That Man of Mine (14 page)

Initially, he looked startled, and then his ears went pink. “Oh, hi, Mrs. Grant. I'm good. And you?” he choked out.

“I'm doing fine, thanks. So, how long have you been working here?”

“Just a couple of months. I'm in school over at the community college.”

“Good for you. What are you majoring in?” she asked.

“Um, right now I'm just doing basic studies. I'm really not sure what I want to do yet.”

“Well, good luck with all that.” She gave him her mom smile.

“Thanks.” He made quick work of clearing the table then scurried off like a jackrabbit across the restaurant.

“Oh, boy, do I remember him,” Allie said. “He's make-out boy.”

“Make-out boy?” Lauren twisted in her seat to try to get a better look at him. “Is he a boyfriend of Claire's?”

“Old boyfriend,” Mimi said. “From last year.”

“He's cute,” Lauren mused, “in that hipster kind of way. Weird how he didn't ask about Claire, huh?”

Mimi took a sip of her champagne and thought about it a moment. “I think I took him off guard. He seemed kind of nervous, don't you think?”

Allie snorted. “He's probably afraid my brother is hiding behind a fern somewhere ready to pounce on him.”

Mimi smiled. Allie was probably right.

I
t had been a
week since the lunch at The Harbor House. Lauren and Nate had broken their good news to Henry, then followed it up by telling their parents and the rest of the town. A baby was a wonderful thing, that's for sure. Unfortunately, said baby was making Lauren sicker than she'd anticipated and she hadn't had a chance to work on Buela's dress yet. Mimi had cried off the shopping trip with Allie with an excuse about work, but she wasn't sure how much longer she could put Allie off buying her own wedding dress.

Luckily, though, the rest of the wedding plans were going smoothly. Cameron was spending the night with Henry, and Claire was at a cheerleading retreat in Jacksonville, leaving Mimi completely home alone for the first time that she could remember.

She still hadn't heard anything definite from Billy Brenton's assistant, Crystal, so she'd contacted a country-western band from the Panama City area that had gotten good reviews. They were available, but they weren't cheap. She hesitated to bring it up to Doug, but he'd offered to pay Billy Brenton out of the city budget, so why not this other band? The
Spring Into Summer
committee was meeting this week and she planned to toss some of the responsibility for the entertainment back on them. Maybe between all of them they could figure out a way to put the festival back in the black.

She caught up on the latest episode of
The Walking Dead
(were these poor people ever going to take a bath again?), then took Toby for a walk around the block before he settled into his doggie bed in the kitchen. As usual, Buttercup was asleep on top of Claire's comforter when Mimi turned the lights off and headed for her own bed. She tried to read, but she was restless. Zeke had taken it upon himself to make an appointment with the marriage counselor for later on in the week. Mimi didn't know how to feel about that. On the one hand, she was anxious to resolve things, but on the other hand, she didn't want to get her hopes up, either. But she'd told him she would try again, so try she would.

She had just dozed off to sleep when she heard Toby barking.

“Go back to sleep, boy,” she muttered. Then she sat straight up in her bed.

Toby was barking
?

He'd never barked before. Mimi tossed back the covers and padded barefoot across her bedroom floor and into the living room. That's when she heard the noise.

Thump
!
Thump
!

Her heart skydived straight down to her stomach.

Thump
!
Thump
!

Toby barked louder.

Mimi scurried to the kitchen and turned on the lights. Toby stood by the back door, his short hair standing on end, barking like a mad fiend.
Oh God
. Someone must be in the backyard!

Mimi turned on the outdoor flood lights and peered through the kitchen window above the sink, but all she could see was a dark empty backyard. Of course, someone could be lurking in the corners, where the shadows would essentially hide them. That's where she would be if she was lurking in someone's backyard. Not that she'd be lurking in—

Thump
!
Thump
!

This time, she could have sworn she felt the walls on the house vibrate. Was someone trying to get in through the garage?

Thump
!
Thump
!

Mimi swallowed hard. She could go outside and investigate, but it's what every dumb blonde did in every dumb slasher movie she'd ever seen. And Mimi was no dumb blonde. But she was as terrified as one. She could call 911, but as a cop's wife, she hated to activate the emergency system if all this turned out to be nothing.

Thump
!
Thump
!
Thump
!

Her hands began to shake.

Okay. That was
not
nothing. And this time she could identify the direction of the noise. It was coming from the right side of the house where her bedroom was located. She grabbed a flashlight (it could also double as a weapon if needed) from the kitchen drawer and crept back to her room.

Thump
!
Thump
!

Yes, it was definitely coming from this part of the house.

She tried to calm her shaking hand and gripped the flashlight. She needed to formulate a plan. Okay. So she would calmly (very calmly) push back the blinds on her bedroom window and see if she could see anything.
Her cell phone
. She'd forgotten about that. She'd need it in case she
did
see something.

She got down on her hands and knees, scampered toward her bedside table and grabbed her phone. Using the edge of the flashlight, she pushed aside the blinds and popped her head up to look out the window but it was too dark to see clearly. Should she point the flashlight toward the darkness? Or should she—

Thump
!
Thump
!

She immediately hit the bedroom floor.

Oh God
. Whatever was out there was close enough that she could practically feel it through the wall.

 Her fingers were going numb but she managed to dial the number to the police department. Ellie, the night time dispatcher answered.

“Whispering Bay Police Department, what's your after-hours emergency?”

“Ellie, this is Mimi Grant—”

“Oh,
hi
! How's it going? Say, I'm sure you've already heard this a thousand times before, but I'm really sorry about the separation. And just because your husband is my boss, doesn't mean I'm on Team Zeke.”

“Good to know, Ellie. The reason I'm calling is—”

“I hope you realize we're all rooting for you guys to get back together. As a matter of fact—”

“
Ellie
! Someone's trying to break into my house!”

“
Holy Moly
! Why didn't you say so in the first place?” Mimi heard a clicking noise on the line and then another click. “Home invasion in progress!” Mimi heard her yell. After a few more seconds, Ellie was back on the line. “Don't worry, Mimi, help is on the way. Is the chief aware of what's going on?”

“No, and…there's no need to wake him up. A patrol car will be more than sufficient.”

“I don't know. If the chief finds out there's a crime going on at his house and I didn't call him he'll have my head on a platter.”

Thump
!
Thump
!

“What's that noise?” Ellie demanded.

“That's the reason I'm calling. It's like someone's taken a battering ram to the side of my house!” Mimi crawled out of the bedroom then shot up and ran back into the kitchen. She had to get as far away from that noise as possible.

“The entire department will be out there in the next few minutes. Be brave! You do know CPR, right?”

“Yes, of course I do.” Although who Ellie expected Mimi to perform CPR on, she wasn't sure. Wait.
The entire department
? She must have heard Ellie wrong.

“Hang in there. This is the part of the job where I'm supposed to keep you on the line to make sure you stay calm even if something really bad is going on. So, how do you like being mayor?”

Thump
!
Thump
!
Thump
!

How did she like being mayor
? Was Ellie serious? Someone was trying to break into her house! “Um, I like it just fine.”

Thump
!
Thump
!

Toby began to howl. He scratched frantically at the kitchen door, trying to get out. Sweet, brave Toby. Mimi would never complain about his drooling again.

“No, Toby! Be calm, sweetheart.” Mimi said. “You can't go outside right now.”

“Toby? Who's Toby?” Ellie asked suspiciously.

“My dog.”

“I didn't know the chief had a dog! What kind?”

“Um, we're not exactly sure. A boxer pug mix maybe?”

“Oh, that sounds…cute.”

Thump
!
Thump
!

A police siren wailed in the distance then got closer.

“Oh, thank God! I hear a cruiser coming,” Mimi told Ellie.

“Oh, you have more than just one car coming. I activated a code purple
and
a code orange.”

The police siren became louder and then seemed to multiply. Ellie hadn't been joking when she'd said she was sending over more than just one car.

“What's a code purple?”

“Potential hostage situation.”

“
Hostage
situation?” Mimi said, “Who's being taken hostage? And what's a code orange?”

“There's an unidentified threat to the town mayor who just so
happens
to be married to the police chief. Like it or not, you're Whispering Bay's power couple. Who knows what these crazies want you for? We can't take any chances here. For all we know all of Whispering Bay could be under attack at this very moment! Oh, and a code orange means there's some sort of disaster going on. It's really the simplest way to get all emergency vehicles there as soon as possible.”

“
What
? No, Ellie, please, all I need is—”

Thump
!
Thump
!

Bang
!
Bang
!
Bang
! “Police! Mimi, are you in there?” she heard someone yell at the front door. It sounded like Rusty.
Bang
!
Bang
!
Bang
! “Open up, we have guns! And we aren't afraid to shoot!”

“Ellie,” Mimi said into the phone, “I got to go. I think Rusty's at the door.”

“Okay, Mrs. Chief. Best of luck. Over and out!”

Mimi clicked the phone off and ran to unlock the door. She flung it open to find not only Rusty, but Mike Stanley and two other uniformed officers as well. She craned her head past the cops. There were no less than three cruisers, a fire engine, and two civilian cars parked in her driveway and along the front curb.

Thump
!
Thump
!

Toby ran into the living room still barking his head off. He looked like he was about to bolt through the open door but Mimi was able to grab him by the collar and restrain him.

Thump
!
Thump
!

“What's that noise?” Rusty asked, wild eyed. His right hand hovered dangerously above his holstered weapon.

“That's why I called you,” Mimi said. “It started about ten, maybe fifteen minutes ago.”

A man wearing sweatpants and a Florida State Seminoles T-shirt walked up behind Rusty. Mimi recognized him as Hank Brewer, one of Whispering Bay's volunteer firemen. “What's going on, Mimi? I got the call for a code orange and I came over as fast as I could,” Hank said. Two more members of the fire department were walking across her lawn and an ambulance came to a screeching halt in front of the mailbox.

Thump
!
Thump
!
Thump
!

Rusty placed his hand up in the air signaling everyone to stand back. “Until the chief arrives, I'm in control here, people!” he yelled to the gathering crowd. He turned to her, “Mimi, you get on back in the house and let us take care of this. I'm going to divide a team up, swat style, to case the perimeter of the house. No matter what you hear going on, even if it's screaming or shots or anything else dangerous sounding, don't open the door to anyone unless you recognize them. Got it?”

Shots
?
Oh my God
. “Okay, got it.” Mimi locked the door behind her. She hated leaving Rusty and the rest of the group alone outside but they were the professionals here, and besides, what could she do? She'd just get in the way.

She looked out the living room window to count the cars in her yard. It was now up to four patrol cars (half the Whispering Bay squad), an ambulance, a fire truck and at least five civilian cars. Mrs. Manley from across the street stood in her front yard wearing her pajamas with her hair in curlers. She held up a cell phone toward Mimi's house, like she was filming the whole thing.

Another patrol car drove up the street, but instead of parking along the curb, it pulled straight into her driveway. Her phone buzzed. It was Zeke.

“Mimi, are you okay?” he sounded hoarse with worry. Their gazes locked through the living room window as he got out of the police cruiser. “I've tried calling you the whole drive over but I keep getting the busy signal.”

“Sorry, I was on the phone with Ellie. And yeah, I'm okay. But I think Toby's on the verge of a heart attack.”

Thump
!
Thump
!
Thump
!

“Do you hear that?” Mimi asked.

“I hear it.”

“I think it's coming from the right side of the house, somewhere near our bedroom window. Why is someone still trying to get in? Can't they see all these cars? Why haven't they run off, for God's sake?”

“Keep the phone nearby and stay inside the house. I'll let you know what's going on as soon as I do.” She wanted to tell him to be careful, but he'd already hung up.

Mimi began to pace the living room. Between the noise from all the cars and all the people, Toby's persistent barking, and that horrible thumping sound, she felt like her ears were going to explode.