Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie Page B

man decides to
    get me by burning the house down? They trust me to take care of them. I’m not stupid. I know I’m in
    danger, and I’m scared, but I’m not leaving them.”
    “Then we’ll have to put somebody here with you,” Anthony said.
    “No,” Zack said.
    “Fine,” Lucy said.
    “We’re shorthanded.” Anthony stood. “I think I can get Sergeant Eliot—”
    “Are you crazy?” Zack said. “Eliot is sixty-four, legally blind, and waiting for retirement Lucy would
    have to protect him.”
    “Your other choice is Matthews,” Anthony said. “And we’ll have the patrol cars keep an eye—”
    “Who’s Matthews?” Zack asked.
    “The tall blond one you keep calling Junior,” Anthony said. “Stop doing that, by the way. It annoys him.
    Anyway, he’s young, strong, and he’s got 20/20 vision. Happy?”
    “No.” Zack searched for a good reason why. “He’s young. He’s new. He doesn’t know...”
    “Great,” Anthony said, a savage edge creeping into his voice. “You want somebody not too old, not too
    young, who knows. That leaves us with a middle-aged cop with experience. The only one of those
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    available is you. Are you volunteering?”
    Zack looked first at Lucy and then at Anthony, and said, “Yes. Watch her while I go get my stuff. And
    by the way, I amnot middle-aged.”
    “What?” Lucy said.
    “You’re kidding,” Anthony said. “I thought you were hot on the trail of Bradley the embezzler.”
    “I think the trail’s here. When I get back, we’re going to search this place.”
    “I thought you needed a warrant for that,” Lucy said.
    “Not if the home owner gives us permission.” Anthony tried to signal Zack to shut up, with no success.
    Zack ignored him.
    “And you’re going to give us permission because I just saved your life,” Zack said.
    “You did not...” Lucy began. “Oh. I guess you did.”
    “Right. Remember that.” Zack turned back to Anthony. “I’ll be back in half an hour. Watch her every
    minute so she doesn’t leave again. She has no survival instincts.”
    When Zack was gone, Anthony smiled at Lucy. “He means well. He just has no tact.”
    Lucy bit her lip. “I’m not stupid. I just didn’t believe him when he said somebody was trying to kill me.”
    “That’s all right. I didn’t, either. It’s the most annoying thing I know about Zack. He makes these stupid
    assumptions, and then he turns out to be right. Fortunately, he’s also a great guy. You just have to get
    used to him.”
    “Oh, I could get used to him,” Lucy said. Anthony heard a note of wistful enthusiasm in her voice and
    sank back down into the big soft chair again as she went on. “I just don’t know why he’s always
    grabbing me and yelling at me. I’m a very calm, logical, unemotional person. It really isn’t necessary.”
    Anthony nodded. “He worries about you.”
    Lucy bunked and Anthony sat back and thought,I wonder if Zack has noticed that she blinks every time
    she thinks of something she can’t say aloud. I bet he has.
    I bet he’s noticed just about everything about her.
    “He didn’t even call yesterday,” Lucy went on. “He forgot me. He put me in this house, and then he
    forgot me.”
    Anthony shook his head. “No, he didn’t. We had some problems yesterday. Big ones. A woman was
    shot” He watched her closely as she flinched at the news.
    “That’s awful.”
    “It was. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen Zack look worried.”
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    “Why?”
    “He thought it was you.”
    “Oh.” Lucy blinked again.
    Bingo. She was a darling, and she liked Zack. If Zack moved in with her for a month, he’d be a goner,
    and Anthony could stop worrying about him. It was perfect, although he might have to start hiding
    evidence to keep Zack there for that long.
    Now all he had to do was convince