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“Okay,” she said. She really didn’t have any reason to feel so scared. Maybe it was the chill of the air, or the stale, never-quite-right smell of the refrigerator. Maybe it was her own inevitable end pressing down on her. She wanted warmth, suddenly, and remembered the man with Hawaii airline tickets in his pocket. I could do that. Just … go somewhere.
No, she couldn’t. Not without permission. Not without an escort carrying her shots.
She wasn’t free, and she’d never be free again. She was owned by the ultimate corporate loyalty program.
“Hey,” Joe said. He took her hand in his. “Look at me. ”
She did, and his earnest concern made her try for a smile. “I’m just having a hard day,” she said. “No reason. You ever have days like that?”
“All the damn time,” he said. “I get too involved. So Pat tells me. Come on. Let’s get some coffee. I’ve got to move the van and—”
The pager on his hip went off. Ten seconds later, so did Bryn’s cell phone, ringing a text alarm.
Both of them checked devices, and then looked at each other. “My apartment,” Bryn said. He nodded. “Someone tried to get in. ”
“I’ll drive. ”
The police were already on the scene when Joe parked the mortuary van—a cruiser, light bars strobing, and a curious bunch of her neighbors dawdling and gawking. Bryn jumped down from the passenger seat and dashed up the stairs, with Joe right behind her. Her front door was open, and the alarm was still going off in wild shrieks.
A uniformed officer held out his hand to stop her from going in. “Sorry, miss—”
“I’m Bryn Davis,” she blurted. “This is my place. Is my dog okay?”
Mr. French barked furiously from somewhere inside— full-throated roars of outrage.
“He’s fine,” the policeman said, sounding resigned. “We had to put him in the bathroom. Good little guard dog you’ve got there. ”
That eased the knot in Bryn’s chest. “Thank God. What happened?”
The cop started to reply, but before he could, a slender hand grabbed the door and pulled it all the way open.
Bryn’s sister Annalie stood there looking tired, stressed, and bedraggled. She was shorter than Bryn, and curvy in ways that men seemed to much admire, but right now she didn’t look bouncy or sexy. Just shocked and frustrated. “Would you turn this damn thing off?” she shouted over the racket. “God, you could have told me you had an alarm!”
“Annie?” Bryn pushed past the cop and entered her code on the keypad. The pounding noise shut off, to the relief of Bryn’s ears, and probably everyone else in a five-block radius. “Annie, Jesus Christ, what are you doing here?” There was a flower-patterned suitcase sitting on the floor next to a bright aqua purse that had to be her sister’s. “How did you get in?”
“It wasn’t easy. Do you know, the key you gave me last time doesn’t work? What did you do, change the locks?”
“Annie—how did you get in?”
Annie grinned and shrugged. “I called a locksmith and got him to open it for me. I paid him triple. He wouldn’t do anything about the alarm, though, and he took off. ”
Bryn rubbed her forehead. There was no system sophisticated enough that her sister couldn’t find a perfectly obvious way around it, apparently. “He’s supposed to check ID. ”
“Well—I paid extra. ”
“Don’t take this wrong but … why are you here?”
“Well … I know. It was kind of supposed to be a surprise. I brought you a present to celebrate your new job,” Annie said, and tried for a grin. “Surprised?”
“Bowled over. ” Now that her heart was slowing down to a more normal pace, Bryn hugged her sister, then looked at the waiting policeman. “Uh … it’s okay; I’m so sorry. I didn’t know she was coming, that’s all. She’s all right. Everything’s all right. ”
The policeman had been joined by his partner, a woman. She seemed more amused than angry. “Happens all the time,” she said. “Maybe you ought to let anyone with keys know that you’ve put in a new alarm system. ”
“Nobody else has keys. ” Well, Bryn imagined McCallister did, and Fideli, because that would be par for the course, but she’d never given out any other keys. “I am really very sorry about the bother. ”
“That’s okay; you’ll get the bill,” the male policeman said, and nodded to her on the way out, followed by his partner.
Joe Fideli stepped in, shut the door, and leaned against it, looking much more amused than Bryn felt. “So?” he asked. “Going to introduce me?”
