Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (16 page)

Officer David walked around inside the house and turned on every light and checked the closets, rooms and back porch. Everything looked fine. Kevin
was
gone a long time when they finally saw him come up the path from the beach.

They met him at the front door. "I found the dad walking along the beach and he said he saw an old friend walking
his
dog and they walked over to
his
house for a beer. They were sorry they scared you."

She
didn't believe it, and
she
felt like a fool being afraid. It just seemed odd they
would
just leave their truck. Not only
that
no one
lingered
around exce
pt
the
guy in the red coat and he lived
the opposite way of the beach. While the officers were still there they heard the old Ford truck leave. Officer David stuck
his
head outside and he made the peace sign to Kevin.
She
knew
what he meant
two left
in the truck.

She
was
a little agitated they just wrote it off as though
she
's a big scaredy cat, so
she
continued their reason for coming. "Mike is not he
re and I don't know when I'll see
him
again
. I'm just renting t
his
place for a few days.
Would
you like for me to give him a message?"

"We came by to give him our condolences, here is our card, and could you have him call when he comes by or when you hear from him?" They didn't want to dismiss
her
concerns, but they couldn't do anything else except beef up patrol.

"I sure will and
that
's so nice of you. I guess all I can ask of you is to patrol more."

"We sure will ma'am, we'll come by often. If you need us my cell number is on the back. Please don't hesitate to call."

That
did make
her
feel better knowing they
would
come by often.

"Have a good evening." They tipped their hats and left.

Their last comment did make
her
feel a little better.

*****

Darkness set in and
Lana
double checked all the doors and windows.
She
also brought in lots of firewood so
she
didn't have to go outside during the night. As the wind blew, it's howling sounded like wolves were outside
scratching
. It sounded spooky. Sleet
mixed
with
sand
tapped
on the window every time
there was
a
strong gust of wind
. A
t night it sounded
even
scarier.

T
his
was
a sign for
her
to leave.
She
packed enough for a change of clothes, and
she
decided to leave a
light
on
in the kitchen
. After what happened today and Mother Nature warning
her
,
she
decided to stay in town.
She
didn't know if the men
with
the wood had bad intentions, probably not, but since
she
's all alone
she
would
feel safer leaving.
She
grabbed the key to the house and double checked all the doors and windows, and literally ran to
her
car and headed for town.
She
remembered a nice hotel across the bridges, and
she
didn't imagine there
would
be a problem
with
a vacancy tonight.

When
she
saw the lights of the city and
she
let out a sigh of relief. Driving in and out of Plymouth there were lots of little water coves and if a person didn't pay attention they could drive off the road get stuck in the sand, especially at night.
She
grimaced at the thought of
being stranded
.
She
felt in
her
purse for
her
cell phone and
was
relieved
she
didn't forget it.

She
pulled up at the well lit Hilton hotel. The main lobby
was
completely empty, and over to the right, behind the courtesy desk
a short hall led to the
bar.
She
could hear glasses clanking and a couple of men talking. The noise echoed in the empty lobby. The three of them were probably the only customers in the hotel especially by the looks of the empty parking lot. T
his
hotel had five stories, so
she
thought
she
might have a nice view of the ocean from the top. They had plenty of room and they accommodated
her
. The attendant handed
her
the keycard and said. "Room 503 Ms. Andrews and the kitchen closes' at eight o'clock during off season. Is there anything else you need and do you want a porter?"

"No thank you."

The room
seemed
nice, decorated in a cheerful blue
with
a large king size bed. The wallpaper
had a
two toned blue striped
with
a solid light blue bedspread trimmed in dark blue.
The best part of the room
was
the warmth
.
She
smiled wondering if
she
should be mad at Mike for not fixing the furniture or more mad for not calling.
She
would
have to sleep on
that
one.

Chapter 15

2:17 a.m.

A noise woke
her
up and
she
thought it
was
a show on the TV.
Sh
e
turned it off then realized the noise came
from the hallway. Aggravated,
she
rolled over and covered
her
head
with
a pillow and tried to go back to sleep.
With
in a few minutes the phone rang.
She
answered it frustrated. "Hello."

"Hi baby
," said Mike.

Rubbing
her
eyes and trying to wake up
she
remembered all
that
transpired the last few hours. "How did you know I
was
here?"

"Don't forget I'm a federal agent, and all I have to do is make a couple of phone calls.
Would
you like some company? I'm down in the lobby."

"Sure, come on up, I'll be waiting."
She
ran to the bathroom to brush
her
teeth and made sure
she
looked presentable.
She
didn't know if
she
should be mad or not,
she
would
have to think on
that
one. Just as
she
finished, Mike knocked
on the door. When
she
opened it he swept
her
off
her
feet and gave
her
a great big playful kiss. He
was
completely out of breath. "Mike, why are you out of breath?"

"I ran up the stairs, I didn't want to wait for the elevator."

"You ran up five floors?"

"Two and a half, I took two stairs at a time." He then raised
his
left eyebrow at
her
. "I
was
worried sick about you. You could have left
me
a note." He couldn't stay mad because
she
looked too beautiful and sleepy. The oversized jersey looked adorable on
her
.
The
Dallas Cowboy jersey
had
the number eight on it, and he didn't like Troy Aikman. He didn't like the Cowboys at all, he
happened to be
a Giants fan. But he
would
forgive
her
t
his
time, besides
she
looked better in it than Troy.

"It
's a long story, and I'm
sure you don't have time to listen."
She
gave it right back, but
she
knew
she
couldn't stay mad at him. He looked so good
with
his
black Christian Dior sweater and turtleneck
with
khaki Dockers pants
.

H
e pulled
her
down on
his
lap so
she
would
be
eye to eye
with
him, but
she
's not going to look in
his
eyes. If
she
did
she
might
melt, and
she
had to be strong right now.

"Okay
squirt, I know you're safe, and
that
's all
that
matters. I sent my driver home. Do you want to stay here or go back to the beach house? I will leav
e t
his
decision
up to you."

"It doesn't matter either way, but I am surprised you were concerned because I did not get one phone call from you today. Something happened today
that
scared me, and
that
is why I came here."

"Are you talking about the two guys who delivered wood?"

Her
eyes widened. "How did you know?
That
happened only a few hours ago."
She
was
shocked he knew about the guys, and no way for him to know unless the two officers told him. "What's the deal? T
his
is scary
that
you can know how my life played out today."

"First of all I did call several times today, and the calls went straight to voice mail. I left several messages, and I texted. My phone finally died. I sent officers out to check on you and they told me about the scare you had
with
the wood incident.
That
's all
that
happened. I k
new you were scared so I came home
as soon as I could, and you were gone. I called a few hotels and they said you were registered here. When
was
the last time you checked your phone little lady?"

"I had my phone on all day until I went to bed, and I turned it off so I could get some rest. But I didn't turn it off until late tonight."
She
didn't think he
was
lying, but
she
didn't think he called like he thought he did.
She
could
prove it.
She
dug out
her
phone from
her
purse and pushed the on button. "Let's see if there are any messages from you. If there are any messages they just came through the last couple of hours." They waited for everything to turn on, and nothing happened. No noise or beeping.

Mike looked bewildered. "I know I called you several times today and left you several messages. I don't understand. Do you mind if I look at your phone?"
She
handed
it to him
and he played
with
it. "Babe you have it on airplane mode, no wonder you didn't get my messages. Your phone must not work at all when it's on airplane mode."

"I didn't put it on airplane mode, and I don't know how
that
happened."
She
was
totally confused.
She
knew
she
was
slow at technology, but
she
thought
she
had a grip on how to use
her
phone.