She couldn’t meet his eyes. “I know what you and Emily are doing, Gramps. And I appreciate it. I really do. But Kyle isn’t the man for me.”
“You don’t need a clean slate, Melissa Jane. Not if the man truly loves you.”
His words seemed to settle around her, but she pushed them away, not willing to hear them, certain that she was right. She kept her voice gentle yet firm. “I know what I’m doing, Gramps. Don’t worry about me.”
“I do worry about you. You’re all I have.”
She lifted a brow. “You have Emily.”
His eyes lit up as he nodded. “Yes, I suppose I do.” His mustache twitched as he smiled. “Apparently I’ll be seeing her on a lot of double dates.”
At that, Mel couldn’t help but laugh.
The lines on Gramps’s forehead crinkled. “What?”
She shook her head, still giggling. “Nothing. I just have that song going through my head now. ‘It takes two, baby….”’
His mustache twitched. “Sorry. I don’t do songs. Only movies. What aboutBetween One and Two?”
“A silent movie? Nah. MaybeChampagne for Two.”
Gramps shook his head, clearly getting into the game. “Two for the Road.”
“Although, I guess really it should be four since we’re two sets of two. So maybe—” She closed her mouth, her eyes wide as she realized that she knew. Sheknewhow to answer the Driskell riddle.
Now she just had to prove she was right.
“I need a favor, Gramps,” she said. “If you have any plans for tonight, I really need you to break them.”
* * *
“YOU WANT TO TELL ME AGAINwhat we’re doing?” Gramps asked, stifling a yawn. “Considering you told me you were giving up this life, I know we can’t be casing this house.”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing,” she said. “Of course, this time it’s completely aboveboard.”
Her grandfather’s brows lifted.
“Trust me.”
They were in her car, parked just outside of the Bryant house. If she was right, she knew how the Driskell robbery went down. She got a little thrill from having solved the mystery, but the excitement was tempered by the knowledge that, if she wasright, the job she’d agreed to do for Kyle would be over. Time to move on. Time to walk away.
Tears threatened, but never appeared. She knew she was doing the right thing, no matter how hard it might be. No tears. She just had to buckle up and get past this.
It was a little past three in the morning, and the street lay silent. A fine mist of dew had settled over the car, and Mel hugged herself, pulling her hooded sweatshirt more tightly around her.
Gramps looked at her over his glasses, but didn’t say anything.
She couldn’t meet his eyes, so she concentrated on rummaging through her fanny pack, checking her supplies. The solution was so simple she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before. After Gramps’s casual words had planted the seed, she’d pulled out her copies of the schematics. Yup. Just as she’d thought. She now knew exactly, without a doubt, how the thief had gotten in.
“Okay,” she said. “This is what we’re doing.”
After she walked him through the plan, he took off his glasses and peered at her. “And you think that will get us through the system?”
She nodded. “I’m sure of it.”
“If you’re right, you know what that means?”
She drew in a breath and nodded again. “Iknow.” If she was right, she was going to be delivering some seriously bad news to Kyle.
