The Case of the Confirmed Bachelor

She grinned at him, her slender hands together. “I’ll tell.”

“You’ll tell what?”

“That you were out with that gorgeous blonde when you were supposed to be on stakeout for Dane,” she said.

“Go ahead and tell him. She was my contact. I don’t play around on the job.”

“You do play around, though,” Helen said, suddenly serious. “You never take women seriously.”

He shrugged. “I don’t dare. I’m not made for a pipe and slippers and kids. I like traveling and dangerous work, and the occasional pretty blonde when I’m not on stakeout.”

“Pity,” she sighed, smiling up at him. “You’d look nice covered in confetti.”

“Who’d have me?” He grinned.

She had to bite her tongue to keep from mentioning Tabby’s name. She’d done that once, and he’d gone right through the ceiling. He hadn’t seen Tabby since New Year’s Eve, when he’d gone with Helen to see about their parents’ house in a small Washington suburb called Torrington. Tabby’s father had died two years before, but she was still living in his house. It was next door to the Reeds. Nick had never discussed what happened when he and Tabby had talked one night while they were in Torrington, but it had caused him to bristle at the mention of her name ever since.

“The renters have moved out of Dad’s house, you know,” she said suddenly. “I can’t fly back there and take care of it this time. Can you?”

His face hardened. “Why can’t you?”

“Because I’m engaged, Nick,” she said, exasperated. “You aren’t. You’re due for a vacation anyway, aren’t you? You could kill two birds with one stone.”

“I suppose I could,” he said reluctantly, and his eyes darkened for an instant. Then he looked over his sister’s head and his brows shot up. “Here comes the boss. Better vanish, before you become another statistic on the unemployment rolls.”

“I wish you were on a roll. Filleted!” She chuckled.

He sauntered off, leaving her to Dane.

“Problems?” Dane asked, his eyes going from Nick back to Helen.

“Not a single one, boss,” she assured him. “Nick and I were only discussing food.”

“Okay. How about the Smart investigation?”

She grimaced. “I need one piece of information I can’t dig out,” she said miserably. “I can’t get anybody to talk to me about Kerry Smart’s brief stint with the FBI.”

“Didn’t you ask your brother? He has contacts over at the FBI office.”

“That’s why I’d like him filleted on a roll,” she said sweetly. “He won’t call anybody.”

“Well, I can’t order him to,” he reminded her. “Nick’s very secretive about his FBI days. He never talks about that period of his life. Perhaps he doesn’t want any contact with the agency.”

“I guess. Well, I’ll trudge over to see Adams. He used to have one or two confidants.”

“Good.”

“How’s our Tess, and the baby?”

“She’s great, and the baby never sleeps. The doctor says he will one day,” he added wistfully. “Meanwhile, it’s just one more thing we can do together—sitting up with baby.”

“You know you love it,” she reminded him.

“Indeed I do. I could live without breathing much easier than I could live without my family.”

“And there you were, a confirmed bachelor.” She shook her head. “How are the mighty fallen!”

“Watch it,” he threatened, “before you become redundant.”

“Not me, boss. I intend to be even more valuable than Nick, if you’ll just give me a few days off to work for the FBI so that I HAVE SOME CONTACTS I CAN USE WHEN I NEED THEM!” she said loudly, so that Nick heard her. But it didn’t work. He made her a mocking bow and went out the door.

“One day, he’ll deck you, Reed,” Dane mused. “Sister or not, he’s all for woman’s lib. Equal opportunity, even in brawls, was how he put it.”

“That’s how I trained him,” she said, tongue-in-cheek, and got a laugh for her pains.

“I’ll tell him you said so.”

“God forbid!” she said with a mock shudder. “You can’t imagine what he told Harold the other day about what I did when I was two.”

“You’ll have to make sure he and Harold don’t meet too often.”

“That’s what Harold says!” she confided mischievously.

She got her things together and wished she had the time to go and see Tess and the baby. But now that Tess had married Dane and they had a child of their own, it had put some distance between the two women. They still had lunch together occasionally, but Tess was closer to her friend Kit than she was to Helen.

Helen went to see Adams, who actually did have a contact in the FBI office. He made one telephone call and got her the information she needed.

“Quick work! Thanks!” she said enthusiastically.

He cleared his throat. “If Harold isn’t treating you to pizza I’ll buy you a beer,” Adams offered. “Just casual, you know. I know you’re engaged.”

She smiled. He was nice. Big and burly and a little potbellied, but nice. “Thanks, Adams,” she said sincerely. “Rain check?”

“Sure,” he said easily. He grinned and went out the door. He always seemed to be by himself. Helen felt a bit sorry for him, but he was the kind of man who got attached to people and couldn’t let go. She was afraid of that kind of involvement. Well, with anyone except Harold.

“So, what did you talk to Adams about?” Nick asked from behind her as she went out the door.

She gasped and then laughed. “I didn’t hear you!”

“Of course you didn’t,” he said pleasantly. “I’m a private detective. We’re trained to sneak up on people with out being noticed.”

“Really?” she asked, smiling. “I didn’t know that.”

He glared at her. “Nice to know you love me. What were you doing over there,” he gestured toward Adams’s now-deserted desk. “Warding off Adams?”

“No! I like Adams.”

“Sure. I do, too, but he’s a tick. If you ever get him attached to you, you’ll have to stick a lighted match to his head to make him let go.”