Mirror, Mirror

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  Abby nodded. “Actually, that could be exactly what’s happening to you.”

  “Insanity doesn’t run in my family,” Dana said.

  “Let’s do the tests before we even start thinking diagnosis. For now, I’d like to suggest you try to cut back on the extra hours at the office. You need to do whatever possible to lessen your stress level.”

  Dana reached inside her purse, pulled out a notepad and began writing.

  “Dana.” Abby leaned forward and placed her hand on top of Dana’s. “What I’m saying is not written in stone. Don’t feel you need to take notes. I’m only going to make a few suggestions that I hope will help you relax.”

  “I’m a type-A personality,” Dana confessed.

  Abby grinned. “I gathered that. Let’s hope I can help you find a way to cut back.”

  She began outlining ideas for Dana, while Dana replayed them in her mind with the intention of heading for the nearest ladies’ room…and writing them down.

  By the time she left Abby’s office, she was feeling a combination of relief and trepidation. She glanced at her watch and realized her office would be closed by now. Her first thought was that she could return and easily get some work done. “The doctor tells you to cut back and you can’t even leave the building before you’re doing the exact opposite,” she muttered, climbing into her car. “You need to lighten up, Dana.”

  As she pulled out into the early evening traffic, she racked her brain for something, anything, to help herself do something out of the ordinary. When an idea came to mind, she didn’t see it as a perfect one, but at least it would be a beginning.

  What was going on here?

  Mac stretched his legs in an effort to ease out a few kinks. He’d gone for a five-mile run that morning, something he hadn’t done in a while, and he was paying for it tonight.

  He knew Dana had gone to see Abby the day before. He would have liked to find out about that visit, but past experience told him that Abby, damn her, would only spout patient confidentiality. He’d have to wait and see if Dana would tell him anything when he met with her at the end of the week.

  When he’d parked on his usual side street tonight, he hadn’t expected later to see the light by Dana’s front door come on, not long before a sleek Mercedes rolled into the driveway. Judging by the guy’s demeanor when he climbed out, Mac guessed he wasn’t there to sell insurance. His hunch was verified when Dana opened the door at the stranger’s knock. If Mac wasn’t mistaken, she looked like a lady dressed for a date.

  He didn’t waste any time picking up his binoculars to get a better look. With the front light on, he could easily see the scene before him.

  She didn’t look like the Dana he’d seen those nights when she’d gone out and partied like there was no tomorrow. Damn, she looked classy in a long-sleeved black dress that clung to all the right places. Her hair was brushed up in loose waves that curled around her face, and he’d just bet she smelled like heaven on earth.

  Her smile was genuine as she greeted the man and appeared to invite him into the house. The door closed after the man stepped inside.

  Mac swore under his breath as he tossed the binoculars back onto the passenger seat. What the hell was she trying to do? Damn her! She’d never told him she was going out on a date. Who was this guy? She should have told him so he could have run a background check. For all he knew, Mr. Suit-and-Tie could be behind Dana’s troubles. Mac vowed to have a talk with her as soon as possible. If she was going to pay him to watch over her, she was going to have to work with him.

  A faint flicker of light off to one side caught his attention. If he hadn’t been concentrating so hard on Dana standing in the doorway, he might have missed it.

  “Hello.” He whistled tunelessly between his teeth as he snatched up his binoculars. He swung them in the direction of the light and peered through them. There was no mistaking the outline of someone crouched among the trees. “Guess what, scum. We’re about to have a talk.” He was ready to creep out of his truck and head in that direction, when he noticed Dana walking out the door with the other man. He swore softly under his breath and switched on the engine. He picked up the binoculars and checked the watcher again.

  He was gone.

  No matter. Mac knew he’d be seeing him again, and if he wasn’t mistaken, one of those times would be later that night when Dana returned home.

  Dana didn’t believe in acting on impulse, and after tonight, she knew she would never do it again.

  After her appointment with Dr. Moore the day before, and the woman’s suggestion that she start trying to relax more, Dana thought of Alan Baxter, who had been asking her out for the past year. She finally decided it might not be a bad idea to begin building a social life, and Alan could be a good beginning.

  A corporate attorney with his office in her building, she had known him for several years, even if their relationship had been confined to sharing the elevator at times or running into each other in the parking garage. Nice looking, always well dressed, he was the kind of man her father would have approved of. Except, when she looked at him, she didn’t feel any connection. Not the way she felt when she looked at…Mac. After tonight, she vowed never to do anything impulsive again.

  Not that Alan did anything wrong. He was the perfect gentleman from beginning to end. The restaurant he chose had an elegant ambience and food arrayed on the plate as if it were fine art.

  Alan was an excellent conversationalist, but Dana found herself bored to tears.

  Now all she wanted to do was go home.

  “I’m glad we had a chance to do this,” Alan said as he later parked his car in her driveway.

  “Yes,” she replied automatically. She resisted the urge to look around and see if she could find Mac’s truck. She knew he’d been in the vicinity all evening. She could feel him as if he were right beside her.

  Alan got out of the car and walked around to the passenger side. He kept his hand on Dana’s elbow as they walked to her front door.

  She unlocked the door and stepped inside. When she turned around she could see the look of expectation on his face.

  “Alan, thank you for a lovely evening,” she said politely, keeping a hint of warmth in her voice. “I’m sure you’ll understand, it’s been a long week.”

  He looked disappointed but said nothing. He kissed her on the cheek and left.

  The moment his car left the driveway, Dana closed the door and threw the dead bolt. She pulled off her high heels and dug her toes into the carpet as she walked across the room.

  She was on her way to her bedroom, when the doorbell rang.

  Dana sighed. She hoped it wasn’t Alan thinking he could change her mind. When it rang a second time, she started to head for the telephone so she could call Mac.

  “Dana, it’s me. Open up!” Mac’s voice rang clear through the door.

  She rushed to the door and released the dead bolt before opening it.

  Mac’s appearance was a far cry from Alan’s impeccable presentation. His clothes were rumpled, his jaw was dark with stubble and his eyes were shadowed with fatigue.

  “Tell me you looked through the spy hole before you opened the door,” he growled, brushing past her.

  “I didn’t need to. You said it was you, and I recognized your voice.” She was puzzled by his unexpected arrival and by his anger.

  He grabbed her shoulders and held on tight. “Next time, you don’t open the door unless I use a password only you and I know. If you don’t hear that word, you tell me to go to hell and don’t hesitate to call the cops. Do you understand?”

  Her head bobbed up and down. “Password,” she whispered.

  Mac’s face darkened with fury. “Dammit, Dana! A voice can be imitated. Someone could tape-record my voice and make me say anything you wanted to hear. You have to take the proper precautions.”

  “All right,” she said, still stunned by his reaction.

  Her quiet words brought him to his senses. He lifted his han
ds from her shoulders as if her skin had suddenly emitted an electric shock. He turned away, his hands propped on his hips as he worked at composing himself.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you were going out tonight?”

  She immediately realized why he was upset with her. “I’m sorry. I should have told you.”

  Mac shook his head. Frustration was written across his face. “Yes, you should have. You hired me to watch over you from the time you leave your office at night until you leave your house in the morning. When I saw that guy showing up, I had no idea what was going on. It’s not as if you have visitors every night of the week. This is something out of left field for me. In order for me to be effective at my job, I need to know what’s going on.”

  “Dr. Moore suggested I try to relax more. To be impulsive sometimes,” Dana explained. “Alan is a corporate attorney with an office in my building. He’s asked me out several times, and I decided it was time to accept. He’s absolutely harmless.” And dull.

  “Yeah, that’s what they all say.” He walked into her living room and started pacing the floor. His movements reminded her of a caged animal fighting to get out.

  “I guess I didn’t realize it would be important.” She sat down on the couch, then immediately stood back up when she realized his standing gave him the advantage. Right now, she needed every little bit she could get.

  Mac spun around and stalked toward her. “Look, Dana, if you want me to keep on working for you, you have to do things my way,” he insisted.

  She held up her hand to ward off any more of his lecture. “Maybe you should have handed me a list of your rules and regulations.”

  He thrust his fingers through his hair, doing nothing to tame the unruly strands. He shrugged off his jacket and dropped onto the couch. “You have any coffee made?” he asked.

  “Coffee?”

  “Yeah, I really need the caffeine.”

  Dana muttered under her breath as she stalked into the kitchen. “He couldn’t have stopped at one of his favorite fast-food restaurants and picked up some coffee there?” She set up the coffeepot with none of her usual grace.

  When she returned to the living room, she found Mac sprawled back against the couch cushions. He looked very tired. She handed him a cup and watched him down the hot drink as if it were water.

  “Where’s your partner?” she asked.

  “Out in the truck. I didn’t think you’d appreciate him coming in and shedding all over your carpet.” Mac set the cup on the coaster she’d placed in front of him.

  Dana couldn’t stop looking at Mac’s face, at the shift of expression that briefly revealed itself before disappearing.

  She wasn’t sure what had triggered an internal alarm. Just that as she looked at him, that alarm rang loud and long in her head. And it had nothing to do with his previous lecture.

  “You found out something, didn’t you.”

  Mac lifted his eyes and stared at her. “Do you know a Gary Carter?”

  Dana was puzzled by his question, but she was getting used to his asking questions from out of the blue.

  “The name doesn’t seem familiar to me. I don’t think he’s one of our clients, but I don’t know the names of every one. I’d have to check our files to see if anyone handles him.”

  “He’s not a client,” Mac stated.

  She frowned at him, now wondering what was going on. “Fine, he’s not a client. Why don’t you tell me what this Gary Carter has to do with me.”

  “Gary Carter is the reason someone has been following you.” He grimaced. “I should have noticed him sooner. At first, I’d only seen him in your building, so, naturally, I thought he worked there.” He paused. “Then tonight I saw him hiding in the trees, watching you when your date came to pick you up. He also followed you to the restaurant where you had dinner.”

  Dana caught her cup just as it started to slip from her fingers. She set it down on the coffee table, the ceramic rattling against the polished surface. “How long has this person been following me?”

  “Longer than I’d like,” he ruefully admitted. “I should have noticed him the first time out. I’ll give him credit for using a different car every time he followed you.”

  She was incredulous at his confession. “I hired you to protect me, and this man, who could be a homicidal maniac for all we know, could have slipped in here and murdered me in my sleep!”

  Mac wasn’t too pleased with her attack and let it show as he again shoved his fingers through his hair. “I admit it. I screwed up.” Now he sounded just plain testy. “But I rectified my mistake.”

  Pure terror seeped into her bones. “How did you rectify it?” she whispered, as her mind started to imagine the worst.

  He instantly read her thoughts and shook his head. “I’m not into hitting a guy unless he hits me first. Since he also followed you and Mr. Suit-and-Tie, there was no problem in introducing myself to your secret admirer.”

  “So there wasn’t a fight?” she demanded, checking him out for any cuts and bruises.

  “This guy wasn’t into anything that could result in pain,” he said wryly.

  “And this Gary Carter told you why he was following me?”

  “No, he told me that he’s not Gary Carter. He’s a private investigator who was hired to follow you,” he explained.

  Dana reeled from the shock waves rippling through her body. She gripped the edges of the chair seat with her fingertips.

  “You’re confusing me,” she whispered. “Why would someone I don’t even know hire a private investigator to follow me?”

  “Probably because Gary Carter’s wife, Melinda Carter, hired him when she was told he was having an affair with you,” he explained. “According to the evidence he’s gathered, you are having an affair with Gary Carter.”

  She could feel the nausea swirling in her stomach. “That’s not funny.”

  “Melinda Carter didn’t think it was, either.”

  “But you know better. You watch over me every night,” she protested, fighting to keep the nausea down.

  “It seems your trysts—” his lips twisted as he spoke the word “—were pretty much restricted to nooners at a hotel two blocks from your office. I saw the pictures, Dana. Whoever the woman in the picture is, she looks a hell of a lot like you.”

  Dana wasn’t so dazed that she missed the fact Mac didn’t believe she was the woman.

  “Then someone is playing a sick joke and using fake pictures,” she said.

  He sprawled lazily on the couch, looking as if he might fall asleep at any moment. She knew that lazy exterior was a good cover for the alert man inside.

  “This PI is legit, and what he has is pictures of some steamy raw sex that’s usually seen in X-rated movies.”

  Her face burned a deep rose color. “But you told the man it wasn’t me, right? And he’ll tell this Mrs. Carter it’s all a mistake,” she implored. What if her clients found out about this fiasco? She’d be out of business in a matter of hours. “And if he doesn’t do it, you’ll beat him up, right?” she added in a rush.

  Mac chuckled. “Watch it, Madison. You’re turning blood-thirsty.”

  “Lies like that can ruin my business in no time. My father didn’t spend all these years building it up to have me destroy it,” she said.

  Mac picked up his coffee cup and drained the contents. He got up. “Go to bed, Dana. Let me do the worrying, okay?”

  As he opened the front door, he studied the dead bolt and shook his head. “I want the authorization to get an alarm installed here.”

  “Something tells me if I didn’t say yes, you’d do it, anyway,” she muttered.

  “Damn right I would. I want to hear that dead bolt shoot into place.” He closed the door after him.

  Dana shot the dead bolt home, then heard Mac’s footsteps fade away.

  She collapsed against the door. Right now, she could only hope a hot bath would relax her tight muscles.

  Except, even a long soak in the tub wit
h the water laced with her best bath oil didn’t calm her as she’d hoped it would. She cursed under her breath and climbed out of the tub. Thanks to Mac’s news, she couldn’t even enjoy her favorite form of relaxation. Since the night was chilly, she pulled on a light green print flannel nightgown that could be tucked under her feet when she lay in bed. Once under the covers, she opened the book she’d been reading lately, but the words didn’t make sense. In a fit of frustration, she finally tossed it to one side.

  Memories of Mac’s visit were still strong in her mind, and the more she thought about it the more unsettled she felt.

  She didn’t want to turn the light off. Curling up under the covers and going to sleep no longer offered her any form of security.

  After all, things always happened when she was asleep.

  She kept the light on as she slid down under the covers. She lay there, staring at the opposite wall.

  When she was little, she’d been afraid that monsters lived under her bed. Now the monsters had returned.

  But this time, she feared the monsters lived inside her.

  Chapter 5

  What had happened to her wonderful life? Would she ever go back to what she’d had?

  Dana hated the questions that crowded her mind because she didn’t have answers for any of them. And the questions multiplied every time she returned to her family home.

  The house she’d grown up in had once represented safety and the love her parents lavished on her. Now she had trouble seeing the light and serenity she used to take for granted. She feared the house would always be dark and quiet with the pall of illness seeming to hang over it like a black cloud, even if Harriet did her best to keep the house filled with flowers and quiet music playing in the background.

  Dana grieved each time she visited her mother.

  She recalled the days when the master bedroom suite was filled with an antique four-poster bed where a little girl could lie on the mattress and among the many lace-trimmed pillows, imagining she was a princess. The bed where she could hide from the world merely by pulling the bed curtains shut. The sunlit corner surrounded by large windows had been the perfect spot for a tea party a daughter could hold for her mother.