Point of Attraction (14 page)

“I want to check out his car. That’s
all. What’s the harm in that? We don’t even have to knock on the
door.”

When she refused to buy into his
insanity, Nick looked to Mason. Mason opened his mouth, but she put
a hand to his arm.

“No,” she told Nick. “You are not going
to drag him into this. No.”

Mason gave her hand a pat, stood up,
and began to slip into his jacket. Georgie stood her ground,
grabbing hold of the thick leather.

“George, if I don’t go with him, he
could do something stupid.”

“Oh, really.” She crossed
her arms and looked at him squarely. “And who will keep
you
from doing something
stupid? You’re already on administrative leave. I won’t have you
put in further jeopardy because of some silly parking lot
mishap.”

Mason looked to Nick then back at her.
His firm finger nudged her chin before it came to rest on her lips,
then slid gently across.

“Oh, get a room already,” Nick
said.

Mason smiled, ignoring the remark.
“Hey, why not come with us,” he asked.

“What?” So distracted by his touch, it
took her a second to comprehend.

“Great idea,” Nick said, clasping his
hands loudly. She could hear the scrape of his skin as he rubbed
them together, then raised one after crossing his heart. “Your
decision will be our command on this. Swear.”

“Put your hand down,” she
said.

“I’ll meet you two outside. There’s
something I need from my bike.”

She nodded and turned to go get her
coat. The leather scent of Mason’s jacket made her turn, found him
next to her, and she looked up into his face. His gray eyes were
warm, sad, with a touch of something else.

“About this shooting,” she said. “Will
you be talking to someone... you know. It can’t be an easy thing to
deal with...”

“First thing in the
morning,” he said with a deep sigh. “Cops who don’t make use of
department shrinks burn out. I don’t intend to burn. I know, deep
down, if there had been any other way, that jerk would still be
standing instead of in the hospital. Come on. Get your coat.
Your
Spook
friend
is waiting out in the cold.”

Georgie smiled. “He grows on you,
doesn’t he?”

“God, it’s a frightening thought, but
he does. He should have been a bartender.”

“There isn’t a drink you can name he
can’t mix or tell you how it’s done.” At Mason’s doubting look,
Georgie smiled. “Not kidding. And you know what? Had I not heard
you two, he would never have told me what you said.”

“Was he a priest too?”

This time, Georgie did laugh. “Nick, a
priest? Yeah, right.”

~~0~~

Mason drove his 4Runner onto Upper
State Street. It was not what Georgie expected. It was a portion of
Portland she had actually never seen; not even when Jeffrey’s dad
passed away. Mr. Sanders had been cremated and by the firm wishes
of the deceased, there had been no memorial service; neither at the
church or home. So, even then, Georgie had not set foot in
Jeffrey's house.

The houses were older, but
not as old as
older
Portland
; nicely spaced, all multi-level
and yards neatly trimmed. They had to be in the three to four
hundred thousand dollar bracket, if not more.

“He lives nice, your
accountant.”

“Hey, I pay my people well,” she told
Mason. “I just didn’t know how well. Actually, I think it’s old
money here. His dad probably bought this when it was under a
hundred thousand. You can see it’s been renovated. This is an area
I’ve not seen before.”

Nick opened his door, but Georgie kept
him from getting out. “No. I’ll do it,” she said.

“Do what?”

“I don’t know,” she said, getting out.
“But I’ll do it when I get there.”

“Get your butt back in
here.”

By that time, Georgie was out of the
car and going up the brick walkway. Somewhere a small dog barked.
She turned to look. All the houses had one or more lights on, but
not here. Jeffrey’s house was dark; not even the walkway was
lighted as were the rest of the houses. Georgie shivered. Her coat
wasn’t keeping out the cold and she rubbed her arms. She tugged at
the sleeves to cover her hands.

Mason and Nick came up behind her with
flashlights. Nick and she made their way to the garage while Mason
went to the house. The large doublewide garage door was not
completely down. If the alarm was set, it was unlikely to be
activated here.

“Nick!” she hissed.

But by that time, Nick had already
raised the door so they could look inside. No alarm went off, and
he grinned at her. A dim light on the wall did come on
automatically, and revealed a neatly kept garage... but no
vehicle.

“Talk about a neat-ass garage,” Nick
murmured. “This guy is...”

Georgie was about to walk in, but
Nick’s out stretched arm stopped her. He pointed to an area near
the cement floor and midway up. She saw two small red lights. He
motioned the other wall. Two more lights.

“No one’s home,” Mason said, coming up
behind them.

Georgie pointed at the security red
lights.

“High-end security,” he said. “No
movement in the house; not a single light is on.” He moved the
flashlight beam slowly about the garage. The shelves were all
neatly kept, labeled with plastic covers over the wording, work
tools all hung on hooks, not random nails. The cement floor was
clean.

“
Wow,” Mason murmured,
“Not even an oil or grease stain.”

When an upstairs’ light came on in the
house next door, Nick nudged them to get back in the car. Georgie
looked back over her shoulder, and saw Nick snap off a leaf from
the nearest shrub and stick it on the track of the garage door. “He
comes home, we’ll know.”

Chapter twelve

After pouring each of the
men a cup of coffee, Georgie poured one for herself and sat down at
the kitchen table. For a moment no one said anything, nor did they
drink. Who would’ve
thunk
it, she thought, her dull predictable life
suddenly turning into this.

But it had.

“I say we stake out the place,” Nick
said, finally taking a hefty drink. “He’s bound to come home sooner
or later.”

“And when the neighbors call the
police?” Georgie asked.

Nick’s mouth pulled to the side, and
looked to Mason. “That’s right. Dudley Do-Right won’t be at work.
There goes my inside contact.”

It took a second, Georgie
burying her face in her hands, and her elbows on the table, before
Nick’s words sunk in, and Mason’s eyes snapped wide. His eyebrows
arched high as he set down his cup and let his full weight drop
back against the seat. “The Mad OB/GYN calls me M&M. You call
me Badge 747, and the Spook, here, calls me
Dudley Do-Right
?”

“Mad OB/GYN!” Nick burst out, choking
on his coffee, then sobered. “God, don’t ever let Cassie hear you
call her that. She will hurt you, my man. I am talking deep
pain.”

“If it’s any consolation,”
Georgie tried to undo the damage. “I now call you Mason... or
Officer Montgomery. And what are you talking about? You call
him
Spook
, and
Cassie the Mad OB/GYN. And let’s not forget you calling me,
George
.”

“All terms of endearment,” Mason
defended.

“Uh huh.”

“I think I’ll take a drive
over to Jeffrey’s tomorrow,” Nick said, bringing them all back to
the
now
.

When Georgie opened her mouth to
protest, he raised his hands to assure her. “Just to have a
look.”

“Promise you won’t talk to him.” When
he refused to answer, she persisted. “Give me your word, and if you
break it, I swear I’ll never forgive you, and you can just find
another place to call home, Mr. Underwood.”

“Aww, Georgie Girl.”

The hurt in his face stabbed her, and
she grasped his shoulder. “Oh, Nick, I didn’t mean it the way it
came out... I...”

“God, you are so easy,” he laughed with
a tug to her hair.

With a loud groan of being had once
more by him, Georgie gave Nick a sharp shove. “Damn you! But just
promise me.”

“Okay, okay.”

“Tell you what,” Mason said. “After I
get through with The R.B., and the department shrink, we’ll both
swing by the place,” then motioned with spread hands to stress,
“just to take a look. I’ll keep him out of trouble... and me.
Promise.”

“The lamb taking care of the wolf,” she
said. “I can see that’s going to work.”

“What a minute,” Nick put in. “Which
one of us is the lamb?”

“Nick!” Georgie glared at
him.

“Okay.” He drew back, hands up in
surrender. “Not important. Not important.”

“I can see there’s no stopping either
of you. Better you go together, I guess. But I want it noted that I
told you it is a bad idea.”

“It is noted,” Mason said.

After a second round of coffee,
Georgie pointed at Nick. “You will say nothing of this to the kids
on Saturday.”

Nick swore his oath while crossing his
heart, but she could tell he wasn’t liking the idea. Without
looking at her, he went to put his cup in the sink then stood there
leaning against the counter. Mason also stood then slipped on his
jacket. Georgie wasn’t ready to have him leave, but knew there was
nothing to hold him.

“
You want to come to
dinner tomorrow night?” she asked him, and thought,
My God, who said that? It couldn’t have been
me
. But it had been her, and all she could
do now was follow through.

“Dinner?”

“Very simple gathering,” she explained.
“My two kids, one spouse, one crazy...”

“I resent that,” Nick put
in.

“And Cassie and April,” she finished,
ignoring Nick’s comment. “About seven o’clock. Oh. It never
occurred to me. Being Saturday night, you probably already have a
date.” She swallowed hard and forced herself to say, “You can bring
her, if you like.”

He said nothing for a moment then
smiled at her. “If I must bring a date, can it be you?” But then
looked to Nick then back at her. “Unless you already have a
date.”

Nick was quick to defend with a burst
of a laugh while pointing to himself with spread his fingers on his
chest, then waved off the notion. “Me? Oh, no, no, no. I’m just
spending the night with her.” His grin was wide.

“Nick,” she started to plea, but rubbed
her forehead instead, resigned to what she could not change, and
hoped Mason would understand. To make more of the remark would
worsen it. She shied a glance at Mason.

He was keeping his sight on Nick, and
to her surprise, his mouth pulled into a smile before pointing a
finger. “If you were any other man, I’d make sure you went out the
door with me. But tonight? I’m glad she has someone other than
Daisy and Max.”

Nick’s face scrunched up in the most
tragic hurtful mask. “You know, I don’t know which I find more
offensive, being called crazy or considered benign. Thank you very
much, you two.”

The leather felt cold as Mason looped
his arm around hers. “Walk me to my car,” he asked, then helped her
into her coat.

As she led the way to the living room,
Mason and Nick touched knuckles in passing. Nick looked at her but
offered no comment. Daisy followed them outside. Even with her coat
on Georgie shivered in the cold night. She had to get herself a
good Parka, she thought. The days and nights were promising an
extra cold winter.

Mason’s cell phone went off. He
stopped, pulled it out of his belt holder, and flipped it open.
“Montgomery.”

There was a pause and she thought he
would move away to talk, but he didn’t. She took a step to offer
him privacy, but he took hold of her coat lapel and kept her near
him.

“I’m fine,” he said into the phone, and
Georgie was certain it was a woman’s voice at the other end. “I’m
with friends. No. Don’t worry. The end result would have been the
same if you’d been there. Guilt has no place here.”

Tonie, Georgie thought, and
her stomach tightened. She had no right to feel this way.
Tonie
was
his
partner, but the twist was there nonetheless.

“The Review Board thought
administrative leave was best. Yeah, it sucks, but it’s procedure.
I’m fine with it.”

As he spoke, he reached out and pushed
aside a strand of hair the breeze had brushed across Georgie’s
forehead and eyes. More than anything, Georgie wanted to lean into
the gesture and feel the hand, its warmth.

“The Board will have another shot at me
in the morning,” he said into the phone, “then I go see the shrink.
I.A.? I can’t see any reason for Internal Affairs to be called in.
The guy’s still alive, but if they do step in, I’m okay with that
too. My Rep. will be there. No. Shrinks don’t bother
me.”