Mrs. Palmer had given her Sunday and Mondays off until November, when the holiday rush would force them all to work longer hours. Kelly felt a laugh bubble up inside her. Paradise had no idea what a rat race holiday retail could be. Until you worked in a big department store in a city like L.A., you just didn’t get it.
There were the stressed-out women and their unfortunate children dragged out for shopping. Kelly had made a pact with herself that when she had children, if she couldn’t afford a sitter for a few hours of shopping, then she couldn’t afford shopping. Of course, what did she know? She was twenty-eight and single.
Then there were the hours on your feet with no break in sight, the smile pasted on your face. It was one reason she’d finally gone into wholesale. Even though working retail had been a big step up from her tattoo parlor job she’d gotten in her early days.
It hadn’t been so bad there. Her buddy the ex–army sergeant had kept a good eye on his seventeen-year-old apprentice. She’d slept in the back room and only had minimal problems with the customers, thanks to Sergeant Douglas.
Years later he told her when she’d come in his door with the HELP WANTED sign in her hand he figured if he didn’t take her in, she’d get in real trouble.
Remembering that made Kelly feel lucky. Things could have been worse in her life. She’d get out of this mess with Raymond. She was innocent. If she could just hang tight, they’d find the guys who killed Raymond, surely.
She found herself in Sam’s office so fast she forgot to work out how she was going to tell him.
“Hello, Miss Applebee, have a seat, won’t you? I’ll just pop in and tell Sam you’re here.” Faith had blue jays on her sweatshirt today.
“He’s not with a client, is he?” Kelly asked. She hadn’t even thought of that.
“Heavens, no. He said something about heading out toward the Miller place for a while, but he’s still here.”
Sam came out to get Kelly. She looked incredible. Black dress. Tight black dress. Her eyes shining. She pulled herself out of the chair and tugged her dress down a bit.
“I called, really I did. Myrtle said you were on your way over,” Sam said. “Come on back, Kelly.”
“Your calling was not an issue, Sam.”
“I know, but women like it when you call.” Boy, she sounded odd today. “I had a great time at the rodeo last night.”
“Me too. First time I’d ever seen a real live bronco rider,” Kelly said.
“You look great. You and Myrtle have some fun today?”
She blushed and said nothing.
Sam looked hard into her cat-like green eyes. She was damn nervous about something. He touched her arm. She brushed at her bangs with the other hand. Slowly he drew her into him. His arms wrapped around her softness. She leaned against his chest and he could hear her heart pounding.
“Long walk?” he said softly.
“Not too.”
He lifted her chin with his fingers and kissed her. She was delicious, fresh-air-cold lips. Soft red lips. He ran his fingers through her newly highlighted hair. Her jet-black hair now had reddish highlights. Still crazy. Silky to the touch. He felt suddenly overwhelmed by her. Lost in her. He kissed her again and let one hand run down her back. The sweater she wore was hot from the sun—and her warmth.
“Sam.” She said his name in a moan as he slid his hands all the way down her backside and pulled her toward him. Her arms were around his neck. Her body was burning against his. He felt the throb of his need for her.
“Sam, not here.”
“Not here. Yes. Not here,” he repeated. He eased himself from her. “This is getting hard.”
“Sure is.” She started laughing.
He held her away from him by the shoulders. “I was about to drive out toward Fish Trap Lake again. I have a client out there. Want to come?”
“You make house calls?”
“Yup. I take chickens for pay, too.”
“I’ll come, but can we stop at Myrtle’s and pick up my other shoes?”
“Sure. Let’s get some fresh air. Clear our heads. Take a cold shower.”
Sam went to his closet door and swapped his suit coat for a brown leather jacket.
“Clever lawyer. Your doors hold many surprises.”
“You, too, I imagine.” He put his arm around her and got them both out of the office, into public. Maybe he could keep his hands off her better in public.
For Kelly, everywhere Sam had touched her was burning. Her lips were still on fire. She smiled at Faith as they walked by. When the elevator doors closed behind them she heard laughter tittering through the doors. Sounded like everyone knew what was going on.
She looked up at Sam. He had red lipstick smeared on his lips. “Sam. Lipstick.”
“Shoot. I can’t get away with anything.” He pulled out one of those white embroidered handkerchiefs and wiped at his mouth.
She smiled. He was sweet. Like clover honey. Like blackberry pie. She just couldn’t mess with a sweet thing like Sam. She’d like to tell him the reason she wasn’t married anymore, that Raymond was dead; the words echoed in her head and made her hurt inside. But what if he didn’t believe her about Raymond? What if Sam believed she killed him?
Kelly just could not bear to see the doubt that would flash through him the minute she told him. She had to have just a little more time with him. It would mean the end of it with them, for sure, and she wasn’t ready for the end.
She grasped for conversation that would keep her from thinking about it anymore. “You said your parents were out of town, Sam. Where?”
“He and my mom are in Europe right now on a museum tour. Which reminds me, there’s this benefit for the Seattle Art Museum this Saturday. I’ve been left holding the ticket bag. Would you like to go?”
“Swanky, eh?”
“Swanky as they come in the Northwest. It’s a masquerade thing. Just masks. Myrtle has some kind of feather collection I’m sure you can dig into. I suppose it’s short notice for getting a dress.”
“Don’t sweat it, Prince Charming, Cinderella has her ways.” Kelly reached up and kissed Sam on the cheek just as the elevator opened. A couple and their boy just stared at them. The woman grinned broadly. They excused themselves past them and got in. Elevators.
The October sun heated her up until Kelly stripped off her sweater and tied it around her waist. Her sexy black dress lost much of its effect when teamed with the white Keds she’d made Sam stop at Myrtle’s for. But as Myrtle always said, a girl’s got to have the right shoes.
Kelly stood on a hill overlooking a red farmhouse and its surrounding property. Sam was in the distance standing in his quiet way. The two people with him were more animated. The woman waved her arms in the air a few times. The man paced a circle around something. Sam kept his hands in the pockets of his brown leather jacket and nodded a lot.
Kelly let the breeze cool her bare arms. The leaves on the old maples looked rusted. A tall birch tree had vivid yellow leaves still on it even though a shower of them came down with every gust of wind.
The property was behind the lake they’d necked at on their tandem bike trip. Driving here she realized how far they’d ridden. It must be five miles out of town, so she had biked ten miles! Man, she’d have to stay in shape for these dates.
She turned in a circle like Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. The hills were alive right now with the sound of two grown people bickering down the slope from her.
Behind her she could see Fish Trap Lake shimmering in the sun. The willows beside it looked more golden than she remembered from even a week ago. Above the lake she caught sight of an old house, quite large. Its white paint was peeling away. The upper window was broken out. It must be abandoned.
Sam came up behind her and put his arms around her.
“All done.”
“Did you solve their problem?”
“Yup.”
“Wanna go skinny-dipping?”
“Don’t ask. I’d li
ke to roll you right down this hill and do you in the grass. Hopefully your dress would remove itself on the way down.”
“Why, Henry. You devil.” She wound herself around him.
“Who told you my first name?” He kissed her neck.
“Ginny Palmer.” She pulled his shirt out of his pants and ran her hands up his broad, muscular back. His skin was warm as flannel. “What’s that house over there?” She used her head to point because her hands were busy. She’d really like to see him naked. Everywhere she touched she felt an amazingly hard body.
“The old Shipley place. Haunted.”
Sam gasped as her hands came around to his chest. She liked having that effect on him.
“Who owns it?”
“County. Should be torn down.”
“Tsk. That’s a shame. It’s a beautiful location.” She reached up and kissed him harder. She pressed her body into his until she felt him want her bad.
“Kelly.”
“Yes?”
“Not here.”
Kelly looked over Sam’s shoulder and saw the two bickering people pointing at them and laughing. At least they were getting along now.
“Okay, let’s walk over to the Shipley place and say hello to the ghosts,” Kelly said.
The late-afternoon sun gave everything a burnished golden glow. Kelly couldn’t believe how huge the Shipley house was when they got right in front of it.
“Wow, this was something special. What happened?”
“The last of the family, three sisters, lived here all their lives. Spinsters. My mom knew them well. They were very active in town life and you see their names all over old newspapers and public buildings. The last one died about 1968. No living relatives, so the house reverted to the county. There was talk of fixing it up, but it just didn’t happen.”
Kelly rubbed at a small windowpane on the front porch and peered inside. Wow. She could see a big fancy stairway. Good woodwork. The front door was boarded shut. She really wanted inside.
“There’s someone on the county board that comes out and checks on it once a month. I know there’s a back door. Careful,” Sam took her arm as they stepped over broken boards in the porch.
“I want in. Can you get a key?”
“Sure. I’ll ask Tom Blackwell.”
Kelly walked backward next to Sam, looking at the treasure she’d found. There was something about the place that pulled at her. A huge old magnolia tree stood to one side. Sprays of roses that someone had planted long ago were giving their last blooms to the fall warmth. They draped over a broken-down trellis leaning against one side of the house.
If she could just clean up the past, she could make a new home here. The less of her old life that intruded into the new one, the better. Maybe she could get this whole Raymond thing straightened out before she had to tell him. Surely some progress would be made on the case soon. She turned around and grabbed Sam’s hand as they walked. She gave him her best smile. He was something.
“Wanna have dinner at Cora’s?” she asked.
“Can’t. I teach swimming Mondays and Wednesdays at the high school pool.” Sam opened the truck door for her.
“Fine for you. Oh, well, I’ve got mice I have to train to whip me up a dress by Saturday.”
“I’ll drop you at your wicked hairdresser’s house.”
“She is wicked, isn’t she? I love her for it.”
“She’s been real good to you. I like that in a crazy old lady.” Sam started up the truck, and they drove toward town with the sun setting in front of them in bright October orange streaks.
Lynnette Stivers booted up the computer and tapped her red nails on the mouse. Her job doing data entry at Tom Blackwell’s office was really coming in handy now.
She entered the sheriff’s office password and accessed the West Coast Sheriff’s Watch main website. After flipping through a few hoops, she got to the site for profiles.
A series of drawings and photos came up and Lynnette entered her qualifying data:
Kelly Applebee
Female, 5'8"
Short black hair, hazel green eyes
Approx. 28 years old
110 lbs.
Files came up, and she began flicking through them one by one.
The old school clock on the sheriff’s office wall ticked away the seconds. There must have been hundreds of faces, but Lynnette was real fast—this was her forté, snooping.
Fifteen minutes later she hit pay dirt. “I knew it. I knew I’d seen that face before.” Lynnette hit the print button on the file with pure glee and waited for the page to emerge.
Tom Blackwell came through the swinging glass door just as the printer spat out the last of it. Lynnette hit two buttons on the computer and turned to the wall briefly to stuff the paper in her bag.
“Hi, Tom, honey, did you take that ratty little Skaggs boy back home? I doubt his mama cares what he’s been stealing. She probably sent him for it. Twelve years old and he’s just like his old man.”
“Yep, I took him home, and brought a bag of groceries, too. Her husband’s run off, and she can’t watch after Kenny and the two little ones at the same time. I stopped at the church and asked the reverend to give her a hand. She will probably pitch a fit, but it will help her through. He needs a person to help out in the day-care center, and she can bring the twins in for free.”
Lynnette took the time Tom was rambling on to gather herself. She grabbed up her bag, sauntered over to him, and gave him a little peck on the cheek at arm’s length.
“Tom, you are too good to these people. A night in jail might straighten that boy out.”
“You can’t put a twelve-year-old boy in jail, Lynnette.”
“I suppose not. I’m going home to rustle you up some supper, just like I promised. Don’t be too late, now.” Lynnette’s bleached blonde ponytail wagged as she walked out the door.
She jumped in the Trans Am and turned the keys to roll down the window. October and it was still hot.
Pulling the paper out of her bag, she smoothed it out and read the notice.
Wanted for the murder of Raymond Bianchi
Kelly Atwood Bianchi
Female
Height 5'8"
Weight 110 lbs.
Hair: red
Eyes: hazel
Age: 28
Got most of it right, Lynnette thought. She must have changed her name and dyed her hair black.
So a lying, murdering bitch with roots was about to snare her Sam. In a pig’s eye, sweetheart. Over my dead body, Kelly Atwood Bianchi Applebee.
Sam was hers. He always had been; he just needed to remember it. Now she had everything she needed to get him to come to her. She’d pick just the right moment. She’d show Sam what a mistake he was making. Again. He’d finally figure out that a nice local girl from his hometown was waiting for him. She’d keep him safe from these slick city tramps.
She laid the paper on the seat and started the car. A cloud of dust swirled up as she peeled out of the parking lot.
Tom looked through a crack in the metal blinds and saw the rear end of the Trans Am disappear down the street. That woman was up to something. An uneasy feeling crept up on him like a cold coming on. He sat down at his desk and looked at the stack of paperwork waiting for him. He’d better get over to her house for dinner tonight and keep an eye on her.
Better stop at Cora’s and eat something on the way, too. Lynnette practically burned her kitchen down last time she tried to cook when one of these moods came over her. She was usually an amazing cook.
Hell, if she was inclined to make him dinner, he was glad for it, no matter what her mood. Maybe now that Sam had a good woman, Lynnette would come around. He’d like that. He could hope anyhow. He’d hoped a long time now. Tom shook his head and started in on his reports.
Sam gave Kelly one final, lingering kiss outside Myrtle’s screen door. She walked in on air, floating past Fluffy the stuffed cat, giving it a pat. Myrtle just stared as she passed
by, then went on humming “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” The shop was closed, and Myrtle was puttering with her potions, as Kelly called them: hair conditioners that smelled like tropical fruit and all sorts of other mysterious things.
Suddenly Kelly had a wild idea and stepped up her pace. She wanted to go see Sam teach his swimmers. She wanted to see him in a different setting.
After a quick shower, she changed into jeans and her favorite white T-shirt. She borrowed Myrtle’s big red Chrysler Le-Huge-O and found the high school easily enough. She slipped in the door and crossed through the girls’ locker area to a glassed-in overlook. She had a great view of Sam, and he was too absorbed in his young charges to notice her.
Sam’s swimmers were all around him in the water and hanging off the side of the pool: a group of kids who looked to be about five. He took one at a time around in the water, then returned each of them to the side.
Kelly could see their little legs kicking up behind them. Sam was focused on giving directions to his pupil and each time he did, the child would either dip under the water or kick harder.
Then they all grouped up and did head bobs in a row. He had to retrieve one who dipped a little too deep. He pulled her up so calmly the child hardly noticed.
Kelly heard his laughter like a deep musical instrument. Sam was fun. He’d brought fun and passion into her life, possibly for the first time ever.
After a while they all popped out of the pool and were swept up by mothers with towels to dry them off.
Sam stood on the side of the pool chatting with one mother. He had on one of those Speedo suits that showed off a physique she hadn’t seen since she’d watched the 1988 summer Olympics when Greg Louganis dived to the gold medal. She’d been thirteen, and television and books had been her best friends.
It took her breath away seeing him. Kelly pressed her nose up against the glass and it fogged up where she was standing.
Sam retrieved some long noodle-like toys and handed them out to a new group of kids, slightly older. They all jumped in the pool with a colorful array of waving foam tubes.
She could watch him forever.
Talk of the Town Page 12
