Mystery Lover

by Annette Broadrick

  “We’d decided to stop and eat in Oceanside—Tiger knew a girl that lived somewhere around there and he was trying to figure out which house she lived in, so we were driving up and down the streets when we saw the car that came barreling around a corner and plowed into the one you and your family were in. God, it was awful.. . as I’m sure you remember.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t remember much about it at all.”

  “He was. He used to talk about you all the time. The things you were doing, what you were learning in school. He was always so proud of you. I used to tease him about waiting around for you to grow up.”

  She glanced at him sharply. “He said that to me once.”

  “Then what’s he been waiting for?” He gave her a glance from the corner of his eye. “You are certainly as grown-up as he could possibly want now.”

  Jennifer could not control the blush that she could feel flooding her face. “He admitted that he was only teasing me.”

  “You notice that he’s never married anyone else, though,” he pointed out in a wise tone. She glanced over at him and he winked.

  No, she hadn’t known that Chad wasn’t married. She couldn’t help feeling pleased at the idea that perhaps he had been waiting for her.

  Then another thought struck her. “Are you married, Tony?” She would hate to have a jealous wife misunderstand her leaving town with Tony.

  “I was. Unfortunately for me she found someone she wanted more, someone who wasn’t spending all his time trying to make a living.” He shrugged, but she could see the hurt that was still there. “I’m surprised Tiger trusted me with you, come to think of it. He’s always telling me I have a terrible attitude toward women. Can’t imagine why.”

  She smiled. “Obviously you’re his best friend. Otherwise he wouldn’t have sent me to find you.”

  “You’re right. We go back a long way. When I called him and told him that a former business associate was trying to hassle me, he agreed to check it out

  “We were the first ones there. It happened on the edge of town. There weren’t many houses out that far. The guy that hit you was hurt bad, we could tell. And your mother and dad were pinned in the car.” He shook his head. “I’d never seen anything like it. Tiger told me to go for help and he stayed there, trying to see what he could do. When I got back, I found him sitting beside the road holding you. He told me later you had been knocked unconscious in the back seat and when you woke up you became hysterical. He managed to get you out. So he sat there and held you until the police and the ambulance came.”

  “I never knew that.”

  “He was really upset, I can tell you. When they got your parents out and took all of you to the hospital, he insisted we follow. We stayed there at the hospital and waited to hear how you were doing.”

  “My mother told me my injuries weren’t serious.”

  “That’s what we found out. He worried about you later, though, when he heard that your dad didn’t . make it,”

  So her guardian angel had been a teenage boy when he first met her.

  Tony continued to reminisce. “I remember that until we graduated from high school he would still go back down there and check on you.”

  “Hedid?”

  “Sure. Don’t you remember?”

  How could she tell him that she didn’t even remember what Chad looked like? She had no memory of him whatsoever.

  “I know that he seemed interested in how I was doing,” she said cautiously.

  for me. Neither of us thought it would turn out to be anything like this.“

  “What does Chad do?”

  He looked around at her in surprise. “Don’t you know?”

  Jennifer had already accepted the fact that Tony did not know how she and Chad communicated. It was strange to think that she was closer to Chad than anyone in many ways and yet they were still strangers. She didn’t want to have to explain their relationship to Tony, not if Chad hadn’t already done so.

  She tried to find a way to phrase her response that would not make the relationship even more confusing. “Chad is a very private person.” Tony nodded his head. “Whenever I hear from him he chooses the topics we discuss. He doesn’t like to talk about himself.” ‘

  “That’s Tiger, all right. He’s always been that way. Something of a loner. When we were in the Marines together we’d—”

  ‘’Chad was in the Marines?‘’

  “Sure. We decided to go in right after we got out of high school. Why?”

  “He never told me.”

  “Oh. But he stayed in touch, didn’t he?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s kinda odd, him not telling you. He always knew what you were up to. Maybe your mother wrote to him or something. When we were stationed overseas he spent a lot of time talking about you.”

  Jennifer was having a tough time trying to put everything she was learning from Tony into perspective with what she already knew about Chad. He had lived a full and active life all the time he was in touch with her, and yet had never given her a hint of it.

  She almost cringed at some of the childish questions and concerns she’d had back then. He had been so patient with her, kind and full of a sense of caring that had eased her over the rough spots in her life.

  Oh, Chad, do you have any idea how much you mean to me?

  “Obviously not enough to do what I ask. I thought I told you to let Tony come get me.”

  Jennifer tried to disguise the sudden start she gave when Chad responded. She shifted on the seat and glanced at Tony. “1 think I’ll try to catch a nap, if you don’t mind. My day started out fairly early,” she explained, trying to sound nonchalant.

  “Good idea. Once we get off the main highway, the road is going to be too rough for you to do anything but hang on!”

  Jennifer closed her eyes and willed herself not to speak out loud. Chad? Can you hear me?

  “Of course I can hear you. What I want to know is why you aren’t halfway back to L.A. by now?”

  You know why. I wanted to see you.

  “Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps I don’t want to see you?”

  Please don’t be that way. Did you really come to see me when I was a child?

  “Tony and his big mouth. Yes, Sunshine, I used to drive down there on a regular basis.”

  Then why don’t I remember you?

  “Because you never saw me. I used to sit outside the school and watch you come out. You were such a sad

  little thing for a long while, but there was nothing I could do to help.“

  But there was! You started talking to me.

  “Yes. I realized that night of the accident when I tried to calm you down that I could pick up your thoughts—all your fear and terror. While I sat there holding you I not only talked to you, I tried to send you my thoughts to calm you. They seemed to help.”

  I don’t understand why I can’t remember.

  “You were just a baby. I don’t think you’d even started school at that time. Later, whenever I thought of you, I discovered I could pick up on what you were thinking.”

  Have you ever been able to do that with anyone else?

  “No. But then I’ve never tried. Like I’ve told you. You’re special.”

  So are you.

  “Come on, Sunshine, don’t try to make me some sort of romantic hero. You wouldn’t even like me if you knew me.”

  How can you possibly say that?

  “Because you have an image of me as someone very gentle. I’m not a gentle sort of person.”

  You are with me.

  “I know.”

  She smiled slightly and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Four

  Contents - Prev / Next Tony was right. As soon as they turned off the paved road, Jennifer woke up.

  “Road maintenance is a little slack in this area, wouldn’t you say?” she managed to get out while bracing herself against the dashboard of the truck.

  Tony chuckled. “I wa
rned you.”

  “So you did. How much farther do we have to go?”

  The sun had set and the evening light was rapidly fading. Tony flipped on the headlights, then glanced at his watch. “I haven’t been here in a few years. It seems to me we have at least a couple of hours of this before we get there.”

  “No wonder Chad felt bruised and shaken.”

  “You know, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How did he manage to call and let you know what had happened to him? It doesn’t really make sense, anyway. If he was going to contact anybody, why you? Why not me?”

  Now what do I say? she asked Chad. There was no response. Chad.. . Chad! What do you want me to tell him?

  “That’s up to you.”

  “Thanks a lot!”

  “What do you mean?” Tony asked, surprised at her tone of voice.

  “Oh! For, uh, thinking that he should have called you instead of me, of course. That wasn’t very kind of you.”

  “Maybe not, but it makes sense. Why didn’t he call me anyway?”

  “Maybe he’d run out of quarters.”

  “Besides, that place is so primitive, I can’t believe there’s a phone for miles.”

  “Maybe it has a ham radio unit and he got someone to relay it over a phone somewhere.”

  “I suppose. I can always ask him when we get there.”

  If we ever do, she thought, knowing that she was going to have bruises all over her bottom by the time they arrived, not to mention on her arms and legs.

  ‘’I tried to warn you. “

  “I know.” . “You know what?” Tony asked. “Is there something wrong?”

  “Not really. I suppose it’s from being alone so much. I have a habit of talking to myself.”

  Tony shook his head. Jennifer knew he was beginning to wonder about her. She looked out the window, trying to hide her smile. Tony obviously didn’t have too good an opinion of women anyway. She doubted if it would improve staying around her.

  “I take it you live alone?” he asked after they had bounced along in silence for a few miles.

  “Sort of. I share an apartment with a five-year-old cat named Sam.” She would no more consider that she owned Sam than that he owned her. They had a workable relationship where each understood the other. Sam allowed her to feed him, pay his rent and keep him entertained. In turn, he looked after her, pointed out when she stayed out too late or tried to get away with oversleeping in the morning, and made judgments on any of her friends who happened to drop in.

  “I thought about getting a pet, but I’m not home enough to look after one.”

  “Sam’s been a lot of company to me. Since I don’t travel much, he’s never been much of a problem. This is the first time I’ve ever gone off and left him for a weekend.”

  “Aren’t you afraid he’ll get hungry?”

  “Oh, no. I left him plenty of food and water. That’s never the problem. He doesn’t like being left alone. He’s learned to tolerate it during the day, since he knows I have to work. But he gets very irritated when I’m out all evening. I have a feeling he’s going to be irate by the time I get home.”

  “You know, there really wasn’t any reason for you to come out here with me, once you let me know where he is.”

  “That’s what Chad said,” she muttered under her breath.

  “Did you say something?”

  “I was just agreeing with you. If I’d known what the roads were going to be like, I might have given more serious thought to returning home.”

  She turned her head to look at Tony and a brief flash of light caught her eye. She stared out the back window.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  “I thought I saw a light flash behind us.”

  Tony glanced up in the rearview mirror and they hit a particularly deep hole. Jennifer almost hit her head on the ceiling of the cab. “Sorry. I don’t dare take my eyes off the road for a second. What sort of a light?”

  She continued to watch out the back window. “I’m not sure. Could there be another car coming this way?”

  “There could be, but it’s rather hard to believe.” He was quiet a moment. “Unless it’s the same person or persons who brought Tiger out here and left him.”

  Jennifer discovered a knot in her chest that was making it difficult for her to breathe. She had no idea what she was getting into, but this wasn’t her idea of a fun evening at all.

  Tony cleared his throat nervously. “You know, this really isn’t my style. I mean, I can handle myself all right in my own environment, but getting out here in the Great Outdoors—Well, Tiger’s able to handle anything, anywhere. But not me.”

  “He wasn’t able to handle this particular situation or he wouldn’t be stuck out here.”

  “Don’t rub it in, Sunshine.”

  “Keep watching and see if you catch a glimpse of that light again, okay?” Tony asked, continuing to concentrate on the road in front of them.

  They were silent during the next hour, each watching the road—Tony the front, Jennifer the back. Twice she thought she saw a flicker of light, but the curving roads didn’t reveal much.

  “Not much farther now. I bet Tiger is going to be glad to see us.”

  Jennifer had been growing more and more tense. She didn’t know how she was going to react when she saw Chad for the first time, particularly since he had made it clear that he didn’t want her there. She was sorry she had insisted on coming along. After all, he had as much right to his privacy as she did to hers.

  The light hadn’t appeared in several miles and Jennifer decided that if it had been a car, the car had long since turned off, turned around or reached its destination.

  “Ah hah!” Tony exclaimed with a sound of satisfaction. “He’s got a light on, waiting for us.” He pointed across a wide ravine and, perched on the side of a steep slope, she saw a small cabin with a dim, flickering light in the window.

  “Are you sure that’s the right place?”

  “Fairly sure. Of course, we have several more miles to go to wind behind the ravine and get over there, but we’re almost there.”

  By the time they pulled up in front of the cabin, Jennifer was shaking. As soon as the truck stopped, Tony jumped out of the cab and hollered, “Hey, Tiger, it’s me—Tony.”

  The door of the cabin opened and a man stepped through, caught in the glare of the truck lights. Jennifer had no trouble seeing him very clearly.

  He was tall, over six feet, with thick brownish-blond hair that was tousled. He wore khaki pants tucked into combat boots and a red-and-black plaid shirt. The sleeves were rolled up to above his elbows, emphasizing his muscular arms. He stood there in the light, his hands resting casually on his hips and waited patiently for them to join him.

  Jennifer could not seem to make herself move from where she sat inside the truck. Frozen, she continued to stare at the man who had been such an integral part of her life for the past twenty years.

  Snatches of intimate conversations they had had came back to her and she cringed. How had she dared to be so open with him? He knew everything there was to know about her—her thoughts, her dreams, her ambitions.

  She knew nothing about him. Most particularly she hadn’t known that Chad was also the man she worked for, C. W. Cameron.

  “You might as well get out of the truck, Jennifer, now that you’re here,” Chad said in a voice that clearly carried to where she sat.

  How could he have done this to her? She continued to stare at him in shame and disbelief. There was no way she could have known. C. W. Cameron was nothing like Chad. Absolutely nothing.

  She would never forget the first time she had been introduced to him. She had worked for his company as a stenographer for almost three months. Of course she had caught glimpses of him as he came in and out of his office, but that was all.

  His assistant, Marlene, had recently announced her engagement to a man from Chicago and was happily making plans to move. Everyone had been wondering who would take her
place. There was a chance someone might be promoted. Then again, they might look for someone outside the firm to fill the position.

  When Jennifer was called into his office, she wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or not. She hadn’t been out of school long and probably had the least experience of anyone there.

  C. W. motioned for her to sit down in the chair across from his desk. Timidly she perched on the edge of the chair. She glanced down to see what he was reading arid saw her name on the folder. He must have gotten her file from personnel.

  He glanced up without smiling. “I apologize for the delay in this meeting, Ms. Chisholm. I generally get acquainted with all of my employees within a few days after they arrive.”

  Jennifer forced herself to relax. So. She wasn’t here to be interviewed for a new position. This was just a delayed welcome-on-board type of meeting.

  C. W. continued, “I’m afraid things have been a little hectic lately and my schedule has not gone as smoothly as I would have wished.”

  Jennifer didn’t know what to say, so she sat there with her hands clasped together in a death grip, trying to look relaxed, intelligent and at ease.

  He glanced down at her folder, then back at her. “I notice that you made very high grades at the business college you attended.”

  “Yes, sir,” she admitted shyly.

  “I’m curious to know why you didn’t go on to college.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “There weren’t enough funds for that, I’m afraid, and it would have put an even greater burden on my mother. I needed to go to work as soon as possible.”

  “Have you thought about taking night courses?”

  Again she looked at him in surprise. He was treating her more as a counselor would than an employer would.

  “I’m not against that, of course. I just don’t have a particular field I would be interested in pursuing.”

  “I see.”

  She could almost hear him thinking “no ambition.” Perhaps that was true. She enjoyed her work and was quite content with it.

  “You’ve done a remarkable job since you’ve been here, Ms. Chisholm,” he offered quietly.