Little Bird (The Tangled Series) (2 page)

Chapter Two

L
ee briefly looked up as they approached, but he continued his work, silently throwing shovelfuls of dirt into the hole at his feet. A cigarette hung loosely from his mouth as he worked. Savannah was anxious, shifting her weight, as she tried to remain calm. Friend of Mike’s or not, this whole situation was freaking her out. What the hell was going on here? This guy was covered in dirt and blood and filling in a grave? What the fuck had Mike gotten her involved in?

Finally, the hole was full and Lee stepped back, leaning the shovel against the tree. He didn’t look at Savannah; his hard gaze focused intently on Mike as he pinched the cigarette between his lips and grumbled, “Who’s she?”

Mike looked briefly at Savannah and then back to his friend. “She’s my assistant.” Lee’s expression didn’t soften so Mike hastily added, “You can trust her, Lee. Really.”

Lee looked down at the ground for a minute and then sighed. As he turned and started back toward the house, he called to them over his shoulder. “Let’s go inside then.”

Savannah’s heart raced as she followed the men up the back steps and into the house. The back door entered directly into the kitchen. The room was dim, the only light coming from the under-cabinet lighting, but she could see well enough to know it was a mess. All the cupboard doors were open; some hanging awkwardly on their hinges, and the drawers had all been dumped on the tile floor. Lee paused to slip a nine-millimeter Beretta from the back waistband of his jeans. He laid it on the table, indicated they should sit down, and then continued to the coffeepot.

Savannah took her seat, her back to the kitchen counter, and considered the gun. When she was a teenager, she’d frequently gone to the shooting range with her dad, and she suspected Mike kept a gun at the office, even though it wasn’t legal in DC. She was generally pretty comfortable with them, and fairly capable with one. But seeing the handgun lying on the table, when the house had clearly been ransacked and the homeowner had just finished digging a grave, gave her the creeps.

When the coffee was started, Lee turned around and leaned back against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. Mike had taken the seat across from Savannah so he faced Lee.

Mike cleared his throat and motioned across the table to Savannah. “Lee Jackson, Savannah Alderton.” He looked back at Lee and snapped sarcastically. “Now you’ve met. So tell me, friend, what the fuck is going on here? I figured you were in trouble to be calling me in the middle of the night but Christ, I didn’t expect to find you digging a grave.”

Savannah was surprised to hear Lee laugh behind her. It was soft, just a rumble in his chest. Despite the strain he was under, he seemed to be amused by Mike’s outrage. He crossed the room and switched on the main overhead light before taking the seat next to Mike.

As he sat down and leaned back in his chair, Savannah’s breath caught in her throat. Seeing Lee for the first time in full light, she realized two things. The first, this man was exceptionally good looking, and the second, he looked like he’d just been in a pretty serious fight.

Lee had softly curling brown hair, damp with sweat, and a roguish, scruffy beard. His eyes were an odd shade of blue, or maybe it was green, she couldn’t be certain which; the color reminded her of fog rolling in on the ocean. Whatever the color, they were breathtaking, and quite unexpectedly, Savannah wondered what they would look like in a more intimate situation. With a small shake of her head, she pushed that fantasy away. It was ridiculous to have such thoughts about Mike’s friend.

His left eye was slightly swollen and looked like it would be impressively black and blue before long. He also had a good-sized cut at the corner of his lower lip. His nose was long and straight, complimented by his high cheekbones. His profile looked almost like a statue, all straight lines and sharp angles.

Lee stretched back in his chair, rocking it up to balance on its two rear legs and Savannah’s eyes dropped to his still bare chest. That was definitely blood she’d noticed earlier. There was a light sheen of sweat on his skin and she couldn’t help but notice his broad shoulders and well-defined chest, tapering to his toned abdomen and narrow hips.

“The grave was for Meg.”

The sound of Lee’s voice drew her attention and Savannah looked up to find him staring directly at her. He held her gaze just long enough to let her know she’d been discovered before turning his attention to Mike. Blood rushed to her cheeks until they burned with her embarrassment. Good lord, he’d just caught her checking him out!

Mike, either oblivious to what had just happened or pretending to be, explained, “Meg was his other dog.” Savannah nodded mutely and Mike continued, “I assume that also explains all the blood?”

Lee glanced down at himself and shrugged. “Mostly.”

Mike ran both hands through his hair and sighed. “Okay, so, what the hell happened here tonight?”

Lee leaned forward in his chair again, his arms folded on the table in front of him. “I’d been out and it was a little after one when I got home. Meg was already dead in the driveway, she’d been stabbed, and Toby was nowhere to be seen.” Toby lay on the floor next to Lee’s chair now, and Lee reached down to ruffle the dog’s ears as he spoke. “I figure he got scared and ran off. Meg was always the guard dog around here. Anyway, all the lights in the house were on and the front door was busted open. I came in and there were three guys tossing the place.” Lee grinned at Mike, his expression that of a man who enjoyed the occasional tussle. When Lee continued, his natural southern drawl was over exaggerated for affect, “A scuffle ensued.”

“You always were a good brawler.” Mike laughed, grinning broadly.

Lee shook his head, drumming his fingers on the table. “Not good enough this time. I was out numbered and they were all at least ten years younger than me, I’d guess.”

“But you have old man strength!” Savannah blurted. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished fervently she could call them back.

Both men slowly turned to look at her, dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Fuck, she’d really stepped in it now. She knew Mike had recently turned thirty-six and figured Lee must be right around that. That wasn’t old. God, why’d she have to say that?

Lee raised one brow, his eyes locked with Savannah’s as he spoke to Mike. “I think she just called us old, Hoss.”

“No, no! That’s not at all what I meant.” Savannah stammered. She was babbling but couldn’t seem to stop herself. “One of my friends always says if two guys are going to fight you always back the older one. Even if the younger one is stronger and faster, the older one is smarter and more experienced, and that’s more important. My friend, he calls that ‘old man strength’ but it doesn’t really mean the older fighter is an old man or anything, just that he’s older than his opponent.”

Lee glanced at Mike before asking Savannah, “Has this friend of yours ever even been in a fight?”

Savannah chewed her lip and thought for a moment before admitting, “No, I don’t think so.”

Lee laughed. “I figured as much. How old are you anyway, sweetheart?”

“I’m twenty-six.” She wasn’t sure why but she felt like he was mocking her so she hastily added, “And I’m not your ‘sweetheart.’ How old are you?”

“I’m thirty-seven. Which, I’d have probably thought was old when I was twenty-six, too. Although I notice I’m not too old for you to leer at like you’ve never seen a man without a shirt on before.” As Lee finished, a wide grin spread over his handsome face and despite her embarrassment Savannah’s heart skipped a beat.

Savannah gasped, a hot blush rising on her cheeks, but before she could gather her thoughts to respond, Mike jumped in. “All right, that’s enough. I didn’t leave my wife alone in our nice warm bed at O-dark-thirty just to listen to you two have some fucked-up bitchy-but-somehow-still-flirty pissing match. Can we get back to the reason we’re here? Three guys broke into your house, kicked the shit out of you, and left.”

Savannah, eager to change the subject, spoke up. “What I don’t understand is, if they’d killed Meg, they obviously had at least one knife. So why didn’t they just kill you, too, and be done with it?”

Lee shrugged, his eyes still on her. “Well, they did say they’d be back. They think I have something they want and maybe they think if I’m dead they won’t find it. Or maybe they’re cowards. There’s a big difference between killing a dog and killing a man. Maybe they don’t have the stomach for the latter. Anyway, they seemed far more interested in getting the fuck out of here than they did in sending me to my untimely demise.”

“And you didn’t shoot them because…” Savannah’s voice trailed off as she gestured toward the gun on the table.

“I was unarmed when I came through the door and they were unwilling to cooperate long enough for me to fetch a gun.”

Mike chuckled. “Okay, so you think you have something they want. Any idea what that might be? Did they say anything else?”

Lee ran one hand through his hair and sighed.

“Yeah, I have a pretty good idea.” He paused for a moment to give Mike a troubled look. “They kept asking, ‘Where is she?’ I asked who the fuck they were talking about and one of them finally said Cara.” He turned to Savannah and added, “My ex-wife.”

Mike groaned. “Shit. Do you know where she is?”

Lee shook his head. “No. I called her apartment and her cell before I called you. No answer, no voicemail at the apartment. And the cell voicemail was full and wouldn’t accept new messages.”

Savannah frowned. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

Lee shrugged. “Three or four months ago. She called and said she was cleaning out the storage unit she’d gotten after we split up. She’d found some things of mine she wanted to return so she came over and dropped a box off. It was just some books, a few pieces of clothes, stuff like that.”

“Yeah, but you guys have been divorced, what, five or six years? It took her all that time to return a few books?” Mike narrowed his eyes. “I don’t suppose you still have the box?”

“I do. I just shoved it in the closet and pretty much forgot about it until now. I’ll dig it out later.” Lee got up and brought the full pot of coffee to the table with three empty mugs. He retrieved a mason jar of sugar and a carton of whole milk before sitting down again.

Savannah cleared her throat. “So, maybe this is too obvious, but why haven’t you called the cops?”

“I feel like that might be a bad idea. Cara sometimes got herself into some sticky situations with her work, investigative reporting type of stuff. If this is somehow related to that it could be almost anyone, including people you’d think you could trust.”

“So, you think this is some big conspiracy or something? Against some run of the mill journalist?” Savannah didn’t ask Lee where he kept his tinfoil hat, only out of respect for Mike, but her skepticism was probably obvious in her tone. This whole situation seemed a little over the top.

Lee laughed. “Probably not, but right now I’m not going to take any chances. And she’s not just ‘some run of the mill journalist.’ Don’t you ever read the paper?”

Savannah rolled her eyes. “It’s not even six a.m. and that’s the second time today someone has asked me that question.”

“We need a plan here. Did Cara still have the apartment in Middleburg?” When Lee nodded Mike continued, “Okay, so at least for now, it seems like most of the work will be out here, although we should probably talk to her co-workers in DC. It’s an hour each way for us to drive out here, I still have a business to run in the city, and Savannah doesn’t even own a car.”

“The rental cottage is empty right now, and it’s furnished. You’re welcome to use it. But that doesn’t help your clients in the city much.”

“No, actually that’s a great idea. Savannah can stay out here and do a lot of the legwork on this end. I’ll have to rent a car for her, or something, but that’s not a big deal.”

Savannah was shocked. “What? You want to leave me way out here in the middle of nowhere? Uh, news flash but I only work for you eight hours a day, I have my own life in the city the other sixteen hours.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “It’s just for a few days. You’ll be fine. This is what, Tuesday? I’ll bet you’re happily back in that closet, err, I mean apartment of yours by Friday.”

Lee cleared his throat and gave Mike a meaningful look. “Don’t you think this might be a little over her head, Hoss?”

Savannah glared at him. She didn’t want to be left out here in the country but she wasn’t going to let this jerk say she couldn’t handle the job.

“Look asshole, I know I haven’t really put my best foot forward here this morning, but I know my job and I’m good at it. Believe me, I’d be thrilled to go back to the city and pretend I never met you, so if that’s what you want just say so. But with the situation you’re in right now, you’re an idiot if you don’t take all the help you can get.”

Mike leaned back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest. He struggled unsuccessfully to keep from laughing as he gave Lee a sideways glance. “She is good at her job.”

“And she’s feisty, too.” Lee laughed and looked at Savannah. “All right, we’ll give it a shot, sweetheart.” He winked at her and turned back to Mike. “You don’t need to rent her a car. She can use my truck. I don’t drive it much anymore except to haul horses.”

Savannah rolled her eyes. This guy was an insufferable jerk. She’d called him an asshole and chewed him out and all he did was laugh and wink and call her “sweetheart.” This would be a long few days. With a sigh, she looked at Mike. “I need to go home and get a few of my things.”

Mike nodded. “We’ll head back now. Savannah can get what she needs and, Lee, you can get cleaned up and get some sleep. You’ve been up all night.”

Lee walked them to the door. “Come back this evening and we’ll have some supper and figure out where to start.”