I tried not to look at his house as I moved through it but even though I tried, I saw that it was likely he hadn’t changed a thing. It was tidy, even clean, though the thought of Joe cleaning was worthy of another giggle, it was true. But it was dated and drab, much more dated than seventeen years ago. I figured the house hadn’t changed since Joe’s Mom died, whenever that was but by the looks of things it was a long time ago.
I went to his sliding glass door and out, hustling across the deck, down the steps but I caught movement. I looked across Joe’s yard, my yard and I saw Tina Blackstone in her yard, wearing a nightie and a robe, watering the flowers in her big, half-barrel, wooden tubs on her deck.
She was watering her flowers but her eyes weren’t on her flowers, they were on me and even a yard away, I saw her mouth hanging open.
Shit!
I waved casually to her, rethinking way too late wearing Joe’s tee seeing as, if I was in my clothes, she wouldn’t know that I was over at Joe’s house, having sex with Joe, but now she couldn’t help but know. She couldn’t miss it.
But who would have thought Tina would be out in her yard on a Sunday morning before eight o’clock watering her flowers?
Her flowers were nice which was surprising, she didn’t seem the type to have a green thumb or even give a shit. They weren’t as nice as mine but they were nice. Still, it was Sunday. Even I, before Joe, wasn’t out on a Sunday before eight o’clock watering my flowers.
I headed to my side door, fumbling with my jeans skirt to pull out the key and remote, hitting the remote so my sensors would go off and then struggling with my key. Seeing Tina had weirded me out and right then I was certain everyone would see me.
I got into the house, rearmed the alarm and shot to my room.
Then I took a shower and got ready for my day. I had the afternoon shift at the garden center and I needed to talk to Bobbie about changing the schedule so I could have next weekend off for Sam and Melissa.
After a load of laundry went in and I’d checked my e-mail, Kate and Keira got up. They were still in their pjs on the stools at the bar. Kate was wearing a big t-shirt and a pair of slouchy pajama bottoms. Keira was wearing a camisole and a pair of slouchy pajama bottoms. Kate’s hair was down and partly tangled from sleep. Keira’s hair was in a messy ponytail at the very top of her head. I was at the stove, flipping the first batch of pancakes when Keira made a strange gurgling noise.
Thinking she was choking on orange juice, I turned to her but she had an alarm remote in her hand and her eyes on the side kitchen door.
She jumped off her stool, hit some buttons on the remote and screeched, “Joe!”
I whirled to the door and stood staring at it, spatula in hand as Keira unlocked it, yanked the door open and Joe was standing there. I’d seen him through the window of the door but seeing him standing there, full-body, my breath, already stopped, escaped me.
“I don’t know why you’re here but you have to have some of Mom’s pancakes. They’re better than her cupcakes,” Keira announced.
“That good?” Joe asked, his eyes on me.
Keira grabbed his hand and tugged him in, lying, “Yeah, definitely.”
“Hey Joe,” Kate greeted.
“Hey girl,” Joe greeted back.
“You can sit on my stool,” Keira offered.
“We should sit at the table, seein’ as there’s so many of us, I’ll get the plates,” Kate decided.
“Girl –” Joe started but Kate was on the move and Keira had dropped his hand and was charging into the kitchen to help Kate.
I was still staring at Joe.
The girls exited the room balancing plates, cutlery, napkins, butter and maple syrup as Joe came to me.
“Can your girls take over pancakes?” he asked, his face serious and seeing it, something ugly slid through me.
I nodded.
“Kate,” he called, looking into the dining area, “take over here, yeah?”
She looked through the opening of the bar at Joe then at me then she nodded to Joe.
Joe took the spatula out of my hand, put it on the counter and then he took my hand and dragged me to my bedroom.
He closed the door and looked down at me.
Then he lifted his hands, both of them, and settled them where my shoulders met my neck.
“I’m not here for pancakes,” he told me.
I nodded, staring up at him.
“But I’m stayin’ for pancakes.”
I nodded again, still staring.
“Went out, looked to your house, you had a box at the steps to your front door.”
Damn. I knew it.
“White?” I asked. “Big purple bow?”
I watched as his face went hard then he nodded. “Big bow, big box.”
“Did you get it gone?”
“Yeah, it’s in my house. Called Colt.”
I nodded again.
“That his thing?” Joe asked.
“Yeah.”
“It’s Sunday,” he told me.
“Yeah.”
“He ever do his thing on Sunday?”
“No.” His hands gave me a squeeze and I asked, “What’s that mean?”
“Don’t know.” He was watching me closely then he asked, “How solid are you right now?”
“Not very.”
He hesitated then nodded and said, “All right.”
“Why?”
“Later.”
“No, I need it to hit me all at once so I can deal with it and move on, not spread it out. Spreading it out is bad so, even though I’m freaked, I want to know.”
“Sure?”
I nodded.
His hands at my neck slid up to my jaws and he pulled me close, dipping his chin so he was close too.
“Box was just out of sensor range,” Joe told me.
“What?” I asked.
“Box was out of sensor range. I got sensors set so even if someone approaches the door, you know in the house, a preliminary alarm goes off so you’re aware. Remember, I told you that.”
I nodded, I remembered.
“You set the alarms for sleep, which I’m guessing you did when you came to me last night…” he let that hang and I nodded again.
He had bunches of settings for the sensors, including one for when we were awake but in the house so, say, the postman came, or perhaps Kenzie Elise, we didn’t jump out of our skins because the preliminary alarm went off. But, in the middle of the night, no one should be lurking at our doors, so we had what he called a sleep setting too. It set off an alarm that we could hear, and Joe and Colt could too so they could investigate (and the bad guy could get the hint and go away), but only sent a message to dispatch if the doors and windows were breached or one of us didn’t turn the alarm off before the timer ran down on the message being sent to dispatch.
Joe went on. “Anyone got close, the sensors would trip. Whoever put that box out there knows how the sensors are set.”
“But you can see them,” I reminded him.
“Box was just out of sensor range,” he repeated.
“You said that.”
“You can see them, buddy, but you can’t see the range.”
I sucked in breath, realizing what this meant.
“It’s a message, Vi,” Joe whispered, like whispering would soften the blow. “He’s tellin’ you he knows my system.”
In other words, Daniel Hart was telling me he could get to me.
“Joe,” I whispered.
“He can’t bypass it,” Joe stated.
“He knows it then he can bypass it.”
“He can’t.”
“But, Joe, he knows –”
“Vi, he’d have to shut down the electrical grid for the entire fuckin’ county to bypass my system.”
I blinked at him then I asked, “Really?”
“Yeah. That wirin’ Chip fucked up?” he asked and I nodded yet again. “There you go,” he finished secretively, not enlightening me any further to the method to his madness that made him Security to the Stars.