Taylor Made Read online

  “Whatcha looking for? You don’t think a burglar would climb all the way up here, do you?”

  Delta grinned. “You’d be surprised.” Leaving the second bedroom, she continued checking windows until she came to one which was slightly open. “Was this window open when you left?”

  Mrs. Turnbull nodded. “We always leave it open so we can hear the doves coo. They make the prettiest sound.”

  Taking out her flashlight, Delta directed its beam on the window frame. “These windows aren’t tied into the alarm, are they?”

  Jerome shook his head. “Didn’t see the need for it, being as it’s two stories up and all.”

  Delta followed the beam of her flashlight with her eyes. The dust on the windowsill was displaced. Tony bent over and looked from the same angle as Delta. Although the lights were on in the house, nothing could touch the strength of a six-celled flashlight.

  “What is it?” Tony asked.

  Delta pointed to the windowsill. “Someone, or something, was up here. Could have been the doves, might have been a cat, but it’s unlikely. See how dusty the edges are? But then look at this patch right here? Someone entered through this window. Get on the horn and tell dispatch that the Burg Unit might want to take a look at this.”

  “Then, my ring was stolen?”

  Straightening up, Delta clicked the flashlight off. “It’s possible. The Burglary Unit will be out to have a look, and they can compare what they find and see if it matches any other home invasions in the area.”

  Jerome shook his head. “It would take a mighty desperate person to climb up two stories, don’t you think?”

  Delta grinned at him again. “And that’s exactly what most burglars are. Look, folks, the Burglary Unit will be here shortly. Don’t touch any of the windows or anything that you think is out of place. You might want to just look inside the your jewelry box again to make sure nothing else was stolen.”

  “Thank you so much, Officer Stevens. I really appreciate your concern.”

  Delta nodded to her before gliding down the stairs and out the door with Tony right behind her.

  “Odd couple,” Tony said, shaking his head.

  “Odd case. What would possess a thief to climb all the way up here and then leave without taking the jewelry box?”

  Tony frowned. “Not enough time?”

  “Oh, they had plenty of time. Assuming they got in from the top window, the alarm wouldn’t have gone off. They could have been in there for hours. What else?”

  “Revenge?”

  Delta shrugged. “Maybe. The broken window sort of suggests that, doesn’t it?”

  “It’s too obvious though, huh?”

  “Not necessarily. Don’t be afraid to examine the obvious, Carducci. Anything else?”

  “Drugs? Maybe he was too wired to think clearly.”

  “But he was calm enough to climb all the way up there? Hardly. Keep going.”

  Tony rubbed his chin. “I give.”

  Delta grinned. “How much is a 1.5 carat worth?”

  “I don’t know. Five, ten grand.”

  “Uh-huh. And I’m sure it’s insured.” Tony’s eyes lit up. “Oh, now I get it.”

  Sliding her flashlight back through the ring, Delta shrugged. “It’s just one of the possibilities.”

  Tony grinned at her. “Always the open mind, huh Delta?”

  Delta returned the smile. “Always.”

  When Delta returned home, two cats began rubbing up against her before she could even get the door closed. Used to be, she frowned upon sudden attention when her shift was over. She needed some down time. But with Megan in Costa Rica, any kind of attention worked for her now. Delta had never minded living alone. After she kicked Sandy out, Delta rather enjoyed having the time and space to herself. When she fell in love with Megan, Delta was finally ready to have someone share that space. Much to her surprise, Megan had preferred to keep her own apartment, and they occasionally spent the night in their own homes. This had somewhat irked Delta in the beginning, but as usual, Megan’s thoughts had logic behind them.

  “Lesbians often get so immersed in their relationships, they forget who they are,” Megan had explained one night after a wonderful evening of lovemaking. “Our identity gets so wrapped up in the ‘we’ that we start losing the individual identities we originally fell in love with. I don’t want to make that mistake, Delta. I’ve only recently discovered who the real me is.”

  Delta didn’t want to understand, but she did. It was the last time she’d ask Megan to move in with her. If Megan came back from Costa Rica and still wanted separate homes, then so be it.

  “Well, hello everybody,” Delta said, offering her standard greeting to the cats. “Hungry?” Delta opened the refrigerator and smelled the milk before pouring it in two saucers. Aside from the milk, the only other contents in the refrigerator were Diet Pepsi and tortillas. “And how was my night, you ask?” Snatching Megan’s picture out from under a refrigerator magnet, Delta sat on a barstool and stared at it. She never imagined she could love someone as much as she loved Megan. After too many broken hearts to keep track of, Delta had given up on finding that one special person who could love her for who she was and not for who she could be. Delta Stevens was a cop. She had always wanted to be on the force, and it was what she did best. She loved it.

  Yet, she loved Megan, too, and this separation was killing her.

  While staring at the picture, Delta instinctively reached for the phone. She’d waited as long as she could for Megan to return her last two calls. Surely, the lawyer she was interning for didn’t have her working at, what time was it over there? Four-thirty in the morning? If Megan wasn’t in now, she’d surely have something else to worry about.

  Finally, on the fourth ring, a sleepy voice answered. It was not Megan’s. “Bueno?”

  “Terry?” Delta asked, feeling slightly guilty for waking her up so early.

  “No, it’s Liz. Who’s this?”

  “It’s Delta. Delta Stevens. Is Megan there?”

  “Sure. Hang on a sec.”

  Delta sighed and resisted the urge to kiss Megan’s picture. She grinned to herself as she wondered if other women acted as goofy.

  “Delta?”

  The silvery sound of Megan’s voice melted the cold anxiety in Delta’s heart. “I’m sorry I woke you.”

  “Don’t be. I’m so glad you called. Is everything all right?”

  Delta’s stomach pitched at the tenderness in Megan’s voice. She sounded so happy, if a little sleepy. “I just wanted...I needed to hear your voice.”

  “Honey, is something wrong? Are you okay?”

  Delta closed her eyes and pictured Megan playing with a long strand of her blonde hair. “Nothing’s wrong, baby, I just miss you so much, I ache. I needed to hear your voice.”

  “You’re such a sweety. I miss you, too. You sure you’re okay?”

  Okay was such a relative term. “Yeah. I’m just feeling a little lonely tonight. Coming home to an empty house is getting old; especially after work.”

  “How is work?”

  “Slow. The only thing that happened tonight was a burglary, and the perp took one diamond ring. It reminded me of the time we went ring shopping. Remember the saleslady’s face when she realized the rings were for the two of us?”

  “She sure soured fast, didn’t she? I thought I’d die when you told her that her closed mind just cost her a healthy commission.”

  Delta grinned. “I particularly enjoyed when she mumbled ‘sinners’ under her breath. God, we had fun that day.”

  “Actually, you had more fun shopping for the perfect salesperson.”

  “Never did find her.”

  “Nope.”

  “Never found the rings, either.”

  A tenuous silence filled the gap between them. “Is that what’s bothering you, Del? That I left before you could get a ring on my finger?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Honey, what is it with lesbians and r
ings? A ring won’t make me any more committed to you than a marriage certificate. We’ve been through this.”

  “I know,” Delta said, feeling stupid for even bringing it up. What was the matter with her tonight, anyway?

  “Sweetheart, don’t you worry about me falling for anyone down here. My actions let these macho gauchos know that this is one little señorita who is unavailable. I’ve made it perfectly clear to everybody that I’m here for business only. You don’t have to worry about me riding off into the sunset with one of the natives.”

  “That happens when you don’t return my calls. It starts making me crazy.”

  “Stop being crazy, silly. Days run into night here before I even know how much time has gone by. I’m working really hard, sweetheart, that’s all. And when I do slow down to where I can call, you’re usually at work.”

  “I just miss you.”

  “I know. But you have to remind yourself that I’m not down here on vacation. I’m learning more in a day than I would in a classroom for a month. Juan Carlos has been generous with time off for side trips, and...well...I’ve been on one of those trips for three days. That’s why I couldn’t get back to you. There were no phones where I went.”

  “Where’d you go?”

  “Do you remember when we went to Wild Animal Kingdom and I got to hold that scarlet macaw?”

  How could Delta forget? That bird clicked and preened and did everything but mate with Megan. It had been love at first sight. “I remember. Why?”

  “They fly in pairs down here and are as common as our sparrows and robins. It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen. They’re so beautiful in the wild.”

  “Are there blue and gold ones, too?”

  “No, they’re in Hawaii. The scarlets are the ones here, and they’ve just made it to the soon-to-be-endangered list. With the destruction of rainforests and the number of people still smuggling them into countries like the US, their numbers are dwindling. It’s getting pretty serious.”

  “Smuggling? People smuggle birds?” Delta picked up a pen and started doodling.

  “Uh-huh. These guys used large nets to knock them down and capture them. Then they drug them, roll them in newspaper, and cram them all in a box.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “Yes, it is. And only one in seven make it out of that box alive.”

  “How sad.”

  “Delta, to see them fly...to watch them talk to each other, preen each other, and raise families is something I’ll never forget. They mate for life, you know.”

  “I didn’t know that.” Delta was smiling wider than she had in weeks. “So, Dr. Greenpeace, where does this all lead?”

  “I’ve been out there in the heart of the rain forest, Del. Juan Carlos’s cousin and I spotted some poachers.”

  Delta stopped her doodling and sat up. “Poachers?”

  “Yep. We’re trying to ascertain who their connection is here in Orotina.”

  Ascertain? Already, Megan was beginning to sound like a lawyer. “To what end?”

  “Hopefully, to jail. That’s what we’d—”

  “Whoa, Megan, wait a minute here. You’re hanging out in the jungle spying on poachers?”

  “It’s not a jungle, it’s a rainforest. And we’re not spying, we’re tracking.”

  “Megan, sweetheart, listen to me. Hunting poachers sounds dangerous.”

  “We don’t confront them, Del. We just track them and report them to the authorities. Delta, last year, in one of the reserves, out of ninety pairs of scarlets, only eight babies achieved adulthood. Eight. At that rate, they’ll never survive.”

  Delta was up now, pacing in the living room. In their two years together, Delta had never heard Megan sound so determined, so involved. “And you think that tracking this poacher will lead to the buyer?”

  “Yes. We want the poachers out of Orotina. And if you could hear them chattering to each other, if you could see how beautiful they are in flight, you’d want to save them, too. I can’t leave here, Delta, without giving something back to these people, to this place. It’s incredible.”

  Delta stopped pacing and found herself smiling again. Two years ago, Megan Osbourne seldom saw the light of day, let alone the need to help something living in it. Now, after growing and changing so much, Delta was beginning to understand what had driven Megan to Costa Rica in the first place: the need for an adventure of her own. She wasn’t just finding herself; she was looking for that one thing that made her heart beat faster. She wanted to give something back to life, and she was on the track to finding her true calling. Delta understood callings.

  Megan wanted to experience something utterly new. And here it was, wrapped up like a macaw in newspaper. A ready-made adventure that promised the kind of thrill and excitement Delta had every night.

  “So, tell me what you’re going to do to help?”

  “Well, right now, we’re investigating who’s setting up the poachers. We have a few leads, but nothing substantial, yet.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “Augustine, Juan Carlos’s cousin. He came over as our tour guide, so we could experience the rain forest from a native’s point of view. But when he started telling us about the number of macaws being killed by poachers, I expressed an interest to learn more. Augustine is a very sweet kid, Del. I don’t believe he’s even eighteen yet, so don’t start worrying about him, okay?”

  “A kid, huh?”

  “With a heart of gold. He’s been really wonderful. I’ve learned so much. Del, I just want to make a difference. I want my life to have an impact on something besides the tiny corner I’ve spent it in. You—you make a difference every night of your life. For two years, I’ve watched you affect the people around you. I’ve spent a lot of time admiring it, even envying it. So, I started looking at my own life—you know, tearing it apart to find what I’ve been missing. Well, what I found wasn’t what I expected to find. I never realized how shallow my life was until I got here. I thought college was the great mind-expanding experience that was going to broaden my worldliness. Now, I laugh at how naive I’ve been.”

  “I wouldn’t call it naive, honey.”

  “I would. Before you came along, I thought love was the missing link in my life. Then, thank God, you came and changed that. But the missing piece wasn’t love. So I tried school, thinking that was it. No again.”

  “What was it?” Delta asked, feeling like she already knew the answer.

  “Something to be invested in. Delta, I needed something that moves me in the way that being a cop moves you.” Leaning her head back on the couch, Delta nodded. “Del, do you understand?”

  “Sweetheart, for the first time since we’ve become lovers, I understand it all too well.”

  “I love my law classes, my relationship with you, my transformation from caterpillar to butterfly, but I need to make a difference.”

  “And now, you are.”

  “I am, and you know what else?”

  Delta couldn’t help smiling at the excitement in Megan’s voice.

  “You know, all this time, I thought I was jealous of the time and energy you put behind your badge. But that wasn’t it. I was jealous because being a cop gives meaning to your life. It’s why you live so fully. It’s the heart behind who you are. I was jealous because I didn’t have that. I didn’t have something that drives my spirit.”

  “And now you do.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Yes, honey, now I do. There’s a thrill in knowing that I’m a part of saving a species. There’s a challenge, even a risk involved that excites me. I finally get why you do what you do; why you take the risks you take.”

  Delta sighed heavily. Her head felt light. “Megan, all I’ve ever wanted was for you to understand why I work so hard.”

  “And I do. Ironic, don’t you think? I needed to go far enough away to see the big picture.”

  “Hey, as long as that picture still includes the two of us together. But does this mean I have to m
ove to Costa Rica?”

  “Of course not. But I’m not through here. I think it’s just the tip of the iceberg for me. I’ve simply discovered the symptom of my doldrums, now I need to find a cause I can work at every day.”

  “No one understands the importance of causes better than I.”

  “God, Del, I’m so relieved you understand. I didn’t even know where to begin to tell you what was happening to me.”

  “It’s the new and improved Delta Stevens. I’ve grown some since you’ve been gone, too.”

  “But I liked the old you.”

  “Believe me, she’s there, too.”

  “I love you, Delta Stevens. I love you even more for putting up with me.”

  “It comes with the territory.”

  “I’m lucky, then.”

  “So am I.”

  For a moment, silence traveled across the lines until Megan yawned into the receiver.

  “You sound tired. I better let you go.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got a long day ahead of me.”

  Delta nodded, wondering how many times in her career she’d said that to a lover. “Well, don’t take any chances out there in the jungle, you hear me?”

  Megan laughed. “It’s a rainforest, and I won’t.”

  “Good. Well, I’ll be waiting with bells on. Nothing else. Just bells.”

  “Mmm. What a scintillating thought. I hope I dream about that when I go back to sleep.”

  “I love you. Come home soon, okay?”

  “I love you, too. And thank you. Thank you for being so understanding. You take good care of yourself.”

  “You got it.” When Delta hung up, she sat for a very long time in the near darkness of her house a slight smile on her face and a lightness in her heart.

  Taylor landed lightly on her feet and pulled the rope up quickly behind her. Despite the hushed beeping noise, she knew the alarm would not engage for one minute, so she had to work fast. The dog hadn’t been a problem; she’d merely climbed right up the front of the house in a matter of seconds. It never ceased to amaze her how safe people with dogs believed themselves to be; so safe, they’d leave windows, even doors unlocked because good ol’ Fido was out in back, and who would be so foolish as to try to get past Fido? But she had learned long ago that a dog was only a deterrent when stationed inside the house. A guard dog in the backyard only meant one thing to a thief as proficient as Taylor; she’d have to go in some other way.