The Stranger's Sin

by Darlene Gardner

  His comment brought the truth crashing down on her. How had she forgotten, even for a second, that she wouldn’t be around to persuade Chase of anything?

  “You don’t have to worry, Charlie.” She briefly debated telling him she was leaving town, then decided not to. She couldn’t risk Chase finding out and trying to persuade her to stay. Besides, she’d never been great at goodbyes. “I won’t tell him.”

  Toby rubbed at his eyes and whimpered. She bounced him on her knee, staving off a cry, but the tactic wouldn’t work for long. She smoothed his fine hair and kissed his soft cheek, feeling her own tears prick the backs of her eyes.

  “It looks like Toby’s already ready for his nap,” she remarked.

  “He got up at the crack of dawn this morning,” Charlie said, “probably because he wasn’t feeling well.”

  “Then he needs his rest. You should take him home.”

  Charlie nodded and stood, reaching for Toby. Kelly’s arms clung to the boy for long moments before she finally surrendered him. She stood up, too, noticing neither she nor Charlie had come close to finishing the scones that were supposed to be so delicious.

  “I wish you hadn’t moved back to the B and B,” he said.

  Kelly didn’t know how to reply to that without revealing she was leaving for good, so she said nothing. She’d given both Charlie and Chase the impression she planned to stay in Indigo Springs for a few more days, continuing to search for clues on Mandy’s whereabouts. Clues she now accepted she wouldn’t find.

  “You’re perfect for him, you know,” he said.

  She swallowed, aware that wasn’t true.

  Kelly Delaney, the uncomplicated elementary-school teacher who’d grown up in a two-parent family and had never been in trouble in her life, was perfect for Chase.

  Kelly Carmichael, whose mother was in prison and who might soon end up there herself, wasn’t.

  “You’re perfect for Teresa.” She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek. “I hope you two work it out.”

  “Me, too,” he said but didn’t sound hopeful.

  She watched until Charlie and Toby were completely out of sight before heading back to her room, stuffing her belongings into her backpack and checking out of the B and B.

  She tried not to think about all she was leaving behind as she walked the few blocks down Main Street to the bus stop, but the tactic didn’t work. Her mind kept drifting to how things might have been had she met Chase under different circumstances.

  Would they hold hands when they walked side by side, the same way as the couple coming toward her on the sidewalk? Envy gripped her and unshed tears blurred her eyes. She blinked a few times, clearing her eyes of moisture, just as the couple drew even with her.

  The woman, who was about twenty years older than Kelly but in fantastic shape, wore a T-shirt depicting an image of a happy turtle. A familiar image.

  “Wait!” Kelly cried, startling both of them. She stepped in front of the couple, forcing them to stop, aware from the looks on their faces that they thought she was crazy. “I’m sorry. But could you tell me where you got that T-shirt?”

  The man backed up a step, taking the woman with him. His wary gaze shifted from Kelly to the giant tongue on his shirt. He was older than he’d first appeared, gray hairs visible in the dark hair he wore in a ponytail. “At a Rolling Stones concert.”

  “Not the tongue.” Kelly gestured to the woman’s shirt. It was pink, the same color as the one she’d found rolled up under the bed in Mandy’s room. “Where did you get the happy-turtle shirt?”

  The woman’s grip on the man’s hand was tight enough to stop circulation. Kelly tried smiling to put her at ease, but Kelly’s anxiety quotient was so high the smile probably looked feral.

  “It’s not a happy turtle,” the woman finally said. “It’s a dancing turtle. They sell them at the restaurant.”

  “What restaurant?” Kelly asked.

  “The Dancing Turtle. It’s in Fox Tail, a little town in the Poconos near the New York border. It’s kind of a tourist trap but I thought the shirt was cute.”

  “It is cute. Very cute. Thank you so much,” Kelly said, probably overenthusiastically. The couple edged away from her. “I’m sorry for stopping you. Thanks again.”

  Both their heads bobbed, then they quickly crossed the street.

  Kelly glanced at her watch, then walked briskly in the opposite direction of the bus stop, the trip to Harrisburg forgotten. The public library opened in fifteen minutes, and she planned to be first in line to sign up for a computer with Internet access to find out all she could about the Dancing Turtle.

  An hour later, after making a long-distance call to a place called Fox Tail, Kelly was on the phone, looking for Chase. She got his voice mail. “This is Chase Bradford. Leave a message at the tone.”

  “Chase, this is Kelly. Call me as soon as you get this.” She didn’t attempt to keep the excitement from her voice. “I’ve found Mandy.”

  FOG ROLLED OVER THE mountain, hugging the four-lane highway that cut a swath through the Poconos. Chase eased his foot off the gas pedal and kept his eyes on the slick road. He didn’t even dare glance at Kelly, who was in the passenger seat.

  He’d phoned her at the bed-and-breakfast immediately after getting her surprising message about Mandy, but they’d decided to wait until after he finished work to set out for Fox Tail.

  The little town in the northern Poconos was less than two hours from Indigo Springs, and the restaurant where Mandy worked included a bar that stayed open until 2:00 a.m.

  “I hope the woman I spoke to on the phone doesn’t tell Mandy somebody called asking about her,” Kelly sounded worried.

  “Did you tell her not to?”

  “It seemed smarter not to say anything. I thought she’d tell Mandy for sure if I made a big deal out of it.”

  The day had been hot and sticky until a recent rain shower had cooled the air, the perfect conditions for fog, which was thicker up ahead, making it feel as if they were driving through a cloud. Chase slowed down another ten miles per hour.

  “I just hope she doesn’t run,” Kelly said.

  “Why would she?” He drove through the thickening murk, his attention divided between his driving and the conversation. “All I want from her is permission to raise Toby, and she probably thinks she got away with stealing your money.”

  “Neither of us knows very much about her,” Kelly mumbled. “She could be guilty of other things, too.”

  The faint glow of red taillights suddenly appeared out of the misty whiteness, signaling a car ahead of them. His heart hammering, Chase swerved the Jeep into the passing lane, traveled a safe distance in front of the car and switched back into his original lane. Then he slowed down yet another ten miles per hour.

  “The fog’s getting heavier,” Chase said. “We may have to stop.”

  “We have to keep going,” Kelly protested. “Mandy’s working tonight.”

  “I didn’t even see that car we just passed until we were almost upon it,” Chase said. “In a few miles we have to leave the highway and take the back roads. Visibility will be even worse.”

  “I’m willing to risk it,” Kelly said.

  Headlights suddenly appeared in the rearview mirror, followed by the blare of a horn. The headlights, attached to a blue sedan going much too fast, veered into the passing lane. A pain radiated down Chase’s spine, no doubt because he was holding his body so rigidly. He gripped the steering wheel so hard his short fingernails dug into his palms.

  “I’m not willing to risk your safety,” he said. “I can’t see the signs, but I’m pretty sure there’s a hotel off the next exit. I’m going to stop.”

  “But Mandy—”

  “Will probably be working tomorrow, too,” Chase interrupted firmly. “We can’t keep going, Kelly. It’s not safe.”

  “Then shouldn’t we turn around and head back?”

  “That would be almost as dangerous,” Chase said. “The fog probably
won’t lift until morning. We have to spend the night in a hotel.”

  The exit was only about another mile, but it felt like an eternity before they reached it. Visibility was so poor that Chase almost missed the exit ramp, even though he was looking for it. He took the S-curve slowly and carefully, but one of the front wheels still ran onto the shoulder before he righted the Jeep.

  He’d never been happier to see a hotel. The establishment was exactly where he thought it would be, the upper two stories rising out of the fog. A bored-looking clerk was on duty, the paperback mystery novel he’d been reading open on its spine. He straightened when they approached the desk. “Fog chase you in?”

  “It’s as bad as I’ve seen it,” Chase said. “There aren’t many people on the highway.”

  The clerk nodded and punched in a few keys on the computer. “All our rooms are nonsmoking. You’d like a single, right?”

  Kelly glanced at him, a question in her eyes. He’d been so concerned with the fog and his disappointment in not being able to settle things with Mandy tonight that he hadn’t thought ahead to their sleeping arrangements. His heartbeat sped up. He nodded.

  “Right. A single,” Kelly told the clerk.

  “Is a king-size bed okay?” the clerk asked.

  Chase squashed his inclination to tell that clerk that hell, yeah, they wanted the king-size bed. The decision was up to Kelly.

  “Two double beds would be better,” she said.

  His heartbeat slowed back down and disappointment cut through him. He should have known the meaningful glance she’d slanted him had to do with whether they should share a room, not a bed.

  “It seemed wasteful to pay for two rooms,” she said as they walked down the hall in the direction the clerk had pointed.

  He unlocked the door with the key card and pushed it open, revealing a standard hotel room with two beds, a desk and chair, a television and a small bathroom. The color scheme consisted mainly of creams and light oranges, the decorations bland enough to offend no one.

  The door closed behind them with an audible thunk and all Chase could think about was tumbling onto one of the beds with her. That wouldn’t do.

  He raised his eyebrows, the way he’d seen his father do a hundred times, his intention to cut the tension. “You can trust me not to take advantage of you, but can I trust you?”

  She stared at him mutely, her lips slightly parted, her breathing not as steady as it had been a moment ago. The tip of her tongue appeared, moistening her lips. His silly throwaway line, it seemed, had had the opposite effect of what he’d intended.

  He felt his groin tighten, but he didn’t move. Not his hands. Not his feet. Not even his lips.

  It struck him that they were alone, with neither his father nor Toby acting as unsuspecting chaperones. Alone in a hotel room with two beds, only one of which they needed to use.

  Mere moments ago he’d told her she could trust him. He couldn’t touch her, not without an invitation.

  “I think…” she said slowly, the huskiness of her voice fueling his hope “…we should go get a drink.”

  “A drink?” he repeated dumbly, hoping he’d heard her wrong.

  “A drink.” She was already moving toward the door, talking as she went, sending disappointment cascading through him. “There’s a bar off the lobby.”

  Even though she hadn’t touched him, he was in no condition to be seen in public. Not yet.

  “You go ahead,” he said, then came up with a legitimate excuse for him to hang back. “I need to call my dad and let him know about the fog.”

  She was sitting at a table for two when he arrived, the bar nearly deserted except for the bartender and one other couple.

  “I ordered you a draft beer,” she said, not quite meeting his eyes. “I hope that’s all right.”

  “It’s perfect.” He picked up the mug and took a healthy swig.

  “Is everything all right at home?” She was sipping from a glass of white wine, which caused Chase to focus on her lips. He almost groaned.

  “Toby’s still not quite himself,” he said. “My dad thought he felt a little warm and gave him some Tylenol. I’ll call tomorrow morning and check on him again.”

  He took another swig of beer. He’d never done any acting, but thought he deserved an Oscar for not showing his frustration. “How about you? Are you feeling any better?”

  “Better?” She looked puzzled. “I’m not sick.”

  “You are nervous.”

  She winced, looking charmingly embarrassed. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Oh, no.” He shook his head in an exaggerated motion. “You seemed perfectly poised when you sprinted out of the hotel room.”

  She laughed. “I was not sprinting.”

  “Okay. Jogging, then.”

  “It was your fault! You’re the one who made the suggestive remark.”

  He leaned closer to her and said in a quiet voice, “I suggested you might have trouble keeping your hands off me.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “Like the trouble I had the night your father was out of town and I couldn’t sleep. And again when we went to that lookout during the Fourth of July festival.”

  “I remember not being able to keep my hands off you those nights.”

  “Okay, then,” she said. “Since we’ve established we both have trouble keeping our hands off each other, that’s even more reason to be nervous.”

  “But why?” he asked. “Is it that jerk who cheated on you? Is that why?”

  “Partly.” She picked up her wineglass. “I didn’t tell you the whole story about him.”

  “Then tell me now.”

  She took a long sip of wine, then another before she spoke. “After I’ve been out with a guy a few times, but before it gets serious, I make it a point to tell him it’s unlikely I’ll ever have children.”

  She took a deep breath as though filling herself with courage instead of air. “I have something called premature ovarian failure, which basically means my ovaries don’t produce enough hormones for me to ovulate regularly. I’ve known about it since I was seventeen. It’s ironic really, considering I became a teacher because of how much I love kids.”

  “You can love kids that aren’t your own.”

  “I know that,” she said. “But when I told Vince I’d need fertility treatments if I ever wanted to get pregnant and chances were even that wouldn’t work, I could tell it bothered him.”

  “After you told him, is that when you saw him at the movie theater with the other woman?”

  “That’s when,” she said. “I broke up with him, but it was pretty obvious he was relieved. I’m sure he wants to have biological children one day.”

  “Not all men think like that,” he said. “I couldn’t love Toby more if he was my own.”

  “But you also would have married a woman you didn’t love because she was having your baby.”

  “Apples and oranges,” he said. “Toby’s as much my responsibility as a biological baby would have been.”

  “Admirable,” Kelly said.

  “Or stupid, considering Mandy was never pregnant.” Chase blurted out the secret he’d never told anyone. “That miscarriage? She faked it, the same way she faked the pregnancy.”

  “She didn’t!” Kelly seemed appalled.

  “She did,” Chase said. “I confronted her a couple of days before she left town. She’d been drinking or she probably wouldn’t have admitted it.”

  “Wow,” Kelly said. “I had no idea.”

  “Neither does anyone else. I felt like such a sap I didn’t tell anyone. Not even my father.”

  “A sap?” She shook her head vigorously. “I might not always agree with you, but you can’t be a sap for sticking to your principles and doing what you think is right.”

  “I don’t know about that,” he said, “but all I have to do is look at Toby and I’m not sorry things happened exactly the way they did.”

  She reached across the table, covering his hand with h
ers and looking deeply into his eyes. The mood between them shifted, the air becoming more charged.

  “Chase?” she said softly. The candlelight on the table cast her face in a soft, beautiful glow.

  “Yeah?” His response was equally soft.

  “I’m not nervous anymore.”

  THE HOTEL-ROOM DOOR wouldn’t budge.

  Kelly stood alongside Chase, their bodies touching, watching the red light flash. They hadn’t lost physical contact since they’d left their unfinished drinks on the table in the bar and hurried down the hall, desperate for privacy.

  “Damn.” Frustration laced Chase’s soft curse. Kelly’s body trembled with the same emotion.

  He shoved the key card in the slot again. The small dot turned red. Again.

  “Let me try.” Kelly rasped.

  She took the card from him, flipped it around and attempted to gain entry. That darned little red beacon flickered again.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong,” Kelly said.

  “The door must be stuck.” Chase gave the unyielding rectangle a hip bump. The resulting thud echoed down the hallway.

  The door swung open, the space in front of them filling with a heavyset man in a T-shirt and Bugs Bunny boxer shorts. The man’s face reddened and his scowl deepened.

  “Who the hell are you?” he bellowed. “And why are you trying to get inside my room?”

  His room?

  Kelly checked the numbers painted on the door. One twelve, not one twenty-one.

  She sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Sorry. Wrong room.”

  The man glowered, then slammed the door in their faces with so much force air whooshed over them. She and Chase exchanged a guilty look, then moved down the hall with alacrity to room one twenty-one. This time the key card worked perfectly.

  As soon as they were inside the room, they burst out laughing.

  “Did you see that Bugs Bunny underwear?” Chase asked, swinging her into his arms.

  Kelly looped her arms around his neck and nodded. “They sure cut down on his intimidation factor.”