Laura lifted the collar of
her jacket, and then pulled the cap she was wearing lower as she
tried to keep to the shadows- not an easy task in the brightly
lit carnival setting. The two men she was attempting to follow
were still ahead of her, laughing, talking, unaware that they
were being observed.
When the shorter of them glanced back, Laura quickly turned
and pretended interest in a gaming booth where people tried to
toss darts to win prizes. She hazarded a quick look to see them
rounding the end of a trailer, and moved quickly to catch up to
them. As she turned the corner, then another, she paused. It was
quiet here- and dark - and apparently empty. There was no sign
of the two men.
Disappointed, Laura turned to retrace her steps, only to be confronted
by the smaller man. "You followin' us, lad?" Laura shook
her head, taking a step back before turning, thinking to make
an escape. But she ran headlong into the arms of the second, larger
man. In the struggle to free herself, Laura's hat fell to the
ground, freeing her brown hair to fall to her shoulders. The first
man reached out to touch the chestnut strands. "Well, well,
whot 'ave we 'ere?" Laura continued to struggle, the the
big man had her arms behind her back.
"She's a young 'un, ain't she, Chalky?"
Chalky's toothless, leering grin sickened Laura. "Lucky for
me that I like 'em young, right?" he asked, joining his friend
in soft laughter. Frightened, Laura kicked out, connecting with
Chalky's shin, causing him to swear loudly. His laughter vanished,
he grabbed her cheeks with bruising fingers.
"Somebody needs t'teach you some manners, little girl."
His face came closer, and Laura could smell the whiskey on his
breath, and closed her eyes. But her struggles to free herself
renewed.
"Uh, Chalky," the man holding her said warningly just
as Laura head a grunt and opened her eyes in time to see Chalky
lying on the ground, moaning, and Harry turning toward her captor.
"You want some of the same?" he asked. "Or are
you going to take your friend and disappear before
the bobbies show?"
The man pushed Laura toward Harry, picked up a still groggy Chalky
as if he were a bag of flour, and disappeared into the darkness.
Laura rested her head against Harry's chest for a moment, enjoying
the feel of his arms around her. Finally his hands closed over
her upper arms to pull her away. "What the devil did you
think you were doing, running off like that? Your father's worried
sick-"
"I didn't think anyone would find out-"
"Was coming to the bloody carnival so important?" he
asked, leading her back toward the lights.
"I didn't come to the carnival. I was following those two
men that YOU just let walk away!" Laura insisted.
Harry stopped and looked down at her. "What are you talking
about?"
"I was getting ready for bed, listening to the carnival through
the open window when I saw those two sneaking around the wall
near the gate. I could tell they were looking for a way inside,
checking to see if there was a security system -"
"Casing Daniel's house?" Harry asked, still not certain
he believed her.
"Exactly! So I grabbed my jeans and a shirt-"
"And followed them. Why didn't you just tell your father?
Or Daniel?"
"Because by that time they would have been long gone. I thought
I could follow them, find out where they went, maybe hear a name
or something - "
"But they made the tail and turned the tables, right?"
She nodded, looking down at her sneakers. "I'm sorry, Harry.
I guess I didn't think. But I was trying to help-"
"Tell that to Mitchell."
"Where is he?" she asked, looking around as if expecting
her father to magically appear.
"Back at the house. Daniel convinced him to let me come and
look for you - which wasn't easy. He's about decided to send you
to that school in Switzerland."
"I won't go. I'll run away first."
"Would you really?"
She nodded again. "I might as well be back in Los Angeles
with Mother and Frances if he leaves me there." She looked
up at him. "Did you go to a boarding school?"
Harry smiled. "Daniel tried to send me to one."
"Tried?"
"I stayed a week and decided that it wasn't where I belonged."
Laura's eyes widened. "You ran away, didn't you?"
"It was almost six months before Daniel managed to catch
up to me."
"Where did you go?"
"I spent some of that time in a place a lot like this,"
he told her, indicating the carnival. "A small circus - "
"You actually WORKED in a CIRCUS?" she asked.
"As a fire eater- did a bit a catching as well-" Harry
recalled, smiling at her wide eyed excitement. "Not really
an experience that I would care to repeat."
"I think it would be FASCINATING to work in a circus,"
Laura sighed. She laughed softly. "For a long time I couldn't
decide if I wanted to work in a circus or be a private investigator."
"And did you finally decide?"
Laura drew herself up to her full height- still a head shorter
than he was. "I'm going to be a Private Investigator."
Seeing a suspicious glint in Harry's eyes, her own narrowed. "Are
you laughing at me?"
Harry's expression was curiously blank. "Not at all. I would
never laugh at you. Wouldn't dare," he said, turning them
back toward the exit.
"Most people do," Laura told him. "They think because
I'm a girl I can't do the job."
"And you think you can." It wasn't a question. It was
a statement.
"I KNOW I can. And I WILL. I'm going to make all those people
who used to laugh at me eat their words someday."
"You probably will."
Laura stopped in her tracks, forcing Harry to stop as well. "Now,
you're patronizing me. Aren't you?"
"You are the most exasperating one female, Laura Holt- NO,
I'm not patronizing you," he assured her, turning to face
her. "I'm trying to tell you that I think you can probably
do whatever you set your mind to do. In fact, I envy you that
focus, that certainty about your future and what you want to do
with it."
"But- you're obviously successful- in -whatever it is you
do -" She tilted her head. "What exactly DO you do,
Harry?"
He took her arm. "Your father's going to send the police
out if I don't get you home," he told her, turning, only
to stop again as he found the way blocked by three men.
The middle one, a short, red haired man, smiled tightly at Harry.
"Well. What have we here?" he asked in a soft Irish
brogue. "Chalmers lap dog, if I'm not mistaken. And with
a charming little lass, at that."
"Flynn," Harry said,pushing Laura slightly behind him.
"Didn't know you were back in London."
"Chalmers didn't tell you that I got out last week? I thought
he'd have kept up on things like that."
"Daniel hasn't mentioned you at all, Flynn. Now, if you'll
excuse us-"
"Uh-uh, lad. Not so fast. I'll be having a word with you
-" He nodded at the men with him.
Flynn grabbed Laura, holding her arms behind her as his friends
jumped Harry. One held him from behind while his partner punched
him in the stomach repeatedly with a hard right fist. Harry grunted,
and Laura winched. "Let him go!" she said, struggling
to free herself .
"Not until I've gotten my message across t'him, lass,"
Flynn told her, watching as Harry fell to the ground, hands to
his stomach, his face in the dirt. One of the men gave him a final,
savage kick as Flynn released Laura, and she turned to place a
well aimed kick to his shin before running to Harry's side and
kneeling. Rubbing his leg, Flynn said, "Tell Chalmers that
he owes me, Harry. Two years in prison is worth more than the
meager pittance I got for taking that fall in his place. Tell
him I'll be in touch." He and his henchmen moved off.
Laura turned her attention back to Harry. "Harry? Can you
get up? Do you want me to find the police? Get some help?"
"No police," he told her, wincing as he sat up, his
arm around her shoulders. "Just get me back home."
Laura let him lean on her as the small crowd that had gathered
vanished back into the carnival- as if the current sideshow had
ended and they needed to seek fresh entertainment. "I'm sorry,
Harry."
"Sorry? What-" he put a hand to his side. "What
do you have to be sorry about?"
"If I hadn't come here tonight, then you wouldn't have been
here, and those men - what did Flynn mean about taking a fall
for Mr. Chalmers?"
"Nothing."
"It meant something to him," Laura pointed out. "Enough
that he had his men beat you up -"
"Laura, no more questions, okay? I don't think I can answer
them at the moment."
"You and Mr. Chalmers are involved in something illegal,
aren't you?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. "You
let those thugs go, and wouldn't let me call the police -"
"Laura - I'll explain- later. Just- let it rest right now."
Laura nodded, suddenly aware that his breathing was punctuated
by painful gasps. He probably had a broken rib. She'd get him
home and let Mr. Chalmers call a doctor to take care of his injuries.
But while she stopped asking Harry questions aloud, she still
thought about them. Most people would have called the police to
take those two would be thieves to jail, she thought. And Flynn's
accusation against Mr. Chalmers was troubling. If he and Harry
WERE involved in something outside the law, did her father know
about it?
She was going to find the answers to her questions - one way or
the other, she thought as they moved up the driveway toward the
house, only to be met by Daniel Chalmers and her father. "Laura.
Thank goodness you're all right, honey," Mitchell said, hugging
her as Daniel took Harry's arm across his own shoulders, relieving
her of the load.
"Be careful," she told Daniel. "I think he might
have a broken rib."
"What happened?" Mitchell asked, coming around to take
Harry's other arm.
"Flynn," Harry managed.
Mitchell's eyes moved to Laura. "Are you all right?"
he wanted to know.
She nodded. "They didn't hurt me. They were just after Harry.
They asked him to deliver a message to Mr. Chalmers."
"I think I know what the message is, Laura," Daniel
said, his voice filled with anger. "But they had no reason
to do this to Harry. Open the door, will you, my dear?"
"He needs a doctor," she said, following as the two
men half carried Harry upstairs.
"He'll be fine," Daniel assured her. "MARY!"
The housekeeper came from below stairs, wearing a robe, her iron
gray hair braided down her back. "Yes, Daniel?"
"I need some bandages upstairs in Harry's room," he
told her. The housekeeper frowned in worry, but nodded before
disappearing again. Laura followed them into Harry's room - which
was across from hers. She stood beside the door as Daniel worked
to removed Harry's torn jacket and shirt, then began to wrap an
elastic bandage that Mary brought around his chest. "Try
to relax, my boy," Daniel said soothingly.
Every time Harry moaned in pain, Laura winced, and she realized
that her father was watching her from across the room. "Aren't
you going to call a doctor?" she asked at last.
"Daniel knows what he's doing, Laura," Mitchell assured
her, coming to her side and putting an arm around her. "You
and I need to have a little chat, don't you think? AFTER you apologize
to Daniel for all the trouble you've caused -"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Chalmers, but I was only trying to-"
"Laura -" Mitchell began, "This isn't the time-"
Harry lifted a hand. "Let her tell it, Mitchell," he
said softly, struggling to breathe easily.
Daniel and Mitchell both looked at her, and Mary slid past her
to leave the room. "Well, I was at my window in my room and
I saw to two suspicious looking men outside the wall. They looked
to me as if they were 'casing' the house for a break in."
"Why didn't you tell one of us about it," Mitchell asked,
"instead of taking off on your own?"
"Because they would have been gone by then. I thought I could
follow them, maybe get some information about who they were, or
where they lived."
"And did you?"
Laura focused on the floor beyond her feet. "No. They led
me to the carnival and I thought I lost them - but they trapped
me."
"Good lord," Mitchell breathed, shaking his head. "You
could have been-"
"I know. If Harry hadn't found me - he scared the men off
and we started back - that's when Flynn and his henchmen stopped
us and beat Harry up." She took a step toward the bed. "I
really am sorry, Harry. I didn't realize - didn't consider what
might happen -"
Daniel pulled her to his side. "There, there, Laura. Your
heart was in the right place, at any rate. You were trying to
help. And at least you were there to help Harry get home when
he needed you. I'm very grateful to you for that."
"I'll try to stop and think next time," she promised.
She looked over at Harry. "Is he going to be all right?"
"Oh, he'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but I think he'll recover.
He's had worse."
Harry reached out his hand, and Laura put hers in it. "Thank
you."
"I owed you," she told him. "After all, you saved
me from those two thugs."
"Consider us even," he told her, releasing her hand
to touch her cheek. "Get some sleep."
Laura nodded, blinking back the tears. She turned toward the door,
but once there, she paused. "Mr. Chalmers, why does Flynn
think you set him up to take a fall for you that cost him two
years in prison?"
"Laura -" Mitchell warned in a firm voice that told
her he was fast approaching the end of his patience.
"A misunderstanding, Laura," Daniel assured her. "I'll
explain it tomorrow- after we've all had a good night's rest."
His answer didn't satisfy Laura, but one glance at her father,
and she knew better than to press for more information. "Good
night."
"I think I'll turn in as well," Mitchell told her. "Good
night, Daniel. Harry."
In the corridor, Laura put her hand on the door knob, hoping to
avoid her father's lecture. "Night, Daddy. I'll see you tomorrow
-"
"You're not getting out of this that easy, young lady. What
you did tonight was dangerous and foolish - and you're lucky that
Harry's going to recover. AND that you weren't hurt-"
"I know that, Daddy. And I AM sorry for all the trouble -
But you know me. It's part of what I've wanted to do all my life."
Mitchell smiled crookedly. "I'm not sure that I'm going to
survive your being a PI if this is what it's going to mean."
"You'd better get used to it. And Daddy - Please don't send
me away to that school."
"We'll finish this discussion tomorrow, honey." He kissed
her forehead. "Get some sleep."
Laura looked at the closed door across the way. "Mr. Chalmers
cares a lot about Harry, doesn't he?"
Mitchell took a deep breath as he touched her chin and nodded.
"Almost as much as I care about you. Now no more questions,
Miss Curiosity. Good night."
Laura grinned. "Good night." Opening her bedroom door,
she paused. "I love you, Daddy."
"And I love you." He shook his head as she closed the
door. He was beginning to wonder how long Daniel could tap dance
around the truth. Laura was already seeing through the lies. But
what would she do if she found out the truth? He had a nagging
feeling that he was going to find out.
To Be Continued . . .