Stolen Page 3

  “Oops,” said Janie, fabricating a lie to the police. “Looks like we don’t have video of the intruder after all. My fault I am afraid. My boss has been out of the country and I admit, I slipped up. I apologize Mrs. Wyler.”

  With a glance, Janie signaled to her boss.

  “We can discuss it later,” said Mrs. Wyler, playing her part.

  But Janie’s good deed had unexpected consequences. Just when she thought she detected redeemable qualities in Mrs. Wyler, Mrs. Wyler threw an innocent bystander under the bus.

  “So, is there anyone you can think of,” asked Officer Miller, “who might be mad at you enough to do something like this?”

  Each of the cops, including Officer Miller handed Janie their cards. Mrs. Wyler’s relaxed; her eyes gathered with smoldering evil.

  “Why yes I can,” she replied, pretending to be hesitant. “I hate to even think – I mean I didn’t even go there because as much as we don’t get along, I would never dream –“

  “That’s okay, just tell us and we’ll rule them out. If they’re innocent, they have nothing to worry about,” said Officer Miller.

  “Jane, Mr. Morrissey said he gave you his contact information. Will you please go fetch it for the detectives?” asked Mrs. Wyler.

  Janie could not believe her ears. She was going to implicate Colin when she had a hunch the perpetrator was her own son.

  “I don’t understand,” said Janie in her most polite tone. “Why would we need to give Officer Miller –“

  “Fetch it, please,” ordered Mrs. Wyler acidly.

  Her boss might as well have touched her with a cattle prod by using the word fetch. She took a deep breath and looked Officer Miller in the eye. He obviously understood what Mrs. Wyler was all about.

  “It’ll take me just a minute,” said Janie tensely.

  “I’ll follow you out,” said Officer Miller. “The guys here are going to walk around the property and examine the scene. You ladies didn’t touch anything, correct?”

  “No,” said Mrs. Wyler sarcastically. “This one was asleep until a short while ago. Wait are you going to finger print and that sort of thing?”

  “Yes,” said Officer Miller.

  “I am sorry to have bothered you. It’s not a good time after all,” Mrs. Wyler glared. “If we can get that video recovered, we will let you know.”

  Officer Miller summoned the detectives off of the scene of the robbery. He definitely had to be in the Wyler pockets, thought Janie, or her pants. No cop worth his or her salt would let her get away with that.

  “Thanks,” said Mrs. Wyler sympathetically. “I’m exhausted and I have plans for the evening. Gentlemen, if you’ll excuse me?”

  “Lola,” said Officer Miller in a fatherly tone. “We’ll take care of everything.”

  He placed a firm hand on the small of Janie’s back and guided her out of the house as far as their cars which glutted the circular drive.

  “The guest house is a bit of a walk,” she said. “How about if I text you Mr. Morrissey’s information with the pictures?”

  “How about hop in?” said Officer Miller, flashing a charming smile. “We’ll give you a lift.”

  Before she could protest, he held the door for her. He was laying on his Prince Charming act heavily. If she hadn’t been so stirred up by her sexy phantom, she might not have fallen for it but he was attractive. It had been far too long since she was given the gentlemanly treatment. She liked it a lot. She slipped into back of the squad car like it was the Wyler’s limousine. The cop climbed in the driver seat and the police cruiser smoothly glided the route that led to her quarters.

  “You know this place pretty well,” she remarked to Officer Miller.

  Their eyes met in the rearview, which framed his gaze like a mask. His eyes were dark and deep and haunting. Janie flashed back to her burglar. She could not help but draw a comparison. Office Miller was as charming, very familiar, and though he didn’t feel like the same guy, he was certainly good looking enough to be her burglar.

  “We’ve been here a few times,” he smiled in a flash. “Though I don’t think you and I have met before.”

  “I travel between my employers’ properties. It’s been a while since I’ve been here,” said Janie.

  Just as the police were going to pull into her driveway, a cyclist zipped down the hill, his head turning directly to her. She had been spotted in the backseat of a police car.

  “That’s embarrassing,” she remarked dryly. “I am not exactly in a good seat here.”

  “Sorry about that,” Officer Miller chuckled. “I hope it was no one you knew. I can go pull him over and explain if you want.”

  Janie looked at him like she wasn’t sure if he was being serious.

  “I am kidding,” he replied, reading her mind.

  Quick to the task, he opened her car door for her – she wouldn’t be able to herself. Janie dashed into the guest house, for her own records, quickly took a snapshot of Morrissey’s card before she begrudgingly handed it off to him. She felt like she was turning Colin over to the police unfairly.

  “Before I give this to you,” she said. “Um- “

  She stopped.

  “Yes?” he asked darkly.

  “I don’t think you need this,” she said, torn between protecting Harry over Colin. “I can’t imagine this is the guy you’re looking for.”

  Officer Miller took it anyway.

  “Thanks for letting us know,” he said smoothly.

  He shook her hand, lingering just enough to be almost inappropriate. Janie wondered. It was plausible that the cop with access to everyone’s house was really her sexy cat burglar, but she kind of hoped not. It probably wasn’t the handsome professor, either, or whatever he did for a living.

  As the police cruiser pulled away, Harry Wyler crossed Janie’s mind. The overgrown brat was the reason why Mrs. Wyler threw shade on an innocent man. She wondered if she should tip off Colin or better, confront the spoiled rotten Wyler son face to face. She was tired of fielding the damage he caused in other people’s lives.

  Chapter Four

  Janie knew that Mrs. Wyler ducking out from the cops was code for she was down for her four-martini nap. It was a safe bet that the boss would be out of her hair for the remainder of the day, and wouldn’t be up and around until she had to leave to meet Colin.

  She had a pang of guilt that Mrs. Wyler sent the cops to him. She was just about to call him when she heard the click of a bike as it slowed into her driveway. The rider hemmed her against her car. It was Colin.

  “Hi there,” she said sensually.

  He definitely cut a fine figure in his racing attire.

  “Hi,” he said smoothly. “Did I see you in the back of a cop car? Have we been naughty?”

  “Yes - no,” she whispered. “Yes, I was in a car and no I wasn’t – “

  She stopped. She was blushing so hard. She couldn’t say the word ‘naughty’ to him so he said it for her.

  “Naughty,” he grinned like the devil.

  “You can’t be here,” she warned.

  “Looks like I’m doing a good job of it,” he smirked.

  “She’s back. Mrs. Wyler is back,” she explained.

  “I know. We’re meeting tonight. Does she venture to this neck of the woods? To the servants’ quarters?” he smirked. “Unless you and she are buddies or something, she’s not going to catch me.”

  “What are you doing here?” she asked suspiciously.

  “Well I just happened to be riding – I suspect you get a lot of cyclists through here. It’s a tasty road.”

  “Yes, we do,” she said. “So, this is just a random collision? I’ve never met you before and now here we are?”

  She whispered as softly as she could that the police wanted to talk to him. She didn’t want the security monitors to pick up what she was saying.

  “What?” he asked, cupping the back of his ear playfully.

  She repeated herself.

  “
Still can’t hear you,” he said and got closer and closer.

  She tilted her head until her lips were in his ear, practically.

  “Mrs. Wyler’s house was burglarized – well, almost. Security video shows a person in the shadows walking outside.” she said. “She kind of intimidated she thought it was you.”

  “Why is that?” he asked, growing edgy.

  “The cops asked if she had anyone who didn’t like her,” replied Janie completely mesmerized.

  “And you only gave them my card?” he laughed. “No one else’s? I can’t be the only person who doesn’t like her. You don’t. With a thug for a son –“

  “Whatever,” countered Janie. “That cop knows of her as well as anyone. If she has more enemies than you –“

  “Ish,” he shook. “I am not her enemy per se. I am not her friend and I want to hold her son accountable –“

  “While keeping princess shielded,” added Janie.

  “Whose side are you on? Do you like young adult men of means taking advantage of underaged girls?” he protested.

  “No,” Janie said bluntly.

  “Look, I like you,” he said. “I am not taking this out on you. You have a duty to your boss and I have a duty to my daughter.”

  There was silent awkwardness. Janie was eager to end their conversation and go inside. The sun was warm and she wasn’t as interested in Colin as she thought she might be. He on the other hand, liked her, she could tell. Their age difference was a little much she thought. She was closer to his daughter’s age than his.

  “Very well then, it is decided,” he said finally. “I’ll ambush her at dinner.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “No,” he replied, his face so close to hers that any closer they’d be kissing. “Thank you. You may have just saved my hide with the tip off.”

  He swung his leg over his bike and pedaled slowly to the road.

  “Ms. Jordan,” he said.

  “My name is Janie,” she said.

  “I know it is,” he said in a sensual tone.

  He turned and rolled the drive slowly.

  “Were you going to say something?” she asked him curiously.

  “I was,” he grinned. “But then I thought I should mind my manners.”

  Chapter Five

  Janie thought she was alone at last with Mrs. Wyler safely tucked away for hours on a nap. She sneaked over to the main house kitchen to fix herself lunch, while thinking Colin Morrissey could not have been randomly on a bike ride in her neighborhood as the cops were there. It was a little too suspicious for her. It was almost like he was watching the house.

  She played the tape of her burglar again – just often enough so that it wouldn’t get old. The recollection of the whispers and the smooth manhandling made her yearn for something more than making the Wylers’ world spin. It was crazy but despite being immersed in luxury and ease, the memory of her brush with a criminal was the only thing that made her feel alive lately.

  Janie boldly raided the fridge of salad vegetables when she heard the main house front door open and close. She froze. She gripped the knife in her hand primed to chop lettuce, a little tighter. Her heart raced. She slowly turned around to face whomever had just let himself in. Harry.

  It had been a very long time indeed since she saw Harry in person. Though most of her duties centered around him, his appearance now in person was almost like seeing a ghost appear. It was more his air that made her feel like she knew him from somewhere, and it wasn’t just from working for his family.

  It was a shame he was such an out of control brat. Mr. and Mrs. Wyler cooked a handsome kid. He was just over six feet and he had the perfect wild hair that was a mix of Rock ‘n Roll and motorcycle, with a little Pride and Prejudice thrown in. His presence had a supernatural air.

  He made her very nervous given the trouble he had been in, especially if it was him on the security tape. The behavior of the figure was disturbing. He seemed to take note of her nerves and spoke to her calmly.

  “Apologies,” he began precise manners.

  He was polished, something that she didn’t remember about him. His voice had matured and he was so smooth, maybe more so than Colin. His presence, though refined, had a charge and she could find herself drawn in by him.

  He said, “I didn’t mean to startle you. I should have called you first to let you know I would be here. “

  Janie trembled. All she could think of was the shadowy figure on the security video, checking out windows around the house. The video resolution of the video wasn’t clear enough to establish definitively that it was Harry, but who else could it be. It had been a while since she and he were in the same room together – perhaps even a couple of years now. He had changed quite a bit. He was enormous, even larger than Colin.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  He laughed in a deep rich laugh.

  “I live here,” he reminded her with a smile.

  “Since when?” she blurted. “I mean, for how long? You didn’t show up at the meeting at the school –“

  “I know,” he said as though he were talking her down from a ledge. “And I want to really thank you for all that you’ve done for me.”

  Janie suspected his fine manners were just Wyler manipulation but Harry was the only person in his family who ever thanked her. She was riveted. He stepped towards the coffee pot and she stepped back, flinching.

  “Jane,” he said in a honeyed voice. “Does my being here make you nervous?”

  “A little,” she stammered.

  “I am going to help myself to the coffee,” he said. “And I’ll go back to my loft. I do have a kitchen there; I prefer this one for some reason.”

  Janie couldn’t fault him there. She had her own set up in the guest cottage as well and she liked this kitchen as well. They had that in common.

  “How long are you staying?” she asked tensely. “How long have you been here?”

  “I’m done for the semester as well you know, so I guess I will spend my summer here,” he said in an ultra-smooth, polite tone. “It is my house but I should have notified you.”

  “Your mother is here,” she added.

  Harry tensed.

  “Now? Like now?” he asked abruptly.

  Now she laughed.

  “She’s napping. She is going to have drinks with Colin Morrissey and to talk about the burglary. Don’t worry she covered for you. We both did.”

  “What burglary and what do you mean she covered for me?” he asked.

  That was the extent of Harry Wyler’s charm. Janie could abide the occasional necessary fib but a liar she couldn’t tolerate. His innocent act wasn’t quite believable. He was pretending to know nothing about it.

  “Okay,” she shrugged, turning her back to him and resuming her salad making.

  “Seriously, how did you cover for me?” he asked.

  “There is what appears to be a video of you lurking outside on the grounds in the middle of the night – or morning, however you look at it,” Janie replied.

  The expression on Harry’s face as he calculated what she was saying was genuine. If Janie didn’t know any better, she would swear he had no clue. His acting was improving.

  “Can I see the said video?” he asked.

  She pulled out her phone and showed him the footage of him ransacking the living room.

  “How do you explain this?” she asked.

  “Get off it,” he protested. “That’s not me. That person is nowhere near my size. I get that you might not know that but my own mother? I just saw her over spring break. And besides, it is my house. If that were me, and it really isn’t, how am I a lurking on my own property?”

  “You’re lurking outside my property – uh, I mean the guest cottage or near it,” she said.

  “That looks like the main house to me,” he said. “That’s not really the point. There is definitely someone there, it’s not me and I want to talk to the police myself. If this date st
amp is real, I definitely have an alibi.”

  “Oh?” Janie arched her brow. “Where were you and seriously, how long have you been here?”

  “I’ve been coming and going for a few weeks. But never you mind,” he said warmly.

  Janie made a face like she didn’t believe him. She didn’t believe him and she couldn’t hide it.

  “I am telling you,” he insisted. “That is not me. When was this? Last night you say?”

  Though he was agitated, he kept his cool. He didn’t raise his voice much at all, which was very different from his mother in that respect.

  “Yes,” she said, finding herself believing him.

  “Like I said, I have an alibi,” he said.

  Janie offered, “Don’t worry, your mother directed the cops to Colin Morrissey.”

  He cackled.

  “It’s not Colin either,” he mocked. “You silly, Colin played college football. We are roughly the same size. This person is built more like, well, you, except taller.”

  Janie stood up straighter.

  “It’s not me – “ she protested.

  He took hold of her arms firmly and put his face closer to hers so that she would have to look him in the eye.

  “Of course, it’s not. What I meant was, that’s a woman,” he said and then paused as his eyes swept her. “A little shorter than me and taller than you. Slighter than me and hard to say, has on an oversized shirt and with the camera angle –“

  Harry was right. And though he really shouldn’t be touching her, the contact calmed her down. He relaxed his hold on her and stepped back. Janie flashed on the way Colin’s eyes were glued to her Cartier watch. It was a little thing but it stuck with her. She had to forcibly remind herself that her burglar wasn’t necessarily someone she knew.

  He very practically asked, “So did either you or my mother think to call me and ask? Jeezus.”

  “He has dark hair and wearing your shirt and your pants,” she argued apologetically. “Besides I don’t really know how to get in touch with you. I sent you a notice of the various meetings and gave you statuses but you never responded.”