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Authors: Terry Odell

Tags: #fiction, #romance, #romantic suspense, #mystery, #romance adventure

What's in a Name? (4 page)

BOOK: What's in a Name?
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Blake felt a tingle of excitement. “So,
he’s really running?” He saw the door out of Mergers and
Acquisitions opening.

She hesitated. “Well, he hasn’t
announced it officially, but from what I hear, they’re discussing
strategy. Rather loudly at the moment, as a matter of fact. Once
they iron out the details, I expect Mr. Griffith will call a press
conference. He seems quite eager to move forward.”

He wondered if Mrs. Madison was
eavesdropping, then dismissed the notion. The woman was privy to
all of Dwight’s doings without having to resort to subterfuge.


I hear you did a
great job with the Connolly account,” she said. “How are you
enjoying your vacation?”

Vacation? He hesitated. Dwight
Hollingsworth had said to keep this a low-key investigation, with
no links to Hollingsworth Industries. If Mrs. Madison was unaware
of it, it was downright subterranean. “Fine. Weather’s great.”
Where the hell was he supposed to be? “Um … no need to bother him.
It’s not important. I’ll check in when I get back.”


Very well, Mr.
Windsor.”

So, Dwight was really running for
governor. That meant there would be some holes to fill. Blake
planned to move upward in Hollingsworth Industries. Several
notches. To do that, it looked like he’d play handyman a little
longer.

 

* * * * *

 

At Henry’s General Store, Kelli handed
Hank her envelope. “This needs to go Express Mail.”


No problem.” He
passed her a small box. “This came for you.” The curiosity in his
eyes was obvious.


You have a cutter?
I’ll check it out.”

He slit the tape and pushed the box
across the counter. “How’s the new guy? Getting the place fixed?”
Faded blue eyes showed grandfatherly concern.


It’s going fine,” she
said. “They’ve moved up the deadline, so we’re busy.”


He cleaned me out of
peanut butter when he got here. Doesn’t seem to be an adventurous
eater. Big guy, though. Quantity over quality, I’d say.” Hank
grinned, revealing yellowed teeth.

She unfolded the padding and ran her
fingers along the cool metal inside. “Signs for the nature trail,”
she told Hank.

She went back to her Jeep. Before she
started the engine, she pulled out her cell phone and called Jack
Stockbridge to tell him the signs had arrived and the Environmental
Impact Statement was on its way.


How’s Windsor working
out?” he said. “You okay?”


Fine and
yes.”


You know I wouldn’t
have sent anyone if it wasn’t absolutely necessary. But it won’t be
long, and you can go back to being your own solitary
self.”


I know. I’m sorry I
overreacted when you called yesterday.”


Kiddo, you know I’ll
do whatever you want. I owe you one.”

She relaxed her grip on the phone. “No,
you don’t. I’ve told you a million times, all Justin needed was a
little redirecting. He has the skills, but he needed a better
outlet for them. How’s he doing, by the way?”


Getting top grades at
OSU and a part-time job at a software company. Making me and
Margaret proud parents.”

She took a quick moment to share the
pride. Justin Stockbridge was a formidable hacker, but his
compulsion to see how much he could get away with would have gotten
him caught sooner or later. Back to the issues at hand. “So, what
more can you tell me about Windsor?”


Not much. Thornton
recommended the guy when I told him we wouldn’t be ready in time
without immediate help.”


Thornton? I thought
all he did was throw money into the project. I didn’t know he
actually looked at the little people doing the work.”


You might think about
removing the stick from your cute little behind, Kiddo.”
Stockbridge’s voice had taken on an irritated edge.


Sorry.” She fingered
through her mail. “The new schedule’s adding some pressure. I
worked most of the night.”


Look, Thornton
called, apologized for moving the start date. Said he’d heard good
things about a handyman agency, Windsor had come recommended and
suggested I call. You know EnviroCon needs this project. The man
talks, I listen. The agency was legit. Windsor was available.
Enough? Or should I dig deeper?”


No, it’s all right. I
overreacted.” She put the Jeep in gear and tried not to think about
the way her heart rate picked up every time she looked at Windsor.
Maybe her body was telling her she was ready to live again, picking
someone safe to practice on. Nothing serious. No relationships.
Just getting comfortable being in the same room with someone
carrying the XY chromosome set.

Camp Getaway would open and she’d be on
her way to another assignment. Never staying long enough in one
place for anyone to connect her to Casey or Robert.

Back at the house, she settled at her
desk with a sense of accomplishment. When she was a kid, she’d
always eaten her vegetables first, saving the good stuff for last.
With the government paperwork on its way, she felt like she’d
finished her beets and was ready for something yummy.

The next most important item on her
list, a Certificate of Occupancy, wasn’t exactly dessert, but it
was Windsor’s responsibility to bring the cabin up to code, not
hers. Still, she ought to check. As she strolled down the path to
the cabin, she told herself it was important she keep tabs on his
progress.

Blake called down from the roof when
she approached. “Everything all right?”

She squinted into the sun and looked up
at him. Her heart did that tap dance again. He’d taken his shirt
off and was on hands and knees, hammering shingles. Shading her
eyes with a forearm, she said, “Fine.”


You want the nickel
tour?” He stood up, balancing on the pitched roof without any
trouble.


No—you keep on doing
what you’re doing. I’ll only be a minute.” She stepped inside,
inhaling the scent of fresh-cut wood. Without the plywood covering
the windows, the room seemed bigger. Sawdust danced in the gold
afternoon light, swirling in the breeze, dusting her like a winter
snow flurry. In place of stacks of lumber, she imagined the cabin
with ten bunk beds lining the walls. She heard children whispering
in the dark before falling into a dead sleep the way you did after
being in the mountain air all day, hiking along the
trails.

Unbidden, a smiling cherubic face
flashed in front of her. Lucas. He’d have been in third grade now,
like the first group of kids coming here. Memories burst through
her defenses. The smell of talcum and baby breath when she lifted
him from his crib in the mornings. The warmth of his hands resting
against her bare shoulders when she carried him. The weight of him
as his body relaxed into sleep. She blinked back tears.

I’m sorry. It was all my fault. What
kind of a mother runs out of milk for her baby?

That was another lifetime, when her
universe was normal. And happy. Charles and Lucas were gone.
Nothing could bring them back. And then too-good-to-be-true Robert
Kilian had stolen the life she’d tried to put together after she’d
lost them, leaving a life of looking over her shoulder as his
legacy.

She’d tried to lock the memories away
someplace deep inside her, but they refused to stay buried.


I should get to the
windows tomorrow or the next day.” Blake’s voice from the doorway
made her jump. “Once the roof is fixed and the windows are in, she
should be weather-tight.”

She kept her head down. “Sounds like
you’ve got everything under control.”

His footsteps told her he was coming
inside. She tensed. He walked past her, to a small cooler in the
corner and removed a bottle of water.


It gets hot up
there.” He peeled off his work gloves, took a swig and wiped his
mouth.

She nodded. In the dim light, his eyes
didn’t grab hers. “You need to watch it. You can get a real burn at
this altitude, even if it doesn’t feel hot.”


Thanks for the
advice. I’m afraid it might be a little late though.” He turned so
his back faced her. “What do you think?”

Think? She thought of rubbing sunscreen
on those broad, well-muscled shoulders. That fluttering below her
belly started up again. Ridiculous. She pivoted and strode toward
the door. The nature trail could wait until morning. Right now she
needed to burn off these impossible feelings with hard, physical
labor. She glanced at him over her shoulder. “What I think is that
you should put your shirt on, Mr. Windsor.”

She marched to the storage shed, loaded
a wheelbarrow with a pick and shovel and headed toward a level spot
near the lake. Plans called for a fifteen-foot fire circle and she
attacked the brush and rocks with a vengeance. A place for roasting
hot dogs and making S’Mores.

Hot dogs. Lucas loved hot dogs. From
the vendor in the park or cut up in macaroni and cheese. The kid
would eat them cold if she’d let him. Charles always let him.

Oh, God, how could it still hurt so
badly? She abandoned the wheelbarrow and walked down to the water’s
edge. The sun hung over the mountains waiting to drop the curtain
on another day.

You’re watching over him, Charles,
aren’t you? Our Lucas? And Luke, I know you’re taking good care of
Daddy. I love you two. I should be with you.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Three

 

From inside the cabin the next morning,
Blake watched Kelli drive away. Yesterday afternoon she’d stuck
close to the property, clearing brush and moving rocks, avoiding
him as if he had some contagious disease. Now, he figured he had at
least an hour. Being a million miles from nowhere had its
advantages. Even so, he waited a good ten minutes before he went to
the house in case she’d forgotten something and decided to come
back for it.

The deadbolts to her rooms were
fastened although he expected no less. He went outside to check the
windows and spotted Kelli’s bedroom curtain fluttering. A stroke of
luck. She’d locked her doors but had left her window ajar.

The screen came off with a touch, the
sash lifted easily and Blake hoisted himself through the opening,
trying to ignore the uneasy feeling of stepping into a universe
beyond his normal boundaries. At a glance, her bedroom told him no
more about Kelli Carpenter than she did in the flesh. The dresser
displayed an assortment of dried plants in a clay pot, but no
photographs. Nobody to think of while she dressed, slept, and went
about her life? The top drawer revealed a pile of neatly folded
utilitarian cotton underpants and bras. He couldn’t see any of
those under the clingy red dress in the picture.

In the second drawer he found T-shirts,
and sweaters in the bottom one. Everything looked like it belonged
to the Kelli Carpenter he’d met. He moved on.

Beside the bed, a white porcelain
reading lamp sat on a white-painted nightstand. What was it with
this place and white? He sat on the bed and eased the drawer open.
Nothing visible but a box of tissues and the paperback he’d seen in
the living room when he’d arrived. Tucked into the corner of the
drawer was some kind of a satiny fabric. A pouch of some kind. When
he moved the tissue box to reach for it, he discovered another box,
this one of ammunition for a thirty-eight revolver.

When it hit him that ammunition meant
gun, but there was no gun in the drawer, he decided he absolutely
didn’t want to be caught in her quarters. Maybe she was one of
those people who practiced good gun safety and kept the weapon and
ammunition separate. Or maybe she had a loaded gun with her. His
heartbeat quickened when it dawned on him she might have blown his
brains out if he’d done anything to piss her off. Postponing any
plans to check out her office, he slid the drawer closed,
straightened the bedcovers and climbed out the window, careful to
leave it ajar, exactly the way he’d found it. With frequent looks
over his shoulder, he replaced the screen and jogged back to the
cabin.

 

* * * * *

 

It was after twelve when Kelli returned
from her work on the nature trail. Finding yet another batch of
forms in the fax machine, she went to her desk and pulled out her
legal tablet, drawing a fat line through “nature trail signs.” She
moved on to the next item on her list. Activity sheets for the
youngsters. She assembled her field guides, her notes and powered
up her computer. Sounds of hammering alternated with the buzz of a
power saw, eventually fading to white noise.

By four, she’d had enough. A shower,
dinner, and maybe she’d find her second wind. She moved into the
bathroom connecting her office to her bedroom. The power saw’s
whine seemed louder and she realized the bedroom window was open.
Had she left it that way this morning? She hurried into the bedroom
and took a quick survey, but everything seemed exactly the way
she’d left it.

Stop it. He’s out there doing his job
and you need to get on with yours.

Perfect gentlemen didn’t go snooping
through other people’s things. She sucked in a breath. It was time
to rejoin civilization. She put in a fresh pair of contacts,
clipped her hair atop her head and slid her glasses back on. The
reflection in the mirror was comfortably Kelli. She wondered if
she’d even recognize herself as Casey anymore. And if she couldn’t,
nobody else would. She wrapped her mind around that thought as she
went to the kitchen.

In the pantry, she found a bottle of
merlot. She opened it and set it on the counter to breathe while
she decided how to dress up chicken breasts.

BOOK: What's in a Name?
9.88Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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