Heart of Gold

by B. J Daniels

  “Okay,” Greg said, sounding as if he didn’t believe her before he stepped into Amanda’s office, closing the door behind him.

  Charlie glanced through the wall of glass and saw Amanda’s worried look before she turned her gaze on Greg and gave him a glowing smile before kissing him.

  Not sticking around, Charlie hurried to her desk.

  “That package was on your desk when I got here,” Tara said, eyes bright with excitement. “Is it from Daniel?”

  Charlie took off her coat and scarf, put her purse in a drawer and sat down before she considered the package. It was small, not much more than the size of a summer beach read. As she picked it up, she realized how light it was. So not a book. She wanted to shake it, but restrained herself.

  Was it from Daniel? There was no return address. No stamp or postmark. She supposed he could have had it delivered first thing this morning to surprise her. Her pulse leaped at the thought. He’d gotten her flowers after their first meeting and had them sent to work, along with a note asking her out. But nothing like that since—until maybe now.

  She tried to tamp down her growing excitement. She didn’t want to be disappointed. It was probably a gift from one of her clients. They often bought her chocolates or wine or gave her a gift certificate to some restaurant that she’d said she enjoyed. This package didn’t seem to be any of those things though.

  With the plain paper almost off, she was cutting into the tape on the box’s flap with a pair of scissors when she looked up to see Amanda standing nearby watching her. Charlie’s heart dropped. Was it something from the woman so she’d keep her mouth shut? A bribe?

  As she unstuck the flap, Charlie was almost afraid to look inside. She glanced at Tara.

  “Come on, you’re killing me over here,” her friend said. “Is it sexy underwear?”

  She raised a brow and laughed. “You sound so wistful.”

  “Because I barely remember sexy underwear. Open it!”

  Charlie lifted the flap, but it was Tara who screamed.

  CHAPTER THREE

  “WHO WOULD SEND you something like that?” Greg demanded as she stood in his office, the package open on his desk. “I think we should call the police.”

  “No,” Charlie said quickly. She would never have shown the contents to him, but Tara’s scream brought everyone running.

  “She’s right,” Amanda said quickly from where she stood. “It’s probably just a prank.”

  “I won’t have that kind of prank in this office,” Greg snapped.

  Charlie was still shaken after finding the small dead mouse, its little pink tongue sticking out as it lay in a pool of blood. But somehow she managed to come up with a feasible lie. “I’m sure it wasn’t from anyone in the office. I suspect it’s from an old boyfriend. He saw me with Daniel the other night...”

  Greg gave her a sympathetic look.

  “I’m sorry it disrupted the office,” she said, just wanting to put this behind her.

  “It’s not your fault,” Greg protested.

  Charlie looked at the floor. “I’d like to just forget about it.”

  “I think that’s wise,” Amanda said. “Whoever sent it to you made their point. I’ll call Maintenance and have them dispose of it since no harm was done.”

  Greg shot her a disbelieving look. “I still think we should call the police. Maybe they can get prints off the box and find this...deviant.”

  Did Amanda flinch when he said deviant? “Can we just forget it?” Charlie said. “Amanda’s right. It’s over. No harm done. Message received.”

  “See? That’s the best plan,” Amanda said, pulling out her cell phone and calling Maintenance. “Herb is on his way up,” she said after making the request. “We should all get back to work.”

  Greg was still looking at Charlie as if wanting to say more.

  As Amanda ushered Charlie out of his office, the woman’s fingers bit into her arm. Once out in the hallway, Charlie shook off the office manager’s hand, but not before Amanda whispered, “I had nothing to do with that. Do you hear me?”

  “I hear you.” But she wasn’t sure she believed it.

  Charlie tried not to think about the package as she worked. Or who had sent it. Or what it meant. She wanted to believe it was from Amanda because otherwise who did that leave? Her friends would never do something so disgusting—even as some kind of sick practical joke. Daniel wouldn’t do anything so mean. Who did that leave?

  Lindy. The thought was ridiculous. It was one thing for Charlie to believe she saw a dead woman. But there was no way Lindy’s ghost could send packages. She tried to push away such irrational thoughts. There was only one person who could have sent the dead mouse—Amanda, the Enforcer, as she and Tara called her. Message received.

  She tried to concentrate, determined to get as much done as she could today. Once her presentation was over, she was taking a few days off for the holidays. Daniel had told her that he had a special Christmas surprise for her. He’d hinted about plans for the two of them.

  “He’s going to give you a ring!” Tara had cried when she’d told her.

  “No,” Charlie had argued, heart pounding that Tara might be right. “We’ve only been dating a few months.”

  “Didn’t you say it was love at first sight?”

  According to Daniel. He said he spotted her across a crowded bar and had fallen at once. He said he’d been terrified as he crossed the room, knees knocking, to talk to her, because he’d been afraid she would get away before he could reach her. Or worse, that she wouldn’t go out with him. It was the kind of story parents told their children about their first meeting.

  Thankfully, he’d never asked if it was like that for her. In truth, she’d been startled when he came over to her table where she was sitting with her friends. She’d thought he wasn’t her type and while she’d given him her number, she hadn’t planned to go out with him. When he called, she’d put him off for a couple weeks. But he’d been relentless and she’d finally agreed to meet him.

  There hadn’t been a jolt of chemistry on their first date. The first time they kissed, there weren’t fireworks. But the kiss had been nice. She liked him and felt...comfortable with him. That’s why she was hoping he wasn’t planning on asking her to marry him. She didn’t feel ready to take that next step and wasn’t sure when she would be—if ever with him.

  She’d never told Tara or her other friends any of this. Everyone wanted to believe it had been love at first sight for both of them.

  She’d once questioned love at first sight while having coffee with her friend Becky.

  “You are so cynical,” Becky had said, mugging a face. “Why can’t you believe that a man could fall for you in an instant?”

  Charlie could only shrug, unable to explain. Was it her resistance in believing that good things could happen to her? She didn’t talk about her childhood or her past and certainly not her shameful secret. Only one person knew how bad things had been—Lindy.

  But as she tried to work, she realized that she was tired of expecting the worst. Maybe her friends were right. Maybe it was time she forgave herself for the past and started believing in happy-ever-after. Maybe that’s why she’d thought she saw Lindy. Because it was time to put the past behind her.

  Christmas wasn’t that far away. She and Daniel would maybe do something fun with no mention of marriage. Work might be better now that she’d cleared the air with Amanda. And she hadn’t seen Lindy again. All in all, things could be looking up.

  If only she hadn’t made that call to the emergency number. She’d been in a panic, terrified at the time. She’d overreacted. Fortunately, she’d called the judge back to cancel it.

  She was pretty sure that the woman she’d seen hadn’t even looked that much like Lindy. After all, it had been years. Who knew what Lindy would look like now—if she’d still been ali
ve. The last time Charlie had seen Lindy, her stepsister had been seventeen, Charlie fourteen. They both would have changed.

  Meanwhile, she tried to concentrate on the positive. She had a date with Daniel tonight. She’d gotten through work without any more packages or visits from The Enforcer. And she’d managed to leave work when everyone else did, avoiding Amanda on her way out.

  On the sidewalk outside, she saw that it had started to snow. Flakes hung in air, sparkling in the city’s lights and decorations. There was something about falling snow that always felt magical to her even without the occasional sound of Christmas music.

  Despite the holiday cheer, Charlie felt a strange prickling as if someone was watching her. She tried not to look behind her. Surely Amanda was going to let this go now. Charlie went a half block before she dared look back, afraid Amanda might be pursuing her with something sharp like a letter opener.

  She felt a moment of relief not to see Amanda coming after her.

  Until she saw something even worse.

  Lindy Parker stood under one of the street lamps, a silver bell ornament above her head, a shopping bag in one hand, a cell phone in the other, the device against her ear. She was saying something into the phone and wearing a fluffy blue scarf over her coat—the same color and style as Lindy’s favorite one.

  Not paying attention to where she was going, Charlie plowed into a group of shoppers who’d stopped on the sidewalk. Off balance, she found herself falling again. Fortunately, this time, a couple of the women in the group steadied her and she managed to stay on her feet.

  But when she looked back again, the woman was long gone.

  Charlie hurried toward her apartment, wanting only to get inside and lock the doors. The woman had looked so much like Lindy. But ghosts didn’t shop or talk on cell phones, Charlie was pretty sure of that.

  Still, she was shaken. Was it possible Lindy was alive? She recognized the blue scarf—just as Lindy would know she would. But if she was alive, then where had she been the past fifteen years? And whose body had been found if not Lindy’s?

  The idea was preposterous that the cops had gotten it wrong. The woman she’d seen had to be someone who looked like Lindy. But if true, how did she explain the scarf or the woman’s expression when she’d seen her? Charlie had had the feeling that Lindy had been waiting for her to walk past.

  As she neared her apartment, winter darkness settling around her with a cold that reached her bones, she couldn’t wait to get inside. She was digging out her key when she saw something that made her slow her walk to a crawl.

  Someone was sitting on her front steps. From the size, it was a man. For just an instant, she thought it might be Daniel.

  Then she saw the backpack on the step below him. As she stepped tentatively closer, she saw that he was leaning against the railing, his legs spread out in front of him on the step and what appeared to be a cowboy hat tilted down over his face as if he’d dozed off.

  She took in the breadth of his broad shoulders, the length of the denim jeans to his cowboy boots. He looked like a man perfectly comfortable in his own skin and one who hadn’t minded waiting even in the cold.

  As if sensing her, he slowly pushed back the hat and lifted his head, his blue eyes pinning her to the spot as her heart dropped.

  * * *

  WESTLY “SHEP” SHEPHERD couldn’t help but stare. The rebellious, adventurous, outrageous girl he’d known had turned into a knockout-gorgeous young woman. His surprised gaze met Charlie’s even more surprised one and shot off sparks.

  “The judge sent you?” Her voice broke. “I told him I was fine. Why would he send you?”

  Shep pushed to his feet, settled his Stetson on his head of dark hair and shrugged. “You know the judge. He does what he does and for some reason he seemed to think you needed my help.”

  She scoffed at that and tried to step past him, but he grabbed her slim wrist, wrapping his fingers around it, stopping her. He felt a tingle move from his fingers up his arm.

  “Charlie, you know how this works. The judge asks and we do whatever he wants because he saved our lives. He wants me to help you and that’s what I’m going to do, with or without your approval.”

  She flipped her hair back. Snow crystals had settled in her dark curls like tiny fairy lights. “I should have never called the judge. It was a mistake. I’m fine. You can go back and tell him—”

  “The judge wouldn’t have sent me unless you were in trouble. So you’re not fine. Remember, I know you.” His gaze locked with hers. He’d forgotten the warm honey of her eyes and what looking in them did to him. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  She laughed. “I’d forgotten how pigheaded you are.”

  Her pulse pounded beneath his fingers as her laugh floated around him. He’d also forgotten that infectious laugh. It took him back to their first encounter all those years ago and what had followed. The memory sent a sharp stab of longing racing through his bloodstream. The girl had gotten under his skin all those years ago. He couldn’t imagine the kind of damage the young woman standing before him could do. He let go of her wrist.

  “You need to go back to the judge and tell him that I’m fine,” she was saying. “It was a mistake. I thought I saw someone from my past but—” She glanced over her shoulder across the icy street and shuddered.

  He heard her breath catch in her throat. Her brown, soulful eyes had widened into saucers. She swayed on the step next to him, then grabbed hold of his biceps, her fingers digging in as she tried to steady herself.

  “That’s her.” The words came out in a low croak.

  Shep followed her gaze across the street. Through the falling snow, he caught sight of a slim, dark figure in the shadow of a light pole. He had only a glimpse of long blond hair before the figure dissolved back into the darkness of the alley.

  In those fleeting seconds, several cars roared past before he could pry Charlie’s fingers from his arm and race across the street, his boots slick on the gleaming black ice. By the time he reached the alley, it was empty.

  When he returned to the stairs leading up to her apartment, Charlie was sitting on the step where he’d been. She looked up at him, snowflakes caught on her lashes, her brown eyes dark with fear.

  “It was her,” she said, voice cracking. “It’s Lindy Parker. She’s come back to make me pay for what I did.”

  * * *

  SHEP HAD NO idea who Lindy Parker was. But whatever Charlie had seen, it had scared her. From what he knew of the incredible girl she’d been, scaring her wasn’t easy. By the time he’d met her at the judge’s boot camp—her sixteen and him seventeen—she’d already been toughened by life. She had that way of looking at a person as if she’d already seen too much, been through too much. But she’d never talked about it. Neither had he.

  “Who’s Lindy?” he asked now.

  Charlie stared at him in surprise. “The judge didn’t tell you?”

  “The only thing he told me is that you needed my help.”

  “And you agreed without even knowing what was wrong?” She looked as skeptical as he felt. “Why you?”

  They were back to that? He shrugged again. “He said I was the right person for the job.”

  “Are you a detective, a cop or something?”

  Something. “I teach.”

  She waited, obviously not letting him get away that easily.

  “Middle school math.”

  Her expression said it all.

  “I believe the judge asked me because I’m a problem solver.” He figured that might be part of the reason. He didn’t want to speculate on the other. “I’m also reasonable and logical.”

  Charlie scoffed at that as she started to get to her feet. “Like I’m not?”

  Shep wasn’t about to touch that one. He reached out his hand to pull her up. She took it, but her gaze was on the other side of
the street. Whoever had been there was gone but far from forgotten, given the fear still in her expression.

  “Why don’t we go inside where it’s warm and you can tell me all about it?” he suggested.

  She turned and started up the stairs, seeming dazed as she led the way to her third-story apartment. Apparently there was no elevator, he gathered after the climb.

  He watched her try to unlock the door with trembling fingers until he gently took the key and opened the door. Following her inside, he took in the place.

  It was compact. Small kitchen, living room, bedroom, bath. Everything looked clean and neat, and the walls were decorated with what he knew were some of her drawings. He remembered how she was always doodling every chance she got—even when the rest of them were exhausted from the physical and mental requirements of boot camp. He’d thought she had talent. He’d been glad to hear from the judge that she worked for a design company and had done well for herself.

  “So who is Lindy?” he asked again as he closed the door behind him.

  Her cell phone chirped in her purse. Still seeming distracted, she pulled it out, checked the screen and let out a cry. “I forgot all about my date. Daniel is on his way. He could be here any minute.”

  “Daniel?”

  “My boyfriend.” Her eyes widened in alarm. “You have to leave.” She rushed toward him to open the door he’d just closed behind him. “Go! Hurry!” But even as she said it, he heard the door on the ground level open. A gust of winter air rushed up the stairs along with the sound of someone stomping snow off his boots.

  “Sounds like it’s too late,” he noted.

  Charlie looked around frantically as if searching for a place to hide him. From what he could see, there was only one other apartment on this floor and that door was closed. The only exit other than a rickety fire escape he could see through a window were the stairs that Daniel was now plodding up.