Knocking at Her Heart (Conover Circle #1) (21 page)

“I’d like to see you again,” he
said.

Well, yeah. That was easy. “That
would be nice,” she said.

“Exclusively?”

If he thought she was sharing, he
was crazy. “I think that’s best.”

He nodded. “I don’t see any
reason to keep this a secret unless you’ve got some concerns with people
knowing?”

She wouldn’t be able to keep it
from Carol and once Carol knew, asking her to keep it a secret was like asking Eskimos
to buy ice. Absolutely fruitless. “I don’t really care who knows,” she said.

He took her wineglass out of her
hand. Then he carefully, deliberately, kissed her. The wanting flared. Hot.
Intense. “Stay,” she begged.

He smiled and scooted off the bed.
“Don’t even ask,” he said. “I’m not strong enough to tell you no. There’s no
way I can be here when your parents get home.”

“My father’s leaving tomorrow.”

“And your mother?”

“I have no idea.”

“If she stays, we need to find
her another place to live.”

Maddie nodded. “The tie thing
could get old.”

“Tie thing?”

Maddie rolled her eyes. “Yours is
hanging on the door handle downstairs. It’s the universal signal.”

He truly looked dumbfounded. “For
what?” 

She sighed. “That people in close
proximity to the tie are having sex. It was my parent’s idea.”

“That we have sex?”  His
voice cracked.

“That we hang a tie. Didn’t they
do that at your college?”

He shook his head. “I’ve got to
get out of here,” he said.

“Your clothes are downstairs.”

“Oh, Christ. If they walk in and
I’m naked…”

Maddie looked at the clock on her
bedside table. “Better hurry.”

He took four glorious, naked
steps toward the door. The man had a very nice butt. He stopped and turned back
toward her. And because he had very nice other parts as well, she had to work
real hard to concentrate on his face.

“Can I see you tomorrow night?”
he asked.

“I'm going to be at the library.”

He frowned at her. “That is
almost as lame as I’m washing my hair.”

“It’s not lame. It’s the truth. I'm
on the library board and we're voting on expansion plans. I need to be
there.” 

“Maybe after that?”

That would be a problem.
Especially since she’d just agreed to Exclusivity. Jeff would be waiting
outside the library. “Actually, I’m meeting someone afterwards.”

“Someone I know?”

“No,” she lied. It wasn’t like
she was going to spend more than ten minutes with Jeff. There was no reason to
give Sam a reason to doubt her.

A car door slammed. It wasn’t
from her driveway but close enough to remind Sam that danger awaited if he
delayed. “I hate leaving you like this,” he said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m really good, Sam. It was a
wonderful night. Call me, all right?”

“Bet on it.”  

*

Her parents came home a half an
hour after Sam had left. She heard them on the stairs, coming up to her
apartment. She picked up a magazine and pretended to read. No need for them to
know she’d been daydreaming about Sam and how cute he looked standing in her
bedroom, naked, torn between jumping back into bed or jumping into his clothes
and hitting the road.

The first thing she noticed was
that her parents were holding hands. Then her mother slipped off her coat.
That’s when she noticed that her mother’s blouse was buttoned wrong. 

She looked quickly to make sure
her own shirttails were even. “How was dinner?”

“Very nice. Best steak I’ve had
in a while,” her father said. “Your mother had a plateful of shrimp.”  He
turned to his wife, evidently noticed the buttoning job, and cleared his
throat. “Frances, your shirt,” he said.

She looked down. “Oh, dear.” She
smiled at Maddie. “I hate when that happens.”

Maddie could not keep the grin
off her face. “So. Now what?”    

“Your mother and I will be
leaving tomorrow. Together.”

She had a thousand questions.
“Everything’s back to normal?”

Her mother shook her head.
“Everything is different, Madelyn, but that’s a good thing. Your father and I
had a long talk over dinner. We know that we’ve both made mistakes. What we
also know is that we’ve loved each other for more than thirty years.”

Her father put his arm around his
wife. “Your mother and I are both proud people. For a while, we let our pride
get in the way of admitting that we were hurting.”

“I’m happy for you,” Maddie said.
“Really, I am.”

“We know, darling. I hope we didn’t
chase Sam away,” Frances said.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Are we going to be seeing more
of him?” her father asked.

It was very hard to keep a
straight face when she wanted to sing and do a happy-dance. “I think there’s a
very good chance of that, Father.”

“Don’t give yourself less than a
year to plan a wedding,” Frances said.

Her father squeezed her mother’s
hand.

“Oh, fine,” Frances said, a
put-upon frown on her face. “Just pick a weekend and do it.  We just want
you to be happy.”

She knew it was true. Her heart,
already full, stretched to accommodate the love. “I’m going to miss you both,”
she said. “Please come back.”

“We will,” her father
promised. 

“Come on, Peter,” her mother
urged. “Let’s go to bed.”

“I’ll sleep downstairs,” Maddie
said.

“That’s not necessary,” her
father protested.

She smiled. “There’s only so much
a daughter can be expected to take.” She hugged her mother first, then her
father. She ran her index finger down her father’s pinstriped tie.  “Don’t
forget to hang this on the doorknob.” 
         
           
           

*

When Carol arrived the next
morning, Maddie was in the blue room, folding up her blankets and sheets.
“What’s going on?” Carol asked, giving her a quick hug.

“My parents are upstairs.”

“Alone? Has anyone called 911?”

“They’re leaving today. In the
same car. Going back to live in the same house. I think they had sex last
night.”

Carol patted her chest. “I was
with you up until that last one. Wow.”

“Love endures, Carol. It really
does.”

“Is she leaving her condoms?”

It was now or never. “I hope so.
I might need them.”

Now Carol staggered backwards.
“Honey, I’m old. Don’t just let things like that pop out of your mouth.”

“Sam and I are sort of together.”

Carol sat down and let out a big
huff. “Sort of together does not require the usage of a condom.”

“Well, then, we’re a little
closer than sort of together.”

Carol fanned herself. “I should
go away more. I’m happy. Sam’s a fully-loaded baked potato.”

“He’s a
what
?”

“You know. If men were potatoes, you’d
always want baked over mashed. You’d want something solid, substantial,
something that holds the heat longer. But if a woman is really lucky, she gets
a fully-loaded baked potato. The kind they serve at Terratoni’s. They’ve got
the sour cream, the butter, the chives. Fully-loaded.”

Maddie rubbed her head. “Carol,
if this is what happens when you go to Tennessee, you should never, ever, go
there again.”

“I’d go back under better
circumstances. Pretty place. Oh, by the way, heard you had trouble with your
water heater.” 

“How in the world did you hear
that?”

Carol frowned at her. “When I got
home last night, I ran up to the Quick Mart for bread and milk. Donna Hazelton
was working the night shift. Her husband’s cousin was the repair man.”

And that’s how things went in a
small town. It was why Sam had asked whether she was concerned about people
knowing because no matter how discreet they tried to be, people would know.
“Yeah, well, Donna doesn’t know everything. Come on, let’s get some coffee and
I’ll fill you in on all the gory details.”

Over coffee, Maddie told Carol
about the mice first. Then, she filled Carol in on the visit from Greta
Douglass, the subsequent sighting of mouse droppings and noted lack of hot
water, and the promise of a return inspection.

When she was done, Carol looked
more serious than usual. “For her to insinuate that we’re not running a tight
ship here is just ridiculous.”

“She’s just doing her job.” Who
would have thought she’d be defending the woman?

Carol shook her head. “None of it
makes sense, Maddie. That agency is so resource strapped that they don’t have
the people to do the required visits, let alone to be popping in to do extra
visits.”

Maddie shrugged. “Well, me and my
new thermocouples are ready for her to come back anytime.”

“Thermocouples?”

Evidently Donna, from the Quick
Mart, had had sketchy information. “Joe said it looked like somebody had taken
a wrench to the thermocouples.”

Now Carol looked mad. She looked
over both shoulders like someone might have sneaked into the kitchen. “Maddie,
I think there’s something going on here. When Travis fixed your roof, he
thought it was the oddest thing that all the shingles that came up were in one
spot. The rest of your roof is in good shape. And then that thing with the hose
in your dishwasher. Travis installed that himself just a year ago. He said
those hoses can come loose, but it’s usually only if the unit isn’t sitting
level and there’s some vibration. That wasn’t the case with yours.”

“I think I’ve just had a run of
bad luck. I’m sure that happens in old houses.”

“Yeah, but, now this thermocouple
thing on your hot water heater. Don’t you think it’s sort of more than just bad
luck when that happens and suddenly DCFS, who really has no reason to do an
unexpected visit, shows up?”

Maddie’s coffee started to turn
in her stomach. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that it almost seems
like somebody’s trying to cause you some trouble. I think we need to find out
if Greta Douglass came because of a complaint. Is it possible that any of the
parents could have complained?”

“I don’t think any of them knew.
But how do we find out why she came?”

Carol waved her hand. “That’s
easy. Travis’s cousin by marriage on his mother’s side is married to Betty
Bowding. She’s a secretary in DCFS’s office. She’ll be able to tell us.”

“But who would want to cause me
trouble?”

“You know somebody has been
trying to buy this place. Maybe they’re trying to run the price down.”

Maddie shook her head. “No. Percy
Monaghan just called me. He offered more money.”

“I don’t know. What I do know is
that something strange is going on and I’m getting pissed.”

Maddie heard the front door open.
She pushed her chair back. “Don’t say anything to my parents. They’ve got more
than enough on their hands. I don’t want them to be worrying about me.”

At just before noon, the
telephone rang.  Maddie, on her way past with an armload of clean towels,
snagged it up. “Hello. Kids Are It.” 

“Hi. How are you?”

Sam.
Mr. Fully-Loaded Baked Potato himself.
She was a carbohydrate girl. “I’m good. How are you?”

“Fine. Did Carol make it back
safely?”

“Yes. And my parents left a
couple hours ago. So life is back to normal.” Not really. After all, she and
Sam were more than sort of together.

Sam cleared his throat. “Did your
parents say anything about us?”

“Mother said if we wanted to have
a quick wedding some weekend, she’d make the coleslaw and cook up a big pot of
barbeque beans.”

She heard a clunk and thought he
might have dropped the phone. “What did you say?” he asked, sounding
breathless.

“I was kidding, Sam. Remember my
mother.”

“Right. I…uh…just really wanted
you to know that I had a great time last night. It was wonderful. You…you were
perfect."

She dropped her towels and didn’t
even care that she’d have to wash them all again. “I wish I didn’t have the
library meeting tonight.”

“Could I see you tomorrow night?”

“I’ll wear my dress again.”

He sighed. “That gives me
something to think about. See you tomorrow, Maddie.”

When Carol walked by three minutes
later, she looked at Maddie, at the towels on the floor, and the phone Maddie
still had in her hands. “Was that that scumbag Percy Monaghan? You let me talk
to him the next time he calls.”

Maddie hung up the telephone.
Carol hadn’t cooled down much since early morning. “It was Sam.”

“Did you tell him my theory that
somebody is trying to make trouble for you?”

Maddie shook her head. “No. He
wouldn’t have any idea, either.”

“Well, if I find out who it is,
I’m going to string them up by their…” Carol looked at the Simmons twins who
were edging closer, “toes.”  

*

Sam hung up the telephone, shoved
his egg salad sandwich aside, and went to find Tom and Donald. Luck was with
him when he found both of them in the small break
room.           

“Do you have a minute?” he asked,
pulling up a chair.

Tom looked at his watch. “I’ve
got fifteen. That’s it.”

“About the same,” Donald said.

Sam didn’t waste any time. “I
called Percy Monaghan this morning.”

Tom and Donald exchanged a look. “Why
would you do that?” Tom asked. “I thought I was handling the space
negotiations.”

“You are,” Sam assured him. “I’m
just getting anxious.” Staying in Conover and having the kind of practice that
would keep him professionally fulfilled, had become even more important after
his night with Maddie. 

“So, what did Percy have to say?”
Tom asked.

“Not much. I asked him about what
other sites he’d been able to find and he sort of danced around the issue. I
think we need somebody else helping us. That’s what I wanted to talk to you
about.”

Donald looked up from his salad.
“I suspect he still thinks the Sinclair property is the B.O.”

Sam leaned forward, looking at
Tom. “We agreed,” he said, his voice lowered, “that that wasn’t the B.O, it’s
not even an option.”

“Of course.” Tom stood up. “I’ll
talk to Percy.”

Sam nodded. “Okay. But I want him
to have something else for us within the next two weeks or we find somebody
else to help us.”

*

The children were taking their
afternoon naps when Carol got confirmation from Betty Bowding at DCFS that they
had indeed been responding to a complaint—an anonymous complaint. When Maddie
heard the news, she felt like she’d been hit in the stomach with a baseball
bat.

Then she got mad. Madder than
even Carol. Somebody was screwing with her, and she didn’t like it. “I’m
calling Percy.”

“You going to tell him you know
the truth?”

“Not on the phone. I want to see
his face when I tell him that I finally figured it out. I can’t meet him tonight,
but I’ll set something up for tomorrow night. I’m going to let him think that
I’ve changed my mind. He’ll come running once he hears that.”

“And then what?”

“I’m going to find out who his
clients are.”

“Then?”

“Simple. Then it’s over.”

*

Maddie called Faith on her way to
the library. “Are you still at work?”

“Yes,” Faith moaned. “My new boss
is terrible. He does nothing, but he’s working us like dogs.”

“Stand up for yourself.”

“First thing tomorrow. What’s
going on with you?”

“I think I’m in love with Sam
Jordonson.”

There was silence on the other
end. 

“Faith?” Maddie prompted.

“I think I just had a stroke.
Check my speech, am I slurring my words? Because nothing is making sense right
now. Nothing.”

“You’re funny. He’s a nice guy.”

“Well, of course he is. But
that’s not really the point is it. He’s a doctor. You don’t do doctors.”

“I
did
him three times the
other night.”

“Oh my God, Maddie,” Faith
screeched. “I’m leaving right now. We need to celebrate.”

“I can’t. I’m on my way to the
library board meeting and then I have to meet Jeff.”

“Wait. Stop. I’m getting confused
again.”

“Don’t worry. This will be short
and sweet. He knows it’s over.”

*

Jeff was waiting for Maddie on
the library steps.  She waved goodbye to the other board members and
joined him.

“Thanks for seeing me,” he said.
“You look good.”

“Thank you.” She wanted to say
the same but couldn’t. He looked tired and pale and his hair was dirty. “Jeff,
is everything all right?”

“Can we walk?” he asked.

She nodded and turned the
direction toward her house. They walked a good ten minutes and were less than a
block from her house and he hadn’t said another word. “Was there something
specific you wanted to talk about, Jeff? You said it was about my business.”

“I’m in trouble.”

Huh? That didn’t make sense and
even if it was true, what did that have to do with her business.

“Big trouble,” he added.

She stopped walking. “I don’t
understand.”

“It’s hard to explain. It would
be easier if I showed you.”

“Showed me?” 

“Can we go to my house?”

She'd been to his house before.
It was on the edge of town, about a mile away. “I’m not sure that’s a good
idea,” she said.

“Look Maddie, I know it’s weird.
But you know you can trust me. I know you got a thing going with Sam Jordonson.
I’m happy for you.”

“How did you know that?” She
didn’t bother to ask what he meant by
a thing
. She couldn’t identify
what was between her and Sam. How did she expect anyone else to?

“My sister-in-law works at the
hospital. Somebody there was talking about it.”

“Great.” In her next life, she
intended to live in New York City. Nobody would gossip about her there.

"Maybe we could pick up your
car and you could drive over,” he said. “Then you could leave anytime you
wanted.”

“I suppose that would work.”

*

Tom Holt had thrown back his
second scotch and water when he heard a knock on his front door. He didn’t want
company. He wanted another drink. “Who is it?” he asked.

“It’s me, Donald.”

Why was his partner at his condo?
Tom opened the door. “What’s up?”

“Maddie Sinclair is at Jeff
Hogan’s house.”

Tom shook his head.  He
needed to stop drinking on an empty stomach. “Why the fuck do I care about
that?”

“I’m on the library board with
Sinclair. I saw her leave and meet Hogan. I followed them and she drove her car
to his house."

“They used to date.”

“Which is why I assume Sam won’t
be all that fond of her being there. Come on. We need to do something now. Who
knows how long she plans to stay.”

Tom considered his friend.
“You’re a genius. Sam won’t care about Percy finding a new site once he finds
out that his new girlfriend is making nighttime visits to her old boyfriend.”
Tom put his glass down. “Let’s go. I’m about to have car trouble.”

*

When they got to Jeff’s house,
Maddie could smell the kitchen before she saw it. Dirty pans and an assortment
of spoons and spatulas littered the stove. Frozen pizza boxes, the tops torn
off, lay on the counter surrounded by empty cans of soup. Plates and glasses
and cups spilled out of the sinks. The floor, what she could see of it
underneath stacks of newspapers and magazines, looked dirty.

“Sorry about the mess,” Jeff
said.

“What’s going on here?” she
asked. The one time she’d been at his house, it had been clean.

“I’ve had a lot on my mind. I
guess this kind of got away from me.”

“I guess.” Yikes, she didn’t even
want to set her purse down. Jeff stood in the middle of the rubble, running his
hands through his hair. Sweat ran off his temple. 

He was starting to scare her a
little. She wasn’t afraid physically. Jeff wouldn’t hurt her, but he looked so
desperate. “How about I make some coffee?” she asked.

He nodded. She washed out the
coffee pot, found the filters and grounds, and started a fresh pot. She washed
out two cups and set them next to the pot. Through it all, Jeff sat at the
table, his head cradled in his hands. 

Maddie sat next to him and
quietly asked her question again. “Jeff, what's wrong? How can I help you?”

“You can't help me.”

She could barely hear him. “Then
why did you call me?” Maddie made her voice stern. She needed to shake him out
of his self-pity if they were going to accomplish anything.

“I…I needed to tell someone.” He
looked at her and she was startled to see tears in his eyes. 

“Fine. Then tell me.”

“I lied when I told you that my
work was going really well. I wanted to impress you. I haven't been getting
raises at work." He paused. Maddie said nothing.

"I wasn't getting anywhere.
Day after day I worked my butt off. But no one noticed."  His words
came out in a rush. "I could have worked there for ten more years, and it
would have always have been the same."

Jeff swallowed. "I've been
stealing from my clients. You know," he smiled bitterly, "just
monkeying with the numbers. I've got a couple of people who trust me to do all their
books. They never really look at the stuff."

“Stealing?" Maddie hissed.
"How?"

“I've been transferring money
from their accounts to mine. Not so much that they'd miss it," he said.
"Well, until recently." He got up to pour a cup of coffee for himself
and Maddie. Now that he'd started in on his story he seemed more in control.
"I like to bet the horses. I’ve had a string of bad luck and I got behind
in some of my bills. A couple weeks ago my boss received a wage garnishment
notice. I knew it was coming. I'd been watching the mail at work for days. I
just couldn't get to it before his secretary did."

“I don't understand." Maddie
took a small sip of her coffee, grateful that it warmed her insides. 

“I knew it was just a matter of
time before he started digging around in my accounts. Checking my stuff."

“Has he done that already?"

“I don't know. I think that’s why
I had to go to Cleveland. I think they’ve been auditing my accounts.”

“You've got to tell him the
truth."

“I can't tell him," Jeff
wailed.

“You have to," she insisted.

“I can't." Jeff pulled his
hands through his hair.      

“Well, I suppose you could just
wait it out. Maybe your boss won’t figure it out. Perhaps you'll get
lucky," she speculated. “Of course, if he does find it, you'll probably go
to prison." She nodded as if it was a foregone conclusion. “I bet you'd
only serve a couple years. After all, it's not like you killed somebody."

“Oh my God,” Jeff buried his face
in his hands.

“I guess prison wouldn't be so
bad,” Maddie said thoughtfully. “You’d get three meals a day and you might meet
some really nice people.”

“Oh my God,” Jeff repeated. “Stop
it. It's too awful.”

“Jeff.” She demanded his full
attention. “You don't have a lot of choices. Let's figure out what the best
choice is.”

“Maddie, I need for you to know
something.” Jeff struggled over the words. “You're one of the clients I've been
stealing from. Not that much, honest. Just a couple of thousand. I'm sorry.” He
broke down into tears.