Page 5

Chapter Five

S eth hefted the free weights to his chest, sweat running into his eyes. He blinked to clear his vision as Clancy Meadows—a former Grand Prix Pennsylvania champion bodybuilder—spotted him.

“You’ve got this. Easy does it.” Clancy talked him through several reps of dead lifting four hundred pounds. “That’s enough for today.”

Seth wanted to argue for more time but instead lowered the weights to the floor in a controlled movement.

Clancy clapped him on the shoulder. “Your mind isn’t here today.”

Seth mopped the sweat from his face with a clean towel. The older man was correct in his assumption. Seth wasn’t concentrating on the workout, usually one of his favorite parts of the day. Instead of working his muscles until they ached, his mind kept drifting to a blue-eyed strawberry blonde. “Sorry about that.”

“Son, there’s no need to apologize. You’re a hard worker, but I can tell something’s bothering you.” The owner of God’s Body Gym grinned. “I bet it’s your young lady, am I right?”

Seth should never have let slip his interest in Jetta, and nothing he’d said since had convinced Clancy she was way out of his league.

Clancy nudged his shoulder. “Hey, man. I was only teasing.”

“I know.” Seth glanced around the gym where mostly men worked on toning their bodies while instrumental hymns played through the sound system. No one seemed to be waiting for Clancy’s attention, so he decided to see if the older man had any advice. “I had an unusual encounter with Jetta yesterday.”

“Ah.” Clancy placed a ten-pound weight to its proper slot on the rack.

His roommates would have pounced on his statement with rapid-fire questions, but Clancy’s noncommittal response loosened Seth’s tongue.

“Her dog needed help.” Seth relayed the info about what happened to Bingley and the raccoon as succinctly as possible.

“You’re worried someone’s targeting her.”

Seth hadn’t breathed a word of his suspicions, but Clancy must have picked up on his concern. “It definitely didn’t seem random.”

Clancy cocked his head. “What are you going to do about it?”

“I checked her yard and found some bits of ground beef by the back fence, which I cleaned up.”

“That’s a good start.”

The older man’s direct gaze made Seth think he’d missed a question on a quiz he’d forgotten to study for, but he didn’t know what else the man wanted him to do.

“I was married once.”

“You were?” Seth had been going to the gym for nearly three years and had thought he and Clancy were friends, but he’d never known this bit of the other man’s history.

“I was. She died much too young. Never wanted to try my luck again, she was that special.”

“Oh.” Seth cleared his throat as he took in the sheen of moisture in the older man’s eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too, that you never met my Raylene.” Clancy swiped a tear from his cheek without apology. “But she told me something I never forgot—that a kindness done is one a woman always remembers. Seems to me, you did your young lady a kindness more than once these past months.”

Seth mulled that over, hope beating to life in his heart. Maybe Jetta was waiting for him to move their relationship beyond friendship. “That may be, but that doesn’t mean she’s amenable to going out with me.”

“My advice?”

Seth nodded while Clancy gathered some dirty towels left beside the bench press machine before continuing. “Don’t overthink it. If she’s special enough to catch your attention, then she’s worth putting yourself out there to let her know that.”

Seth absently rubbed a towel over his shoulders as the older man left to answer another patron’s question. Jetta had responded to his text about his backyard find with a thumbs-up emoji. Maybe he should have looked around the house as well to make sure it was safe for Bingley. He checked the time. If he hustled, he could do that before he showered and headed to his next assignment photographing the unveiling of a new eco-friendly mixed-use building with residential and retail offerings.

After parking in his driveway, he noted Jetta’s vehicle wasn’t in its usual spot in front of the garage. She probably had left already to stop by Emily’s before getting Bingley from the vet. He hustled over and started with the back of the house. Nothing out of the ordinary around the foundation. He moved to the sides, then tackled the front. A piece of paper wedged behind one of the potted mums sitting to the right of the door snagged his attention.

When he unfolded it, he frowned. At first, the words made no sense, then their meaning became clearer.

He fumbled for his phone and snapped several photos. Not his best work, but despite the crumbled paper, the words printed in block letters in a thick, red marker couldn’t have been clearer. Gripping the paper by an edge, he returned to his house and slipped it inside a plastic zipper-top bag.

“I thought you’d gone to work.” Wade Frazier strolled into the kitchen, coffee mug in hand.

Before Seth could reply, his roommate pointed to the bag on the kitchen counter. “What’s that?”

“It’s a note I found on the front porch of the Ainsley house.”

Wade raised his eyebrows. “Stalking her now, are you?”

Seth resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck as heat climbed up and into his cheeks. “No, I was checking close to the house to make sure nothing would harm her dog.” He quickly recounted what had happened to Bingley yesterday evening and what he’d found this morning.

“Wow, that’s terrible.” Wade nodded toward the table. “You think this means the poisoning was deliberate?”

“What else could it be?” Seth hadn’t wanted it to be true, but finding the ground beef plus the note meant someone had targeted the Ainsleys.

“Have you told Jetta yet?”

Seth shook his head. “She’s gone to visit her mom, then she’ll swing by to get the dog. I wasn’t sure this was something I should text. But I need to get cleaned up and to work, so I can’t wait until she returns to show her in person.”

His roommate put his mug into the dishwasher. “Seems to me like sending a text is the next best thing.” He checked his phone. “Gotta run. See you at Bible study tonight?”

“I should be able to make it, unless something comes up at work.” Seth sighed, then composed a text to Jetta describing how the note had been found. He selected the best picture of it and attached it to the message. His thumb hovered over the send arrow, re-reading the stark words on the page once more.

Consider this a warning. Next time, it won’t be an animal that gets hurt.

* * *

Mae Stanhope reread the email, her heart rate rising with each word. No, no, no! This couldn’t be happening again. She’d put this all behind her years ago, repaid the debt with interest, and still it hadn’t been enough. She slumped in the chair, tears pressing at the backs of her eyelids. Why couldn’t they leave her alone? She’d had to live with the guilt of what she’d done to cover her own tracks, but it had been worth it to ease the end of her father’s life. Instead of his last days in a state-run nursing home with indifferent staff, he’d had a private room and round-the-clock nurses to care for him as the cancer enjoyed its last meal on his frail body.

“Honey? It’s nearly eight.”

She exited out of the email program on her phone as Anderson, her husband of thirty-eight years, entered their bedroom. “I thought you said you needed to be in the office by eight-thirty for some big meeting.”

Mae raised the phone. “Got caught up in checking email and lost track of time.” She rose. “I’m off. I might be late coming home because of the emergency board meeting.”

The disappointment that drew down his features usually made her reassure him that she would soon join him in retirement. Then the two of them would start traveling like they’d always planned. Instead, she planted a quick kiss on his cheek and hustled down the stairs, her mind whirring with how to respond to the email.

During the drive to Topher Robotics, the words her anonymous tormenter had written replayed in her mind like the banner under a news program. This time, it wasn’t a coverup they requested but spying. Who did they think she was? A female James Bond? No, she wasn’t cut out for espionage. She might have taken some money, but she hadn’t hurt anyone. And she’d been paying it back with interest when the first email had landed in her personal inbox eighteen years ago.

At the gate, she used her employee ID card to gain access, then proceeded to the employee parking lot. Before going into the building where she’d worked for more than twenty years, she opened the email again. The sender had demanded she respond by text to an included number. Mae keyed it in, then typed her reply.

Impossible. I’m no spy and would get caught immediately.

Her phone dinged as soon as she’d closed her car door.

You’re perfect. No one notices middle-aged women.

The words slapped her across the face with their poignant truth. The sender was right—no one noticed her and hadn’t for years. That’s why she’d gotten away with the original crime. She’d flown so low under the radar, no one could imagine her guilty of taking so much as a paperclip without permission. While she had only siphoned off enough to help her father’s last days be more comfortable, someone had found out and used her to redirect millions. Framing Jay Ainsley hadn’t been part of the bargain. She’d done nothing to implicate him, but her contact had ensured he took the fall for all of it—the money Mae had taken on her own plus the extra dough she’d been roped into stealing.

Her phone buzzed.

I want to know what was said in the board meeting as soon as it’s over.

“Hi, Mae.”

She waved at a colleague as she went into the building, her mind whirring like the windup toy monkey banging cymbals she’d played with as a child.

You got that?

The impatience ignited a spurt of anger, but she tamped it down and responded with a thumbs up emoji. At her desk, which sat outside Ryan Topher’s office on the top floor, she put away her purse and phone, then booted up her computer.

“Ready for the meeting, Mae?”

Ryan held a cup of coffee, as if to silently reprimand her for having to get it himself from the small kitchen down the hall.

“Sorry I’m late. Traffic…” She grabbed her steno pad and sharpened pencils. Ryan refused to allow her to take notes on a tablet or laptop during board meetings, preferring her to record the minutes in shorthand. No matter it made extra work for her to transcribe them afterwards. At least Peter Topher, her former boss, had the decency to remember her birthday and ask after Anderson sometimes. Peter had even sent flowers to her father’s funeral, something Ryan had failed even to acknowledge.

Ryan turned on his heel and retraced his steps to the large conference room where the board always met, leaving her to scurry behind him. She slipped in, taking her usual seat in the corner next to the vent, which blew cold or hot air directly on her, depending on the season. Today, the air blew cold since the outside temperatures were expected to hit the low eighties. Another touch of summer even though the calendar said late September.

“Are we ready to begin?” Ryan settled into the chair at the head of the table and opened a folder.

“Isn’t your father joining us?” Chester Cane, a long-time board member folded his hands on his folder.

“Since my father no longer runs the day-to-day operations of this company, I don’t think his presence is necessary.” Ryan’s smooth tone belied the tightening of his mouth.

Mae recognized his annoyance and mentally sighed. If this didn’t go well, Ryan would be in a foul mood all day and make her life even more difficult.

“But this isn’t about the daily operations,” Brooke Williams protested. “This is about the bid for a hostile takeover from Maxwell Technology.”

“Which is why I decided to attend.” Peter Topher shut the door with enough force to rattle the china coffee cups in their matching saucers. He glared at his oldest son, who hadn’t moved from his place.

“Then by all means, join us.” Ryan nodded to an empty chair near the foot of the table.

Mae moved her pencil over the page, quietly recording all conversation. This wouldn’t be included in the official meeting minutes, but her tormentor would want to know exactly who said what.

Peter shrugged and took the open seat. But if Ryan thought not giving his father the head seat would send a message as to Peter’s importance in the meeting, Chester disabused him of that by directly asking Peter what they should do to combat the takeover bid.

Mae effortlessly kept up with the torrent of words as the atmosphere in the board room heated up. Good thing the A/C was on today—maybe it would cool things off. As she flipped to a fresh page, she worried about what the next assignment from her mysterious contact would be, because she had no doubt this was only the beginning of round two.