Danger in Plain Sight (Hqn)

by Marta Perry

“Adam, it’s Libby.” It took less than a minute to explain what happened, and telling it made it seem less and less important. Maybe there really was someone down in the parking lot, growing impatient as he waited for her.

  “I’ll come over,” Adam said crisply. “Don’t leave the room until I get there.”

  “Maybe I’m just making monsters out of thin air. You don’t need to come. I’ll stay until Esther’s mother and aunt—”

  “I’m coming. Stay put.” He clicked off, leaving her torn between relief and embarrassment.

  CHAPTER NINE

  BY THE TIME Esther’s mother and her aunt came back in the door, Libby was pacing back and forth across the room, casting glances out at the parking lot as if she could pierce the fog and the darkness and see what was going on out there. Which was ridiculous, because the spot where she’d parked wouldn’t be visible from this window even in broad daylight.

  “Ach, Libby, we have been a long time, ain’t so?” Rebecca looked guilty. “I am sorry that we have held you up.”

  “No, of course you haven’t. I was just stretching a little.” Now she was the one to feel guilty. “I was happy to spend time with Esther.”

  As the door swung shut, Libby glimpsed the sleeve of a blue uniform. The policeman wasn’t due until six, a half-hour from now. Had Adam made sure he came early?

  “She is better, ja? You see it?” Rebecca crossed to Esther, but she looked anxiously at Libby, obviously needing reassurance.

  “Definitely better,” she said, managing to smile, her need to encourage Rebecca stronger than her caution. “I’d been talking to her, telling her something funny about my mother, and she actually smiled at me. And spoke a word.”

  “That is wonderful gut.” Anna clasped her hand, face wreathed in smiles.

  “Wonderful gut,” Rebecca echoed. She put her arms around Libby. “I knew you would be gut for Esther.”

  Libby’s tension melted away in the warmth of their rejoicing. She had to concentrate on Esther and stop letting herself get sidetracked by her own muddled feelings.

  Libby stayed for a few more minutes, but Esther didn’t open her eyes again. Finally she bent over the bed to kiss her cheek.

  “Sleep well,” she whispered. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Leaving wasn’t quite that easy, of course. Rebecca had a string of messages to be delivered to Libby’s mother, mostly thanks for various helpful things Libby’s mother had set up. Promising she’d remember every one, Libby went out, nodding to the police officer next to the door.

  Why did leaving a hospital room always feel like escaping? She’d never been able to figure that one out. Maybe it had something to do with reminders of one’s own vulnerability.

  She was headed toward the elevator when the doors opened. Adam stepped out, saw her and glowered.

  “What part of stay in the room until I get here didn’t you understand?” He came to a stop a foot away, forcing her to look up to see his face.

  “I don’t see what difference it makes.” She wasn’t about to start letting him dictate to her. “Esther’s mother and her aunt are in there, and there’s a cop on the door. Nobody can get at her.”

  “And nobody could have known you’d driven that car today, either.” His glare didn’t soften. “Which one gave you the message?” He nodded toward the nurses’ station.

  “The blonde heavyset one.” She knew she sounded sulky. “But I don’t think…” She let that die off, because he was walking away.

  He turned before he’d taken a dozen paces. “Stay right where I can see you.” His tone made it clear that was an order.

  So she stayed, watching him. She wasn’t the only one with eyes on that tall, muscular figure. When he leaned on the desk, three or four women hurried to help him. The tall brunette got there first, but she lost points when he asked for the short blonde. He bent over her, obviously flustering her with the display of attention.

  It was instructive, seeing how other women responded to Adam. He obviously had an effect on women wherever he went, even though he seemed oblivious to the attention. The blonde’s face was animated, and she seemed to be telling him a heck of a lot more than she’d said to Libby.

  Libby waited, less than patient. If he didn’t finish up soon, she’d see what happened if she punched the elevator button.

  But Adam headed back before she could resort to that, detouring to have a word with the officer on duty and then joining her. He was frowning, and he took her arm and piloted her toward the elevator.

  She held on to her patience until they were on the elevator. “Well?”

  “It was just a male voice on the phone. No indication of who it was. She didn’t know whether he was calling from the lobby or the parking lot.”

  She nodded. “That’s basically what she told me. And it might be perfectly legitimate. If Jessica’s car—”

  “Forget the car. At least, if it’s dented, that means this was real and not an attempt to get Esther alone.”

  That was true. Strange as it seemed, she’d welcome a crumpled fender at this point.

  They stepped outside, and Libby zipped her jacket, turning the collar up. Her driving gloves were in her pocket, but Adam had grabbed her hand, and she didn’t pull away.

  She shot a glance at that tense, strong face. There was nothing remotely romantic about the way he was tugging her along. He might have been taking a reluctant puppy back to its kennel.

  “Where’s the car?” he asked abruptly.

  She pointed. “Down that aisle, almost to the end.”

  They walked in silence, and she had to hurry to keep up with his long strides. As they passed car after car, she realized he was looking between each of them.

  “You picked the darkest section of the parking lot, you realize that?” he growled.

  “It wasn’t dark when I got here,” she snapped. She tugged at his hand. “Do you mind slowing down a little? There’s too much slush on the ground to rush.”

  “Sorry.” He slowed, almost imperceptibly.

  “There it is.” She pressed the remote, and the lights blinked a few yards ahead of them.

  “Stay right here, in the middle of the lane where I can see you.”

  He started to move away. She hung on to his hand, stopping him. “Why?”

  He frowned down at her. “That call could have been just what it seemed. Or it could have been designed to get Esther alone. Or someone might have wanted to get you in this dark parking lot alone.”

  She stared at him, trying to understand. “But I don’t get it. Why would anyone want to silence me? Because that’s what it would amount to—trying to silence me the way they did Esther.”

  His frowning dark eyes seemed to nail her to the spot. “Just stay put so I can make sure no one’s waiting near the car. Then we’ll talk about it.”

  She started to protest but clamped her lips shut instead. There was no point in arguing when Adam wore that forbidding look. But they weren’t done with this.

  Apparently assured that she’d do as he told her, at least this once, Adam walked toward the car, and she realized that he carried a heavy flashlight in his left hand.

  She shivered a little in the cold wind that blew through the parking lot. Why would anyone be after her? She didn’t know anything. Bitter, but true. She knew no more than she had the night Esther was hit.

  Suspicions? She had plenty of those, and no way of proving any of them.

  Adam closed in on the car. The hand holding the flashlight swung up. Holding it above his head, Adam switched it on, and a bright beam pierced the shadows between the vehicles.

  Nothing. She could see from here that no one was there, but that didn’t prevent Adam from moving cautiously around the car, even shining the lights under it.

  She was rubbing her arms, thoroughly chilled, by the time he returned to her. “You see? No one was there.”

  “Given the way you kept talking as we approached, he had plenty to time to hear us and slip away.”r />
  “Will you stop?” Her exasperation mounted. “No one is stalking me. It’s Esther who is in danger.”

  “Someone broke into your house, remember? And crashed your computer. And maybe lifted your camera. To say nothing of decoying you out here.”

  “Definitely took my camera.” That was still a sore subject. “We don’t know that it was a decoy…” She let the words trail off, because he was shaking his head.

  “No damage to your car,” Adam said briefly. “The call was definitely a phony. Either they wanted Esther or you alone. I admit Esther is the more likely possibility, but I’m not about to ignore the possibility of danger to you.”

  Libby stiffened, determined not to let him think he’d scared her. “I thought you didn’t believe in the break-in.”

  “Don’t quote my words back at me.” Adam sounded as if he were gritting his teeth. Probably trying to hang on to his temper. “Any one of those things could mean nothing. Taken together, they start to form a pattern. Did your mother ever locate your case with the letters from Esther?”

  “No, but you know my mother. It might not turn up until spring.” She stopped and shook her head, knowing she was fighting with him out of a mix of fear and frustration. “All right. I get it, and I agree. But I still think Esther is the target. I’m just in the way.”

  “Being in the way can be dangerous. It’s my responsibility to keep you safe.”

  The words flicked her on the place in her heart that was still raw. “You’re not responsible for me, Adam. You weren’t three years ago, and you’re not now.” She regretted it the instant the words were out. Talking about what had happened between them that night in San Francisco was a mistake.

  Adam glared at her, and she could feel the anger radiating like heat from him. His gaze seemed to slip, focusing on her lips. His eyes darkened, but not with anger this time. He pulled her into his arms, and his lips closed on hers.

  A tiny voice at the back of her mind insisted that kissing Adam never ended well. She ignored it, sliding her arms around him, giving herself up to his embrace.

  Adam let go of her slowly, maybe reluctantly. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it, and took a step back. “Sorry.” It was almost a snarl. “Get in the car. Start it and lock the doors. I’ll bring the patrol car around and follow you home.”

  She wanted to protest, to tell him neither of them needed to be sorry for what they felt.

  He was attracted to her. He couldn’t possibly deny it. But for some reason he didn’t want to recognize that attraction, and there was nothing at all that she could do about it.

  * * *

  “AS SOON as I realized that the police might need my information, I called you.” The manager of the convenience store near the highway looked at Adam’s uniform with dark, worried eyes. “The driver merely stopped for gas as I was walking in. There was nothing I could do.”

  “We appreciate your call, Mr. Amir.” In Adam’s opinion, the man already regretted making the call. The fact that he’d delayed calling until today seemed to prove that. “If you’ll just tell me everything you can remember about the vehicle and the driver, that’s all we need.”

  “Yes, well, I noticed very little. Very little,” he repeated, glancing around as if to be sure he wasn’t attracting attention from his customers. “It was a black van, maybe a year or two old. The front end was damaged, but it was still drivable.”

  That narrowed it down a little. “You didn’t happen to notice the license number, I suppose?”

  “Not the number, no. But the plate was from Canada,” he added, brightening. “We don’t see that many of those this time of year, so I took note of it.”

  “Good.” It was good. In fact, it was the first solid lead they’d had to the vehicle. “Could you tell the province?”

  “Ontario. In fact, the driver mentioned that he was from Ontario and was on his way back there. I asked him if he wanted me to refer him to a body shop, but he said that he’d wait and have it fixed when he got home.”

  If he’d hit Esther’s buggy, he’d probably thought it safer to get away from the area as quickly as possible. “What did the driver look like? Was he alone in the vehicle?”

  “Just an ordinary middle-aged man.” The manager spread his hands. “His wife was with him. They looked like any other tourists visiting the county.”

  That sounded less like a hit-and-run driver…most often the driver who ran was alone in the car. “Did he pay with a credit card?” That, at least, could be traced.

  “He paid in cash. I rang him up myself. And then he drove off.” He shrugged. “I didn’t have reason to notice anything else.”

  “You didn’t ask him about what happened to the vehicle?”

  “He said that someone hit his car in a parking lot, that’s all.” The manager turned away as a customer approached the counter, obviously eager to have this conversation over.

  “Did he say what parking lot?”

  The manager shook his head, pausing in the act of ringing up a two-liter bottle of soda. “He did mention that they had been staying at the inn. Maybe they’ll be able to help.”

  Adam’s energy soared. The inn’s management would have to know more about the couple, if not about the damage to the vehicle. Finally the tedious routine had paid off. With a quick expression of thanks, he headed back to the patrol car.

  Five minutes of driving, and Adam pulled into the parking lot of the inn. Owen Barclay would be cooperative. Adam didn’t doubt that. Barclay was as careful of the inn’s reputation as of his own. He wouldn’t want a police car at the front door for a minute longer than necessary.

  The lobby was relatively empty at this hour on a weekday, and a glance into the restaurant showed that the staff was setting up for lunch. Lifting his hand to the woman at the front desk, Adam went down the corridor to Barclay’s office, knocking on frosted glass and opening the door at the same time. “Owen?”

  But Owen Barclay wasn’t alone. Libby sat across the desk from him, and all the memories Adam had been holding safely at bay flooded back in a surge of longing that nearly pulled him under.

  “Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.” He focused on Barclay, not sure it was safe to meet Libby’s gaze at the moment.

  “Not a problem.” Owen waved him in. “I was just giving Libby some good news.”

  Libby lifted the camera she held in her hands. “You can call off the search. Owen found my camera.”

  “Is that right?” Obviously he was the only one made uncomfortable by that kiss. Libby looked and sounded perfectly normal. “Where did it turn up?”

  “That’s the problem.” Owen frowned at the camera, as if it were to blame. “One of the servers found it on the coatroom shelf this morning. But we searched that room thoroughly when Libby reported the camera missing, and I’m sure it wasn’t there at the time.”

  “That is odd.” Yet another odd thing happening to Libby, and Adam didn’t like it. “Is there any reason to think one of the staff took it and then got cold feet and returned it?”

  Owen stiffened, pressing his hands against the polished mahogany of his desk. “I can’t believe that of any of my staff.”

  His staff, just as the office, indeed the entire inn, was Owen’s in his view, he’d managed it for so long.

  “Sometimes an otherwise reliable person can give in to a sudden impulse.” He eyed Owen, wondering if he’d admit it if any of the staff had given him cause to wonder. The staff reflected Owen’s taste, just as the elegant lobby did.

  “Well, I don’t care what happened to it, as long as I have it back in working order.” Libby raised the camera, focusing it on Owen, and then lowered it again, frowning.

  “Is something wrong?” Owen was quick off the mark. “It’s not broken, is it?”

  Libby clicked something on the side of the camera. She looked up, not at Owen but at Adam. “The memory card is gone.”

  He took a step toward her, fixing his gaze on the camera, not on her face. �
��What was on it? Do you remember?”

  “I had just put a new one in partway through the reception. So probably not more than a dozen shots or so. Most of the wedding photos were on another card.”

  “That’s good, isn’t it?” Owen said. “At least you didn’t lose the important pictures. And we’ll be happy to reimburse you for the cost of the card.”

  She waved the offer away, her gaze still on Adam. “No need for that. Still, it’s strange.”

  He knew what she was thinking. That somehow all these oddities added up to something, if only they could figure out what.

  Their gazes clung too long, because all of a sudden he was seeing her face as it had been in the dimly lit parking lot the moment he’d kissed her. The color came up in her cheeks, and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

  This time it was Libby who turned away. “I’m sure you didn’t come in about my camera.” She rose, as if to leave.

  “I just had a question for Owen about a couple from Canada who were staying here the night of Esther’s accident.”

  “You’ve learned something about the driver?” Her gaze sharpened on his face.

  “A couple from…” Owen frowned. “You mean the Bradburns?”

  “I don’t know the name, but they were seen leaving in a damaged black van the next day, and they were apparently staying here.”

  “Yes, they were. But the damage to their vehicle couldn’t have anything to do with the accident. Their van was hit in the parking lot.”

  That was a blow. “You’re sure of that?”

  Owen paused. “Well, as sure as I can be. That’s how it was reported to me. It was discovered when the valet went to bring the vehicle up when they checked out. Mr. Bradburn was upset, naturally, but we can’t guarantee a vehicle’s safety in the parking lot, even with valet parking.”

  “It wasn’t damaged when they came in? Or if they took it out again?”

  “Certainly not. The valet attendants have strict instructions to check each car for damages each time it comes in.”

  “Bradburn couldn’t have parked it himself?”

  “I suppose it might happen, but it’s unlikely. We did check up on the possibilities, since it would affect our insurance,” Owen said.