Jaguar Hunt (19 page)

When Tammy answered the phone but didn't say anything, David worried something was wrong. An open phone line didn't bode well. “Tammy?” he said, his voice dark with concern. He was ready to break down her door.

“You'd better not be standing on my front porch,” she said, her voice just as dark, but instead of being concerned, she was highly annoyed.

Relieved she was okay, he smiled. He should have known. “Boss's orders.”

Silence.

“Martin said I had to watch your back at all times.” And front and whatever else David could watch, he thought. She didn't say anything. He lost the smile. “Were you busy?”

“Come back later. Tomorrow. Like we planned.” She ended the call.

She…hung…up…on…him.

He glanced around at the red brick homes, upper-middle price range. Older development with established trees in a woodland environment.
Nice.

He noticed a woman peeking at him through the curtains across the street, her hair white and curly, blue glasses perched on her nose. He smiled, hoping to dispel any of the woman's worries that he was bad news.

She let the curtains drop. Either she thought he was okay, or she was calling the cops.

Time to bring out the big guns. He called Tammy's boss next, watching the house across the street while he punched in Sylvan's number. The curtains parted again and the woman studied him through a pair of binoculars. He wanted to pull his own pair out of his bag and scrutinize her, just to see what she would do.

But he didn't.

“David Patterson,” Sylvan said on his cell. “Anything wrong?”

“Yes, sir. My boss wants me to keep an eye on Tammy for her own protection, considering what's happened to her.”

“What's happened to her?” Sylvan asked, his voice hardening.

“Nothing new since we returned home. But she told you about the zip-line cable snapping, right? The line was precut and the lower pulley rigged so someone could have fallen to their death. I'll send you the video of the whole thing. We also know Joe Storm, former JAG agent, fired two shots at her. My boss is worried that she needs someone to stay with her 24-7 until we resolve this case. But she doesn't want that arrangement. I'm standing on her front porch, but she's not budging about letting me in.”

“Hell and damnation. She didn't tell me a thing about the shooting. The zip-line incident—she mentioned that, but without proof it was anything other than an accident… Are the two of you not working well together? I can assign someone else.”

“No,” David said way too vehemently. “I mean, we're working great together. She just wanted a night off. But it isn't safe for her—at least we don't think so.”

“I'll call her.”

“Okay, thanks.” David ended the call. He glanced at the house across the street. The woman was still eagle-eyeing him through the binoculars. He waved at her in a friendly way and sat down on the front porch swing. He swung back and forth, nice and easy, making him wish he was sitting there with Tammy, rocking gently with her tucked under his arm.

A butterfly flitted about on a red rosebush next to the porch as he swung some more.

He expected Sylvan to lay down the law with Tammy, and she'd automatically capitulate. When David didn't get a call back and she didn't come to the door, he envisioned her arguing with her boss.

He sighed and glanced at the house across the street. The woman had lowered her binoculars, but she was still watching him. Probably the most excitement she'd had in a while.

Ten snail-paced minutes passed. He called her boss, no response, sighed.

Swung some more.

His phone jingled and he saw it was Sylvan. Not good if Tammy wasn't coming to the door. Or maybe she wasn't quite presentable.

“Yeah, Patterson here.”

“Okay, listen, David. She said you and she are working great together—I just had to confirm that bit of information—but she said she needed a night off.”

“And you told her she can't be alone, right?” David had a bad feeling about this.

“She said, and I quote, ‘He can house-sit. Watch the house. And I'll see him in the morning,'” Sylvan told David.

“All…right,” David said slowly.

“Are you okay with that, or do you want me to send another agent to watch the house for her, and you can take a break, too?”

“No, I'll live with it.” David wasn't about to let some other yahoo watch out for her. Not when they didn't know who was dirty in any of the branches and could be involved in this. “Thanks. I'll let you know if anything happens.”

“Do that. Thanks for watching out for her.”

“No problem.” David ended the call and phoned his favorite pizza-delivery place, and then sat back down on the swing.

The woman watching him had disappeared from the window. He kept expecting the police to arrive at any moment. Half dozing on the swing, he heard a vehicle pull into the drive twenty minutes later. The pizza delivery. He paid for the large pepperoni pizza and two bottled waters, and then set them on the round glass table next to the swing. Pizza slice in hand, David got comfortable again on the swing. Not such a bad deal as house-sitting went.

The neighbor was at the window again. He motioned to her with the pizza box, offering for her to join him. She vanished.

He chuckled. He was certain he'd thoroughly rattled her. Her door opened. She was holding a covered plate. Wearing a flowery housecoat of bright purple and yellow and a pair of sneakers, she shut her door and walked across the street to join him.

Now this got interesting. He was usually good with pets and kids. He hadn't thought he could add nosy neighbors to the list.

“Hi, I'm Gertie Jessup,” she said, climbing onto the porch, her gray eyes gazing up at him. “Tammy's neighbor. I watch out for her. Not that we have much trouble around here, but when she's gone, I watch her place.”

“Ah, she's lucky to have you for a friend,” David said. “I'm David Patterson. You want me to take that from you?”

She handed him the platter, and he looked at the plastic-covered sugar cookies.

“For…Tammy?”

“
No
,” Gertie said, elongating the word as if she thought he was being foolish for asking.

“Have a seat,” he said, motioning to the rocker. “You want some pizza? The other bottle of water?”

“What kind of pizza?” she asked, eyeing the box.

“Pepperoni.”

“Okay,” she said begrudgingly.

That appeared to be the start of a long-lasting friendship. She began telling him all about the happenings in the neighborhood, including how Fritz, the miniature schnauzer down the street, caught Mitzie, the miniature poodle, and they'd have Schnoodles before they knew it.

“And two men came to see Tammy,” she said.

That got his interest.

“One of them rang the doorbell and then knocked. 'Course I knew she had left, but I didn't know when she'd be back. They peered in the front picture window, but she had the blinds closed so they couldn't see anything. Maybe they were listening for someone. They went around the side but found the gate locked.”

“What did they look like?”

“Hunters. Or…army guys. They had those camouflage fatigues on and boots, and baseball caps in the same camouflage material. My husband served in Vietnam, and that's what he wore. One had black hair and the other blond. They looked in good shape.”

“Vehicle?”

“Blue sedan of some kind. Don't know the make. But I did get their license plate number just in case they were planning on breaking into her house.” She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and read it off. He made a note of it on his phone.

“Thanks, I'll have someone check into this and make sure they're okay.”

“Oh, good,” Gertie said with obvious relief, sighing heavily. “I was so worried no one would take me seriously. You know the old saying, ‘Cry wolf.' I was afraid if I made a big fuss over it, nothing would come of it. Then if something bad
did
happen, no one would listen to me.”

“With the kind of work we do, you never know. I really appreciate you telling me. I'll let my boss know and Tammy also.”

“Good, good. You're such a nice boy.” Gertie went on to tell him about the noisy kids racing bicycles down the street.

He tried to ignore the passing time, though he had to admit the lady was entertaining, and he figured she enjoyed talking to someone and sharing a meal, even if it was fast food. He disclosed a little about going with Tammy to Belize on a hush-hush mission and how her boss needed him to watch her back for a while, just so Gertie realized he was one of the good guys.

As it got dark, Gertie finally rose from the rocker and said, “Well, I don't know what's wrong with that girl, letting a nice boy like you sit out here all by your lonesome when she needs your protection. She's always very sweet. I was going to tell her all the news, but when you get to see her, you can tell her for me. If you need to use the bathroom, just come on over. I'll watch her place in the meantime.”

He stood. “Thanks. I didn't want you to worry that I'm trouble. We've got to be out in the morning, looking into this case some more. But otherwise, I'll be sitting right here.” He patted the swing.

Gertie leaned close to say, “She's been peeking out the blinds every once in a while. Probably wishing you were talking to her instead of me. That's why I stayed as long as I did. I wanted to make her wait to be with you when she was giving you such a hard time. Figure as soon as I leave, she'll be begging you to come in.” She winked at him and headed back across the street.

He grinned at the woman and thought how much she reminded him of his maternal grandmother before she passed away.

As soon as Gertie walked inside her house and shut the door, Tammy's front door opened. “Grab your stuff and get in here,” Tammy said, her face red with irritation. “
Now
.”

David had the damnedest time hiding a smile.

Tammy was furious. First, David shouldn't have been here. When she wouldn't let him in, he had the gall to call her boss! And that led to her boss chewing her out for not telling him about the shooting incident, when they didn't know if Joe Storm had meant to shoot her or not. She explained to Sylvan how Joe wouldn't have known she was going to be at that spot at that time. Hell, she didn't even know it. So she really didn't believe he had it in for her. Sylvan was also angry she hadn't told him anything
further
about the zip-line situation. She was shocked to hear it was not a faulty cable, and she hadn't even known!

Sylvan had tried some psychological babble on her—she swore he thought he was an amateur psychologist—saying if she didn't want to work with David, he understood and he'd have someone else assigned to the case. She
wanted
to work with David.
Tomorrow
.
Not
tonight. She was taking the night
off
! Why couldn't anyone understand that?

No way did she want someone else working with her on the mission. Not after she and David had made some headway with the teens. And she honestly enjoyed working with him.

To top it all off, David had made friends with Gertie. And had even told her about their trip to Belize. Oh my God, the news would be all over the neighborhood within a matter of days. No one had known what Tammy did for a living. Not that he'd told Gertie exactly what she was doing. He'd made Tammy sound like a super undercover operative. Gertie had been eating it up.

She couldn't believe Gertie actually ate pizza with him, either. She'd turned up her nose when Tammy had invited her over for pizza a few months ago when Joe had stood her up for a job-related assignment. Afterward, Tammy figured he'd lied about it. But she couldn't believe Gertie would turn her down and take David up on it! Pizza was not on her neighbor's list of healthy food choices. She'd been a dietician before she retired.

And Gertie had baked cookies and given them to David. She
never
baked Tammy cookies. Not that she'd wanted any, but it was just the idea.
He
wasn't Gertie's neighbor.

Talk about buttering someone up. And damn if David hadn't been loving all that attention. She was so fuming mad that she couldn't even finish her bath after her boss called.

She knew she'd get an earful from Gertie if she made David sit outside all night. Besides, Tammy wouldn't be able to sleep if he continued to sit on her porch and
all
the neighbors saw him there. She could imagine someone calling the police and making a super mess of the whole situation.

“What do you think you're doing here?” she asked as David retrieved his black bag from his car and hauled it inside her house. And what did he think he was doing by talking to her boss and sweet-talking Gertie on the front porch? Before Tammy could close the door, she saw Gertie smiling out her picture window and waving.

Tammy forced a smile, waved, and slammed the door—and then turned her ire on David. Or planned to. He wasn't there. Just his black bag sitting next to the recliner.

She heard him in the kitchen, opening cabinets.

“What are you doing?” she asked, joining him in there.

He looked up. “Uh, garbage can?”

“Under the sink.”

He dumped his empty water bottle and raised the pizza box. “Some more pizza in there.”

“No thanks. I had a healthy chicken salad.”

David stuck the remaining pizza in the fridge as if he lived here.

She glanced at the plate of cookies.

“They're good. You want one?”

“I can't believe she baked you cookies.” She sampled one, and the sugary sweetness melted in her mouth.

“Smells like
you
were baking cookies.” He glanced around the kitchen.

“Vanilla bubble bath.”

“Hmm, sweet,” he said, looking at her anew.

“Yeah, well, my bath was interrupted. Twice. Once by you, and once by my boss.”

He smiled, not looking like he regretted either interruption. “Want some milk?”

She shook her head. He started looking in the cupboard. “What are you looking for now?”

“Cups.”

“Move right in, why don't you?”

“I'm here to serve and protect.”

She snorted.

“Sure you don't want some milk to go with the cookie?”

“Cupboard up above, next to the dishwasher.” She let out her breath in an annoyed huff. “Get me a glass, too.” She paused. “Please.”

He got them two glasses of milk, and she carried the cookies into the living room. “Here you were, fussing about the boys bringing
me
gifts.” He set the glasses of milk on the table and she placed the plate of cookies beside them.

“She made the cookies for
both
of us.”

Tammy didn't believe that for a moment.

“The boys only gave
you
one piece of chocolate. Not enough to go around, unless you'd shared it with me.”

“I could have used more.”

“And you probably wouldn't have shared.”

He had that right.

“She wanted to make sure I was a good guy.” David pulled out his phone, called his boss, and told Martin what Gertie had said about the two men coming to see Tammy. “Not sure who they were, but if you could run the plate, maybe we'll have a clue.”

Tammy couldn't believe that Gertie had actually given David some worthwhile neighborhood news. And that she had gotten their license plate number. But Tammy worried who it had been. Weaver and Krustan maybe?

When David got off the phone, he sat down with her on the couch. She should have sat in the recliner. His gaze took in the table where her flat-screen TV used to sit. “Television in the shop?”

“Stolen. I haven't had time to replace it.”

“Did Gertie see anything?”

“No. Wouldn't you know she was visiting her daughter in Kansas City to see her grandson's second-grade graduation.”

“I take it they haven't caught the culprit.”

“Nope.”

“Human?”

“Yeah.”

David told her what Martin had said about the cut zip line and how Juan had disappeared after sabotaging the second pulley on the lower cable.

“Why would he have done that to the second pulley? Even if he had orders on who should go first, okay, no real red flags there. But you'd think he'd wonder why anyone would want to not seat the pulley properly on the second cable.”

“Enough money exchanged hands maybe, so he didn't bother putting much thought into it. We may never know the truth. As to other matters, you said you were going to have a bath—”

“Which was interrupted,” she reminded him. She wasn't letting him forget that. She had been enjoying it, but she couldn't let go of her annoyance. Not only that, but she'd been watching periodically to see if David was going to leave and let someone else take his place “protecting” her.

“And you had dinner. So what else did you have on your laundry list? Besides doing laundry.”

“
You
are supposed to be serving and protecting. So you said.” Which she didn't believe. He was enjoying this too much, and looking ridiculously sexy while doing it.

And yet? He had apparently won Gertie over with that sweet and innocent look while he sat so wistfully swinging on the front porch.

“I can't believe you engineered this whole situation so that you could stay the night,” she said.

“I feel better knowing you're safe, Tammy.” David sounded so sincere that she realized he was being honest with her.

She patted the velour couch. “I only have this small couch for you to sleep on.”

He smiled at her, and the look was part big-cat hunter and part amused. “Much better than the swing out front. What made you change your mind?”

“My neighbors.”

He laughed.

She loved the sexy, deep sound of it. She couldn't help but like him, the more she saw of him and how he'd been so nice to her neighbor, the teens, and even her, despite her trying to put some space between them.

She eyed his clothes—nice dress pants, shoes, button-down-collared shirt. Had he dressed up to impress her? Anything he wore, or didn't wear, made an impression on her. He didn't even have to try. It wasn't all about looks.

“Looks like you're dressed for a business dinner. Not a ‘serve and protect' mission.”

“Undercover. Appearances can be deceiving.” He unbuttoned the top three buttons of his shirt and the ones on his cuffs, and rolled his sleeves up. “The dressier look was to impress your neighbors.”

She laughed. “Which at least with regard to Gertie, you excelled at.”

He smiled. “This is my more casual bodyguard look.”

“I have to admit you dress up nice. Kind of a trial run for the theater. You know, I was trying to…well, get this back on more of a professional basis.”

“Sure,” he said, but his smile said otherwise.

She folded her arms. “I didn't want to talk about this tonight, no business, but…since you're here, what do you know about Olivia Farmer?”

“What?” His eyes couldn't have gotten any rounder.
Not
good.

“I got hold of Krustan tonight to try and learn why he and Weaver were in Belize. He said you dated Olivia, and she could be key to this whole investigation.”

“She's dead. Committed suicide two months ago.”

“What? Oh, David. I'm so sorry.” She hadn't known
that
part of the equation. She wished Krustan had told her.

“We broke up last year. She had started seeing Joe.”

“Joe Storm.” Tammy felt sick to her stomach, already hating where this was going.

“Yeah. The guy gets around. Olivia and I were going along great—dating stuff—movies, clubs, trips. She started missing dates, saying she had headaches…”

“She was seeing Joe at the same time?” Tammy couldn't believe it. Well, she could as far as Joe went. But what kind of woman would do that to David? He was just too sweet.

“Yeah. At first I believed her. And then I thought maybe she was just tired of our relationship. I tried to add some zing to it and asked if she wanted to visit an island.”

“Don't tell me she turned you down.”

“She didn't have a chance to. I kind of suspected she was seeing someone else, so I went unannounced to see her. Joe answered the door wearing just his boxers.”

“You must have been pissed off.”

“You could say that.”

“Why didn't you tell me when I mentioned I'd dated Joe? You must have hated that I'd been seeing him, too.” Yet David had never let on. He had been angry, but she'd thought it was just because he believed the guy had hurt her.

“I didn't believe it was important. It was in the past. I moved on a long time ago. At the time, I figured she did me a favor.”

“Yet I bet you didn't feel too bad when you knocked him out at the club.”

His smile was a little sinister, but then he frowned. “Hell, Tammy, after he shot at you, I would do a lot worse if I ever get my hands on the guy. Even if he hadn't meant to shoot you.”

“So why would Krustan believe Olivia would have anything to do with our case?”

“I haven't any idea. Except that it all seems to involve Joe.”

She let out a sigh. “I guess it's time for bed. But…if you think I'm going to change my mind about the bed…” She eyed him with suspicion.

“The couch is fine. Really. I'll curl up in a little ball like I used to do as a kid.”

She laughed. She was halfway thinking of letting him do it, too. Then again, she could envision him trying to get comfortable and having a miserable night of it.

They had a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. She'd keep thinking of him tossing and turning on the couch and never get any sleep herself. When it came to him, she was way too much of a pushover.

She stood, and when he rose from the couch, she took hold of his belt loop and tugged at him. “Come on. It's getting late, I'm tired, and we have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”

He grabbed his bag and headed with her to the bedroom, wisely not saying anything about her changing her mind. She could imagine him grinning from ear to ear like a jaguar version of the Cheshire Cat.