Playing With Fire Page 10

  “Is there something you haven’t told me?”

  “No. I don’t know what’s going on.” He took a step away at Jim’s harsh tone. He didn’t like the way Jim was talking to him at all, and it made him angry. “I don’t have anyone in my life, and the only people I see during the day are my colleagues and the students. You know, last time I went to the grocery store, I went through a different checkout line. Maybe the regular lady got jealous and wondered why I wasn’t seeing her?”

  Jim stared at him blankly, like Barty had gone around the bend or something. See, that was why he didn’t try to relate to people. They never understood him.

  “That was my attempt at sarcasm.”

  “I see that. It wasn’t bad, but not much help.”

  Thankfully the officer returned with a few printouts. “We can see if we can trace this address through the service provider,” he said and handed the printouts to Jim, who looked them over and then showed them to Barty.

  “I think the client’s a woman,” Jim said. “Look at the address. Littlepony3.”

  “I haven’t done anything wrong,” Willard said.

  “Fine. Get all his information and go to his office. See what you can find on this client. We need to know for sure that this isn’t related.” The officers led Willard outside, and Jim closed and locked the door. “There has to be some reason why someone would hire a detective to follow you.”

  “I don’t know,” Barty said again. He hated that Jim didn’t believe him, and he wasn’t going to stand here and argue. What a way to completely ruin the extraordinary feelings of a first kiss, with private detectives and a dose of suspicion. “Can I go upstairs to bed now?” He wanted to get away and be alone.

  Barty left the foyer and found Penelope curled on the sofa in the spot where Jim had been sitting. He picked her up and returned to the other room, where he got his bag and carried it to the top of the stairs, waiting for Jim to show him which room he wanted him to use.

  Jim followed, then led the way down the hall to the room across from his. Jim turned out the lights and closed the door to the first room Barty had gone into, then pushed the door open to the other room. It was nearly as nice as Jim’s, with its warm, substantial furniture.

  “The men tended to sleep at this end of the house and the ladies on the other. The bedrooms down there are much more feminine. I didn’t see any reason to redecorate them. You can look tomorrow if you want.”

  Barty went inside. “Thank you,” he said and closed the bedroom door. Then he put Penelope on the bed and sat on the edge. He was angry and hurt. He and Jim had had a fun evening that had ended with his first kiss, and somehow that had morphed into suspicion. That wasn’t at all how he’d envisioned this moment.

  At a soft knock, Barty got up and opened the door.

  “The bathroom is right through there. There’s a cupboard with towels and anything you might need. My room is just across the hall, so if you need anything….”

  “Like a dose of skepticism,” Barty said. He couldn’t help it. The words just slipped out.

  “It’s my job to ask why and try to figure out the reason for things. It’s how cases are solved. I believe you when you say you don’t know why you were being followed, but the fact is that you were, and the only person right now who might have any answers is you. And I don’t want to try to protect you from our shooter only to have someone else slip under the radar.”

  Barty was only partly mollified. “Who would want to follow me? I bet if I wasn’t involved with this case, Willard would have followed me for two days and then nearly died of boredom.” There were times when his own life seemed tedious even to him. But Barty tended to stick with what he knew and what was safe. Then he didn’t get hurt or rejected by people. “I’ll see you in the morning.” Barty closed the door, grabbed his bag, and carried it into the bathroom, which was palatial with rich dark cabinets, gleaming stone tile, and a huge claw-foot tub. Penelope wandered in with him, jumping up on the vanity counter, staring at him with her huge blinking eyes. “You think I was hard on him?” Barty asked, but of course Penelope only sat there. She never had any answers for him.

  He cleaned up and got ready for bed in a pair of light sleep pants and a Dutton T-shirt that they’d handed out at a staff function earlier in the year. Then he left the bathroom, turned out the main light before switching on the bedside one, and climbed into the mammoth bed. There was room for two other people at least in this thing. Barty ended up getting out of bed again, opening his door slightly so Penelope could leave and reach her litter box and bowls. Then he got back into bed, turning out the light. Penelope joined him a few minutes later and curled at his side. Barty couldn’t help wishing it was Jim.

  Chapter 5

  IT SEEMED that no matter what leads they managed to dig up, they went nowhere fast. A witness might have actually seen the shooter, but the description was so vague that there was little to go on. Even the insights from Barty, while good, were of limited help. They were going through university professors and staff, but the task was turning out to be nearly impossible since there wasn’t a single database they could search to come up with a list of people who met that description. After all, this wasn’t television where databases of teachers, chess clubs, and anything else they wanted were readily available. The only good thing was that there weren’t any more incidents or phone calls.

  Jim and Barty had been through all the material they had to date and were still coming up with very little.

  “Where could this man have learned to shoot like that? They weren’t easy shots,” Barty said.

  “We thought about military training, but unless we have more to go on, the simple fact is, we have very few things we know for sure about this guy. Even what you’ve told us are guesses. Granted, I tend to think you’re right, but we still don’t know.” Jim was beginning to think the best thing that could happen was another shooting—hopefully unsuccessful—but it would give them a chance to catch him.

  The captain had stepped up foot patrols in the community to try to deter the shooter. Jim wasn’t sure it would help, but the public had to be reassured and a visible police presence was the best way to do that. Everyone was on alert and on edge, watching for the slightest thing out of the ordinary. The number of calls from citizens was way up and needed to be investigated, and Jim spent all day Saturday and Sunday morning doing that, each time hopeful that he’d stumble on a clue, some piece of information that they needed, but each time he had his hopes dashed.

  “Go home and get some rest,” Captain Westin said after lunch on Sunday. “You’re wearing yourself out and you’re going to need your energy. A little birdie tells me that you have a family to-do today, and I know this case has you worked up, like the rest of us. I’m not telling you it isn’t important, but you need a little time away to let things settle. You and Barty have been working long hours.” Captain Westin was about to leave and then turned back to him. “He’s really working out.”

  Jim sighed. “I think so. I think he understands this guy really well.”

  “You’re worried about him,” Captain Westin said with a look that had Jim wondering just how much he might have guessed about Jim’s feelings for Barty.

  “Starting yesterday he’s been quiet and staring at statements and every piece of evidence. And just a few minutes ago, he was sitting in the conference room, Penelope in his lap, absently stroking her like a Bond villain, while he looked at nothing. I’m not sure what’s going through his head, but I’m wondering if he’s getting too close to this.”

  “He’s a civilian, not a trained police officer, and it’s possible he’s working too hard or trying to get into this guy’s head and what he’s finding isn’t pretty. You’re going to have to watch him and if necessary provide him with some distance.” He sounded genuinely concerned. “Now go get him and take him home. I think you both need some time off.”

  He left, and Jim took care of what he’d been working on. Then he stopped by th
e conference room to get Barty. He was still sitting still, thinking.

  Jim pulled the chair up next to him. “What’s going on?” he asked gently. “I know you’re deep in thought, but you haven’t said much in the last day. What are you thinking about?”

  “Everything,” Barty said without turning toward him. “I’m trying to think like the shooter, and the more I do, the more I wonder if he and I have a lot in common.” Barty turned to him, pale, and his eyes wide as though he’d been shocked. “I keep putting myself in his shoes, and last night I dreamed that I had climbed onto a roof and placed a bullet casing. It was the same one we first visited, and then I returned and stared down the barrel of the gun at a person on the street. I woke up shaking, wondering if he could be me, or I guess if I could be him. I have all the classic signs and fit the profile for someone like him.”

  “But you aren’t,” Jim said. “You didn’t climb to the roof and take the shot, and I’m concerned that you may be getting too involved. You can’t get too close.”

  “But it’s the only way I can help. What I do is try to learn how people think, but this man thinks a lot like me, I know it.” Barty continued stroking Penelope, but she tired of it and jumped down. That broke some of the spell that Barty was under.

  “The captain wants us to go home and get some rest. I have that party at my sister’s.”

  “You were hoping to work so you didn’t have to go, weren’t you?” Barty smiled. “You told me as much a few days ago. But it looks like you’ll have to go.”

  “And you can come with me,” Jim offered.

  Barty nodded slowly. “I don’t do well at parties and things. But I’ll go with you if that’s what you want.”

  “You don’t have to,” Jim said, even as he was happy Barty had agreed to go. “It’s a garden party, so we need to look nice but don’t necessarily need a shirt and tie.”

  “Like I said, I’ll go with you, but mostly because I don’t want to be at your house alone. What if whoever hired the detective shows up?”

  “We’re trying to figure that out.” But at the moment, since it didn’t seem related to the shooter, their resources were stretched and it was one of the things Jim wanted to have an officer look into. “We have a request into the service provider, but often they won’t release any information without a warrant, and someone hiring a detective isn’t considered probable cause. I really doubt the detective himself is going to cooperate too closely. He doesn’t want to give up information on his clients, or he won’t have much of a business.”

  “So someone was following me and I don’t know why,” Barty said. “I really just want to go home, but then I wonder if there will be more people following me or a shooter watching me.”

  “It’s all right. You’re with me, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep you safe. I promise.” He took Barty’s hand. “I know I messed things up the other night and I should have been more sensitive and less demanding.”

  “I really don’t know why someone would follow me. I’m so boring.”

  “We’ll get to the bottom of that, but for now I don’t want you to worry about it. Let us continue to look into it, and you let this shooter go for a little while and just concentrate on having a little fun. My sister will have great food, and everyone will be talking. It’s what they do at things like this. I suspect there will be a lot of academics there, so you’ll have plenty of people who’ll have things in common with you.” Jim looked out into the station and then back to Barty. “Let’s go to the house so we can change and get ready. It will be fine, I promise.”

  JIM TURNED onto his sister’s street and pulled over before reaching her house. “You have nothing to be nervous about.” He took Barty’s hand. “Everyone will be polite, and you’re someone new, so they’ll be interested in you.” Jim leaned across the seat as Barty nodded. Jim touched his chin, and when Barty turned, Jim kissed him. “I’ve wanted to do that since the other night. But I wasn’t sure how you felt.” He realized he probably messed up with Barty.

  “I didn’t understand how you could just turn on me like that. I never lie about anything with anyone. It takes too much effort, and when you lie, you have to remember the lie so you can continue the story. I don’t think it’s worth it. So it hurt when you didn’t believe me.” Barty swallowed, his right leg bouncing up and down. “A few minutes before, you had given me my first kiss, and then you accused me of lying.”

  Jim was floored and sat back in complete surprise. “Your first kiss? You mean no one had ever kissed you before? Not even in college?”

  Barty shook his head.

  “Not even once?”

  “No. Who would want to kiss me?”

  Jim leaned forward, cupped Barty’s cheeks, and kissed him. “I would. And I’m sorry for acting like a real jerk. I do that sometimes when I’m in work mode. It comes with the territory. In order to get answers, sometimes I have to push, and I went into that mode with you.” Jim was beginning to understand that Barty might be really smart, but in some ways, he was rather fragile. His near-complete lack of any relationship experience left him feeling vulnerable and unsure of himself. Jim, on the other hand, was attracted to Barty but still cautious. His past relationships had all ended badly, and they were all professor-type guys like Barty. Not that he really thought Barty was going to treat him the way Garrett had, but it took some effort to let that go because it was always in the back of his mind. Barty wasn’t Garrett. In fact, he was about as different from Garrett as it was possible to get. “It wasn’t like I didn’t believe you. I just needed you to try to think. Lots of times people know things they aren’t aware of.”

  Barty nodded. “Okay. As long as you believe me now.”

  “I do. I always did,” Jim said and turned back so he could drive once again. “At the party I’ll introduce you as a colleague. There will probably be a lot of speculation about the shootings because it’s too close to home for them not to.”

  “I’ll say nothing. I’m pretty good at that,” Barty said, and Jim put the car in gear and approached his sister’s home.

  He pulled into the circular drive, parking so he could exit easily if he had to, and then they got out. Deidre met him at the door, and she air-kissed him, and then Jim introduced Barty.

  “Dr. Halloran,” she said with a smile. Deidre was the slight, feminine version of Jim, with longer flowing hair, wearing a floral sundress that said summer and warmth.

  “You know me?” Barty asked.

  “I know of you, I believe. Some of the others in the department were talking about your paper on pathological behavior, and we were speculating on its connection to economic behavior.” She shook his hand. “What’s curious is why you’re here with my brother.” She stepped back so they could come inside.

  “We’re working together,” Barty said.

  Deidre flicked a glance in his direction. “On that dreadful shooter case?” She shivered.

  “We aren’t at liberty to talk about it, and I’d appreciate if you’d keep your speculation to yourself,” Jim told her. “It would be very helpful.” He glared at her. “I mean….”

  “I know, and I’d never say anything.” She took Barty’s arm and led him through the house and out to the backyard, with Jim following behind. In his family’s eyes, that was his place now.

  “This is Dr. Halloran,” she said as she entered the yard, and a few people seemed to recognize him. Jim stayed close and saw Barty try to shrink away. A few of Deidre’s colleagues that he’d met before introduced themselves, and Barty exchanged pleasantries.

  “Why don’t you come with me? I’m sure your friend will be fine for just a few minutes,” Deidre said, and they weaved through the tables topped with white tablecloths and chairs draped with covers and pads. Each table had sprays of flowers, and there was a bar under the far end of the tent where many of the people congregated. “I didn’t know you were going to bring a guest.” She glanced away, and Jim followed her gaze to Barty. She actually soun
ded pleased. “You should have told me. To have such a distinguished friend.”

  “Be nice. I know what you think of me, but you can be nice to him.”

  Meghan and Mindy hurried across the yard to him, and he turned away from their mother. “Uncle Perpy,” they cried in near unison, in adorable floral dresses similar to their mother’s.

  Jim wanted to strangle his sister for telling them his real first name.

  “Hi, sweeties,” he said as he hugged and kissed each of them. “You’re both getting to be such big girls.”

  “See, I can do this,” Meghan said as she twirled around in her party dress.

  Mindy tried and would have fallen if Jim hadn’t caught her.

  “That’s great, honey.” He hugged them both again, and they took his hands and led him away, chattering like little angels. “I think I’m supposed to stay out there with the grown-ups,” Jim said when they tried to pull him inside the house.

  “Girls, go on and play with Colleen for a while, and I’ll call you when it’s time to eat,” Deidre said. She insisted that the girls have a nanny, saying she worked too much and she needed help.

  Personally, Jim would rather spend time with the girls than be out at the party, but he figured it was time to rescue Barty and make sure he was okay.

  “I’ll see you at lunch,” he told them and got another hug before they were escorted inside by a college-age woman. Jim then went in search of Barty, Deidre already mingling with the other guests. Her husband, Franklin, was near the bar with the other men and seemed to have been drawn into whatever conversation Barty was involved in. Well, he was involved because he seemed to be listening, but Jim figured he wanted to get away and wasn’t quite sure how to do it.

  “How are you doing?” he asked Barty quietly.

  “Okay,” Barty answered.

  “So are you tenured yet, Dr. Halloran?” one of Deidre’s colleagues asked. It took Jim a second to remember his name.