Hostage Midwife (9 page)

“Why would he make a hiding place?”

“To get out of work.” He flicked a switch and turned
on a light inside the hiding space. “He used to make Julia nuts by going into his office, and then not being there when she needed him.”

His uncle was beginning to sound more like a brat than a creative genius. As far as Kelly was concerned, there was a fine line between charming childlike behavior and irresponsible childishness. Samuel Spencer must have irritated a lot of people. “Any other
tricks?”

“This one concerns me.” He went to the window with the great view of the foothills and glided his hand under the lower sill until he found what he was looking for. “I pull the lever here, and watch.”

A slot at the side of the window flipped open. The window, which hadn’t appeared to be on a track, slid into it, and fresh air swept into the office.

The locked room where
his uncle allegedly committed suicide hadn’t been inaccessible. The open window gave an escape route for the killer.

Chapter Eleven

Wednesday, 11:15 a.m.

Yesterday, Nick had shown the window trick to the police, who duly investigated and concluded that the killer hadn’t lowered him or herself from the roof.

“That’s not the only issue,” he explained to Kelly. “The window only opens and closes from this side. If a killer used the window as an exit, it would have been open when we came
through the door.”

She poked her head through the window and looked down, as she’d said she wasn’t afraid of heights. Then she started feeling around the edges of the window. “Maybe there’s some kind of trigger on the outside.”

It didn’t make sense. Why would his uncle install an outdoor opener? In case a hawk wanted to swoop in for a visit? It made no sense at all, and yet...

When she pulled back inside and looked back at him, her cheeks were flushed. “I love that your uncle had a way of opening the window. One of the things I hate about offices is how you can never get fresh air.”

“When this building was constructed thirty years ago, all the windows opened and closed.”

“The Colorado version of air-conditioning,” she said.

The climate on the front range
of the Rockies was such that the temperature dropped low enough during the night to cool everything down and make air-conditioning unnecessary. At least, it used to be that way. Global warming made a difference, as did improved technology. All new construction had air-conditioning.

“The heating and cooling systems in these buildings have been updated several times. We use a lot of solar power.”
He remembered a discussion he’d had with Samuel about wind turbines. “My uncle was talking about tearing down the Spencer Building and starting over, creating a model for natural energy use and conservation.”

“Is that a project he might borrow a million dollars to get started?”

“He might.” It would be exactly like his uncle to launch into a wild-eyed project that he knew Marian and Rod
and even Jared wouldn’t approve of. “I was right about you bringing a new perspective. Good call, Kelly.”

She did a fist pump to celebrate her insight. “Yay, me.”

“If that was his plan, he must have been putting together blueprints.”

“On the computer?”

“My uncle never got into computer technology.”

“Really? He loved all these mechanical gizmos, but he didn’t use computer
science—the most fantastic gizmo of all.”

“Here’s how Samuel explained it to me—a magician never reveals his tricks.”

She cocked her head to one side. “I don’t understand.”

“He liked being a genius who could dazzle his clients. It made him happy to come up with creative solutions that no one had ever considered. Computers tend to level the playing field. Anybody can sound smart
if they have a free pass to the information highway. With the new architecture and blueprint software, it’s a lot easier to design a building.”

Nick suspected that Samuel also disdained computers because he liked to keep his secrets. If the money he’d borrowed from Radcliff had been a computer transfer, Nick could have found it in seconds. If Samuel had kept his project notes on the computer,
they’d be easier to access.

“I wish I’d known him,” Kelly said.

“You would have liked each other.”

“Why is that?”

“You both look sweet and innocent, but you’re complicated.”

With the breeze through the window tossing her sunlit brown hair and a wide grin on her face, Kelly didn’t appear to have a care in the world. He never would have suspected her dark side.

Last
night, he’d seen into the depths of her tortured soul. She’d been hurt, and she was enraged. When she came at him, she’d been more than hot. She’d been a beast, literally tearing off his clothes. Driven by fury and passion, she’d demanded hard, rough sex. And he had been ready, so damned ready, to give it to her.

The fuse had been lit, and he knew there would be fireworks. But he’d also known
that he wanted more than a down and dirty one-night stand. If he’d taken advantage of her rage at her ex-husband and indulged in angry sex, there wouldn’t be a future for them. At least, that was what he’d told himself last night when he was lying alone in his bed, cursing himself for kissing her hand instead of grabbing her tight and making love to her on the balcony.

“Blueprints,” she said,
“aren’t there like a million blueprints in the file room outside of the vault where you keep the gold?”

His brain was still fully engaged with the memory of her tongue plunging into his mouth and her fingernails clawing his back. “Blueprints?”

“For the new, improved building,” she said. “Didn’t you say he would have needed to draw up blueprints?”

The thought of tediously digging
through the documents outside the vault gave him a headache. He reached down and manipulated the lever that closed the window. “There’s something else I want to do first.”

He escorted her to the elevator and they went down to the sixth floor where the sporting-goods distributor was located. This office was Nick’s favorite place in the building. Nobody wore suits in these sixth- and seventh-floor
offices. The employees were outdoorsy people—skiers, hikers and mountain bikers—who actually used the equipment they sold and distributed.

With the help of the receptionist, they located Tony Bracco, the chief executive, in a display area that was as big as a gymnasium. Tony was a short, lean man with a skier’s tan and shaggy brown hair. In his hand, he held a crossbow.

“Hey, Nick. Sorry
to hear about Uncle Sam. If there’s anything I can do to help, say the word.”

“How about letting me try that crossbow.”

“It’s a beauty.”

After he introduced himself to Kelly and told her to say hi to Serena and her husband, Tony showed off the features of the crossbow, a serious weapon meant for hunting big game. “A well-aimed arrow could bring down a moose.”

Nick handled the
crossbow with respect, appreciating the design, the heft and the balance. He didn’t do much hunting, but when he did, he used a bow. It only seemed fair to give the prey a chance. “This baby looks more lethal than a rifle.”

“You bet it is. So I guess you’re not going to like it. This bow takes the challenge out of hunting.”

Nick nodded to the target on the far wall. “Can I try it?”

“Knock yourself out.”

He loaded the arrow, sited and fired. His arrow landed with a satisfying thump only one ring away from the bull’s-eye. “Maybe I won’t hunt with it, but this is fun.”

Tony nudged Kelly’s arm. “You want to try?”

“I’m not a shooter,” she said. “I like rock climbing.”

He gestured for them to come to a different area of the showroom. These offices weren’t
warehouses for the equipment, but they had samples of everything but guns, which were far more regulated. The latest equipment appeared first in these offices, and the sales force processed orders for shipping.

The area dedicated to mountain climbing had ropes, pitons, hinges, shoes, helmets and other goodies to make the climb safer and more efficient. Kelly picked her way through the equipment
with the kind of enthusiasm that comes from awareness. She knew rock climbing.

“Do you mind if I borrow some of this stuff?” Nick asked.

“Help yourself. Going on a little outing?”

“You might say that.”

With an armload of ropes, belaying equipment and grappling hooks, Nick led her back to the elevator and pressed the button for the tenth floor.

“We’re going up?” She eyed
him curiously. “Why?”

“Testing your theory,” he said. “I want to make sure there was no way to open and close the window in Samuel’s office from the outside.”

On the tenth floor, he stepped into the concrete stairwell and used a piton to keep it from closing all the way. If the door locked behind them, they’d have to go all the way down to the ground floor to gain access to the building.
At the door leading to the roof, it was once again necessary to prop it open and keep it from locking automatically behind them. In his office, he had keys to every door and office in the building, but there was no need to use them right now.

The view from the rooftop was panoramic, reminding him why he liked high mountains. The crisp air refreshed him, made him feel truly alive. He longed
to be back home in Breckenridge, where corporate hassles were at a minimum. The small town of Valiant wasn’t the place he wanted to live, not anymore. He’d rather break off his own little piece of Spencer Enterprises and leave the rest of it to his brother.

Kelly strolled across the rooftop, weaving her way between air vents and solar panels. He appreciated her long legs and athletic stride
as she made her way to the side of the building facing the foothills. She leaned over the waist-high parapet.

“Your uncle’s office is on this side,” she said. “Is it this end or the other?”

“Right here.” He dropped the equipment and studied the surroundings. “See if you notice signs that anyone else has been up here.”

“Like footprints?”

“And scratches on the concrete where
a hook could have been attached.”

She ran her finger along the edge of the parapet. “It looks clean.”

He agreed. There were no obvious physical indications that a killer had rappelled down the building, but he wasn’t going to give up on the idea until he tried it himself. Precious few clues had presented themselves, and he didn’t want to miss any opportunity to investigate.

Dropping
to his knees, he prepared the equipment. The sadness he felt about his uncle’s death was turning into something more complicated. Nick found it nearly impossible to believe that Samuel had taken his own life. He enjoyed living too much, playing games and surprising people. And the cryptic “I’m sorry” suicide note wasn’t like him. Samuel had no regrets. He did what he wanted and damned the consequences.
His lifestyle might drive other people—like Julia and Marian—to desperate acts, but Samuel was pretty much immune.

When he had the ropes prepared, he secured the grappling hooks with Kelly’s assistance. On the off chance that he slipped, he was confident that she could use the belaying ropes to get him back up to the roof. She passed him the helmet. “Put this on.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“I take safety very seriously.”

He peered over the edge. “We’re well over a hundred feet high. If I fall, a helmet isn’t going to save me.”

“Don’t make me give you a lecture about how you could lose your grip and slam into the building and knock yourself out. Or you could bump your head against a ledge. Or you—”

“Fine, I’ll wear the helmet.” He plunked it on his head and fastened
the chinstrap. “Anything else?”

“Your shoes aren’t great for climbing. The soles are too thick. And the ropes are going to ruin that nice tweed jacket. I’d give you mine, but there’s no way it’d fit.”

He slipped off his sports coat and adjusted the ropes. “You’re kind of a pain in the rear.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m a drag.” She handed him the climbing gloves. “But I’ve never had a serious
injury while rock climbing.”

Ready to make the descent, he gazed into her eyes. Standing in the morning sunlight with the wind in her hair, she was everything he wanted in a woman. Without thinking of the consequences, he leaned down and stole a quick kiss. “Wish me luck.”

“Wish I was the one climbing down,” she said. “Good luck.”

Using the ropes, he walked backward down the building.
His shoes, as Kelly had pointed out, weren’t the best for traction, but he didn’t slip. As he passed the window to his own office, directly above Samuel’s, he peeked in. Though his office was smaller, the layout was exactly the same as Samuel’s. There was a large window on this side and a smaller on the other. Instead of a square room, the office was a pentagon shape with the closet door on
the corner wall at a slant facing the slanted wall with the entry door.

The wind at this height was more aggressive than on the ground. His cotton shirt was virtually no protection against the chill, but his physical exertion was enough to keep him warm. Outside his uncle’s window, he inspected the bricks and ledges, looking for a device that might have been used to gain access.

Kelly
called down to him. “How’s it going?”

“I’m good. If I had enough rope, I’d climb all the way down to the ground.”

“Finding anything?”

“No luck. I’m coming back up.”

Another dead end.

* * *

W
ATCHING
N
ICK
CLIMB
back up, Kelly felt her heart racing—not that she was worried about his safety. He knew what he was doing, and they’d set the gear to avoid mishaps. It was his
casual kiss that sent her pulse into high gear.

His kiss had been natural and friendly, and she hoped with all her heart that it signaled a better direction for their relationship. She wanted to get over last night.

As she helped him over the parapet and onto the roof, she wanted another fast embrace as a reassurance that everything between them was fine. But her cell phone was ringing.

She took it out of her jacket pocket. Even though she didn’t recognize the number on caller ID, she needed to answer. She was on call for several pregnant women who could go into labor at any time. She answered.

“Damn it, Kelly. What the hell is wrong with you?”

She didn’t recognize the caller. “Who’s this?”

“Your husband.”

Her first instinct was to throw the phone off
the edge of the building, but she was smarter now. She wouldn’t let him hurt her. “You’re my ex-husband, Ted, and I have nothing to say to you. Don’t call me again.”

She disconnected the call and turned back toward Nick. He’d already peeled off the helmet and was raking his fingers through his thick black hair. Looking at him, she couldn’t remember what she’d ever seen in Ted, the pretty
boy.

“Who was it?” Nick asked.

“The scumbag I used to be married to.”

“Are you okay?”

She’d promised him honesty, and she searched her emotions for a truthful answer. “I had a flash of anger. I mean, who does he think he is? He has no right to bother me. I don’t care about him anymore.”