by Tanya Stowe
Christy started to chatter about the trip.
Alex said something about the license plate to Kurt. Good. Alex had caught the number.
Christy sat between Lara and Alex. Lara studiously avoided making eye contact with Alex. Using Christy as a buffer, she adroitly focused on the young girl’s excited talk as they wound their way home. At the house, Christy skipped ahead, anxious to tell her mother everything, but Eliza was running errands.
Alex took Lara’s arm.
She turned to look into a dark, cold expression.
“Do you mind telling me what’s going on?”
Lara shifted. “What do you mean?”
“What has you so scared you turned white as a sheet and can barely talk now?”
“I’m not a child like Christy, Alex. I know the real danger we were in. Of course I’m upset.”
“Don’t give me that. You saw those men and froze up like a blocked steam engine. What’s going on?”
Maybe he could help her with this. But if she explained she’d be revealing Troy’s secret and Brett’s problems. They were not hers to reveal.
Christy called her name.
“I have to go to Christy.” She left him standing tight-lipped in the entryway.
Christy’s nurse took the girl firmly in hand and dictated another hour in the spa for the overused muscles and wired senses. Christy chatted endlessly about the trip, the view, and the near mishap. She would tell her father and mother.
Troy might put two and two together after such a close call. If Troy knew they had threatened Christy, what choice would he have but to do as they asked?
Lara rubbed her forehead again. She needed more time to think things through, to find a way to help Troy. She made her escape and hurried across the grounds to avoid Alex. She needed to find her way through one dilemma before she tackled another. Alex Summers was a problem too daunting to face. She slipped inside the guesthouse and locked the door.
The answering machine light blinked. Hurrying across the room, she punched the button. Brett’s voice filled the air.
“Hi, Lara. I tried your cell phone but you didn’t answer. Please call me as soon as you get this. Troy and I are on our way to Flagstaff to pick up the donor plaques. We gave the school workers the rest of the day off before I remembered I’ve got a new batch of applications coming in today. Could you swing by the school and look them over, I’d be very thankful. Use the same criteria to sort through them as you did before. Give me a buzz when you get this. Thanks.”
The same criteria. More children to be turned away. Lara didn’t know if she could stand to go through another batch. But it gave her the excuse she needed. She messaged Brett then headed to the garage to find a driver.
Using her code, Lara stepped into the silent school. She went straight to Brett’s office and retrieved the applications. Going through them required little time, since the only criteria was the ability to pay the tuition. She flagged the appropriate files, and then began her real work.
On top of the desk was a folder with receipts inside. Only the most recent were listed, but after doing a quick summary, Lara was astonished by the figure. Ten thousand dollars in receipts and preparations in the last few days. Money seemed to be slipping through Brett’s fingers like water. No wonder he was worried.
She searched the rest of the desk but found nothing out of the ordinary—except the check ledger no longer sat on his desk. Lara pushed the mouse, the computer screen popped up. She searched the files on the desktop, but she had no passwords to access bookkeeping accounts and was not willing to invade Brett’s privacy. There was a file with her mother’s name. Lara had no qualms about accessing it, since it was not locked. The file contained notes, memorandums, and letters her mother had written about the school. The curriculum had obviously been on her mind. She’d already contacted a leading teaching university in the Midwest and had scheduled meetings with several professors from a university. Her mother had planned a curriculum but the accident ended all her plans.
Why, Lord? Why did you take her? She could have done so much good. Reached so many children. Why did you leave me and take her?
Everything was falling apart. The school’s future. Her friends’ lives. Things would be right if her mother were still alive. Rising from the desk, she walked to the window.
Brett’s office was at the back of the school. Directly in front of her was the ragged crag Alex had climbed. She looked at the top, wishing she could be there. If she could just climb high enough, surely she could find the answers she needed. She fixed her gaze on the top, filled with a yearning she hadn’t experienced since she was a child. At the back of her mind, she heard Alex’s voice, urging her to move forward, to fly.
Why not?
The face of the crag was solid rock, too sheer and too dangerous for her to scale, but if she moved slightly west where the ascent was less steep...she glanced at her watch. Three forty. Two hours before dusk. Plenty of time. She opened the back door, strode across the gravel yard, and hopped the low retaining wall. In moments, she stood at the base of the crag.
Up close it seemed larger, steeper.
But Lara was determined. She climbed, angling toward the right, away from the rocky bluff. The ground was hard and solid. Soon she hit gravel and small rocks, lost her footing and slid downhill. She scraped her palms and banged her shins several times, but she kept going.
She was not even close to the top. Taking the fire road to the top would be easier and faster. Continuing to the right would be an easy ascent, too. But the challenge was to the left. Lara made an abrupt turn, veering toward the bluff. She climbed until her legs ached, and she was out of breath. All her daily workouts had not prepared her for altitude challenges. Her legs began to feel a little shaky so she slowed, giving them the opportunity to rest.
She’d probably been climbing for forty-five minutes. Ahead, a massive rock completely filled her vision. She couldn’t see around or above it. The ground beneath was steep and slippery. If she took that way, she ran the risk of sliding twenty feet back down the hill.
Her only choice was to go over it. She dug her tennis shoes into the soil and searched for hand holds. Pulling and crawling up the rounded rock was easy enough, but this rock was just the first in an outcropping.
She could go around, but Lara didn’t want the easy way out. The first few feet were easy. Her legs were steady. She stepped into a foothold. As she put all of her weight on it, solid ground crumbled. Lara slid down the rocky face, hands scraping and fingers digging into the rock.
Her foot hit a ledge, and she jolted to a sliding stop. Pain shot up her leg. She froze, perched on one leg, barely daring to breathe. She took several calming breaths, suddenly remembering why Troy had never climbed this crag.
He said Eliza needed him.
Fear washed through Lara. She searched for something else to grab, somewhere to put her foot so she could climb up. But she’d slid over a sheer stretch and managed to catch the only foothold. There was nowhere to go, up or down. She stayed frozen, one foot poised on a narrow foothold, the other pressed against the slick rock. Her legs shook. She was afraid to move…even to look up or down. Terrified, she flattened against the rock and closed her eyes.
11
“Look to your left, Lara. Lean into the leg that’s steady and reach for the corner.” Alex’s voice calmed and reassured her.
The rocky outcropping was only a foot away. How had she missed it?
Leaning forward, her fingers gripped the rock and she pulled herself around the corner. With her free leg, she stepped on the broken rocks and moved clear of the sheer face.
Alex had only been five feet below. It seemed he understood her need to do it on her own. Lara dragged her tongue over dry lips.
“Aren’t you going to tell me how foolish this was?”
“Was it foolish?”
“Probably. But it’s my neck to risk, isn’t it?”
He gestured to the sheer rock face. “Eventua
lly you would have calmed down and seen the way out or you would have slid down, earning yourself more scrapes and bruises, but I doubt you would have done any serious damage. I don’t think it was much of a risk.”
“I suppose you take much greater risks?”
“I don’t have an army of concerned friends and family telling me what to do.”
“Did you come all the way up here just to bait me?”
“I thought I came to save you,” he said.
“According to you, I wasn’t in danger and didn’t need saving, so you won’t be getting any thanks. What are you doing here?”
“Following you. What else have I done since the moment I saw you on the balcony? When I pulled into the parking lot, you were making your way up. I thought you might be able to use some expert advice. Do you mind?”
“If the only thing you offer is advice, no.” She rose and turned to study the cliff behind her. She was six, maybe seven feet from the top and she would make it on her own. She found a series of handholds and footholds. Stepping forward, she began to climb.
She reached the top, on her own, crawled over the edge and rolled to her back to stare up at the sky. Her legs shook, and her hands burned from the scrapes. Dust and dirt covered her clothes, and she wondered if it had been worthwhile.
Alex extended his hand and pulled her up. “Come on. The best part is just a few feet away.” He led her to the edge of the crag.
They looked down on the flat plain.
Low in the sky, the sun touched everything with a soft, gilded tip. The land was gold, and flowering bushes spread across the floor of the valley like a yellow carpet. The sky was a brilliant blue, the rocks a rich deep red. Cars on a distant road flashed like diamonds sprinkled across the earth. Beautiful.
As breathtaking as Lara had imagined it. She dropped to her knees.
Alex joined her.
If Lara sat still and quiet enough, the answers would come to her on the gentle breeze. The view gave her peace, made her feel whole and somehow, a little wiser. After a while, she turned to Alex.
He had one arm looped over a raised knee. The look in his eyes made her heart beat faster.
“Is it everything you’d hoped it to be?” His low voice caressed like warm, gentle fingers.
“Yes.” Her gaze raked the land once more, and she couldn’t stop the smile. “Yes. It is.” She turned back to face him. The wind blew a strand of hair over her mouth.
He tucked it behind her ear. “Good,” he said, his gaze fixed on her lips. “I’m glad because it’s more than I’d hoped for.”
“What did you hope to see?” she asked.
“You. I was hoping to see the real you.”
The wind blew the strand of hair back. Alex stroked it away again, his fingers lingering on her cheek. “Since I first saw you, I knew this moment was coming. There was something about you…as if you were on the verge of discovering something incredible. I wanted to be there when you found it.” He leaned forward, his voice low, his eyes focused on hers. “What do you see, Lara? What’s out there for you?”
She dragged her gaze from his to look at the panoramic landscape. “Answers,” she said after a pause. “I think if I can just fly far enough and fast enough, I’ll find the answers to all my questions. They’re waiting for me to discover them.”
“Do you feel powerful?”
“Invincible!” She laughed, tilting her head back to feel the sun’s golden kiss on her cheeks.
Alex laughed, too. His rich, low voice stroked her senses like velvet. She loved to hear his voice…laughing…talking…and when he sang, he took her to places she’d only dreamed about. Lara could lose herself in his voice.
“Hang on to that feeling of invincibility,” he said. “It’ll carry you through many dark days.”
She turned to look at him, squinting against the setting sun. His dark eyes were fixed on the distant mountains and a smile hovered, his firm lips tilted slightly. She wanted to touch them, to run her fingers over them while he spoke.
“You make it sound like this will be the only good moment I’ll ever have.”
“There’ll be others. Many others. Now that you know them, you’ll seek them out and store them like treasures. When I play, what you hear are moments like these. When you dance, I suspect you’ll see them. You’ll remember them.”
This one was imprinted on her soul. The sun. The cerulean blue sky. The way the breeze lifted Alex’s hair. The smile that mirrored what she was feeling deep, down inside. His dark, tanned hands with strong, long fingers. Graceful yet powerful. How could a man’s hands say so much about him?
It was a moment carved in time. Everything else seemed to fade. Nothing mattered. Not Brett’s stressed state, or Troy and Eliza’s marriage. Only this feeling of timelessness…and the man who shared it with her.
“Do you think Juan and Lucia shared moments like this?” she asked.
“I’m sure of it.”
His gaze traveled down to her lips. He was so close, he could have kissed her. She wanted him to kiss her, but he didn’t. Lara was thankful and a little sad at the same time.
“Now it’s time for you to tell me what frightened you so much on the road today.”
~*~
Alex figured he was in for another argument.
Then she released a deep sigh. “I guess I do need to talk to someone.” Her gaze focused on the setting sun. “I’ve seen those men.”
“You recognized them?”
“Yes. I think they were there to hurt Christy.”
“Christy!” He raised his hand. “Wait. Slow down. A lot more is going on here than just what happened today. Maybe you’d better start at the beginning.” He didn’t need to act. His surprise was genuine.
She hesitated, perhaps debating how much to tell. What did she have to hide? How deeply was she involved? She’d take risks with herself, he was sure, but certainly not with Christy. Stomping on his apprehension, he forced himself to appear calm.
“I saw the two men from the SUV last night, after I left you. They were in an alley talking to Troy. I didn’t get a good look at them in the dark, but I saw their silhouettes and I heard their voices. They wanted Troy to do something illegal.”
Alex tensed. “What illegal thing?”
“I don’t know, but Troy was furious. He told them straight up he wouldn’t do it. He said they had a business transaction he would see fulfilled, but he refused to do anything illegal. He said he wouldn’t even consider it and stormed off.”
Alex leaned back on his hands. “So they showed up today and threatened his little girl.”
“I’m beginning to think so.”
“What business transaction does Troy have with them?” He spoke aloud, more to himself than Lara. He was surprised when she answered.
“I think he borrowed money. Troy’s deeply in debt, in over his head with his collectors’ pieces. I think…well, I’m afraid he’s taking money from the school and Brett’s covering for him.”
Alex blinked, not sure he’d followed her train of thought. He took a deep breath, trying to trace back her steps. “I don’t follow, Lara. Are you telling me funds are missing from the school’s accounts?”
“No. But checks are missing, and I’m not even sure Brett knows about them.”
“If he doesn’t know, how is he covering for Troy?”
“Because Brett is one of my father’s most trusted employees. He trusts Brett so much, he gave him a great deal of leeway with the school. But now Brett has gone over-budget and extended the school’s finances so far, they’re teetering on collapse. Brett is too good a businessman to let that happen. He would never make those kinds of mistakes on his own, and even if he did, he would go straight to my father unless…”
“Unless he was protecting someone else’s mistakes.”
“Exactly. It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
“Embezzlement is a federal crime, Lara. You don’t just cover something like that up—not eve
n for your best friend.”
“But there hasn’t been any embezzlement that I can see…not yet. Just bad choices. The finest building materials. City permits that should have been contested by our legal department, but Brett gave in and paid the fees so construction wouldn’t be held up. The situation got deeper and deeper, and he’s been struggling to balance it all out. He cut back where he could—like using a cheaper P.R. firm. He only agreed to hire you because everyone was convinced you’d make the event a success.”
A smile twisted across Alex’s lips. “And I sabotaged all of his efforts by criticizing the school the first day out.”
“Pretty much.”
“So where do the checks come in?”
“I was sitting at Brett’s desk, resting my head on it and I noticed a space in the ledger, so I poked my finger in there and flipped back the cover. Checks and their carbon sheets had been torn out so neatly, you almost couldn’t tell. In fact, if you weren’t focusing on it like I was, you wouldn’t see it.”
“Until the missing checks show up in Fallon’s finance department, and Brett’s called on the carpet.”
Lara sighed with relief. “I’m so glad your mind is thinking like mine. I thought I was being silly, letting my imagination run away with me.”
“Being nearly run off the road has nothing to do with your imagination. In fact, I’d say you should be applauded for keeping it together.”
“Tell that to my father when you meet him, will you?”
He touched her chin. “I promise.”
Her expression made Alex’s guilt burn a little hotter.
“The thing that doesn’t make any sense to me is why.” Her lovely eyes clouded with worry and confusion. “Why would Brett let this go so far, and how could Troy let himself get in debt to people like that in the first place?”
“Setting Troy up would have been easy. Perhaps Troy used brokers to buy the pieces so he didn’t know the true owner. Or the loans could have been bought later, after the sales were done, by someone unscrupulous.”