Blind Trust

by Sandra Orchard

  “. . . Okay?” Tom said.

  Kate shook the thoughts from her head. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  “I’ll drive you.”

  “As nice as that sounds, you can’t spend your day chauffeuring me around if you want to find the guy who’s been following me.”

  He arched an eyebrow, a glint of amusement twinkling in his eye. “Where else would I find him?”

  “He’s not going to follow me if you’re with me.”

  “I can either drive you or tail you,” Tom said, his tone unyielding.

  Any other day his my-way-or-the-highway attitude would’ve irked her. But after the morning she’d had, being chauffeured by an armed bodyguard—a ruggedly handsome one at that—sounded pretty good. Really good, if she was honest with herself. “Okay, you can drive. Thank you,” she added softly. “Let me take care of Whiskers first. Then we can go.”

  Twenty minutes later Tom parked in front of A Cup or Two. “Wait,” he ordered as she reached for the car’s door handle. He rounded the car and glanced up and down the street before opening her door.

  “What do you think he’s going to do, shoot me?” she joked, but the twitch in Tom’s cheek and serious look in his eyes wiped the smile from her face. She’d convinced herself that if the guy had wanted to hurt her, he would have done so already. But Tom obviously didn’t think the guy following her was just a PI.

  “Let’s get inside,” he said firmly.

  Julie turned from the counter with a steaming mug in hand. “Perfect timing. I got us a table in the corner.” Her gaze lifted above Kate’s head. She smiled. “I’ll grab another chair.”

  Kate quickly filled a cup with a selection of herbs, chose a muffin, and stood in line for the harried new waitress behind the counter.

  “You go ahead and sit down.” Tom took her cup and muffin. “I’ll take care of these.”

  She slid into the chair opposite Julie.

  “So Tom’s taking care of your order . . .” Her friend’s eyes twinkled as she lifted her tea. “I noticed his car in your driveway last night too. I guess you two are getting serious, huh?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Kate deadpanned. “He asked me to move in with him.”

  Julie spluttered tea halfway across the table. “What?”

  Kate sopped up the dribbles with a napkin, straining to hold back a grin.

  “You’re not serious?”

  “Perfectly.”

  “C’mon, you’re pulling my leg.” Julie grabbed Kate’s left hand and examined her empty ring finger. With a humph, she added, “You wouldn’t.”

  “No, I wouldn’t.” If her best friend reacted this way, she could imagine the rumors that would have been flying by the end of tomorrow’s church service. The pastor would have declared a shotgun wedding. A chuckle burbled past her lips at the image of Tom saying “I do” with the pastor holding a rifle pointed at his chest. “He wants me to stay with his dad until he can figure out who’s following me.”

  “Someone’s following you?” Julie’s voice rose so high that heads turned.

  “Shh, will you?” Kate leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I don’t want the whole town to know. It’s probably nothing.” She flinched, wishing she really believed that. “Some guy in a silver Ford Escort has been watching me.”

  “Who is he? Why’s he following you?”

  “I don’t know.” Kate fiddled with her napkin. “We think he followed me onto Verna’s farm property this morning.” Tom seemed so certain this guy was connected to Peter Ratcher and GPC, but she wasn’t convinced. “The time before”—she gasped at the sudden realization—“was connected to Verna too. I was visiting her at the nursing home.”

  “Maybe her son hired someone to spy on you. Didn’t you say he was pretty ticked after you told him Verna wanted to donate her farm property to the town?”

  “Yeah, I just had the same thought.” Good thing she didn’t threaten to report him to the OPGT to his face. Kate decided not to mention that Verna’s grandson and Pedro had threatened her too, or Julie would be insisting she sleep on her couch. “I feel so sorry for Verna. There’s got to be something I can do to stop her son from selling her properties out from under her.”

  “Are you sure you’re not just latching on to another cause to avoid dealing with your feelings?”

  Kate let out an exaggerated humph. “Tom’s practically glued himself to my side. You can hardly accuse me of avoiding him.”

  One side of Julie’s mouth turned up, her gaze lifting.

  An uncomfortable feeling plunged to the pit of Kate’s stomach. “He’s behind me, isn’t he?”

  His amused voice tickled her ear. “Glued to your side.” He set her tea and muffin in front of her, then settled into the chair Julie had dragged over, moving it even closer.

  “I wasn’t complaining,” Kate clarified.

  He stopped his mug midair, a smile that loosed butterflies in her stomach curving his lips. “Glad to hear it.”

  The rumble of his words stirred the butterflies into a frenzy.

  Julie cleared her throat. “I have an idea.”

  Kate blinked. “Huh?”

  “To keep Verna’s son from selling her land. You’re a botanist. If you found some rare plant on the land, you could submit a protection request, like they did for the nesting bobolinks.”

  “I did find something!” Kate grabbed her cell phone and showed them the photos she’d snapped of the strange plant. “I have no idea what it is. I meant to ask Grandma Brewster if she knew.”

  “I’m sure you’ll figure it out, and if it turns out to be rare”—Julie smacked her hand on the table like a judge’s gavel— “you’ll have your case.”

  Tom didn’t look nearly as enthusiastic about the idea.

  “What’s wrong?”

  He pursed his lips.

  “What?” Kate repeated, growing more unnerved by his reaction by the second.

  “The last thing you should do right now is draw more attention to yourself by getting in anyone else’s bad books.”

  “I don’t care what Brian thinks of me. His mother’s wishes should come first.”

  “Did you care when those boys showed up with guns?”

  Julie’s eyes bulged. “Someone threatened you with guns?”

  “No. Tom’s exaggerating. I ran into a couple of teens in the woods playing with air rifles. They weren’t doing anything illegal.”

  Tom caught her wrist. “Doesn’t mean they’re innocent.”

  “Kind of new to sell for scrap, isn’t it?” The dealer popped the Escort’s hood and studied the engine. “Your insurance company write it off?”

  “Yeah, you know how it goes. Costs more to repair than the car’s book value,” Michael Beck hedged. Truth was, he’d pulled the plates and deliberately backed the car into a tree a mile back, hoping the ruse would buy him more time. Sure, he could’ve gotten a lot more than two hundred bucks if he’d traded it in on another car rather than wrecking it. But he couldn’t risk buying a new car under the same alias. The police would be onto him the instant the car’s new registration hit the system.

  The dealer headed inside to punch a few numbers to decide on a value, or so he claimed. More likely making sure the car wasn’t stolen.

  Michael glanced at his watch. He couldn’t risk going back to the apartment. If the detective got his license plate number, he’d have someone watching the place by now.

  The dealer came back with an offer of two hundred dollars. Michael dickered him up to two-fifty, then hitched a ride to Niagara Falls and stopped at the credit union where he’d purchased a safety deposit box under another alias. He retrieved the new driver’s license and cash, then closed the metal box with a clank.

  Time to change strategies.

  12

  Kate did her best to ignore Tom’s brooding as they waited outside Verna’s locked ward. “I’m not going to stay away from Verna just because my visiting might rile her son.”

  “I know
. But be careful what you say. A mother is not going to believe a neighbor over a devoted son. Not easily.”

  “I thought you’d welcome the opportunity to question Verna, considering this guy showed up at her property today.”

  Tom clasped her hand, the warmth of his touch immediately arresting her growing frustration. “Trust me, your safety is my top priority. I don’t intend to overlook any angle.” The sincerity in his eyes dispelled any doubts. His cell phone beeped. “Excuse me.” His thumbs flew over the miniature keyboard.

  “Hutchinson find him?” Kate asked, assuming the message was from the officer Tom had sent to stake out Beck’s apartment.

  “Not yet.” The anxiety in Tom’s tone left her nerves more frayed than his concerns about Brian Nagy.

  Kate took a deep breath, inhaling the soothing aroma of the lemon balm tea she’d brought for Verna from A Cup or Two.

  The same smiling nurse who’d greeted her Thursday opened the door. “I see you brought your own cup of tea today.” She acknowledged the still-texting Tom with a nod.

  “It’s for Verna, actually.” Kate handed the nurse a package of tea leaves. “This is for her too.”

  The nurse peeked into the bag. “I’ll put it with her other one.”

  “So Lucetta did bring in Verna’s tea from home? I forgot to double check.”

  “Her grandson actually.” The nurse turned down a different corridor than yesterday. “Verna’s still in her room. She was very agitated this morning.”

  Kate turned to Tom. “I so hoped Verna would be able to return home.”

  Tom brushed his thumb over the back of her hand. “I know.”

  Her heart fluttered at his support, so steady and sweet.

  Verna sat in a padded chair, back to the door, face turned to the window. The nurse went in ahead of them and rubbed her palm across Verna’s stooped shoulders. “You have company.”

  Kate sniffed the air. “Did she have lunch in here?”

  “No, that’s her tea. We thought it might calm her.”

  “They’re all gone,” Verna wailed.

  Kate hurried to her side. “What’s all gone?”

  Verna’s eyes seemed to look right through Kate. “The cats. They’re all gone.”

  Kate gently rubbed the dear woman’s arm. Sadly for Verna, it must seem that way. Kate turned to ask the nurse if she might bring in Verna’s cat for a visit, but she’d already slipped away.

  “I’m taking good care of Whiskers for you, Verna,” Kate reassured her. She ducked her head at Tom’s empathetic expression. He pushed a chair beside Verna as Kate offered the cup of tea they’d brought.

  Verna waved away the cup and sprang to her feet. “They’re all gone,” she wailed.

  “Maybe Brian mentioned his plan to sell her property,” Tom whispered close to Kate’s ear.

  She cringed. The news would have crushed Verna. Kate helped Verna back to her chair. “It’s okay. Tell us what you’re missing and we’ll find it.”

  Verna shook her head. “Too late.”

  Kate slanted a helpless glance in Tom’s direction, but he’d slipped out of the room too. She patted Verna’s hand. “I’ll be right back.” Tom returned as she reached the door. “What’s going on?”

  “Brian hasn’t been here since the day before yesterday, so unless her grandson told her about the house going up for sale, it’s more likely her meds that set her off. But since we’re not family, the nurse can’t tell us what she’s on.”

  Verna spun toward them. “What are you whispering about? Did you take them?”

  Kate’s heart wrenched for the poor confused woman. She sat beside her and reassured her that they hadn’t taken anything. Any hope of asking about Verna’s house and property had disappeared the moment Kate saw how unsettled she was. As Verna chattered on about nothing in particular, Kate mentally reviewed the herbs in Verna’s tea that might have reacted with her meds.

  A few minutes later, Brian Nagy appeared at the door.

  Kate stiffened, expecting a reprimand for being with his mother.

  Instead Brian offered her and Tom a congenial smile. More than congenial.

  “Nice of you to stop by and see my mother,” he said as if there’d not been a cross word between them—which made her even more wary. Apparently Brian’s son hadn’t told him about her visit to the property yet.

  He pressed a kiss to his mother’s wrinkled cheek.

  Verna’s eyes momentarily sparkled as she patted his face. “My dear boy.”

  “Brian,” Kate ventured. “Did the nurse tell you about your mom’s sudden change in behavior?”

  “Yes, I came as soon as I got the nurse’s message.”

  Moving out of Brian’s way so he could sit next to his mother, Kate asked, “Did they say what they think caused the change?”

  “The doctor here put her on Haldol.”

  “An antipsychotic?” With the symptoms Verna had exhibited, Kate wasn’t surprised, just disappointed.

  “The nurse says Mom may not have taken her last dose at the right time, or if she hasn’t had enough fluids, or had too many, that can affect absorption. She put a call in to the doctor.”

  “Good to hear.” Kate and Tom slipped out of the room to let mother and son have their privacy. “That was weird. I expected him to be annoyed to see me there. But his smile verged on exultant, don’t you think?”

  Tom hurried her down the hall, keeping his voice low. “Maybe he figured his mother’s lapse vindicated his decision to sell the house.”

  “It certainly prevents me from lobbying her for help to protect the land.”

  From the front door of the nursing home, Tom scanned the parking lot, then quickly shepherded her to the car. “I don’t suppose that’ll change your mind about trying to block the sale.”

  “No.” She tempered the answer he didn’t want to hear with a sweet smile. “But you can take me home now.”

  “So you can figure out what the plant you found is?” he asked wryly.

  “Yup.” She might not be able to prove Brian was the counterfeiter, but with a bit of luck she might be able to stop him from commandeering his mother’s estate against her wishes.

  Tom’s cell phone rang again as they climbed into the car. “That’s Dad,” he said at the distinctive ring. “Hopefully he’s got something we can use on our Escort driver.” He flicked the phone to speaker. “What’d you find?”

  “It’s all bogus. I could only trace him back a couple of months. Before that he didn’t exist.”

  Tom’s gaze shot to hers, skyrocketing her own alarm. “What do you mean he didn’t exist?”

  “The identity’s fake. He laid down enough of a trail so a cursory check wouldn’t raise suspicions. But his credit card, his utility and phone bills, even his driver’s license, none of them date back more than two months.”

  Kate’s throat closed in. “Since Molly’s arrest.”

  Against his better judgment, Tom walked Kate to her door. The woman was too stubborn for her own good. He’d spent the entire drive from the nursing home emphasizing how dangerous this guy could be. “Assassins—not PIs—use fake IDs.”

  She fitted her key into the lock. “Don’t you think you might be blowing this way out of proportion? Like Beth’s dahlias.”

  He cringed at her reference to the time he’d raced from her hospital room with a potted dahlia, certain it contained explosives. “Paranoia saves lives.”

  “If what your theories are doing to my blood pressure doesn’t kill me first.”

  He stayed her hand on the doorknob. “Then change your mind. Stay at my dad’s, where we can protect you.” He’d reissued the BOLO on the silver Escort more than three hours ago—this time with a license plate number—but they still had nothing. If the guy went underground . . .

  “I can hear Mrs. C now. Scandalous!”

  If the situation hadn’t been so serious, Tom would have laughed at Kate’s perfect imitation of the old gal. But the tremor in Kate’s chin be
trayed her own unease. “Mrs. C knows my dad would never allow anything remotely scandalous under his roof. Your reputation will be perfectly safe.”

  She nibbled at her bottom lip. “What about Verna’s cat? I promised I’d take care of him.”

  The fact that this independent, strong-willed woman was grasping at so flimsy an excuse should have worried him, but he was too relieved. “Whiskers can come too.”

  Kate tilted her head and peered into his eyes in that way she had of covering up her uncertainty and tugging at his heart. “How do I know this isn’t a sly attempt to assure yourself a dinner date every night?”

  “Trust me.” He skimmed his palm across her back, appreciating her slender figure. “That’s purely a fringe benefit.”

  Her cheeks turned a gorgeous shade of pink. “See, that’s why I can’t.”

  He frowned, thrown by how quickly their banter had veered off course. “You can’t because I enjoy spending time with you?”

  She twisted the key in her hands. “People would talk.”

  The vulnerability in her voice nearly unraveled him. But after the glimpse she’d given him of how much gossip had hurt her as a child, he sensed there’d be no reasoning her fear away. If he wanted to keep her safe, they had to find this guy. Today.

  Tom slipped his hands beneath her hair and cradled her neck. “It’s okay. I understand.” The gesture was meant to be supportive and understanding, but he wasn’t prepared for the warmth that radiated through him when her eyes tangled with his. Shimmering gold and auburn flecks in those bottomless green depths drew him closer. Invited him to linger.

  Her gaze dropped to his lips and his pulse quickened.

  Dipping his head, he leaned closer, focusing on her heart-shaped lips lifting into the sweetest of smiles and anticipating their even sweeter taste.

  “Take it inside,” shouted a crusty old man walking past with his dog.

  Tom jerked back.

  The blush in Kate’s cheeks deepened.

  “Okay, I see your point,” he said about her concern people would talk and chuckled to mask his irritation with his lapse in attention. He needed to be focused on finding the guy who was following her. Giving rein to his feelings would only cloud his judgment. Something he couldn’t afford. His partner’s death had taught him that lesson too well.