That Incredible Kiss

by Tamara Ferguson

  “Where would he get money to put into your account, since he’s obviously spending everything he’s taking from the company?”

  Karen’s eyes went wide, tapping her keyboard to wake up the computer on her desk. “He wouldn’t, would he?”

  “What?” Lisa asked.

  “Pull money from the long-term employees’ retirement fund. Doing something like that would not only screw up the distribution of funds, but because of the fees associated with early withdrawal, the dollar amount of individual payouts might be drastically reduced.”

  “I don’t know anyone here who doesn’t pay into that plan,” Lisa admitted, groaning.

  Karen began glancing first at the inventory files, and then studied the payroll. Although several employees had been laid off during the past few weeks, deactivation had yet to occur, and Jr. had never said a word to her about gathering the appropriate paperwork.

  Which had seemed really odd. Karen could only assume that someone was coming in to replace her quickly, and not Mathew Jr.’s wife Bunnie.

  Matthew Jr. didn’t have access to the retirement fund, but so far that had been accidental. Karen had set up the latest plan a few years ago before Matthew Sr. had handed the company over to Mathew Jr.

  Karen frowned, checking out the retirement account. She still had access, but someone else had definitely been visiting the account page several times during the last few months.

  “What is it?” Lisa asked.

  “I can’t thank you enough for warning me Lisa. Someone’s been here checking out the balance, which is something Jr. can do since he’s in charge of the company. I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t nonchalantly ask me for the password. Or maybe he’ll just ask his Dad, using the excuse that since I’m no longer working for the company, he needs to be an administrator.”

  When Matthew Sr. visited the business once a week, he didn’t check in with Karen at bookkeeping, glance at inventory or even talk with employees as he had in the past. He sat in his old office with his son, who, according to Lisa, would show his father the contracts and give him the weekly printouts of reports on sales and expenditures.

  Was Matthew Jr. planning on using Karen as his scapegoat? Luckily, she could take some steps to prevent it.

  “What can I do?” Lisa asked, standing up.

  Karen was numb, thinking about the years both she and her father had dedicated to this company. “I hate to get you involved if he’s really intending to discredit me.”

  Lisa put her hands on her hips. “Stop it, Kare. We’re friends.”

  “We are, aren’t we?” Karen blinked back sudden tears. “Okay, then. Tell me—who prepares those reports that Jr. shows Sr. at their weekly meetings?”

  “There’s a one week waylay, and Jr. has me forward all the account information by email to his home a day or two ahead of time. He likes to go over everything, so he doesn’t waste too much of his dad’s time.” Lisa rolled her eyes. “Or, so he says.”

  Karen became thoughtful. “So you don’t know for sure if Jr. is showing his father the actual company accounting numbers?”

  Lisa blinked. “No, now that you mention it, I don’t.”

  “That would explain it,” Karen muttered, almost to herself. “So what happens to the actual reports Jr. shows Sr.? He uses paper files. Right?”

  “Sr. always has a briefcase—I’ll bet he walks out with them.”

  Karen scowled. “I wish I could get a look at one of those reports—but right now? The best thing you can do is go back to work and pretend everything’s fine. But there’s one thing you can do for me?”

  “Name it,” Lisa answered, her hand on the doorknob.

  “Gather all those emails together in a folder. I’ll let you know where to send them. I’m thinking that even though Matthew Sr. isn’t computer savvy, it would be good for him to have them as backup in case trouble is brewing.”

  “Alright. Keep in touch with me, Kare?” Lisa bit her lip.

  “I will, Lisa. I’m just hoping that everything I’m thinking Jr.’s up to is a result of me being overly paranoid.”

  Lisa opened the door. “I hope so too. But I have a feeling you’re right. Give me a call later.”

  She glanced at Lisa, “Bye. We’ll talk. Try not to worry.”

  “Yeah, right,” Lisa growled as she slipped through the doorway, closing Karen’s office door behind her.

  Another thought suddenly occurred to Karen. She’d never met the two new employees Jr. had hired last month. What if…?

  Karen scrolled through the list of employees on the computer, examining the records carefully.

  She needed to take as many steps as possible to make sure she remained safe from any trouble Jr. might have in store for her, or any other employees in the company, come to think of it. He had been behaving much more strangely lately.

  Pulling out a new USB device, she copied the final figures and calculations from the past six and a half months along with the inventory and employee records. Pulling a small manila envelope from the drawer, she slipped the device inside.

  But then another thought occurred to her—did she still have Matthew Sr.’s email address?

  She sighed with relief, after sending out a test email to Sr.’s account. Even if he never used it, it was still active. That would be her final safety net. After grouping together the same files she’d loaded on her USB device, she emailed them all to Matthew Lancaster Sr.

  Karen’s final task would be to clean out her personal files and information, which would only take a few minutes. She plugged in her storage device and sifted through years of information, saving all the company pictures she’d taken along with most everything else, because all of a sudden, she just wanted to get out of here—she was feeling just that sad.

  She deleted everything personal once she was finished and shut down the computer.

  Standing, she began packing personal office supplies she’d stashed in the drawers into a storage box, and pulling down the bulletin board from the wall behind her desk, she took a minute to glance at the pictures. Photography was a hobby for her, so she’d taken several employee pictures at company gatherings during the summer as well as at Christmas.

  Karen paused, noticing the photo she’d snapped three years ago of the youngest Lancaster son. Where was Brian Lancaster while this was happening, she suddenly wondered. They’d gone to high school together, and she’d had such a crush on him.

  But all he had to do was snap his fingers, and he pretty much got any girl he’d wanted. Of course he’d been totally unaware of her back then.

  Or so she’d thought. Brian had been strangely kind to her when she’d least expected it. She’d made some good friends in high school but occasionally ran into trouble when she got a little overly enthusiastic about her Native American Heritage. That semester she’d written a paper about the history of racism amongst the Native American tribes, and her paper had won a prize, which had involved her reading it out loud at school.

  Subject matter like that never failed to rile up certain people. And Brian had come along and stopped a couple cruel boys who were being insulting while harassing her.

  Karen knew that he hadn’t been close to his dad, but it was weird how she hadn’t seen Brian around for over a couple years.

  She shook her head dazedly, returning her thoughts to what she was doing now.

  Yes, she’d make more of an effort to inform Matthew Lancaster, Sr. about what was happening here at Lancaster Construction. He’d never struck her as the kind of man who would let his son run the company out of business. Of course, it would depend on whether Matthew Lancaster, Sr. would be willing to see her or not.

  Sighing heavily, Karen took one final glance around the office as she stood near the door, her measly box of possessions in her hands.

  And Karen was ready to cry as she walked through the doorway into the hallway, closing the door behind her.

  * * *

  Unlocking the apartment door, Karen squa
red off her shoulders before walking through the doorway, attempting to dispel her concern before talking with Ben. He didn’t need to know there was the possibility of additional trouble from Matthew Lancaster, Jr.

  Karen made her way into the kitchen, where she could hear Ben talking on his phone.

  When fifteen-year-old Ben looked up from where he was sitting at the kitchen island, Karen knew he immediately sensed something was wrong.

  “I’ll talk to you later, Fin,” he said, disconnecting his phone.

  “I can’t believe it,” Karen said, dropping onto a stool near the kitchen island. “I’ve been laid off.”

  Ben stared at her, obviously shocked. “Oh, no. I can’t believe Matthew Lancaster would go back on his word. What about your health insurance? Did you explain the situation?”

  Karen sighed heavily. “I did—to Matt Jr. Unfortunately, he could care less. I’ve tried to talk to his dad about what’s been happening, but when it comes to his sons, at least the two oldest, he seems to turn a blind eye. Since his wife passed away, it’s like he can’t be bothered. We can keep our health insurance for a while, but the problem is, I’ll have to begin paying into it after a month. Unless I can find another job quickly, I haven’t a clue what we’re going to do.”

  Ben asked, “Maybe you could get a job with one of their competitors?” He hesitated. “I could get a job?”

  Karen frowned. “No, Ben. Your blood sugar levels have been the best they’ve ever been, but that’s only because you stick to a strict schedule. We can’t mess it up. You’ve worked too hard.”

  “We’ve worked too hard…” Ben sighed. “If you hadn’t pounded some sense into me, I wouldn’t be here.”

  Like any typical teenager, Ben had thought he’d known it all. Deciding that taking insulin was responsible for his trouble with low blood sugar, he’d simply quit giving himself shots.

  It had been three years since Ben had been diagnosed, so it was the last thing Karen had expected.

  Ben had been confused and disoriented, and if he hadn’t come home after school right away that day…Ben was probably right—he wouldn’t be around today. At first, Karen had thought he was having a hypoglycemic episode because he was overdoing it again with exercise. He played baseball and had to monitor himself carefully.

  But luckily, Karen had checked Ben’s blood sugar, discovering it was off the charts in the opposite direction. The ambulance had arrived quickly, but they said if she hadn’t known to give him a shot of regular insulin immediately, who knows if Ben would have made it.

  “I took Matthew Lancaster at his word after Dad died. Little did I know, I needed to get something in writing.” Karen closed her eyes, taking in a deep unsteady breath. “I shouldn’t have gone to college these last few years. I should have put the money away, so we could have had something to fall back on.”

  “Don’t talk like that Kateri,” Ben said. “Going to school is only going to help you find an even better job once you get your degree. We’ll figure it out.”

  Ben clearly knew the situation was grim since he was using her given name.

  When Dad had fallen in love and married Karen’s mom, who’d been the daughter of the owner of the lumber mill he’d been working at in Michigan, her grandmother had welcomed Karen’s mother into the family. Proud of her Chippewa heritage, Karen and Ben’s grandmother had requested that her father and mother honor a family tradition by naming their children with native American names.

  Unfortunately, Karen’s maternal grandparents hadn’t approved of her mother’s marriage to Samoset Andres, Karen and Ben’s father.

  During their years of relocation when Dad had been moving from job to job, Ben had been shortened from Bidaban, meaning he was an excellent human, and Kateri, representing pure of spirit and heart, had been substituted by the name Karen, since it was easier to pronounce and less likely to draw antagonism from mean-spirited kids. It had been hard enough trying to fit in anyway, since Karen didn’t try to hide the fact she had native American roots.

  Dad had finally made the town of Madison, Wisconsin their home, where he’d become good friends with his employer, Matthew Lancaster. Karen had been thirteen at the time, while Ben had been seven.

  But Mom had diabetes, and only a few years later after Dad had become a crew boss at Lancaster Construction, she’d passed away from complications.

  Dad had never been the same after that, and Karen was pretty sure he felt responsible for Mom’s death. Maybe if he would have had stable employment and a good family health insurance plan sooner, her issues might have been diagnosed in time. Dad spent more and more time at work, so Karen had been left to take care of Ben, who was five years younger than her.

  But there wasn’t nearly as much research being done about diabetes back then as there was now, and the doctor had even talked about putting Ben on an insulin pump if he managed to keep maintaining the great blood sugar levels he’d been having these past six months. If he was taking better care of himself, he was responsible enough to handle the settings of a pump.

  But now what would happen?

  If only Dad hadn’t been struck by a sudden heart attack.

  Karen grimaced, leaning back in her seat. Why dwell on things that couldn’t be changed? “Well, one thing will help. I hadn’t enrolled for the fall semester, so we have a little money for insurance in the savings right now.”

  Ben frowned, his eyes traveling through the apartment. “How about rent?”

  Karen closed her eyes, sighing deeply. “That, I’ll need to work on.”

  That Unforgettable Kiss

  Romance Reviews Readers’ Choice Award Winner

  IAN Book of the Year Mystery Finalist

  An Excerpt

  Get It At Amazon

  Prologue

  One fateful night, not so long ago...

  The moon hung bright and full on the night of Christina Montgomery’s celebration of life at the beach on Dragonfly Pointe. Nearly every resident from the town of Crystal Rock had stopped by and visited with Christina, to wish her well, before her sleepover under the stars.

  Why, here?

  There’d always been something rather otherworldly about this ground. And with her recent grim prognosis, Christina could identify, since she wasn’t fated to be of this world for too much longer. There was something magical – almost mystical – about Dragonfly Pointe. And ever since she’d been a child, Christina had been unusually drawn to this beach.

  Here was where she’d decided to say her goodbyes to her closest friends.

  Echoes of laughter could be heard in the distance where most of the other teenagers had gathered around the blazing bonfire erected alongside the beach. Sucking in an invigorating breath of the crisp night air, Christina sighed, staring up at the sky. The dazzling night sky flashed stars so bright and clear, it almost appeared, that if she reached right up, she might be able to touch them.

  Keeping an arm wrapped firmly over Christina’s shoulders, Kate Callahan guided her cautiously over the graveled pathway leading away from the beach. “Are we almost there?”

  “Just a little further,” Christina answered, reassuring her friend.

  Finally, they stopped, only a few short steps from the edge of the beach.

  “This is where you wanted to go?” The formation of rocks soaring up over the lake was a popular landmark for tourists. The view from atop Crystal Rock was spectacular. Kate hesitated, staring up to the widened ledge at the base of the cliffs. “But isn’t this where—?”

  “Anna Ivers was discovered?” Twenty years before, a six-year old girl had been found brutally murdered here at Dragonfly Pointe. Doubting the wisdom of hosting a fundraiser for cancer research here at this beach, Christina’s mother had attempted to discourage her when they’d begun making their plans. Although countless rumors had circulated through the years about Dragonfly Pointe being haunted – especially since Anna’s murder, unfortunately, remained unsolved – Diane Montgomery just couldn’t say no t
o her daughter. With a wan smile, Christina nodded. “I’ve always felt her here, you know.”

  Few people knew of Christina’s remarkable gift. Kate was only one of a handful of friends who didn’t roll her eyes when Christina claimed she could envision the past as well as foresee the future. But Christina’s prophecies had an undeniably strange predilection for coming true.

  “Really? How, so?” Tugging the pillow from Christina’s arms, Kate tossed it up, along with her blanket, to the ledge. Scrambling over the smooth slippery surface of the rocks, Kate spread the blanket over the dusty ground in the alcove above. Plumping up the pillow, she propped it against the far most wall. After that, she reached down from the ledge to close her hand over Christina’s, holding her steady while tugging her up into the shallow cave.

  A few moments later, when Christina was comfortably situated, she sighed wearily as she reclined against the pillow. Carefully choosing her words, she finally answered Kate’s question. “Anna’s...unsettled. Her parents were divorced only a couple of years after she was murdered, you know.”

  Kate nodded before reaching over and deftly adjusting the pretty pink stocking cap covering Christina’s head.

  Distractedly, Christina frowned. She’d lost so much weight over the last few years. Her chemotherapy had been discontinued only a few months ago, after discovering it wasn’t halting the progression of the cancer. And she felt herself becoming weaker every day.

  Settling back against the wall, Kate crossed one leg over the other. “Is there some particular reason you wanted to talk to me in here, Chris?”

  “It was just too crowded down at the beach, Kate. And I really needed to speak with you alone.” It took a moment for Christina to concentrate – the pain medication was making her feel spacier than usual tonight. Resignedly, she realized her mom must have upped her dosage. It definitely explained why everything she saw had taken on a hazy, dreamlike quality. “This place has always been special to me.”