Part 7 (1/2)
Nicholas merely grunted. The mortal police wouldn't have been of much use against Ernie.
He would have been long gone, taking Jo with him before they could even get there. Still, he asked curiously, ”Why didn't you call the police?”
Jo was silent for a minute and then rather than answer, said, ”It was pretty impressive the way you jumped over the balcony rail to the truck like you did.”
”I used to be a high-jump champ in high school,” Nicholas lied blandly.
”And I suppose Ernie, Bricker, and Anders were as well?”
Nicholas grimaced but merely said, ”I wouldn't know.”
”Right,” she drawled dryly. ”And Ernie managed to get through both of my apartment doors with little enough effort. No one I know could have done that.”
”It's an old building,” Nicholas said with a shrug.
”Yes it is,” she agreed, but then added, ”However, those weren't old or flimsy doors. I made sure they were solid oak doors and had the locks put on myself when I moved in. Ernie shouldn't have been able to break through as he did, and he certainly shouldn't have been able to send the deck chair flying either. It was heavy as h.e.l.l and you jammed it in good, yet it hardly slowed him down.”
Nicholas's mouth tightened, but he didn't comment. He'd pulled into the veterinary clinic parking lot and now sandwiched the van in a spot marked ”reserved” between two clinic vans, hoping it would be enough to hide their vehicle. Turning off the engine, he opened his door, saying, ”Sit tight. I' ll come around and get Charlie.”
He caught the startled way Jo glanced around and the suspicion that immediately lit her face when she saw where they were.
”How did you know where the clinic was?” she asked the moment he opened her door, and he noted the way her grip tightened on her dog when he reached for Charlie.
Nicholas raised one eyebrow and pointed out, ”You said it was on this road.”
”Yes, but-”
”And the big sign on the front lawn that says Hillsdale Veterinary Clinic was a help,” he interrupted dryly. ”I presume this is the right one and there isn't another clinic further up the road?”
”No,” she admitted on a sigh and relaxed. Nicholas leaned in to scoop up the dog and this time she let him. He then waited just long enough for her to slip out of the van and close the door before heading toward the clinic entrance. He walked at a good clip, just enough to keep her jogging to keep up with him so that she didn't have the time or breath to ask further questions. When he reached the door, he s.h.i.+fted the dog to open it himself and stepped inside, only to pause at the sight of the packed waiting room.
The cacophony of barking dogs, mewling cats, squawking birds, and yipping people that rolled over them as they entered seemed to put some life back in Charlie. He barked with excitement, body twisting and legs kicking in a demand to be set down, but Nicholas ignored him, ground his teeth, and walked straight up to the counter, his eyes zeroing in on the older of the two women behind it. By the time Jo caught up with him, the woman's face was blank and she was moving around the counter to meet them.
”What did you tell her?” Jo asked in an amazed whisper as they followed the woman to an examination room.
Nicholas caught the guilty look she was casting to those waiting with their pets, but wasn't sorry he'd taken control of the woman to speed the process along. They had a rogue and two enforcers after them, and the longer they were here, the more chance there was they'd be trailed and caught. He'd done what he had to do. Rather than answer her question, he set Charlie on the examination table, and then said, ”I need to make a phone call,” before slipping out of the room.
From the concern she'd shown over her pet, Nicholas had expected Jo would stay with the mutt. It would have been convenient. He had hoped to call the enforcer house and tell them to have Bricker and Anders pick her up here, and then watch the building from a safe distance to be sure Ernie didn't get to her first. Unfortunately, Jo was a smart cookie. She chased after him, catching him by the elbow at the exit.
”You're dumping us here,” Jo said accusingly.
Nicholas avoided her gaze and lied, ”No. Of course not. I told you, I need to make a phone call.”
Her eyes narrowed, but she held out her hand. ”Then give me the van keys.”
”What?” he asked with amazement.
”If you're just making a call, you don't need the keys,” Jo said with inarguable logic. ”So give me the keys and go make your call or I start yelling rape and tell everyone here that you are the one who hurt Charlie, and while you're trying to fight off this animal- loving mob, I run out and slash your tires and neither of us goes anywhere.”
”Jesus, woman,” Nicholas muttered with amazement.
”I' ll do it,” she warned. Nicholas opened his mouth, closed it, and then sighed and said, ”Jo, I'm just calling Bricker and Anders to have them come get you. I wouldn't take off until I knew you were safe. You're better off with them. At the house Mortimer and the others can keep you safe.”
”Oh yeah, because they've done such a bang-up job already, at the house last night and then just now at my apartment,” she said dryly.
”That was...” Nicholas paused when she arched one eyebrow. Actually they hadn' t done such a hot job of keeping her safe so far, he acknowledged. Still...
”I want answers, Argeneau,” she said grimly. ”I'm worried sick about what my sister has got herself into. My dog has been hurt, and some crazy guy is after me, and I want to know what the h.e.l.l is going on.”
”Mortimer-” he began.
”Mortimer and those guys won't give me answers,” Jo snapped impatiently. ”From everything you've said they're more likely to wipe my memories instead, and then-what? Keep me an unwilling 'guest' at the house until this-whatever this is-all blows over?”
Nicholas grimaced guiltily; that was exactly what they would do. Sighing, he ran one hand through his hair agitatedly, and then asked, ”What makes you think you'd get any answers from me?”
”Because I'm going to pester the h.e.l.l out of you until I get them,” she said bluntly. ”Now, do I get the keys or should I start screaming my head off?”
Nicholas stared at her silently, a reluctant smile curving his lips. It was inconvenient as h.e.l.l that he couldn't read or control her... but it certainly made life interesting, he decided. Pulling his keys from his pocket, he handed them over. ”There. Now get back to Charlie.”
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. ”What are you going to do?”
”I told you, I have a phone call to make,” he said solemnly. ”If you're done before I come back in, I' ll be in the parking lot.”
Jo hesitated, obviously suspecting a trick, but then she apparently decided to trust him and turned to walk back into the examination room.
Nicholas watched her go with admiration. He didn't doubt for a minute that she would have started screaming if he'd tried to leave, but that wasn't why he'd given her his keys. He had done so because Josephine Willan was one interesting woman: plucky, caring, strong, determined, and s.e.xy as h.e.l.l. He didn't want to leave her there and couldn't resist the temptation of keeping her with him for at least a little longer.
It might just have been the stupidest decision he'd ever made in his life, of course. But then Nicholas had made a lot of those in his five hundred and sixty years, and if he'd learned anything in that time it was that regret was a waste of time... and he'd wasted fifty years on that emotion already. The examination door closed, cutting off his view of Jo. Nicholas sighed and started to exit the building, but paused when one of the other examination room doors opened. An older gentleman appeared, his face not dissimilar to that of the bulldog he was leading on a leash.
As the man led the dog to the counter, Nicholas quickly slid into the fellow's thoughts. After finding out the man had a cell phone and where he was headed on leaving there, Nicholas went outside to wait for him. He'd use the fellow's phone to call the enforcer house and find out if Ernie was caught without risking the call being traced or the phone being tracked to him.
Jo stepped out of the clinic and paused to quickly scan the parking lot. The van was still there of course, she had the keys. But she'd still worried that Nicholas would either hot-wire the van, had another set of keys, or would leave on foot. That wasn't the case, however, the van was there, and so was Nicholas, just visible inside the van. The moment she spotted him, however, he was opening the door and slipping out to hurry toward them.
”If you tell me which vehicle it is, miss, I' ll take Charlie to it.”
”Oh, sorry.” Jo turned to offer the vet's a.s.sistant an apologetic smile. He was struggling to hold Charlie. She hadn't wanted to walk the German shepherd through the waiting room without a leash. Fortunately, the vet hadn't liked the idea either and had sent for one of his a.s.sistants to carry him out for her. The German shepherd was heavy, though, and also wasn't happy being carried anymore. The moment the vet had shown up, Charlie had suddenly regained his spirit. All through the examination, he'd wagged his tail happily, barked, and tried to lick the doctor in h.e.l.lo, basically acting like there wasn't a thing wrong with him.
Jo hadn' t been at all surprised when the vet finally announced that it was no doubt a mild concussion as she'd feared, but that Charlie should recover quickly and be fine. He said to keep an eye out, and if Charlie started to vomit or demonstrate any other unusual behavior, she was to bring him directly back in, but he could go home for now.
”You can put him down now, thanks,” Jo said. ”Charlie won' t run. I just didn't want him to be loose in the waiting room with the other animals.”
”Oh, that's all right, Miss Willan,” the a.s.sistant said, smiling despite the squirming dog. ”I'm happy to help. I' ll carry him to your car for you. We wouldn' t want one of the other owners coming out with an animal and-”
He broke off with surprise as Nicholas reached them and plucked Charlie from his arms.
Jo's eyebrows rose, not at the peremptory way he took her dog from the young man, but at the scowl he sent the a.s.sistant as he growled, ”She doesn't need your help. She has me.”
The a.s.sistant swallowed. ”Right. Well... I' ll just...”