Alarums. Part 25

'He'll wonder, all right.'

On the next block, Bodie found an empty stretch of curb where the Continental had been. He pulled over and parked.

'What time is it now?' Melanie asked as they met on the sidewalk.

Bodie checked his wrist watch. 'Twelve-forty.'

'Good.'

'It's kind of tight, if you ask me.' He hurried to stay with her.

'No problem. I phoned at twelve-thirty. Say it took five minutes for them to clear out. Should take them fifteen minutes to reach the hospital, at least five to find out they were tricked, and fifteen to get back here. And that's a.s.suming they're real fast about it. So we should be all right till ten after one.'

'Right. So we check his garage and get away clean as a whistle. Only what the h.e.l.l are you going to say when Harrison wants to know about your call?'

'That'll depend on what his Porsche looks like, won't it?'

'It d.a.m.n well better be smashed up.'

The driveway gates beneath the porte cochere were seven feet high and locked. Bodie looked at the gate's mechanism. 'It opens by remote,' he said.

Melanie didn't hesitate. She hurried onto the porch, walked across it and boosted herself onto its low brick wall. Then she swung her legs over and dropped onto the driveway behind the gate.

With a groan of despair, Bodie did the same. He followed Melanie toward the garage.

This really bites, he thought. It's crazy.

The driveway was bordered by a high fence, but the neighbor's house was two stories. He could see its upstairs windows.

If someone happened to be looking downa He imagined a police car swinging into the driveway.

Oh man, oh man.

Behind Harrison 's house, the narrow driveway flared out in front of the two-car garage.

Melanie tugged at the handle, trying to lift the garage door.

'That'll be on remote, too,' Bodie told her.

'You try.'

It's no use, he thought. But he pulled hard on the handle. The door didn't budge.

The door had no windows.

A walkway led around the corner of the garage. It led to a side door with gla.s.s panels.

Melanie cupped her hands against one of the windows and peered inside. 'There it is,' she said.

'How does it look?'

'Dark.' She tried the k.n.o.b, shook her head, then turned toward Bodie.

'Let's give it up,' he said.

'Do you want to kick the door open?'

'Are you kidding? Christ, we're already trespa.s.sing. Do you want to end up in jail?'

She glanced sideways. Then her arm shot back. Bodie flinched, stunned and disbelieving, as her elbow rammed one of the lower windows. The gla.s.s blasted inward, shards clinking and shattering as they hit the garage floor.

'Mel!'

'I'm not giving up,' she said. Reaching through the broken window, she opened the door. 'You can wait here if you're scared.'

'Let's make it quick and get out of here.'

Inside, the garage was cool and dark. Bodie quickly shut the door.

Melanie flipped a switch. An overhead bulb came on. The Porsche, on the far side of the garage, gleamed fire-engine red.

Bodie glanced around as they walked toward it. Along the near wall were wash basins, a clothes washer and drier, shelves stacked with cardboard boxes. Closer to the garage door were rakes, a power lawn mower, shovels, bags of fertilizer. The stale, dank odor of the garage was mixed with the smells of fertilizer and gasoline.

Bodie shivered. It was the cool, closed-in air. It was being here.

G.o.d, this is insane.

Melanie stopped in front of the Porsche. Her eyes roamed its windshield and hood.

They looked fine to Bodie. He moved to her side as she crouched to inspect the headlights, grill and b.u.mper.

'Not a scratch,' Bodie said.

'It just means he probably didn't use this car. He still could've stolen or rented one.'

'That'll be pretty tricky to prove.'

'G.o.d d.a.m.n it!'

'Come on, let's get out of here.'

She followed Bodie to the door. After opening it, he twisted his hand on the inside k.n.o.b to smear the fingerprints. Then he pulled it shut and did the same to the outside k.n.o.b.

Melanie, well ahead of him, walked quickly to the back door of the house. She opened it and stood peering inside as Bodie ran to her.

'No!' he snapped. He grabbed her shoulder.

'What time is it?'

'Mel, no. We can't.'

'Come on, what time is it?'

He checked. 'Ten till one.'

'We've got at least fifteen minutes.'

'What do you want to do in there?' he asked. His voice was shaky, his heart thumping wildly.

'Just take a quick look around.'

'G.o.d, Mel.'

'There might be evidence. I'm going in.'

'No!'

'Let go of me.'

He dropped his hand from her shoulder.

He entered the kitchen behind Melanie. He felt sick. Breaking into the garage was bad enough. This was utter madness.

He realized he wanted badly to urinate.

If we're caught in herea Why the h.e.l.l didn't Harrison lock his back door?

Maybe someone's here!

Don't even think that.

The house was silent.

What if he's got a silent alarm?

'What if he's got a silent alarm?' Bodie whispered. 'It might be tied in directly to the police or a security patrol.'

Melanie ignored him.

'Two minutes,' he said. 'You've got two minutes, then we're out of here even if I have to drag you.'

They pa.s.sed a bathroom. He could sure use it. He didn't dare.

He followed Melanie into a bedroom.

The covers and top sheet hung off the foot of the king-size bed. The pillows were mashed. Near the center of the blue satin bottom sheet was a wet place.

Melanie, leaning over, swiped at it with her forefinger. She rubbed her fingertip with the ball of her thumb, then sniffed it.

Bodie struggled not to gag.

She turned to him. A corner of her mouth twitched. 'Guess we know what they've been doing.'

Bodie grabbed her wrist. 'We're getting out of here now.'

'Okay, okay, don't pull.'

Letting go, he rushed ahead of her - out the bedroom, down a corridor to the living room, across the living room to the foyer. He opened the front door. Melanie stepped out. He twisted his hand on the k.n.o.b, remembered that Melanie had left prints on the back door, and wondered if he should race through the house to wipe them off.

A patrol car might be racing toward the house right now.

He stepped outside and pulled the door shut by its edge.

They walked slowly over the flagstones to the sidewalk.

When they reached the end of the block, Bodie realized they were safe. He filled his lungs. His heart was still hammering. He still had to urinate, but the need wasn't as strong as before.

They climbed into the van. He pulled away. 'Thank G.o.d that's over,' he said.

'We didn't accomplish much.'

'We found out Harrison 's car isn't smashed up. And I presume your sniff-test eliminated the possibility that their relationship was purely Platonic.'

'I wish I could be there when they get back from the hospital.'

'They'd no doubt have some very interesting comments about you.'

'That's right.'

'You should've thought about that before you made the call.'

'I did. My message wasn't just to get rid of them. It was to worry them, stir things up.'

'I'm sure you succeeded. And when Harrison finds the busted garage window, he'll really get stirred up. He'll know exactly who did it. And why.'

'That's right,' she said calmly.

'Maybe we'd better move in with Pen.'

'Oh, you'd like that.'

'What I wouldn't like is facing Harrison after what we did. He'll know what we were up to.'

'I don't care what he thinks.'

'Do you care what he might do?'