven’t said anything. Please believe me.”

Silent, he studied her as if considering her words – or that the knock on her head had been worse than first suspected.

He stared at her. “If I believe you, then I have to throw out everything I’ve believed about reality up until now. I can easily believe a ten-year-old girl who loved her father so very much that she dreamed up something like this, but…”

“But what about my mother?”

He sat back, his hand automatically going to run through his unruly hair. “I don’t know what to think.” He studied her face. “Will your mother corroborate your story?”

She laughed, a sad, mocking laugh that made him wince. “She might and she might not. She’s spent the bulk of my childhood trying to erase that event from my memory and implanting the idea that my father walked out the door and never came back.”

“The police version?”

“Yes. Exactly. The police version.” She pulled the sheets higher up to her chin. “I guess I can’t blame her. I don’t know if she knows what happened to him, and out of fear of a reoccurrence, she took me far away.” She glanced back over at him. “I just don’t know.”

“If, and this is a big if, what you saw is really what happened – what does it have to do with those two men who attacked you?”

She grimaced. “I’m wondering if they might have come from the other side.”

“For what? To get something? To take you to the other side? To immigrate?” He threw his hands up in the air. “You do realize how crazy this sounds, don’t you?”

“Yes.” Her voice, full of weary sadness, dropped to a whisper. “That’s why I haven’t been able to tell anyone. Who’d listen? Who’d believe? No one.”

She wanted to hear him say he believed. She needed him to say it. But she had no proof. He was a policeman. He needed proof. To see for himself. What he did say surprised her.

“Wasn’t it Arthur Conan Doyle who said,
When you have eliminated
the impossible
, whatever
remains
, however improbable, must be the truth
.”

And he smiled and warmed all the cold lonely places in her heart.

*

“I don’t care.
You’re not staying here alone. In fact, I’d feel much better if we stayed at my place. I can’t say I feel secure here anymore.”

“I do. It’s my house, and I don’t want to be scared away.” She glared at him.

He figured it had more to do with being close to her father in case all these events had something to with his disappearance…and possible return. A crossing spot…like what the hell? No one would believe him. It was too far out there. Too much science fiction for even the strongest believers.

They unloaded the last of the groceries they’d stopped for on the way home from the hospital. As they’d pulled into the driveway, Ward tried again. “Why don’t we stay at my house? I have plenty of room.”

Sari shot him a disgusted look. “If I run now, then I’m done. I won’t want to come back. I need to come in here. Open up all the secret places and check that I’m alone.”

“We’ll open up all the hidden places. But what if they can cross this dimensional barrier at will? Did you consider that? You could be asleep while they decide to cross over. How would you know?”

“Thanks for that reminder. I think I’ll set up cameras.”

“Cameras?”

“Inside the attic and inside the staircase. Maybe a few others around the house. Is that being paranoid?”

“Hell no. I wish we’d had them up a few days ago though.” He watched as she unlocked her front door and entered. “It would help to identify these two men.”

“Only if they are from this dimension. Can you imagine the paperwork headache if they are from another dimension?”

Ward groaned. “Don’t even mention it. It’s one thing for you and I to joke about it, and…” He held up his hand. “I know you aren’t joking. But to even contemplate having to deal with such a concept with my supervisor…” He shuddered. “That is no laughing matter.”

She tossed him a grin back over her shoulder. He could see the worry lines on her face as she worked hard to ignore the situation but couldn’t quite manage it. Good. He wanted her worried. He wanted her scared. Some assholes were after her, and she needed to be wise and stay safe. Then again, he could talk until his voice went hoarse before she’d listen to reason. He followed her inside the house. He’d been here just a few hours ago. All had been well. He’d also asked his supervisor for protection for her, but hadn’t convinced him that this was anything but another case of breaking and entering.

Ward wasn’t leaving her alone again. That he could do it and get paid was the compromise he’d made with his boss.

Walking through the front door, he double-checked that the shop door was still as he’d left it. It was.

Sari watched and shook her head. “Are you going to do this every day?”

“Probably. And you’re not going to run into the kitchen ahead of me anymore either.” He moved past her determinedly and led the way.

He knew she was going to shake her head, but she’d take his lead on this one.

“The whole protector thing is nice in little bits…but…” she said tartly.

“Get used to it. I’m here to stay. There’s no way I’m going through what I did yesterday evening.”

Her voice softened. “I’m sorry. I know how difficult that must have been.”

“You think? I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

“I know. You went a little nuts, I guess. It all happened so fast. I didn’t even have time to warn you.”

He spun around. “Warn me? I wasn’t worried about me. I wish I’d never let you go ahead of me. Wished that the attacker had found me first. Not you. Then it would have been a different story.”

“And maybe you would have been killed. Did you ever think of that? They might also have used you to get to me. I couldn’t have stood that.”

“Better than me finding out you’d been snatched right out from under my nose. I won’t go through that again.” He spun around to look at her. “I can’t.”

She reached up a small palm and laid it gently against his cheek. “I’m sorry.”

He closed his eyes. “It’s not your fault.”

“No, it’s not,” she admitted softly, the gentle look in her eye his undoing. “But neither is it yours.”

She reached up and kissed him gently. “Thank you for finding me.”

He wrapped her tight into his embrace and buried his face in her silky hair. She was so precious. He’d come so close to losing her. “I was so scared.”

She slipped her arms around his back and stepped closer. They stayed like that for a long moment. She tilted her head back and smiled. “Let’s make dinner and then we can relax.”

“I’m relaxed right here.” He searched her gaze, wondering, questioning. Did she feel like he did? Did she understand the depth of his feelings? Did he understand himself?

“But I’m hungry.” She smiled, a mysterious look in her gaze that made his heart race. “Not to worry. We’ll come back to this same place after dinner.” She reached up and dropped a light kiss on his lips. “I promise.”

S
ari stepped back
and busied herself making a simple meal of chicken and veggies. Trying to settle down inside at being back in her kitchen. Her groceries from last night had been put away by someone. Probably Ward.

His gaze followed her every move. She felt it like a warm caress on her back. He was a gentle soul. She knew he was uncertain. Uncertain of her, of taking this next step. Of them. She was too. But she wanted it. She wanted him. She always had. He was the man she’d been waiting for all these years. That it was in the middle of a personally nasty time couldn’t be helped. It might have sped up the timetable, but the stress wasn’t the cause of the relationship.

It was the catalyst that had brought them to this point tonight. He wanted to sleep here and protect her. She wanted him to sleep here to seduce him.

Now all she had to do was feed him. Assuage one hunger. Then take him to bed. And assuage the other.

And she couldn’t wait.

But food came first.

Making dinner together was a fun experience. They laughed and argued. Old times, new times, his times and her times. It was relaxing and peaceful and went with the romantic mellow mood she’d been hoping for, especially after the last stressful couple of days. She really needed this. So did he.