Hard Hat Man (16 page)

“Good idea.” Jan smiled and leaned back against the seat. “Look at that huge moon coming up in the east. It’s been years since I’ve noticed it rising.”

Kyle nodded. “Yeah, it’s pretty. Guess your apartment doesn’t face east?”

“No, it doesn’t. And even if it did, there are
too many tall buildings
blocking the horizon
to see
t
he moon rise
when it
’s
breathtakingly huge.
Same with sunsets.
”

He laughed. “Well, it’s nice to know there are some advantages to living out in the sticks.”

She grinned back. “I miss those advantages. We lived in small towns when I was a kid. Then
M
om got this chance for a part in pictures and off to the city we went.”

They found a nice restaurant that was busy, but not overly crowded.

When a waitress appeared, Jan said, “
Th
at
roast beef
smells
d
el
i
cious. I’ll have that.”

“Me, too,” Kyle said. “And I know you serve fresh popovers here, so we’ll have those with it.”

They
went on talking
as they
waited for their dinners and then
ate them
.

“So what have you been up to since the days when I pulled your pigtails?” Kyle asked.

She told him about
college,
her
current
roommate and her teaching job in Chicago
. He
told her about working multiple construction jobs until he had enough experience to start his own small company.

“My dad taught me a lot before he died a few years ago,” Kyle said. “I guess I got my love of building things from him.
So I just have to make a go of this project,” Kyle said with a grimace
, forking up another chunk of beef
. “If I don’t, it’ll be back to square one, starting over again.”

“I hope it works out for you, then,” Jan said.

“So what about your dad?
What did he do?
”

Jan swallowed hard and sipped her coffee. “Dad
was a teacher, too. He
died the same summer we lost Nancy and Esther. That’s why we think of
it
as the summer of tragedy in our family.”

“I’m sorry.
What happened to him
?”

“A car accident
on the way home from the airport
.
He was teaching English in Japan that summer to earn extra money.
”

“That must have been hard losing him when you were only, what, ten?”

“Yes. After that, Mom decided she wanted to pursue the career she’d started before I was born. So she moved us to the city on Dad’s insurance money and went to acting school. She loves it and does pretty well at it.”

“So then she remarried?”

“Yes,” Jan said with a sigh. “Carl was one of the rich men
who
backed a couple of the shows she acted in. They hit it off and got married and moved to his winter place in Florida. But whenever she’s in a movie, they both live near wherever it’s set.”

Kyle eyed her and sipped his water. “From your tone of voice, I’m guessing you’re not exactly fond of Carl.”

Jan made a face. “Definitely not.
And the feeling’s mutual.
But Mom thinks he’s great and she’s the one who has to live with him, so…whatever.”

He laughed. “There’s no accounting for taste, eh?”

“Right.
But to be fair, Mom paid for my college from
money she earned in
her acting career, so she deserves some happiness for herself. And because Carl is rich, Mom insists I shouldn’t pay her back. So I should be grateful to him.
”

“But you’re really not,” he guessed, a twinkle brightening his eyes.

“No,” she agreed. “I try to keep a healthy distance between us, like the Atlantic Ocean separating us right now.”

“That is a good distance.
”

“So what happens now with your project?”

“
The
fire marshal
is done
,
so
we’
ve been
clean
ing
up the ash debris
. Then we’ll
start taking down the silo.”

“I sure hope there are no more incidents.”

He
grinned
. “I’ve asked a couple of my trusted employees to take turns keeping watch at night from now on. They can use the overtime and I’ll feel better. I hope that solves the problem.”

“Good.”

He
picked up the bill the waitress had placed on the table.
“Ready to go?”

“
Yes. I’d like to get
in
a couple more hours of sorting books yet tonight.”

He paid the bill and they strolled out into the
warm,
starlit night to his car. As they drove back to the farm, he said, “Would you like some help with the sorting?”

She glanced at him. “You don’t have to do that.
Rea
lly, you must be tired after your long day.”

He parked in front of the farm house. “I’m not in the least sleepy.
And I love old books. I’d like to see what Horace collected.”

She laughed as they went inside. “My uncle was a religious nut. He had weird tastes. I doubt you’ll find his collection interesting. It’s mostly
Bible
s, concordances and history. Though I’ll let Ms. Robards look through it to see if she wants any of it.”

“Any of the history books have to do with our area? She’d probably want those for the historical society’s collection.”

Jan shrugged, “Some of them might be. I didn’t think of that. I’m going to change back into jeans before I start sorting.”

“Okay. I’ll get started.”

***

Over a rise in the road overlooking the farm, the man with binoculars
focused on
Jan and Kyle enter
ing
the farmhouse.
Mosquitoes buzzed around him
in the warm summer night. H
e swatted at them each time a pinch meant they’d found a bare spot to bite him. In the distance a dog barked and a coyote answered. He ignored them, intent on the young couple.

Damn it, he went in the house with her again. Did they have something going already? He’d hoped she’d just look at the house and send all
the household stuff
off to Goodwill or something. But, no, she was actually
saying she was sorting through everything herself. And
staying there at night instead of staying in the motel in town.
That complicated things for him. He’d thought
t
he
ir secret
was safe
after
all these years
. Horace should have lived another twenty years or more. The
Bible
promised
a lifetime of
three score years and ten, but Horace had died short of that, screwing everything up. Had Horace left any evidence for this snoopy woman to find?
All this was Horace’s daughter’s fault. Her sins had started it all. Her shame had led to theirs and more.

He shifted uncomfortably at the memories. He’d never forget h
is part in
it. The devil had definitely had the upper hand that night, over both Horace and himself. He’d worked double time in his church many years to make up for it, but h
is w
e
akness
lived on in his memory. He’d
valued money over doing the right thing and he’d
never be free of t
hat sin
, no matter how many prayers he said or how many good works he did
. He’d
tri
ed
to erase the memories from his mind. He and Horace had never mentioned that night afterward, just
pretended it had never happened. H
e wished he could his
bury
thoughts
so easily
.

A light clicked on in the downstairs bedroom and then another in Horace’s library. What were they doing in there? Why didn’t they just go to bed in Esther’s bedroom together? There was nowhere to sleep in the library, they must be snooping in there, going through Horace’s papers and books. What would they find, if anything?

Why hadn’t he thought of this possibility and gone through Horace’s stuff sooner?
He’d wasted months when he could have gone through stuff and made sure Horace had left nothing to incriminate him. Why had he trusted that their secret was safe? Dumb, dumb, dumb.

His tricks weren’t scaring off the new developer, either. He’d thought it would be easier to stop the project and keep the farm as farmland. But, no!
Laura
had to go sell the farm to the highest bidder! Damn her anyway.
The H
ollywood bitch had no sense of proper Christian use for Horace’
s land.

He
turned his binoculars to
the blackened area at the bottom of the hill where the barn had stood.
The trucks had cleaned the area well. According to the drawings in the weekly newspaper,
they would put
a large swimming pool w
here the barn had been.
The soot-
smudged
silo rose high in the moonlight, a lone sentinel against the night sky. Would it go down next? Fear tightened his gut at the thought.
Time was running out for him.

D
amn Horace for not leaving a better will directing what could be done with his farm. Now the problem had fallen to him
to stop the changes coming and
prevent
the scandal that would follow
. But he could deal with it.