“There you are,” I said and watched as he removed his shoes and jacket. He came right over to me, and we embraced and kissed. “I’m so glad to see you.”
“I’m so glad to be home. I’m sorry about the whole business this morning and that you had to spend the day alone.”
“Don’t even mention it. We had a very good day, other than the prowler. Come in. I have a nice cold beer waiting for you.”
Luke followed me inside and went right over to pick up Leif and give him a kiss and hug.
“How’s my little man?” Luke said and kissed Leif several times. “How did he do being stuck in the safe room?”
“He was fine. Totally oblivious. As long as he has toys, he’s a happy camper.”
“Good,” Luke said. He sat at the kitchen island while I got him a beer from the refrigerator. “I’ve been thinking all day. Maybe it would be better to move into the city during the year and only come out here when the weather’s good.”
“Are you sure?” I said, feeling bad that we would be leaving, although it honestly made me feel safer thinking of living in the penthouse.
“I am,” Luke said. “That way, I’d only be fifteen minutes away from the office so I could nip in to sign something or have a meeting without disrupting the whole day.”
“I’m game,” I said, glad that we would be moving back to the city.
We took our drinks and went out to the patio. Luke put Leif in his activity chair and then Luke and I sat in the two recliners and watched the ocean. I told Luke about the email I got from Professor Turner.
“That’s great,” Luke said. “I hope they call you for an interview.” He held up his bottle of beer. I tapped my bottle of non-alcoholic wine spritzer against his in a toast. “To you getting a great part-time job at the UN.”
“Cheers,” I said and smiled, feeling excitement at the prospect that I might get an interview.
As we watched the sun set over the ocean, I felt certain that moving into the city would make it easier on us all.
After Luke had time to decompress, I gave Leif his final feed of the evening. We both gave him a bath and then put him to bed for the night. Luke grilled the chicken and vegetables while I got the rest of the meal ready.
We sat at the table and served ourselves, the scent of the food making me salivate.
“It smells so good,” Luke said and dished out some of the Greek salad to us both.
Just then, Luke’s cell rang. When he checked the call display, it was from the local police department. He put it on speakerphone so we could both hear.
“Hello,” Luke said.
“Hello, Mr. Marshall? This is Sergeant Bruce Townsend of the Westhampton Beach Police Department. I’m handling the prowler case regarding your property.”
“Yes, this is Luke Marshall. What news have you got for me? What can you tell me about this Bowen fellow who tried to break into my property?”
“I just wanted you to know that we’ve connected Mr. Bowen to a person of interest to you and your wife, Alexa Dixon Marshall. We were able to examine Bowen’s cellphone and found several dozen contacts with Blaine Northrup of Portland, Oregon, over the preceding three weeks, who is currently out on bail. I thought you would like to know. I can’t give you any more details because of the ongoing case, but just wanted you to be aware.”
My eyes widened at that. That bastard…
“Thank you,” Luke said and frowned, glancing at me. “That’s good to know. We’ve been extra careful about security because of Mr. Northrup. Do you think they’ll be able to charge Mr. Northrup with conspiracy to commit a crime or anything? I mean, it’s no coincidence that the prowler was trying to get into our property and knows Northrup.”
“No, it’s not just a coincidence. I’m sure that police will be trying to elicit as much information from Bowen about the plan to break into the property and will know more in the coming days. Just thought you would like to know that there’s a connection.”
“Yes, very interested in that. Thanks for calling. Please call if you can update me on any further developments.”
“I will,” Townsend said and ended the call.
Luke turned to me. “Damn Blaine. He’s been in contact with Bowen and there were dozens of calls between them over the past few weeks.”
“My God, when will that man ever give up?” I said, anger at Blaine filling me. “If Bowen knows Blaine, there’s no way he wasn’t in this with Blaine, trying to scare me.”
“Or Blaine knows there might be some good electronics at our place and simply figured it was a good place to break into.”
“You’re being too charitable. If Blaine was willing to push Candace onto the tracks, I suspect he was willing to pay this Bowen guy money to attack me — maybe even kill me.”
Luke reached across the table and took my hand in his. “We’re safe now,” he said. “Police know about it and Bowen will probably confess and implicate Blaine if it helps reduce his own sentence. There is no honor among thieves, and so if Blaine was behind this, we’ll probably know soon enough. Let’s forget about Blaine and the whole business and focus on the great news from Professor Turner and the prospect of a job at the UN. And moving into the city.”
Across from him, I sighed heavily and finally nodded. “Yes. I won’t let that bastard ruin my life.”
We held up our bottles once more and toasted each other.
After we cleaned up from dinner, we spent the rest of the evening on the patio with the sound system playing some old gold we both enjoyed and tried to appreciate the warm evening and clear sky over the ocean. It would be hard to forget about Blaine and what happened. Blaine would remain a threat for as long as he was free. I hoped the hood implicated Blaine because he would be taken right into custody and kept there until his trial for breaching the terms of his bail.
When I checked my watch, it was already nine thirty. I couldn’t help but yawn.
“You too tired to dance a bit?” Luke asked, standing and holding out his hand.
“Never too tired to dance with you,” I replied and stood up, smiling and taking his hand. He pulled me into his arms, and we slow-danced to Yellow by Coldplay.
We spent the entire song in each other’s embrace and the feel of his body pressed against mine, my head on his shoulder, aroused me. Luke pulled me more tightly against him and I glanced up, smiling. He was as aroused as I was.
Then, I took his hand and led him inside. Luke closed the sliding doors and locked them, then we went hand in hand up the stairs to the bedroom.
It was the perfect way to end what started off as a very bad day…