feeling his jaw. He looked at her, stupefied, as Sherlock said, “I’m sorry, Mr. McBride, but that’s enough. Listen to me. Becca’s life is
what’s important, not your wounded feelings. Adam didn’t even
know Becca until a couple of days ago. He’s here to protect her.
Now, get a grip on yourself or I’ll flip you over my shoulder and lay
you out.”
Tyler looked like he didn’t doubt her for an instant. He turned
slowly to face Becca. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to hit him, well, I did, but it’s just that I’m so scared for you, and this guy shows UP pretending to be your cousin and I knew he wasn’t. I didn’t
know what to do. I’m worried about you, Becca, real worried–”
Becca walked to Tyler and slowly stepped against him, clasping
her arms loosely around his back. “I know, Tyler, I know. I really
appreciate you being here for me, but these folk are all pros. They
know what they’re doing and there are even more people coming
now. We’ve got to catch this maniac. Now that he’s here I can’t
pick up and run. We’ve got to get him. He found me, how, I don’t
know, but don’t you see? If I run, he’ll just find me again. I’ve got
people here to help me now. Please, Tyler, tell me you understand
why I kept quiet about Adam.”
He was pressing his cheek against her hair, squeezing her so
tightly Adam thought he’d crush her damned ribs. Adam wanted to
pull him off and give him one good shot in the jaw.
Becca slowly pulled away. He was afraid for her, she knew that,
and she didn’t want to hurt him. Her voice was very gentle when
she said, “You do understand, don’t you,Tyler?”
“Yeah, I do, but I just want to help.” Then he lightly traced his
fingertips over her cheek. “I’ve known you for a long time, Becca.
I want to help. This is a real creepy business.”
“You’re telling me.” She managed something of a laugh, which
was closer to a cry, really.
Tyler said when Savich came back to the entryway, “Thank you
for taking care of Sam.” He lifted Sam into his arms and squeezed
him nearly as hard as he’d squeezed Becca. “Sam, I’m sorry I lost my
temper with Adam. I didn’t mean to frighten you. You okay?”
Sam nodded. “I heard you yelling.”
“I know,” Tyler said, kissing Sam’s temple. ”You’re not used to
that, are you? Everyone loses his temper sometimes. I’m sorry I did
it and sorry you were close by. Now, you and I need to go over to
Goose’s Hardware and get some washers for the bathroom faucet.
Would you like to do that?”
Sam nodded. He looked relieved. Tyler hugged him again.
“What’s the name of the street Goose’s Hardware is on?” Savich
asked as he looked at his wife rubbing her knuckles, an eyebrow
arched.
“West Hemlock,”Tyler said. “It’s the main street.”
When Tyler McBride finally left, Adam turned to see Sherlock
and Savich speaking quietly. Adam said, “Are you guys going to
stay here?”
“That’s probably best,” Savich said. “First thing, we’re going to
put a tap on this phone. Sherlock said we should bring our goodies.
She’s right a lot of the time.” Savich picked up what looked like
a very small aluminum suitcase. “This is a dual redundant tape.
We’re going to set it right beside the phone recorder. Now, I’m going
to patch it into the phone line via the recorder starting switch.
Okay, now let’s plug that puppy in between the phone and the outlet
in the wall.”
“Goodness,” Becca said. “That’s quite a gadget.”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “You can get it at RadioShack for about
twenty bucks.”
“The recorder will start when the phone rings,” Savich said.
“Now for the slammer,” Sherlock said. She pulled out a small
case that looked about the size of a laptop. “See this, Becca? It’s an
LED–light-emitting diode. When our boy calls his number, the
name and address of the person who’s registered as the phone
owner will appear here on this green screen. It’s like the automatic