Part 16 (1/2)
He glanced over her shoulder as she clicked on an overhead light. The apartment had been ransacked, but since there wasn't much to trash, it wasn't too bad. The place was small and had been spa.r.s.ely furnished. The bare white walls would have given it an abandoned, empty feel even if the rest of the furnis.h.i.+ngs hadn't been so minimal. Will was struck with the thought that when Lucas left here, he hadn't planned to come back.
He glanced over at Sam and saw that she'd come to the same conclusion. She tossed down a worn couch cus.h.i.+on she'd picked up, then swore as she stepped into the living room.
A desk dominated the room, making the couch and single chair appear out of place. Computer magazines smothered the coffee table along with several dirty coffee cups that had made dark rings on the covers. A large computer sat on the desk, but someone had broken into the back of the computer and destroyed whatever had been inside it.
”I'm going to look upstairs,” Samantha said. ”I thought we'd pick up some of Zack's things while we are here, if there are any left.”
He glanced in the kitchen and bathroom, and then followed her up the stairs to the two bedrooms. All of Lucas's clothing was gone, his bedroom stripped of everything but the bed and bedding.
As Will looked around, he realized what had been bothering him about this place. There weren't any nails in the walls. No dents or screw holes or faded areas where anything had hung. No framed photos or mementos gathering dust anywhere. Even the clutter looked impersonal.
Zack needs a real home, he thought, and jerked back from the idea. Sam would find him one.
He brightened as he stepped into Zack's room. It looked like a kid's s.p.a.ce. The walls were covered with drawings and paintings, all in the hand of a child-a unique child with an active imagination.
”Hey, Zack's quite the artist,” he called to Samantha, who was still searching Lucas's bedroom.
He could imagine Zack drawing this stuff. It made him feel a little better about the kid's upbringing. It also reminded him of when he used to draw a lot. It had been years since he'd drawn anything by hand. Everything was on computer now. Funny, he hadn't realized how much he missed the feel of a plain white sheet of paper or the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil.
Zack's room had been ransacked, as well. At least, he thought it had. There were clothes and toys strewn on the floor; the bed sheets were torn from the bed and all the bureau drawers were pulled out.
He noticed then that the toy box, headboard and chest of drawers all matched and looked like relics of another boy's past-no doubt Lucas's. Something about that made Will think that Lucas had cared for the boy. His feelings toward Lucas softened a little.
He went through the drawers, pulled out clothes for Zack and piled them on the bare mattress. After a moment, he sensed Samantha behind him and turned.
She stood, silhouetted against the light coming from Lucas's room. She looked so good framed like that in the doorway. Even tired and discouraged, she looked great. He knew he could be by her side in two strides, lift her into his arms and carry her to the small bed as if she were weightless.
”Did you find anything?” he asked, his voice sounding a little hoa.r.s.e even to his ears.
She shook her head. ”Was there something else that Zack might want us to get for him while we're here?”
He dragged his gaze from her to the room. ”There are quite a few toys-mostly old, though.”
She came into the room, stirring up the molecules of air around him, causing some sort of odd barometric pressure disturbance in the room as she moved to the bed to pick up the clothing he'd stacked there.
It was all he could do not to reach for her. Visions of the two of them making love glided effortlessly into his head. But not here. Not in Lucas's apartment.
When she turned, what he saw in her gaze welded him to the floor.
”Will?”
Her voice was a whisper, ragged and husky. Her eyes were a magnificent blue, as deep and warm as the Caribbean Sea. Taking a dip in them seemed inevitable- The phone rang, jarring him out of his lascivious thoughts. Samantha seemed to start, too. She moaned softly and blinked a couple of times as if coming out of some sort of haze.
He followed her down the stairs to where the phone hung on the wall of the kitchen. She picked up the receiver on the third ring and handed it to him, mouthing, Just say h.e.l.lo. Just say h.e.l.lo.
”h.e.l.lo?”
She moved close to him to listen. A fuzzy silence hummed through the line. He could feel her body heat, smell her scent.
”Who is this?” a female voice demanded.
”Who is this?” Will asked. ”You called me.”
”It's Mercedes. I'm looking for Lucas.”
Wasn't everyone?
”Funny you should call,” Samantha said, taking the phone. ”I was planning to call you. you.”
MERCEDES PALMER LIVED in West Seattle in a condo overlooking Elliott Bay.
She greeted Sam and Will at the door in a G.o.d-awful brilliant red sarong. She was slim and small with a figure that had to have taken a lot of work. Her hair was cut in a pageboy and dyed a red that perfectly matched the sarong.
”I figured I'd be seeing you eventually,” Lucas's second ex said resignedly.
”This is Will Sheridan,” Sam said, not feeling compelled to say more-and Mercedes didn't ask. She did, however, give Will the once-over. Sam felt a pang of jealousy so strong she wanted to sock Mercedes.
”Come on in,” the woman said, not sounding the least bit hospitable. They stepped in, and Sam noticed that Mercedes glanced down the street as if looking for someone. Zack? Lucas?
The condo was painted all white, the only color accent being the sarong worn by its occupant.
Mercedes motioned to a blindingly white pair of chairs by the window before she sprawled dramatically on the couch in movie-star fas.h.i.+on.
”So have you found him?”
”Zack or Lucas?” Sam asked as she took one of the chairs. Will sat in the other.
Mercedes frowned. ”Is Zack missing, too?”
”Not anymore,” she said. ”Do you have any idea where Lucas is?”
”No, why ask me?”
”Because as I understand it, the ink on your divorce isn't even dry,” she said.
She got the reaction she'd hoped for.
Mercedes's eyes narrowed. ”Ca.s.sie, of course, told you that.” She waved a hand through the air as if it didn't matter. ”Lucas and I haven't lived together for months.”
”Look, I don't care about your living arrangements or your divorce. I want to find Lucas. I know he's in some sort of trouble, because he wouldn't just take off and leave Zack.”
The redhead seemed to study her, then Will. Will was looking around the apartment with anything but enthusiasm.
Mercedes let out a sigh and sat up, tucking her legs under her. ”Did Ca.s.sie tell you that Lucas was some kind of great father?” She let out a laugh. ”Always had his eyes glued to a computer screen. The boy was an absolute tear, but Lucas was too busy to tend to him. You know the kid steals?”
”I've noticed that,” she admitted, not liking the picture Mercedes was painting of Lucas or Zack.
”He's incorrigible.”