Page 17 of Diagnosis Attraction (Soulmated #4)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Elizabeth was behind the intruder.

“Over here,” she called out.

When he whirled, Matt hit him with another bolt, and Elizabeth added her strength.

This time, the man folded.

Matt leaped on him, stepping on his gun handandmaking the intruder scream. And Elizabeth picked up the lamp on the bedside table and brought it down on his head. He went still.

“What do you have that we can use to tie him up?”

“What about duct tape—like we used before?”

“Yeah.”

She hurried down the hall to the guest room and returned with a roll of tape, which Matt used to secure the man.

He groaned and blinked.

“Waaa …?” he asked.

“What are you doing here?”

When he pressed his lips together. Matt kicked him in the ribs, and he let out a yelp.

“You’d better come clean with us if you don’t want worse.”

Elizabeth made a silent suggestion. Maybe we can use the persuasion technique on him.

Matt focused on the man. You don’t want me to hurt you again. You want to tell us what’s going on. You want to tell us who sent you.

The man looked confused as Matt continued to project the message.

“Who sent you?” Elizabeth asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know? How did you end up in this house?”

“A contact told me the job came from New Orleans. That’s all I know.”

New Orleans! Matt echoed. What about New Orleans, he silently pressed.

“What about New Orleans?” Elizabeth echoed the question.

“Someone down there wants the scoop on you. That’s all I know. I swear.”

Matt gave him another treatment, but he didn’t provide any more information.

I think that’s all he’s got.

She nodded.

“How were you going to get paid?”

“I was supposed to leave a message at a phone number. Then I’d get the money from PayPal.”

Matt snorted. “Criminals are using PayPal?”

The man shrugged.

They left him on the floor and stepped out of the room.

“Hey,” he yelled, you can’t just leave me here.

“Watch us.”

Elizabeth put the baby book into the suitcase along with the clothing she’d selected before they hurried downstairs.

“Better leave the door unlocked so the cops can get in,” he said. “And we should close that window we climbed out of if you don’t want your office to get rained on.”

She shook her head. “The window. I forgot all about it.”

“Me too. Until just now.”

When they were outside, Matt pulled out his cell phone and dialed Detective Harrison. The call went straight to voicemail, which was a relief to Matt.

He left a message saying, “We went to Elizabeth Forester’s house to get some of her clothing, and we were surprised by an intruder. We restrained him, and you can find him in the master bedroom. The front door will be unlocked.”

“Is that legal?” Elizabeth asked.

“I hope so. But I’m not going to wait around to find out.”

“What if he says he was there for a legitimate reason?”

“Like what? You called him to fix the water heater?”

“I guess not.”

“I’m hoping his fingerprints are in the criminal database. I’ll check later with Harrison on that.”

She sighed. “The cops are going to be all over the house.”

“Do you care?”

“I guess not. After Lang’s men came through, I don’t think I can live there again.”

He put his arm around her and pressed her body to his. “When this is over, we’ll decide where to live.”

She nodded against his shoulder, then caught what was in his mind.

“We’re going to New Orleans?”

“I was thinking we needed to poke into that fertility clinic. Now, with this guy showing up, I think we don’t have a choice.”

“Yes.”

She could see he was turning over possibilities.

“You don’t want to fly.”

“I don’t want our names on a passenger list that someone could check. I think we have to drive.”

“All right, but let’s not push ourselves.”

She knew he was anxious to get there. Still, he nodded and said, “Yeah, we can stop along the way to practice our skills. And do some research.”

“We still need to take care of a few things in town,” he said. “But after that guy showed up at your house, I don’t think we should stay at my place.”

“Agreed.

“I’ll just make a quick stop there to pick up some clothes.”

After they got situated at a pretty little B and B in a Baltimore suburb, Elizabeth called Social Services and told them she wasn’t ready to return to work. It turned out she had months of sick leave she could use. And Dr. Delano was happy to say she still needed to rest. She also got a new driver’s license, and Matt checked in with Detective Harrison. When they found out the guy who’d burglarized Elizabeth’s house was a known criminal named Walter Clemens, they went down to make a complaint.

“You two seem to attract trouble,” the detective said.

“We’re hoping to change that,” Matt answered.

“How?”

“We’re going on a road trip.”

“How will that help?”

“It will get us out of town.”

Matt checked back in at Memorial Hospital and took a leave of absence.

“What if they won’t take you back?” Elizabeth asked.

“There’s always a need for doctors. I’ll be able to get a job somewhere.”

After they’d made their arrangements, they mapped out a route to New Orleans.

“It looks like about a seventeen-hour drive,” Matt said. “We could shoot for six to eight hours a day on the road.”

Their first stop was Bristol, Tennessee, right on the border with Virginia.

As they passed several chain motels, she caught the images in his brain and grinned. Their thoughts were running along the same lines. When he reached to squeeze her hand, she thought how lucky she was to have found this man.

“The feeling’s mutual,” he said as he pulled into the parking lot of an upscale motel.

“How long were you going to keep the information from me?” Jake Harper asked his wife.

Rachel looked up from the table in her New Orleans shop where she read tarot cards. They were in the city—where they spent about half their time. The other half was at the plantation in Lafayette, which Gabriella Boudreaux had established as a refuge for telepaths. Rachel raised her face toward her husband. “I guess I wasn’t going to keep it from you for very long.”

“Do you know who they are?”

“Her name is Elizabeth. His is Matt.”

“You found them when they were on the East Coast. Are they still there? Or are they doing what other bonded couples have done—come looking for their origins?”

She sighed. “I think they’re on the way to Houma.”

“And are they a threat to us? Like Kira and Mickey.” He was referring to the first couple they’d encountered like themselves.

“I think Kira and Mickey were unusual,” Rachel said. “They didn’t want anyone to share their powers.”

“But you don’t know for sure because you always want to see the best in people.”

“I can’t help what I am.”

Jake walked up beside his wife’s chair and slung his arm around her shoulder.

“I love what you are.”

She leaned back against him, reassured by what they were together. She was impulsive. He was cautious, which was often a good thing for both.

“Is the same man after them who was after Stephanie and Craig?” he asked, naming the couple who had recently come to the plantation.

“They ran into some bad problems in Baltimore—that had nothing to do with the Solomon Clinic.”

She opened her mind fully to her husband and let him see some of what had happened to Elizabeth and Matt.

He winced. “It sounds like they’re lucky to be alive.”

“Because they’re resourceful. They’d be a big asset to our community. Especially since he’s a doctor.”

“An asset, yeah,” Jake agreed. “If they don’t want to wipe us off the face of the earth. Are they flying down here?”

“They’re driving.”

“That should give us time to prepare.”

“For the worst?”

“You know I have to think of worst-case scenarios.”

“But we know some important things about them. He risked his life treating patients in Africa. She was going up against a man smuggling women in through the port of Baltimore and forcing them into prostitution. That means neither one is selfish—like Mickey and Kira.”

Jake nodded. “Those are good signs.”

In their motel room, after making wonderful love with Matt, Elizabeth finally turned to the baby book she’d brought from Baltimore.

There were records of when she’d first eaten solid food, when she’d taken her first steps, and her first words—“dog” and “doll.”

“My mother was pretty compulsive about writing things down,” Elizabeth commented.

She turned a page, and her hand froze. There was a picture of her standing in front of a building. The sign beside the door said, “The Solomon Clinic.”

Matt stared at the picture. “I guess that must be the place. But what were you doing there? I mean, you look like you were maybe three.”

“Yes. And I don’t know why I went back to the place.”

“But we do know it’s in Houma.”

Clemens, the man snooping in Elizabeth Forester’s house, had gotten into bad trouble. He was in jail, and Harold Goddard didn’t like it, but now he had no choice.

He was certain that Forester and Delano were on their way down to Houma. He checked passenger lists on flights from Baltimore and found nothing. That wasn’t reassuring. It just meant that the couple were being cautious. Probably, they were driving, so no one could track their arrival.

Harold had been thinking about how to protect himself. Now, he put hisplan into action.

When Elizabeth went to sleep, she felt they were finally getting somewhere. She woke with a start in the middle of the night, her whole body rigid.

Matt was instantly awake beside her. Rolling toward her, he pulled her close. “What is it?”

“Someone touched my mind.”

“What does that mean?”

“I mean, it’s like when you and I communicate without talking. Only it wasn’t you.” She clenched her fist in frustration. “Well, it wasn’t exactly someone communicating with me. They were … probing.”

He sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re sure?”

“I didn’t make it up. I felt another mind … skimming mine.”

“You were asleep. You could have dreamed.”

“I don’t think so. But that could be true.”

When she started to tremble, he pulled her closer.

“Something else we need to worry about,” she whispered.

“Was it a man or a woman?”

“I’m not sure. If I had to guess, I’d say it was a woman.”

“Why?”

She laughed. “Because she was delicate … subtle.”

“You don’t think men can be subtle?”

“It’s not the way they normally operate.”

He stroked her arm. “I guess you’re right.”

“Is this woman a threat to us?” When he reached for her hand and knitted his fingers with hers, she tightened her grip.

“I wish I knew.”

“We talked about practicing our skills on this trip. I think shielding our minds should be one of our top priorities.”

She nodded against his shoulder. She’d thought they were safe—at least for a little while. Now, she was a lot less confident. And she knew she wasn’t going back to sleep anytime soon.

Matt packed up on the observation. “We can start practicing now.”

“Because you know I’m worried?” she asked, although she already knew the answer.

“Because it’s the right thing to do.”

He sat up, and she did the same, pulling up the pillow and leaning against the headboard.

When he climbed out of bed, she gave him a questioning look.

Better if we’re not touching.

You mean easier.

He pulled on a tee shirt and his shorts and sat down in the chair near the window.

I’m going to block my thoughts. You try to worm your way in.

A nice way to put it. How do you block your thoughts?

I don’t know exactly. I guess we’ll find out.