Into the Fire

by Margaret Daley

  “Vicky and I are going shopping tomorrow. She wants to help me pick out a gown.”

  “Isn’t that cutting it a little close?”

  “When she heard I was going with you and didn’t have a long gown, she insisted she go with me. She wants to live vicariously through me since she says she has to wear the same gown she’s had for years. I couldn’t say no, and she couldn’t go until tomorrow when all her duties involving the centennial celebration are finished as far as the planning goes.” Almost like a mother and daughter. The thought saddened Maggie because she’d never really had that with her adoptive mother.

  “You two are becoming good friends.”

  Maggie did her best not to tense in his embrace, but she didn’t quite disguise the effect of his last sentence.

  “What’s wrong?” He kissed her neck below her ear, then kneaded his hands along her shoulders.

  “I think everything is catching up with me.” Which was true because Kane’s observation was right. She liked Vicky. In another life she could have been the woman’s good friend. How could she now, though? Maybe she needed to take Kane up on his offer to move from the apartment building at least.

  Kane turned her to face him. “I know what you mean. It’s been a long week and an even longer weekend.”

  He lowered his mouth to hers and for a moment she forgot everything but being with a man she cared about. A man she’d tried not to become emotionally involved with, but she was—deeply. His pain was becoming hers. That revelation scared her. It was likely she needed to leave not just the apartment building but Seven Oaks, because although Kane was taking steps to change, she wasn’t sure he could totally forgive and forget what had happened to him. She also knew she couldn’t tell him about Vicky being her mother, and there was no way she would have a long-term relationship with him and keep that kind of secret from him.

  “I enjoyed tonight. I’d forgotten what it was like to go on a date.” He hooked his arm around her and walked her to Edwina’s place.

  Yes, dating. She shouldn’t have started that because now she would have a hard time backing away from him. And long-distance relationships didn’t work. She’d known several friends who had tried them, and they’d all ended with each person going in separate directions.

  “Thanks.” She stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick kiss. “I enjoyed tonight, too. See you tomorrow.” Maggie let herself into the apartment.

  Edwina hadn’t gone to the fireworks but insisted on watching them from the backyard. She must already be asleep.

  As Maggie made her way toward her bedroom, she noticed a note taped to her door. “A Mr. Alexander from Nashville called while you were out. He would like you to call him on Monday at 615-555-2376. It’s important he talk to you then.”

  Maggie snatched the note down and moved into the room. Sitting on the bed, she pulled out her cell, turned it on and saw a message from Mr. Alexander on it, too. He’d called both her cell and home, which she’d forwarded to Edwina’s while she stayed with her. Maybe she shouldn’t have turned off her cell phone, but she’d drawn the line at having it on during her date with Kane. She hadn’t wanted to be disturbed for even a minute.

  Now her curiosity would bug her the whole weekend. Who was Mr. Alexander? Why did he want to talk to her?

  Maybe she could still reach him. Maggie punched in his number.

  A woman’s voice, obviously a recording, came on and said, “You have reached the law firm of Alexander and Cussler. The offices are closed until eight on Monday morning.”

  Maggie hung up. Mr. Alexander was a lawyer. The same questions still nagged her, and she wasn’t going to get any answers until Monday morning.

  Chapter Ten

  “I’m going to suggest to your president you all have some kind of gala event once a month. It isn’t every day a gal gets to see a man in a monkey suit. You don’t look half bad, mister.” Maggie smiled.

  Kane arched an eyebrow at her as he took her arm to lead her into the ballroom at the luxury hotel in Seven Oaks. “You and Vicky didn’t do so bad yourself.”

  Maggie looked away, not wanting him to read the war waging inside her. When she’d forgotten who Vicky was, she’d really enjoyed shopping with her. She still had no answer concerning what to do about the dilemma developing in her over her birth mother and family.

  “This place is beautiful. I love art deco. When was the hotel built?” Maggie pushed thoughts of the reason she was in Seven Oaks into the background and surveyed the large room before her.

  “In 1928. Not long after it was completed, the man who built it went bankrupt. The Great Depression had caught up with him. A company in the early 1990s bought the hotel and restored it to its former glory.”

  Four massive chandeliers offered illumination, a golden glow radiating from them that enriched the surroundings. A colorful, geometric pattern spread across the arched ceiling. Snowy white linen tablecloths, arrangements of white roses, crystal and white and gold china lent an elegance to the festivities.

  “I feel like I stepped into a fairy tale.”

  Kane looked around. “This place does that to people.”

  “The university went all out for this celebration.”

  “I think Dr. Johnson upped the stakes after Henry was murdered. He wanted to counter the negative press we’ve received this past six weeks.”

  “If this doesn’t do it, nothing will.” Maggie walked beside Kane toward the front of the room near the band and dance floor.

  “I’ve arranged for us to sit at Dr. Johnson’s table.”

  “I’ll finally get to meet the man. I’ve heard some interesting things about him.”

  Kane leaned toward her. “Play nice. We don’t really know anything.”

  “I’ll try.” She grinned and winked at him.

  When she and Kane arrived, there were two places left at the table—next to the president. Kane pulled back the chair beside Phillip Johnson and seated her. The older gentleman sitting to her left shifted around to greet her.

  “Kane told me he would be bringing a date. Then I discovered you live right across the hall from my secretary. Vicky has spoken highly of you. I’m Dr. Phillip Johnson. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He held out his hand.

  Maggie fit hers within his, his touch damp. “I’m Maggie Ridgeway. You put on quite a party.”

  “We only turn one hundred once.”

  “True. The university’s association with Seven Oaks Hospital was one of the things that drew me to Seven Oaks to work. The school is well-respected, especially in the medical and science areas.”

  A tic in his thin face twitched. His gaze hardened for a few seconds before a wide grin spread across his face. “With all that’s happened, I hope our reputation hasn’t been damaged.”

  “I’m sure it will survive. Your staff is stellar. Just last week I read Dr. Payne’s latest article on biogenesis. Excellent. Too bad about what happened to him.”

  “You work at Seven Oaks Hospital?”

  “I’m a speech therapist and spend a lot of time there. But to tell you the truth, I have a great interest in science. I almost majored in biochemistry.”

  “That’s the scientific world’s loss.” Dr. Johnson looked beyond her to Kane. “We have a few important contributors here tonight. I hope you’ll spend some time appeasing their fears, Kane.”

  Tension radiated off the president the more she had talked about science. When she’d actually mentioned Dr. Payne, his jaw had clenched, and she’d noticed his hand next to her had balled.

  “I’ll talk to them. The police are closing in on who did it.” Kane took a sip of his ice water, sliding his gaze toward Maggie.

  Dr. Johnson’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t heard that.”

  “I can tell that David is getting excited about a couple of leads he’s gotten lately.”

  “What are the leads?”

  “He’s closed mouthed about them. But we’ve been friends since childhood, and I can read him well. It comes
in handy to know someone almost all your life. Do you keep in touch with a friend like that?” Kane asked.

  “I wish. All my close friends from childhood no longer live in Seven Oaks.”

  “Wasn’t Henry a friend of yours? I seem to remember Edwina saying something about that,” Maggie interjected into the conversation between Kane and Dr. Johnson.

  Although surprised by her question, the president managed to say smoothly as if he’d practiced the answer, “Yes, a dear friend I will miss greatly. If you two will excuse me, I see a couple I need to greet.” He rose and turned toward Kane. “Mingle. Remember those contributors.”

  After Dr. Johnson left, Kane drew closer to Maggie. “He certainly moved fast in his getaway.”

  “Are we going to have that effect on others tonight?”

  “Only if they have something to hide.”

  “Let’s mingle and see.”

  Kane scooted back his chair and stood, holding his hand out to Maggie. “Yes, ma’am. I’m at your service.”

  “Ah, I think I see Dr. Maples over there. I would know him anywhere from the photos I’ve seen of him. I didn’t get to meet him last night at the barbecue, but I want to this evening.”

  “And I see he’s with his wife. I heard a rumor floating around campus lately that he was engaged in a compromising relationship with a student. Should we rattle his cage?”

  “By all means.” Maggie watched the science professor speaking to his wife as they approached them. The woman bent close to her husband and her look, as she whispered something, was full of venom. “I would love to know what she just told Dr. Maples.”

  A few more steps and Maggie and Kane stopped in front of the pair.

  Kane put a smile on his face. “I haven’t had a chance to congratulate you on becoming the head for the science department. It’s long overdue.”

  Mrs. Maples moved back from her husband, arranging her features into a neutral expression while Dr. Maples said, “Thanks. I’ve worked hard for the privilege.”

  His wife snorted. “Sam, I need a drink. Nice to see you, Kane.” Then she hurried away before her husband could reply.

  A flush colored the science professor’s cheeks. “All that’s happened lately with Henry’s murder has really upset her.”

  “Yes, it’s affected the whole town.” Kane brought Maggie forward. “This is my date, Maggie Ridgeway. She’s a speech therapist at the hospital.”

  After the professor shook her hand, Maggie said, “I’ve heard your classes are very popular. The students I’ve talked to who work at the hospital love your courses, especially several of the nurses who had you.”

  His blush deepened. “I love to teach. That’s the only downside to being the department head. Some of the time I’ve spent teaching will be cut in the future.”

  “I’m sure the students will miss you. I told one of the nurses my interest in science, and she encouraged me to take one of your classes. She said something about how you take time out of your—er—busy schedule to help students who are having trouble with certain concepts, meeting with them after hours.”

  One of the professor’s eyebrows quirked. “Isn’t that what a teacher should do—impart their knowledge in a way a student will learn? Sometimes it takes a one-on-one session.”

  “We need more professors at the university level who’ll spend time making sure their students understand,” Maggie said in such an innocent voice she thought she should take up acting as a hobby.

  Dr. Maples peered at the bar set up in the corner. “I’d better check on my wife. It was nice meeting you, Miss Ridgeway. Kane, see you around.”

  Maggie observed Dr. Maples as he scurried like the rat he was toward his wife. She could remember quizzing that nurse, who had suggested taking a class, about Dr. Maples. The young woman, who had just graduated from college last year, clammed up quickly when Maggie had probed her about those one-on-one sessions.

  “Who should we scare off next?” Kane murmured close to her ear.

  His presence so close sent a bolt of awareness down her. Suddenly sleuthing wasn’t what she wanted to do. She wanted to be alone with him.

  “Any suggestions?” she asked, her question coming out a little breathless.

  “How about joining Thomas and Lisa Sellman? They’re talking with Bradley and Beth.”

  “Do you really suspect Thomas? We haven’t found any evidence in the apartment other than information on Dr. Johnson and Dr. Maples.”

  “That doesn’t mean there isn’t more out there. Henry might not have left it around his apartment. He had a knack for making people angry at him.”

  “You did say that Henry messed up Thomas’s chance for a scholarship that would have paid his last year of graduate school.”

  “And don’t forget Beth dated Henry for a while, and it didn’t end well.”

  “But that was several years ago. Why would she kill him now? I don’t see her overpowering a man so much bigger than her.”

  “True.” He planted his hand at the small of her back as he started forward. “But we really don’t know what we’re up against. We don’t know if Henry was blackmailing anyone or not.”

  “I like Beth. And Lisa is my hair stylist. I don’t want the murder to be connected to them.”

  “Neither do I. So, let’s prove it can’t be Thomas or Beth.”

  “That I like.” Maggie made a slight detour to grab her water from the table. Although the room was air-conditioned, she was hot. Grilling others was hard work.

  “It’s nice to see you all here tonight,” Maggie said to the two couples when she joined them.

  Lisa Sellman greeted Maggie with a smile. “I do Dr. Johnson’s wife’s hair. She gave me free tickets to this event, so I couldn’t pass up an evening with my husband. This is the first time I’ve been in the ballroom at the Seven Oaks Hotel. It’s everything I’ve been told by my clients.”

  “Who’s watching the twins?” Maggie settled in between Bradley and Kane.

  “Edwina. She’s such a dear. She insisted on it when she heard I got the tickets.”

  “That sounds like her. She’s also watching Kenny and Ashley.” Maggie took a sip of her water, welcoming the coolness sliding down her throat.

  “I know Edwina from church. She’s wonderful with the kids. She substitutes for any Sunday school teacher who is absent. Tyler talks about her all the time and enjoys it when she teaches his class,” Beth said, looking stunning in a modest black gown that flared at her waist.

  “You don’t have long until graduation,” Kane said to Thomas. “Have you decided what you’re going to do next?”

  The young man beamed. “Dr. Maples is helping me get a grant to work on my doctorate at Seven Oaks. I’ll be working under his tutelage.”

  “That would never have happened with Dr. Payne,” Lisa said, frowning. “I know I should feel sorry he was killed, but he didn’t do my family any favors. Our life is much easier with the man gone.”

  Thomas shot his wife a look that shouted for her to be quiet.

  Lisa ignored him and continued, “Whoever murdered Dr. Payne did the world a favor.”

  “Lisa,” Thomas finally said, exasperated. “Don’t you have to call and check on the twins? Didn’t you tell Edwina you would and let her know when we’d be home?”

  She sent him an annoyed glare. “I’m only saying what everyone is thinking. I have nothing to hide. Kane, you have to agree our apartment building is much nicer with the man gone. This past year or so the tension was so thick you could slice it with a knife.” Lisa sipped her light-brown-colored drink. “In fact, ever since he moved in, people went out of their way to avoid him. The only one who would even speak to him was Edwina, and she never gives up on anyone. I wish I could be like her, but I can’t.”

  Maggie didn’t know about how it was before she’d moved in, but the anxiety level for her was high since she’d come to live at Twin Oaks Apartments.

  Thomas grasped his wife’s hand, taking her glass and set
ting it on a tray of a waiter passing by. “Excuse us.”

  After the young man escorted his wife toward the lobby, Bradley blew out a breath. “She certainly unloaded.”

  “Can you blame her?” Beth asked, watching Lisa and Thomas disappear in the crowd.

  “I know the professors in the science department are breathing easier.” Bradley shifted closer to Beth, slipping her hand within his. “I interact with all the departments, and I can tell you the impact of Henry’s arrival at Seven Oaks University was strongly felt.”

  Beth frowned. “If you all don’t mind, let’s not talk about Henry Payne.”

  “I can certainly understand after what he did to you.” Maggie hated baiting Beth, but she needed to know if the woman was capable of murder.

  “You mean his public humiliation of me. I wouldn’t want that to happen to me again, but I have moved on. If the Lord forgives us our sins, I can forgive Henry for what he did in the middle of the student union.”

  Maggie shot Kane a glance. She hadn’t heard of this, but she wouldn’t ask Beth about it. She would talk to Kane, though, later.

  “Vicky and John just arrived. I was getting worried about them. They were supposed to be right behind us.” Kane waved to the couple to join them.

  As Vicky and her husband weaved their way toward them, pausing a few times to speak to some guests, Maggie assessed Beth. She was right about forgiveness, but Maggie wasn’t sure she could forgive her birth mother. She was trying, but unless she came out and asked her why she’d given her up, she didn’t think it was truly possible.

  “What happened to you two?” Kane asked, pulling Maggie’s thoughts to the present.

  “The snake got loose in the apartment, so we went on a hunt to find it because I refuse to come home and find it somewhere unexpected later.” Vicky grimaced.

  The conversation quickly revolved around children and what they could do to change plans at the last moment. Even Kane had a few stories to tell about babysitting Ashley and Kenny. The sense of being on the outside looking in swamped Maggie as it so often had while growing up.

  Fifteen minutes later, Dr. Johnson announced that dinner was being served. Throughout the meal, Kane did his best to court the contributors at the table. Maggie thought as she watched Dr. Johnson and Kane conversing it was as if she were observing a wrestling match where the participants tag teamed.