Long Way

I woke up to the sound of ringing, and I hit my alarm clock twice before I realized that it was actually my cell phone that was ringing.

"Lo," I answered groggily.

"You have ten minutes to be out the door," Martin told me. He sounded like he'd been up for hours. I glanced at my alarm clock. 7:15 a.m.

"Are you insane? Do you even know what time it is?"

"I do."

"Where are you?"

"In your driveway. You now have nine minutes." I make an almost growl-like noise and hang up the phone.

It's a Saturday, and usually I don't work on Saturday's. But with all of this break-in stuff going on, I made an exception and told Martin I would work this weekend. It gives me a chance to talk to some of the men at the firm that I wouldn't usually get to talk to.

I got up and grabbed some clothes, then walked across the hall to my bathroom. I skip the shower, and immediately get dressed and put make-up on, throwing my hair up into a messy updo. It's early fall, but I'm in denial about the long, cold winter that's coming, and stuck to wearing a pair of black, dress style shorts, and a black girl-style blazer. I glanced at my watch and saw that I had a minute to spare.

Willa was still curled up on the chaise when I came out of the bathroom. When I walked into the living room to see her, I found Shawn sitting at my four person dining room table, eating a bowl of cereal. He gave me a once over and whistled.

"Looking good, Aunt Di."

"What are you doing up so early?"

"I was up late lastnight."

"So what you're saying is you've never been to bed?"

"More or less." I shake my head and kiss the top of Willa's head.

"Alright, well I'm off to work. Make sure to feed Willa. I'm leaving my car keys on the counter for you. If you need to go anywhere, take my car. Drive carefully," I warned. He grinned.

"Yes, ma'am." I ruffle his dark curls and give him a kiss on the forehead.

"I'm serious," I said, walking out the back door.

Martin was checking his watch as I got into his car.

"You're late."

"You're a crab ass."

"With good reason."

"What's the reason today?" I ask as we back out of my driveway.

"Another break-in late lastnight. Homeowners were out late, so they spent the night. Weren't aware of the break-in until this morning when they arrived home."

"Same M/O as the others?" I asked.

"System was shut down for exactly fifteen minutes. Robber entered and exited through the garage. Jewelry and some loose cash was taken from the Master Bedroom."

"So what do you want me to do there?"

"Go through the house. See what you can. A woman's perspective. Maybe we're missing something here."

We ride in silence the rest of the way to the client's home. When we arrive there are a bunch of police officer's there. I see two of Martin's men's SUV's parked to the side as well. Martin and I parked over by the homeowners vehicle, and walked in the front door.

"Just walk through the house. Go wherever you need to, if anyone questions you just show them your badge, but I've already notified the homeowner of who you are so you should be fine." I nodded and walked away.

I decided to go from start to finish point of the robbery. So I started at the garage door. The garage door entered to a hallway, then into the kitchen. Sitting on the kitchen counter was a watch that was inlaid with diamonds that I was sure weren't fake. I took note of this and continued on up the stairs to the Master Bedroom. I saw where some things had been moved, and where Police Officer's had been through dusting for prints. There was a small den off the side of the room, and when I walked in there, I saw some guns in an unlocked display case. My dad is a hunter, so I know that these are worth some money and could have been easily taken if the robber hadn't been in such a hurry. Or didn't already know what they were after in the house.

I walked back down the stairs and found Martin speaking to the homeowner and his wife, who looked distraught. I stood back and waited for them to be done, while glancing around the foyer. Martin's right hand man, Louis, was standing beside Cal, who was working on the keypad next to the front door. I noticed when I came in through the garage that there had been a keypad there too.

Martin comes over to me a few minutes later.

"Let's ride."

He drove us back to the firm and we went to his office and shut the door.

"What did you see?" he asked me.

"The robber came in and out through the garage door?"

"Yes. Possibly more than once."

"So he went through the kitchen at least twice."

"Yes."

"Walking right past the diamond watch on the counter."

"Meaning he probably already knew what he was looking for."

"Exactly. There were also some guns upstairs in a room off the Master, in an unlocked display case."

"Also could have been taken. So all this means?"

"That our guy knew what he was after before he went into the home."

"Meaning he might have been there before."

"Exactly. Who was the one who installed the system?"

"That's why you get the big bucks," he said on a short smile. I returned the smile.

"I get your point. I'm going to my office now."

"Is this going on my tab?"

"We'll settle that another day."

I went to my office and did some research through the company's files to see who had installed the system's in the client's homes that had been broken into. Different guys everytime, so chances were slim that they were all related that way. But, I wrote the names down to look into further.

After I looked back at all of the men's employee files, I wrote notes on a few of them and tried to find any clues.

All in all, Martin runs a tight machine. All of his men are searched right down to what color their toothbrush is before they're even interviewed. Almost all of them are specialized in something illegal, whether it be picking locks, petty theft, or conning. Of all the men on my list, I single out the ones with a criminal past in burglary.

Martin pops into my cubicle and slumps down into one of the chairs across from my desk. He doesn't say anything, so I tell him everything that I've found so far. He listens but doesn't say a word until I'm finished.

"I want you to try and speak to all of the men on that list. Don't interrogate them, just get a quick character assessment."

"Alright."

"What time are you leaving today?"

"Five." He nodded.

"That's fine. I also want you to do a map of the rest of the homes we're securing. Take note of any common denominators, and bring it to me immediately. I would like to have my men staking out a few of them."

"I'll get started right now."

"Thank you." He left my cubicle and I immediately got back to work.

At one-thirty, my stomach made a loud rumble, so I got up and walked down to the breakroom. A couple of Martin's men were sitting at a table when I walked in. One of them was Ramon, and another was Cal. So I grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water and sat with them.

"Working the weekend shift, huh?" Ramon said to me. I shrugged.

"Girls gotta do what a girls gotta do."

"Preach it." I opened my sandwich and examined it. Multi-grain bun, with some thinly sliced chicken, tomatoes, avocado, hard boiled egg, some frilly lettuce, and some dressing that was no doubt low-fat. It looked pretty good. It would have been better with some bacon.

I sighed and Ramon laughed.

"Martin believes bacon is the work of the devil."

"Sometimes I think he makes bacon in his apartment," Cal said.

"I've never even heard of Martin cooking," I said. They both shrug on that, and we finish our break in silence.

When I'm done I went back to my cubicle and finished the map for Martin, and presented it to him in his office. He studied my work, and listened as I explained everything to him.

"Good work. Are you done for the day?"

"Can I be?"

"Go ahead and head out. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye."

I went back and picked up my things and walked all the way down to the underground garage before I realized that Martin drove me in today.

I took the elevator back up to the fifth floor, and went into Martin's office.

"Babe," he said.

"I have no wheels."

"Go to my apartment and get some keys. Take whatever car you want." I feel my panties get wet just at the thought.

"Thank you!" I say on a run. I take the elevator up to his apartment and use my key fob to get in.

On the sideboard in the foyer, there are hooks with keys hanging on them for every car in Martin's collection. This really is the best part of my job. Martin's car's range from just plain SUV's, to a Porshe Cayenne, to a Turbo, to a Mercedes. All of them black. Martin usually drives a huge four wheel drive truck.

I grabbed the keys to the Cayenne, and cruised out of the apartment, back down to the garage.

It was six o' clock by the time I got to my parent's place, where I found my mother in the kitchen by herself. She was sitting at the table reading a book and drinking some coffee when I walked in.

"Hello," I said to her, walking to the fridge.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I just got out of work." I took out a bottle of wine of my father's and poured myself a glass, then I sat down across from her.

"I see."

"Where is everybody?"

"Travis left a little while ago with your nephew, who I assume is staying with you again since he was in your car?"

"Yeah. He showed up lastnight unexpectedly. Said his dad was working out of town."

"Alright, I was just checking. Your brother and nephew have a bad habit of 'borrowing' other people's cars."

"Tell me about it."

"And your dad is over at John's working on something."

"Something?"

"A truck or something, I guess." I nodded and took a sip of wine.

"What are your plans for the night?"

"I thought about going to Leon's to visit Sharon tonight because I was supposed to go in there lastnight but I didn't want to leave Shawn by himself."

"I see."

"Everytime you say I see, you remind me of Nana."

"Shut your face, Diana. You do it too!"

"I know I do, but at least when I say it I can say I sound like you." she playfully slapped at my face, making me laugh. I finished my glass of wine and left her by herself again, and headed over to Leon's, the bar where Sharon worked.

It was pretty early when I got there, so I ordered a glass of water and some fries and talked to Sharon for a bit while I waited for it to get late enough for me to justify drinking. At about nine-thirty I had a beer.

"Well now that you're drinking I should probably tell you the news," Sharon told me after I finished my first beer, and as she handed me a second.

"Oh boy. This should be good. You had to get me liquored up first."

"Declan's back in town." I take a long swallow of my beer and don't say anything.

"Was he in here?"

"Yeah, at lunch time." I nodded.

"New topic," I said. She smiled and went back to serving customers.

I figured that Declan would pop back up on the radar soon, but I wasn't expecting it to be this soon. We'll see how long it takes him to contact me.

I hang out at the bar until closing time, only drinking four beers the entire time I'm there, so I'm far from drunk. I helped Sharon restock, and do all her closing duties, then I drive back home.

When I pull into my driveway I see that my car isn't in the driveway, meaning that Shawn isn't home yet. His curfew is at one, so he's way past that. Damn kid. I get out of the car and walk around the back of it, setting off the motion light. At the same time the light comes on, Willa starts barking like crazy. Declan is sitting on my back doorstep. I gasp and jump a little, and he smirks. He's wearing jeans and a leather jacket with a heather gray sweatshirt hood hanging out the back of it. His brown hair is shaggy and and looks like it hasn't seen a comb in a while.

I get myself together quickly, and quickly run up the steps.

"What are you doing here?" I ask him. He stands up and holds open the screen door as I shove my key into the lock.

"What, no 'hey D, how ya been?'" he says. I can smell alcohol on his breath, but he doesn't appear to be drunk.

"Stand back," I told him as I pushed open the door. Willa comes racing out, jumping down the steps, and runs out to the back yard to do her thing. We watch her in silence, and when she's done, she races back inside. I follow her in, not waiting for Declan.

I walked through the house, turning on the two lamps in the dining room. Declan stands in the kitchen watching me.

"Where were you tonight, all dressed up with alcohol on your breath?" he asks me. I can tell he's trying to start something, but I'm not biting.

"You should hardly talk."

"I've been right here, waiting for you to get home."

"That would be a first." I take off the blazer, which leaves the satin and lace camisole that I wore under it.

"Who's staying with you?" he asked, observing the open door to my guest bedroom.

"Shawn." He nodded.

"So where have you been, Dec? What kind of trouble have you gotten into this time?" I asked.

"What makes you think that I'm in any kind of trouble?"

"You're here, that's what makes me think that. You never come back unless you're running from something."

"Bad habits, I guess."

"Am I the bad habit? Or whatever it is you're running from?" He grins. I notice now that he has me backed up against a wall in my living room. He puts both of his hands on the wall behind me, trapping me against it. He stands over a foot taller than me at 6'2, and he weighs over 200 pounds, so I stand no chance at getting out of this situation.

"When are you going to drop the tough girl act?" he says to me quietly. He's always quiet. His voice barely ever rises over much of a whisper. The strong, silent type, I guess.

"When are you going to give me a reason to?" He drops his head down and kisses me hard, his chest pressed into mine. He tries to deepen the kiss, but I place my hands against his chest and push him away.

"You're not going to make me forget everything with one kiss, no matter how good it is," I told him.

"So you thought it was good?" I rolled my eyes and slid out under his arm.

"I assume you're going to be staying here?"

"Is that an option?" he asked.

"I'm not going to force you out on the street, Dec, you know that. If you don't have anywhere else to go, you can stay here."

"Thank you."

"Since Shawn is in the other bedroom you'll have to stay on the couch."

"Not in your bed?"

"Don't push it."

I went into Shawn's room and opened up the bottom drawer of the dresser where I keep extra bedding. I take out a pillow and two blankets and shove the drawer closed.

When I come back out to the living room, I see Declan on the couch petting Willa.

"Here you go," I told him, dropping the stuff on the end of the couch.

"You're sure you don't want me in your bed? It might get dark and scary in there."

"I'll be fine. I'm used to sleeping alone when you leave." He exhales a short laugh, looking down and shaking his head a little.

"Goodnight, Declan."

"Night, D." I went into my bedroom and closed the door, taking off my clothes and putting on an oversized t-shirt to sleep in. Then I walked over to the bathroom and washed my face. Declan was taking off his shirt when I walked back across to my bedroom. He looked over at me, and I quickly skittered back into my room before he could say anything.

I'm not sure how I can make this work with him staying in my house. I need to figure out where things stand with Martin before I can do anything with Declan. If Declan ever knew that I slept with Martin, I'm not sure what he'd do. Honestly, right now, I don't really care. He left me, and he needs to remember that. But, in my heart of hearts, I love Declan, and I want to make things work with him.

I lay there for a few minutes and think about things, and before I realize it, I'm alseep.