Midnight Caller

Besides, what kind of father would he be? He’d never had a role model. Just like that kid he’d met today. No uncles. Not even an older brother. His mom didn’t bring dates home to meet him ’til his late teens. It had been just him, his mom and his sister. What if he didn’t measure up? He saw the results of bad parenting every day on his job. Nope. No kids for him.

Tony dragged his hand over his face. He needed to buckle down and work. But on what? They didn’t have one lead that hadn’t been investigated. As much as it sickened him, he had to acknowledge they’d hit a brick wall and couldn’t do another thing but retrace their steps until the killer made another move.

He flipped open the folder and studied the picture. This woman was somebody’s wife, somebody’s mother, somebody’s friend. Experience told him she was probably already dead. Sarge was right. Three was a very unsettling number.

TWO

Erin tugged the business card out of her pocket.

“I see you still haven’t thrown that away.” Tess plopped her ample girth onto a nearby kitchen chair. “Must be you are at least considering the lad’s offer.” The older woman squinted. “What are you doing in here, anyway? Cleaning the kitchen is my job.”

“I thought I’d give you a hand.”

“You know what they say about two cooks in a kitchen…”

Erin smiled. Tess was notorious for spouting the first line of famous sayings and never finishing them. One of these days, she was going to put her on the spot and see if she even knew the other halves of those sayings.

“So?” Her aunt peered across eyeglasses riding low on her nose and waited.

“I have no intention of taking his offer seriously.”

“Is that so?” Tess pretended to brush nonexisting crumbs off the table into her upturned palm. “Even though you went through the trouble to find out he is, indeed, an honorable law enforcement officer?”

Erin ignored her.

“Even though Jack has his heart set on riding the boys’ bus? Even though the gentleman was nice enough to offer to ride with him? You’re just not going to do it. Makes sense to me. Sure it does.”

Erin sighed. “You don’t understand. I can’t ask a total stranger to play Jack’s dad. It’s humiliating.”

“First of all, lass, he’s not a stranger. He’s a police officer from our very own community who has a kind heart for a handicapped boy. And you’re not asking him to play Jack’s dad. Just to accompany him on the bus. Besides, he volunteered.”

“We’ve been over this a hundred times. No. Now that’s the end of it.”

“Harrumph. That’s stubbornness and pride speaking.”

“Well, it must be an inherited trait.” She shot Tess her best “don’t go there” glare.

The older woman pushed back her chair and stood. “Maybe you ought to pray on it. I know Jack’s been praying every night. Did you ever stop to think that maybe the good Lord put this police officer in your path as an answer to Jack’s prayers?”

Silence stretched between them.

“I’m going to check on the boy. It’s obvious I’m talking to a brick wall in here.”

Erin shook her head. What was she going to do with Tess? The sixty-five-year-old had a bad habit of pushing too hard in things that were just none of her business and Erin hadn’t found a loving way to discourage the meddling.

Walking over to the trash, she tossed the card in the bin. There. That’s where you belong. You’ve caused enough trouble in this house. She stared for several minutes at the small white rectangle lying atop discarded lettuce. Instead of a business card, she saw dark eyes framed by crinkled smile lines. She felt the soft caress of his breath against her skin. She smelled the musky, masculine scent of him.

Shaking her head to rid herself of those nonproductive thoughts another image slipped into her consciousness, the pleading eyes of her son. Before she could change her mind, she snatched the card back up, swiped it on the leg of her jeans to wipe off any lettuce residue and shoved it back into her pocket.

Erin had finished sweeping the floor when Tess reentered the room. “Everything, okay?”

Tess chuckled. “The lad’s built a small city in the living room with those plastic blocks. Maybe he’ll be an architect when he grows up.”

Before she could respond, the phone rang. She snatched up the receiver. “Hello?” Erin paused for several seconds before repeating her greeting. “Hello, is anybody there?” She strained to listen and was certain she heard breathing. Someone was there. Why didn’t they answer? Her mouth twisted in a frown and she hung up.

“Who was it?” Tess asked.

“Nobody. Probably a wrong number.”

“Funny, they can’t dial the number they want, but they can remember our number long enough to call it a dozen times by mistake.”

Erin poured herself a mug of freshly brewed coffee and joined her aunt at the kitchen table. “Maybe it’s a telemarketer. These days a computer dials the number and connects to a salesperson only after you answer. It takes a bit for the connection to go through.”

“Uh-huh.” Tess pushed her bifocals down her nose and stared intently at her niece. “And I suppose you’re wearing your worry face because you’re afraid you might be missin’ the sale of a lifetime?”

Erin chuckled and sipped her coffee.

“I might be getting a little deaf, lass, but I’m not blind. Someone’s been calling this house at odd hours for the past four days and I never see you talking to anyone. What’s going on?”

Erin shrugged. “Honestly, Tess, I haven’t a clue. I answer. They don’t. End of story.”

“Don’t tell me ‘end of story.’ Did you write down the number from your caller ID?”

“There isn’t one. It just reads unknown name, unknown number.”

“You need to find out who it is.”

She patted the older woman’s hand. “Don’t get in a dither. It’s just some teenagers playing a prank. They’ll get tired and move on to someone else.” She carried her empty mug to the sink.

“Erin O’Malley, you sit back down here and listen to me.”

Erin, surprised at her aunt’s tone of voice, did as she was told.

“We’re not livin’ in the world I grew up in.” Tess waggled a finger at her. “Used to be you left your doors unlocked. You knew your neighbors and everybody watched out for everybody else. Today it’s a world of strangers. Nobody even takes the time to know the person livin’ right next door. There are more bad guys and less of a way to know who the bad guys are until it’s too late.”

The animation and emotion in her aunt’s face surprised Erin. “I never knew you had such strong feelings about this.”

“Why shouldn’t I? Age blesses one with wisdom, lass. We are two single women living alone with a handicapped child to protect. You need to be more concerned when something strange happens. How can you protect yourself, or us, if you don’t keep your eyes open to what’s going on around you? And what’s going on around you right now isn’t right. You need to fix it.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Erin asked, suddenly suspicious of her aunt’s true motives. “Call a cop? Or did you have a particular detective in mind?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tess ducked her head.

Erin almost laughed out loud at the expression on her aunt’s face when she realized her ploy hadn’t worked.

“Shame on you for trying to scare me,” Erin said.

“I’m speakin’ the truth,” Tess insisted. “If you used that brain of yours, you’d be smart enough to be scared.” Tess carried her own empty mug to the sink. “I don’t see how it could hurt to ask the detective’s advice. He’s expecting you to call him anyway. So do it.” She glanced over her shoulder. “And just so you know, I meant every word I said.”