Page 41 of Out of Time (Undaunted Courage #3)

TWENTY-THREE

WAS THAT ... BLOOD?

Natalie paused as she straightened the sheets on Steven’s bed—the least she could do after the dear boy had volunteered to trek into town for her groceries—and squinted at his pillow.

She leaned closer. Adjusted her glasses.

The faint smear certainly looked like blood.

Perhaps it was from a shaving nick that hadn’t yet healed. Or a slight nosebleed.

Whatever the source, she ought to give him a fresh pillowcase. He deserved a spotless room after all the long drives he’d made down here and all the weekends he’d devoted to her.

He was such a treasure.

She shook the pillow out of the case and onto the bed, then started for the linen closet in the hall.

Stopped.

As long as she was tidying up, may as well check the bathroom. If he’d showered this morning, he’d welcome a fresh towel.

Pillowcase over her arm, she switched direction and walked over to the bathroom. Flipped on the light.

The pristine bath towel hung at the end of the tub.

No need to change that out.

As she turned away, a sliver of red caught her eye, peeking out from beyond the shower curtain.

Odd.

She entered the room and crossed to the tub.

A limp washcloth stained with blood lay in one corner. A lot more blood than was on the pillowcase.

What in the world?

A shaving nick would never have bled that much, though a nosebleed could have.

That had to be the explanation.

What else could it be?

Yet he’d never mentioned being prone to those.

However, many people kept physical ailments to themselves so those who cared about them didn’t worry.

Her mouth bowed. That would be like Steven. He was such a considerate man.

Should she leave the cloth in the tub? If she took it, he might be embarrassed.

But they were family, and family watched out for each other. Besides, he hadn’t minded letting her and Brad help him with the cut on his forehead today.

So she’d replace this cloth with a clean one and see what he had to say about the cause of the bleeding after he realized she’d freshened up his room.

She bent down, picked up the damp square, and added it to the pillowcase on her arm. Both of these would have to soak in the laundry room before being washed.

After taking care of that chore, she stopped at the linen closet, pulled out a new pillowcase and washcloth, and finished tidying up the room.

At the doorway, she looked back at the spruced-up space. Smiled.

One good turn deserved another, after all.

And wouldn’t Steven be surprised by her thoughtfulness?

“ NO WORRIES. I was glad to help. You’re making excellent progress with your research, aside from this glitch. But I think we’ve worked that out.”

As Cara spoke, the graduate student seated at the table in her office packed up his laptop and papers. “I do too. My problem was I got too immersed in the trees and lost sight of the forest.”

“That can happen. Call me if you run into another snag.”

“I will. Thanks again, Professor Tucker. Enjoy your weekend.”

“You too.”

As the student left, Cara rose, pulled out her phone, and walked over to the window, scrolling through messages.

Ah.

A text from Brad.

Her lips curved up as she scanned his note.

Sorry again about our date. Hope your meeting this morning goes well. Wanted to let you know Natalie agreed to have two cameras installed. I’ll arrange for that next week.

She put her fingers to work.

Great news on the cameras. How’s your ankle?

Sprained, according to urgent care. It’s wrapped and elevated as I type this. I’m about to crash. It was a long night.

Did you find any trace of the trespasser?

No.

Drat. Get some rest.

That’s the plan. Happy dancing tomorrow. I’ll call you this weekend.

I’ll look forward to it.

She started to slide the phone back into her pocket, only to have it begin vibrating again.

Maybe Brad had decided he’d rather hear her voice than communicate via text.

But the delicious tingle that rippled through her subsided quickly.

Jack’s number was front and center on the screen.

Huh.

His calls had been few and far between since he’d been in Quantico.

She pressed talk. “This is a surprise.”

“Are you all right?”

At his taut question, she frowned. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I sent you three texts last night. You didn’t return any of them.”

Oh.

She scrolled back.

Yep, there they were.

“Sorry about that. I was a little frazzled by the end of the day.”

“You never get frazzled. What’s up?”

She watched a hawk swoop low over the athletic field in the distance, probably in pursuit of a quarry it had homed in on from high above with its keen eyes.

Like Jack homed in on comments that didn’t ring true to him, thanks to his keen intuition.

She turned her back to the window. “You’d be frazzled too if you’d just finished a two-hour drive back to Cape and realized you had to retrace your steps because you’d forgotten the laptop you needed for an important meeting this morning. I had to get up at the crack of dawn to drive back.”

“Ouch.”

“Tell me about it.”

“That sort of mistake isn’t like you. You never forget anything. Is something else going on?”

He would ask that.

Now what?

She couldn’t tell him about the furtive, late-night activity at Natalie’s, or he’d get all protective on her.

And she certainly couldn’t tell him about her distracting romantic daydreams.

“Cara?” His inflection had transitioned to interrogation mode.

“Yes. I’m here. It was just a busy week.”

“Busy never frazzled you in the past.”

“There’s a first for everything.”

Silence.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Oh, brother.

Only a close, homicide-detective sibling would tune into subtle cues and suspect she was holding back information.

But she ought to be able to divert him easier on the phone than in person.

“Would you like a progress report on my sabbatical?” She kept her tone chatty and conversational.

“The translation is picking up speed, and I’m beginning to synthesize all the primary source material with my massive amounts of research.

It’s a huge job that’s using all my brainpower.

If you want more details, I’d be happy to share them. The historical data is fascinating.”

“Um ... that’s okay. You don’t have to rehash everything for me. I’m glad your time there has been productive.”

“Very.”

“So all’s well in the hinterland?”

It appeared she wasn’t finished playing dodgeball.

“Jack, I’m living a dream here. I get to spend my days in a historic house and work with amazing anthropological resources.”

“Better you than me.”

“I know history isn’t your thing. How’s Quantico?”

For the next five minutes he regaled her with tales of his training, then abruptly stopped as someone spoke in the background.

“Sorry. Gotta run to an exercise. Answer your texts from now on, okay?”

“I promise I’ll be more diligent. Take care.”

Jack ended the call, thank goodness.

Otherwise he could have circled back to whatever hint of trouble he’d picked up in her inflection.

She stowed her phone and returned to the table. Gathered up her papers and shut down her laptop.

Strange to have the rest of Friday stretching empty ahead of her.

Could she work in an extra ballet class today? That would be a treat. Even going to the studio for an hour to stretch instead of doing her routine at the condo today would be a nice change of—

Her phone began to ring again.

She pulled it out. Rolled her eyes as she skimmed the screen.

What were the odds Bri would be calling so soon after Jack unless their brother had planted a bug in their sister’s ear?

But letting the call roll to voicemail wasn’t an option. Bri was as persistent as Jack. If she’d decided not to wait until their usual Saturday call tomorrow morning to get in touch, she was on a mission. One no doubt instigated by Jack.

Shaking her head at the all-too-familiar sibling tag-team drill, Cara pressed the talk button. “Hi, Bri. Jack put you up to this, didn’t he?”

Her sister didn’t try to evade the question. “Yep. He said you told him you were frazzled. What’s up with that?”

“Couldn’t this wait until our call tomorrow?”

“No. I was going to ring you later today anyway. I got pulled into doing a presentation tomorrow morning for a civic group. Jack didn’t buy your frazzled explanation, and he has solid instincts.”

“He also has a tendency to overreact in matters concerning his siblings, as you know from personal experience.” She repeated the story she’d told their brother, almost verbatim. “Wouldn’t you be frazzled if you had to make a two-hour trek back thanks to an oversight?”

“Yeah. I’d also be annoyed. But I’m more interested in why you forgot the laptop. That doesn’t sound like the buttoned-up, make-a-list-and-check-it-twice professor I know and love.”

“Like I told Jack, I’ve been busy. The project is heating up.”

A beat ticked by.

“Is that all that’s heating up?”

Cara gaped at the phone.

She knew her sister—and based on Bri’s playful inflection, the eldest Tucker sibling suspected that romance had entered the picture.

Seriously?

How on earth had she jumped to that conclusion right out of the gate?

“What are you talking about?” She maintained a calm, cool, collected tone.

“The only time my usual methodical, dot-all-the-i’s MO got out of whack was after I met Marc. Sparks can be a powerful distraction.”

Dang.

This could be tricky.

Bri was even more adept than Jack at sniffing out romance. But it was too soon to mention Brad. If she did, Bri would want details—and a first date had yet to happen. Yes, Brad’s interest appeared to be sincere, but he could end up backing off like all the other guys she dated.

So why create expectations in her family until there was a solid foundation under the relationship?

“Your silence is telling. Come on, Cara. Spill it.”

“You’re jumping to conclusions.”

“Am I wrong?”

Short of telling an outright lie, she was stuck.

But maybe Bri would be satisfied with a few crumbs.

“More like premature. I did—”