“You aren’t really going to open that door with a credit card, are you?”
“Thought I’d give it a try.”
“Jack!”
“There’s no one around.”
“There might be an alarm system.”
“Can you run in those shoes?”
Annie looked down at the less-than-practical two-inch heels she’d slipped on that morning on the way out the door.
“If it goes off, leave the shoes and follow me,” he said.
“You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“We came all this way. I’d like to leave knowing more than I did when I got here.”
What in the world did a practical-minded woman like her say to a man intent on breaking into a warehouse?
It was possible, granted, that getting inside would lead him to something that might alter the future of C.M. Seemed overly optimistic, but wasn’t that the very thing she’d been fighting for these past few weeks?
“Why don’t I run back and take a look at the parking lot? Make sure no one’s pulled up.”
“Good idea,” Jack said without looking up. “In fact, why don’t you just stay up there and keep a lookout? Yell if you see anyone.”
“You look way too good at that,” Annie said, shaking her head. “I don’t even want to know how you came by that particular talent.”
“Okay. So I won’t tell you.”
Annie smiled again in spite of herself, then jogged back the way they’d come, wishing for her very comfortable Nike running shoes. Back at the front corner of the building, she tucked herself beside the gutter spout, glad for its partial concealment, then took a quick peak at the parking lot.
Still empty except for Jack’s Porsche. Whew. Sleuthing was definitely not for her. Her palms were sweaty, and her knees felt like the cartilage had been replaced with Jell-O.
She sent a glance back at the door. Jack was nowhere in sight. He’d gotten in! Adrenaline hit her in the center of her chest, spread out to fingers and toes. She glanced at her watch. Five minutes. She would give him five minutes.
Then what?
She couldn’t exactly leave.
Oh, hurry, Jack! Just hurry!
The next few minutes passed like the pouring of nearly set concrete. Stay calm, Annie. Just a little longer, and surely he’ll be done.
She glanced at her watch 354 times—or so it seemed, anyway. Fifteen minutes, and still no sign of him! Where was he?
Another five ticked by. Okay, she was going after him. Something was obviously wrong.
She started back through the tall grass but thought she heard something and stopped. The sound was unmistakable. Tires crunching on gravel.
Annie whipped around, ran back to the front corner of the building, took a quick peek around the side so she wouldn’t be seen.
Someone had just pulled up beside the Porsche. A man in some kind of uniform. A security guard. He got out, circled the car, looking inside.
Annie tore off through the grass again, quelling the urge to yell for Jack. He’d left the door open. She slipped inside. The place was totally dark except for the dim light slanting through two skylights in the ceiling.
“Jack!” Her hushed voice sounded like a whisper in the enormous warehouse. She’d just have to risk it. She had to get his attention. “Jack!” she called out again, louder this time.
“Over here.”
“There’s someone here! A security guard, I think. He’s outside looking at the car.”
Lights flooded the warehouse, sudden, blinding. Annie saw spots.
“Is somebody in here?” came a voice from the front of the building.
Fear slashed through her. They were caught! Oh, good heavens, they were caught!
And then Jack was beside her, grabbing her hand, a finger to his lips indicating for her to be quiet. He took her hand and pulled her along toward the door they’d come in through. Good thing, too, because she couldn’t have moved herself from that spot had her life depended on it.
Which it probably did.
They slipped through the door, Jack reaching back to let it click quietly closed behind them. And then they were running back through the grass, faster than Annie had ever run in her life—heels and all! Amazing what they could do when summoned.
Visions of the security guard coming out the door behind them, gun in hand, had her picking up the pace. Hardly the time to be noticing such a thing, but Jack’s hand felt strong and good holding on to hers. And it was kind of nice the way he squeezed hers between his as if he’d never let go.
A few seconds, and they were back in the parking lot. “Mind if I don’t get your door this time?”
“You’re forgiven this once,” Annie said, running around the Porsche and jumping inside.
Jack turned the key, and for one heart-stopping instant, Annie thought it wasn’t going to start. It did, and she slid down in the seat. “I’ll never be bad again. I’ll never be bad again.”
Jack looked over at her and laughed.
Laughed!
“Tell me what you could possibly find funny about this,” she said as he gunned the Porsche out of the parking lot, gravel and dust whirling up behind them.
“It’s not,” he said, straightening his expression into seriousness. “You’re right. Nothing humorous about it.”
Annie shot a glance back at the building. “I don’t see him.”
At the company entrance, Jack barely slowed down, sending a quick look both ways before shooting back onto the highway and flooring the car.
“Okay, so these cars do have a selling point,’ she said, flattened against her seat.
“If you need to get there fast—”
“I’m sure a big slice of their market pie must be the criminal element.”
Jack laughed again, sinking the gearshift into Fifth, and it felt as if they were flying. A mile or two down the road, he let up, and the car reluctantly settled into a speed that was in agreement with the law.
“Don’t think I’m not totally disgusted with you,” she said, arms folded across her chest.
“You probably don’t want to know what I found out, then?” The question held a teasing note.
“What?” So much for cool indifference.
“There’s a good bit of stuff in there that still has C.M. tags on it. But there’s a lot more, things recognizably part of the line, that have been retagged under another manufacturer’s name.”
Annie frowned. “Why?”
“That’s the question.”
“You think it’s stolen?”
“Kinda looking that way. But the trick is going to be figuring out by whom and why.”
“Would it have to be someone working inside C.M?”
“That would make the most sense. This address is listed as belonging to a legitimate customer, and it’s obviously not what it was supposed to be.”
“So maybe someone is reselling the product?”
“That’s what I’m thinking.”
Annie’s stomach dropped. She felt suddenly sick. “Who would do something like that?”
“I don’t know. Maybe someone with a grudge against the company or just plain old-fashioned greed.”
“Embezzling but with actual product instead of cash.”
“Yeah.”
“So one person or maybe a few are responsible for bleeding the company dry?”
“Could be,” Jack said.
“And yet the whole town is blaming you for it?”
“I’m not worried about that, Annie. It doesn’t matter what everyone thinks about me.”
“It does,” she said, sensing in the evenness of his tone that it really did matter to him. “Of course it does. And especially when it’s not true.”
He looked at her, taking his gaze from the road for just a moment, but it was long enough for Annie to catch a glimpse of something that looked like vulnerability there. He did care. She knew it somehow. Awareness of that stirred something inside her. Unexpected, but
deep and real.
Annie...you are treading in dangerous waters.
No doubt.
“So what are you going to do next?” She sat straighter in the seat, put her gaze on the countryside rolling by her window and her thoughts on what they’d just discovered.
He reached for a piece of paper on the dash. Handed it to her and said, “This was the other place I wanted to check out. Shouldn’t be more than thirty minutes from here.”
“Are you planning to use your credit card there, too?”
“We’ll stick to legal looking around at this one.”
“You’re sure?”
He held up two fingers. “Scout’s honor.”
“And you really were one?”
“Honest.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THIRTY MINUTES LATER, they pulled into the parking lot of another building that looked remarkably like the one they’d been in earlier.
Jack pulled into a parking space and left the engine running. “You wait here. I’ll be right back.”
“You’re not going in there, are you?”
“Just a quick look around the building.”
“I’ve heard that one before.”
Jack smiled. “Used up all my credibility this morning, I take it?”
“Approaching. What if someone comes?”
“Tell them I went in search of a little boys’ room,” he said, grinning, expecting her cheeks to go red and watching it happen. It hit him then that he’d never met a woman who looked so good when she was blushing. Not sure what to do with that thought, he took off, heading to the back of the building.
Halfway down the back was a door with a window on each side. He looked through the glass, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Yep. C.M. furniture. Rows and rows of it. He really needed to go inside, but he’d promised Annie and granted they’d pushed their luck at the other place.
He had enough to go on for now, anyway.
He headed back to the car. Rounded the front of the building to see Annie standing outside of the Porsche talking to someone in what looked like a navy blue security-guard uniform.
She looked over her shoulder just then and spotted him. “Oh, here’s my husband, sir. Jack, I was just telling the officer about your bladder problem.”
Jack’s eyebrows shot skyward. What?
Annie was still talking. “You know, it’s really a horrible thing, Officer. And for such a young man, too. Makes traveling take twice as long as it normally would. What with stopping at every other exit off the highway. This time we didn’t even make it to the next one. We saw this empty parking lot and wheeled right in here. We certainly never intended to trespass, but when nature calls—”
“All right, ma’am,” the flustered-looking officer said, holding up a hand and shooting a look at Jack, who had on his best embarrassed-husband face. None of which was an act except for the husband part. “You all get on down the road now.”
“Yes, sir,” Annie said. “Come on, honey. Let’s see if we can cover ten or twenty miles before the next stop.”
They got in the car then, both of them straight-faced as he did a calm U-turn in the parking lot and headed back to the main road. The tires had no sooner hit the asphalt of Highway 124 than Annie began laughing.
“I guess that’s what’s known as payback?” Jack patted the side of his face where his cheeks were still burning.
“You’re—” The laughter had turned into giggles now, and she could barely finish her sentence. “You’re embarrassed.”
“No, I’m not, really.” He began denying it, then admitted, “Okay, so I’m embarrassed. My bladder problem?”
“Well, I had to come up with something. When I saw him pulling into the parking lot, I nearly had a heart attack.”
“And it’s believable that a big, strong guy like me has a bladder problem?”
The giggles hit her again then, and she actually bent forward, holding her stomach.
“Oh, my goodness, I’m sorry, I—”
“Quite all right. I’ll be looking at an image makeover when we get home.”
More giggles, and he thought to himself that it was a really nice thing to make a woman like her laugh that hard.
Finally, she leaned her head back against the seat and sighed. “I was just hoping I could wear him down by talking him to death.”
“Looked like it was working.”
“I should really be mad at you, you know. I thought we were done for.”
“Have to admit I did, too. Nice to have a partner who thinks on her feet,” he teased.
“Even when it’s at your expense?”
“Even when.”
She smiled again, was silent for a moment and then added, “Kind of odd to have such regular security checks around warehouses, don’t you think?”
“Yeah, it does seem a little coincidental.”
“For us to have run into both of them, they must get by pretty regularly.”
“Must.”
“So what are you going to do about all of this?” Annie asked, her tone more somber now.
Jack sighed. “Good question. I guess the first step is to try to figure out if there’s anyone whose lifestyle seems to be larger than their income.”
“This is terrible,” Annie said, sighing. “I just can’t imagine who it would be. I know most of the people who work there. I go to church with a lot of them.”
“I guess that doesn’t always guarantee living right.”
“Sadly, no.”
Jack glanced at his watch. “It’s nearly three o’clock. Are you starving?”
“A little hungry,” Annie said.
“The least I can do for the Oscar-winning performance is buy you lunch.”
Annie smiled. “The least.”
* * *
THEY GOT BACK to Macon’s Point just before six. Jack pulled into the municipal building parking lot beside Annie’s car.
“I think I’ll go over to the factory and do a little more digging,” he said.
“I wish there were another explanation for what we saw today.”
“So do I.”
“If you want some help later, let me know. I’ll be at home.”
“You’ve gone beyond the call of duty.”
“I didn’t mind.”
He held her gaze for a moment, and Annie was really sorry the day had to end.
“I had fun today, Annie,” he said.
“So did I.” The admission was out before she’d given it the consideration that might have denied its existence.
They sat there awhile longer, as if neither of them knew exactly where to go with the information.
Finally, Annie said, “Well, I’d better go.”
“Thanks again for going with me.”
“Not a problem.” She threw a wave at him as she got into her own car and headed down Main Street.
Amazing how much they’d laughed today.
There was something really nice about the way that felt.
Somewhere along the way, she and J.D. had reached the point where laughter was not a part of their lives. Maybe that should have been her first warning sign that things were headed in a bad direction. But she’d gone along thinking that nobody’s life was perfect, and a good wife just tried to make things work.
Today had reminded her how nice it was to really laugh.
She indulged for a few moments in imagining what it would be like to kiss him. Just the notion filled her with the kind of jitters more appropriate to a sixteen-year-old girl than a woman who should know better.
It wasn’t something she had expected to feel. Nor had wanted to. In recent months, she had finally gotten her life well-oiled enough again that it had a pattern and rhythm that she found comforting. No, she did not have a husband. Or a boyfriend. But she had peace. And self-respect.
So why did it have to be this man? At this time?
Her life did not need this kind of complication. Because she didn’t have only herself to think of. The
re was Clarice. Clarice! Not once during the entire day had she let herself remember that it was her sister who’d had a date with Jack last night. And yet Jack had made it clear that he wasn’t interested in Clarice like that. Annie felt at once relieved and traitorous.
Annie was a play-by-the-rules kind of woman. She liked to know what they were right up front and was most comfortable sticking to them. Letting herself admit an attraction to a man to whom her sister had already staked a verbal claim did not come anywhere near playing by the rules.
Tommy was playing outside in the yard when Annie pulled up to the house a few minutes later.
“Mama!” He came running the second he saw her, and her heart lifted. “You’re back!”
“How was school?” She crossed the gravel drive, dropped down and welcomed his tumult into her arms. She hugged him hard for a few moments, then pulled back and ruffled his hair. “I believe you grew today.”
Tommy laughed. “You can’t grow in a day, Mama.”
“Oh. Well, maybe you just look taller.”
He took her hand, led her up the walkway to the side door off the kitchen, telling her what happened at school as they went.
Mrs. Parker came to the door, swung it open for them and smiled a greeting.
“Hope I haven’t held you up, Mrs. Parker.”
“Not at all,” she said, stepping back so they could all file into the house. “Tommy’s had his dinner. I made us some chicken and dumplings. Hope that was all right.”
“Of course,” Annie said, hanging her coat in the mudroom.
“We saved you a plate.”
“Thank you.”
They went into the kitchen, where Mrs. Parker reached for a bowl on the counter and put it away. “I’ll be going, then. Oh, let’s see, where did I put that note? There it is.” She picked up a piece of paper off the island and handed it to Annie. “Michael Russell called for you. Just after four. He asked if you could call him as soon as you have a chance. Said he would be working late at the office tonight.”
Annie’s stomach dropped. What in the world could that be about? Mike had been J.D.’s attorney in their divorce. He had been reluctant, initially, to get involved. He knew them both. Had eaten dinner at their house. He would have been much happier staying out of it. But J.D. had been persistent, and Mike had given in. To this day, he still had trouble meeting Annie’s eyes when they passed on the street. He was a good attorney, and his efforts on J.D.’s part had not contributed to the size of her bank account.
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