"Do you smell that?" she asked.
He smelled the air extra hard and frowned. "Yes, I thought maybe it was coming from somewhere else, but I think it's coming from the back." Andrew moved over to the door and checked to see if it was open, but it wasn't and he moved over to the window that was pretty high up, but he could touch the bottom part of it if he reached up. Turning to her, he said with an amused smirk, "It's open. Do you want to do some climbing?"
Chapter 15
Shane frowned disagreeably. "Maybe we should wait a few more moments for Mrs. St. Charles," she suggested not at all gun ho anymore about trying to get in the warehouse.
"How about if I just lift you up to look in the window?" he suggested.
Even though she was very confident in her size fourteen, Shane wasn't going to give Andrew the opportunity to have her in his arms again. "Why don't you just hop yourself on up there and look for yourself?"
"Because there's nothing to stand on, Shane," he said obviously.
She knew she was being silly about all this, but she just didn't trust herself around him anymore. Yet, she was highly curious about why this land was so hard to find out about and why Mrs. St. Charles failed to comment about the land or return any of Shane's phone calls.
"Are you going to stand there and actually debate the fact that you're terrified of me or would you like me to find the nearest hotel to get your curiosity out the way?"
She blushed stubbornly, stepping up to him. "Fine, let's get this over with," she grumbled.
Andrew crouched down and cupped his hand. Placing one foot in his palms, she stiffened her leg and he easily lifted her up to the window. She opened the window and coughed a little at the dust she stirred up.
"Do you see anything?" he asked anxiously.
"Nope, it's clean," she answered. Clean was not the word. The cement floor of the warehouse looked recently bleached. Looking down, she saw a footing near the window, and a space she could jump down to if she didn't break her neck in the fall. "Lift me up just a little higher," she ordered.
He did with little strain and she wanted to kick him for the strength he had. Why couldn't he at least break a sweat? At least that would give her reason to knit pick.
Grabbing on a beam near the window, she was able to sit on the ledge and get inside. Kicking her shoes to the floor, she placed her foot on the landing and carefully turned around. Just before the window closed, she was able to see a look of concern in those beautiful eyes of his.
It was a good thing it was still daylight outside, because she knew she wouldn't be able to see if it had been dark outside. Bracing herself, she hopped down onto the floor and winced feeling a muscle cry out in her left foot.
Grabbing her black heels, she went over to the door and saw a turn lock. It took a little elbow grease, but she turned the lock open and then pulled the door open. He towered in the doorway looking her up and down.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
She nodded, but the look of pain in her eyes belied the truth. "My ankle," she admitted. "I think I pinched a nerve."
Kneeling down, he checked the foot she wasn't leaning on, and massaged the muscle around the ankle.
Just the touch of his palm to the back of her calf was enough to make her forget the soreness as her mind wandered off to imagining other pleasurable possibilities despite the winter conditions around them.
When he felt the muscle relax, he stood up and said remorsefully, "Remind me to treat you to a day at the spa."
Angry at herself, she snapped caustically at him, "Won't Rachel be jealous? I wouldn't want her to think you were giving me special treatment."
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously and Shane wondered did he suspect Rachel opened her big mouth. Or maybe he was just wondering why she was acting so snotty because Rachel could have been dishing out a load of crap too?
Turning away, she changed the subject, "This floor looks like it’s been rubbed clean, doesn't it?"
He took note and came inside closing the door behind him. Sniffing the air, he could smell ammonia faintly, but the initial smell was still in the air. "What do you think someone was trying to clean up?"
"Whatever it was, I don't think they wanted us to go snooping about. This place is pretty big, Andrew," she observed. "It took more than one person to get this place cleaned up."
He had brought the report about this place, but nothing in the papers gave him any indication of what could have happened here.
Shane told him briefly what she had found out about the previous owner, but the trail ended after that and Andrew had no doubt that she had covered all bases and looked in all the places he would have looked.
"No one wants anyone to know about this place," he pointed out.
"How recently do you think this place has been wiped clean?" she asked him looking about.
Kneeling down to examine to floor more closely, he touched the cold cement. There was a slight layer of dust on the floor, yet oddly not too thick. Whatever had been done had been recently as a couple of weeks.
Shane had walked a few feet away and took note of some dim black large circular markings on the floor. She took out a small digital camera from her jacket that she had off handedly grabbed before leaving the office. Snapping a few pictures from far away and up close, she saw that around the outer circle of the dim markings it looked as if something had been trying to eat the floor.
"How old do you think this cement is?" she asked Andrew.
Andrew looked about the place and saw the edgings of the cement against the wall. "I would give it a year and it looks pretty well put down."
"So why would there be degeneration of the floor already?" she asked.
He came over to the spot she was pointing out and checked the ground. "There shouldn't."
They discovered several of the same markings on the ground around the entire warehouse. Andrew made a determination about what the markings were.
"Large containers of something toxic, I would assume, but I think I'm going to speak to some people about this matter."
Andrew didn't like the way his gut feeling was bothering him about their observations and how she could be right on the nose that someone didn't want them to know about this place. There was a back door and he headed for it. After some prodding he was able to open this door and step into the back gated property. The odor he smelled when they had gotten out the car was coming in stronger and he followed the smell.
Shane was right beside him, but then halted because she had a rock in her heel. Kneeling down slightly, she surveyed the ground. It had been neatly raked as if someone had taken a very large plow to cover something up.
Bending down to take a better look at the dirt, she noticed there was a slight orange coloring to the dirt and that there were no plants growing on the land, yet it looked at if the dirt had not been touched for several months. Even though it was wintertime, sometime the weeds had a tendency to grow and stay. Although with it being winter, the weeds would have turned brown or even died, but they wouldn't just disappear. Despite the cold, she dug around the dirt and found a yellow tab that had the word, DALE on it. She picked it up and tucked it in her jacket pocket.
Andrew was going toward the back of the building where there was a plow hidden behind the building, but she decided to check out more of the dirt and started for the center of the property.
Unfortunately, Shane didn't see the covered well and the board over the well wasn't strong enough to hold her. It was too late when she realized the board was breaking. She screamed as she felt herself falling into a long black hole.
Chapter 16
Andrew heard the scream and he ran over to the hole and dropped down to the ground. He was so frantic he almost couldn't see straight, but once he could, he was able to see she had grabbed on to a rotten board that was jammed against the walls of the well about two feet into the hole barely hanging on for dear life.
Shane had not begun to panic yet, but she was struggling to hold on
as the splinters bit into her hand. She felt a shoe fall down and after a few seconds she heard a splash. The fumes that followed the splash shot up and seem to burn the hairs in Shane's nose and her eyes instantly filled with tears to combat the vapors.
She felt her hands slipping from the board, but this wasn't her worry, because the board was slowly giving way from the wall. She couldn't see above her because she had to keep her eyes closed.
Andrew had smelled the fumes immediately after the splash also and had to grab his handkerchief and put it over his nose.
"Give me your hand, Shane," he choked out.
"I can't see," she told him.
"Just reach up."
Trusting that he would help her, she reached up and waited for him to grab her hand. When she didn't feel anything at all after a few seconds those doubts about Andrew doing things behind her back crossed her mind, but then a strong palm gripped her wrist and yanked her up at the same time the board gave way and fell down into the well, while Andrew easily lifted her up into his arms.
As soon as she felt those large strong arms protectively holding her, she lost her tough composure and burst out in tears of relief.
Andrew carried her back through the warehouse and out into the limousine.
She hadn't opened her eyes, until she felt something cold and wet against it. Once he had wiped her eyes, he checked out her hands. He was dirty, but this didn't seem to matter to him, as he looked her over with great concern.
"Are you okay?" he asked looking down at her hands that had started to bleed.
She nodded through her tears as he took his winter scarf and wrapped her hands gently.
"I'll be right back," he said taking the camera still in her pocket out and getting back out the limousine. The driver went with him and after a few minutes, they both came back out and Andrew came in the back with her.
Gently pulling her in his arms, he ordered the driver to take them to the hospital immediately.
Her lungs and eyes still burned slightly and he poured her some water while they were driven to the nearest hospital.
***
Andrew stayed by her side the entire time, but he was also on the phone every few minutes giving someone details of what they had found.
Troy had come to the hospital to assist Andrew. He was later sent to the closest photo center to have the pictures in her camera processed.
When the hospital was finished taking every splinter out of her hands, she was thoroughly checked for inhalation problems and cleared. She was also given a wrap for her foot, Andrew had the limousine take them back to the office, but instead of her having to go through the front, he carried her up the back stairs to the loft and didn't put her down until she was on the bed in his back bedroom.
"This isn't appropriate," she said tiredly, trying to sound stern, but lost it as a yawn escaped.
"The doctor said he wanted you to stay off that foot for a day, so you won't be going anywhere, Shane," he ordered firmly.
"I have some place to be tonight, Andrew. I'm not going to stay here," she protested, but she was suddenly so exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open.
"I'll wake you in a couple of hours," he promised.
Shane allowed her body to give in to the sleep her mind was forcing on her. She hoped she woke up in enough time to go see Paul. It would be horrible if she let him down.
***
The ringing of a phone brought her to reality. The room she laid in was pitch-black and she felt every muscle in her body cry out in protest whenever she moved.
Assuming it was nighttime she looked over at the digital clock by the bed and saw it was six o'clock at night. The doorway leading out to the large room was opened. The angle that the bed was at, made it difficult to see what was going on in the front room. She could hear but she couldn’t see. Someone had taken off her dress and covered her up under a thick soft comforter. She wanted to go back to sleep because she was so comfortable, but the annoying telephone ringing was preventing her from relaxing.
Large rushed footsteps were heard and the ringing stopped. Shane had to assume that was Andrew. She heard his voice as he answered the phone.
"I heard what happened, but I've been busy, sir... Don't you think I know?... I just left the laboratory last night and Dr. Dale was working on the report... Don't you think I know the implications when they find out I was the last to leave?!" He didn't sound at all pleased about the matter.
Her hands were wrapped, but she was able to reach into her pocket using the tips of her fingers and feel for the tag she had found at the site. Shane didn't take it out, but she remembered it had said Dale.
Andrew continued his conversation. "I'm meeting him in about an hour. I had to practically threaten him not to come over here, while she was here. I figured we could wait until tomorrow morning before we do anything."
A doorbell rung and Andrew abruptly ended his call to answer the door. He told whoever was at the door to wait for him a moment, then Shane could hear those footsteps coming towards the bedroom doorway.
She pretended sleep as he cut on a light and sat on the edge of the bed to gently awake her. Feigning as if she had just awoke, she yawned and stretched, groaning as her muscles screamed in discomfort.
"I thought you might be hungry," he said.
She noticed he had brought a tray of soup and some water along with a bowl of applesauce. "Thank you," she said quietly as he placed the tray on her lap.
"Do you need help eating?" he questioned.
Shane looked up at him warily about his concern in her. "I should really leave, Andrew," she insisted. "I think I can manage to make it home."
He shook his head. "I'm going to make you follow the doctor’s orders."
"But I told you I had somewhere to be tonight," she protested again.
"Well, you can cancel." He pointed to a phone near the digital clock on the table by the bed. "I have a meeting to get to, but I've hired a nurse to tend to you until I get back. She is under strict orders to make sure you keep your ass in this bed unless necessary for personal reasons."
She started to object some more, but he gave her a look that brooked no refusal to his orders. Shane wanted to scream at the frustrating way he had of commanding her to silence.
Andrew kissed her forehead. "Don't worry. No one in the office knows you're up here, not even Troy," he assured her quietly. "I told them I sent you home."
This put Shane's mind at ease about what to do at the office the next morning, but that phone call he had just finished having, truly bothered her. He called in the nurse who was out in the front obviously waiting for his summons.
After introducing the older African American nurse to her Andrew tenderly caressed Shane's cheek. "You'll be good girl until I get back?"
She flushed at his teasing tone. "Yes, sir," she promised.
He gave her a tender kiss to her cheek and left without another word. Although the kiss itself caught her off guard, because it was unlike him to do something out of character, she still wanted to scream!
After the nurse assisted her with eating, Shane was given a very nice bath. The nurse obviously had detail instructions and knew her job pretty well. She told Shane to call her Rochelle and they got along pretty well.
When Shane completed her bath, Rochelle dressed her in a very beautiful peach laced nightgown of satin, which accentuate her hourglass figure and felt stunning on her skin. Rochelle even fixed her hair back up in a tight bun, and changed the sheets on the bed for her to almost match what she was wearing.
"When will he be coming back?" Shane asked nervously.
"He really didn't say," Rochelle answered, "But I assume it must be late, because he also asked me to fix the bed up in the front room for him to lay down on it so he wouldn't disturb you."The linen closet was in the bedroom and Shane could understand the request Andrew had made. Sometimes he could be a gentleman, but she still didn't trust him.
Rochelle finally gave her some time alone. Sha
ne used this time to immediately call Paul.
Another man's voice answered the telephone number, she was positive Paul had given her.
"Can I speak to Paul Watson?" she asked hesitantly.
"Who should I say is calling?" the man asked on the line a little bit too protectively.
"Shane Keaton," she answered.
"Keaton?" he questioned as if that suddenly rung a bell. "Hold on a second."
After a few moments, Paul came on the line and before she could say anything to her, he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, but I've had a slight accident and I'm going to have to cancel our date," she said remorsefully.
"Do you need me to come to see you?" he asked very anxious.
Shane wished she could invite him, but knew it would be highly inappropriate, so she dissuaded him. "My boss has been taking good care of me."
"You mean the one you called an ass?" Paul growled.
She chuckled remembering her words. "Yes, the one and the same. I'm finding that he can be a sweet ass when he wants to be."
"You call me if you feel you don't want to be there anymore, Shane," he insisted.
Assuring him, she said, "Don't worry, I'll call you in the morning. Thanks Paul."
Upon hanging up, she had to pause for a second because she hadn't really told Paul where she was at, yet he just assumed she was at Andrew's place. Pushing this matter aside for a second, Shane called up Evan's home after pushing the *-six-seven button on the phone. She didn't want anyone to trace her to Andrew's location especially the Meadows.
He answered by the fourth ring as if he had run to the phone. "Shane, where are you?" he asked.
Sarcastically she said, "I'm fine, and how are you?"
Evan huffed. "I haven't seen you in almost a week, don't you think I have a right to be concerned?"
"Yes," she said calmly. "I'm fine and I've just been busy with my new internship. It involves a lot of traveling so I been either at the office or on the road," she lied.
Drawing The Line (Mistaken Identity Series) Page 14
