Memory Lane

by Vella Munn

  “That’s not what I mean.” Mark’s voice was low and rumbling, the way it had been the night they made love. “When you leave here, where are you going?”

  Kim wasn’t given the chance to answer. Anthea’s laugh effectively shattered the quiet conversation. “Consorting with the enemy, are you Mark? A piece of advice, if I were you, I’d be more discreet. Another piece of advice. Getting to the granddaughter through the grandmother should be beneath you.”

  Mark tensed but said nothing. Instead he helped Kim with her papers until even William had struggled to his feet, leaving them alone. He’d done it. Backed himself into a corner. Now all he could do was wait.

  “What was that about?” Kim asked.

  “Anthea? Let’s just say she isn’t my biggest fan.”

  “I rather suspected that.” Mark was standing close but not touching her. It was safer that way. Safer and lonelier. “Why?”

  It had happened almost four years ago, but obviously Anthea Norval had a long memory. One of Anthea’s customers had bought several pieces of furniture from Anthea, relying on her contention that the pieces were originals. When the customer had learned that they were in fact copies, he’d sued Anthea. Mark had been the customer’s lawyer. Although Anthea maintained that if the pieces had been copies, she hadn’t been aware of it, Mark had won the case. He’d worded his complaint so that Anthea was held accountable whether the misrepresentation was done willfully or through ignorance. Not only did Anthea have to return the purchase price, but she’d also wound up having to pay all legal fees.

  Kim whistled when Mark finished telling the story. “You’re talking thousands of dollars, aren’t you?”

  “Thousands that Anthea has never forgiven me for. She won’t say anything when we’re in social settings. Anthea is much too civilized for that. But, in private, she never fails to get her digs in.”

  “Being successful means a great deal to her, doesn’t it?”

  “More than most people realize. If there’s one word that sums up Anthea Norval, it’s ruthless.”

  “Ruthless?”

  “Don’t dismiss her,” Mark warned. “Don’t dismiss any of them. And Kim?” His hand on her forearm was light; still, Kim was a million miles from being able to dismiss her response. “Don’t turn your back on any of them.”

  Kim could have told Mark that he was overreacting, but she didn’t. She had faced an unreasoning, unthinking fear in this very room yesterday. “I won’t,” she told him.

  Mark turned and picked up Kim’s folder. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Neither of them spoke until they were outside and Mark had stowed the files in Kim’s car. He glanced at his watch and groaned. “I wish I had more time.”

  “I wish you did, too. Will I see you tonight?”

  They might be seen; it didn’t matter. No matter how many tongues might wag, Mark couldn’t make it through the day without holding Kim in his arms. He sensed her surprised reaction to being pulled against him, and then her quick surrender.

  He’d been cruel to her last night. He should have given her more of an explanation. If nothing else he should have called after he got home. But if he’d gone that far, he would have told her everything.

  And because Mark tried to be the best damn lawyer he knew how to be, he knew he couldn’t do that. “Kim?” He almost decided to tell her that he was falling in love with her, but he wasn’t free to. “Tonight? I can’t see you tonight, either.”

  “Oh.”

  She wasn’t asking questions, as she had last night. She was accepting what little he gave her. Because he was afraid it didn’t matter as much to her as it did to him, this time Mark explained everything. He was due in court tomorrow morning. Because of conflicts in schedules, his client hadn’t been able to meet with him before tonight. Unless Mark was lucky, and he knew he wouldn’t be, the meeting would last half the night.

  “I’m sorry. Not because I’m going to have to walk into court with two hours of sleep under my belt, but because—we need time together, Kim. At least I think we do.”

  “We do,” Kim muttered from the cradle of his arms. “We do.”

  The next day Kim made her presentation to the museum board and after receiving their approval to move ahead, she invited representatives of the two security firms to the museum for extensive tours. It was late afternoon, and Kim still hadn’t been able to reach Mark at his office when she collected her material and stepped out of the museum into the sunshine. She was almost to her car when Charles Horne pulled up in the police car. He gave her a brief nod, and then turned his attention to the museum. “I didn’t expect you to be here.”

  “Are you disappointed?”

  “Not disappointed. Just surprised. Do you mind if we take a walk?”

  “A walk?” Kim indicated her armload. “I brought my car. I wanted to get rid of this stuff.”

  “I can wait.”

  A minute later Kim had deposited her files in her car and rejoined the police chief. Charles had been studying the solid building. “Not many windows in that place, are there? I’ve been sitting all day. Occupational hazard, I guess. You don’t mind helping me get a little exercise, do you?” He touched Kim’s arm to indicate they should cross the street. He didn’t ask if this was what she wanted to do.

  “You certainly are causing a stir,” Charles said, once they were heading down a side street away from the museum. “ I haven’t seen this much excitement in town in years.”

  “What do I have to do with things?”

  “Everything. You come back to town and everything blows up. If I’d known that was going to happen, I wouldn’t have rolled out the welcome mat.”

  “Don’t lay that on me.” Kim threw a good-natured punch at Charles. It felt so good to be with someone she didn’t have to weigh every word around. “The thefts were a fact long before I came on the scene, and you certainly can’t blame me for the cave-in. Between you and me, I can hardly wait for Monday night.”

  Charles frowned and then gave Kim a quick if not easy grin. “The council meeting. Yeah, I imagine you are eager to have things resolved.”

  Kim told him she didn’t understand why things were taking so long. “I don’t know why the council didn’t set another meeting for this week. Or maybe I do,” she amended. “I think they’re hoping things will resolve themselves without the council having to make a decision.”

  “Fat chance. Both Rogan and Harden are big guns. They’re going to come to that meeting blazing away at each other. Between you and me, I wouldn’t miss that meeting for the world.”

  “I wish I could.”

  “Don’t let it get to you, Kim,” Charles soothed. “Mark’ll be there. He knows how to keep things in hand. One thing you can always be sure of with Mark. He’ll be square with everyone.”

  Is he being square with me? Kim wondered.

  “Speaking of Mark,” the police chief went on. “I was talking to him, what was it, this morning I guess.” Charles glanced behind him and then started walking again. “He’d run into town on some business and we got to talking. Something— It’s not the most pleasant thing to think about Kim, but it’s reality.”

  Kim waited for the chief to go on. In truth, she was unable to keep up her end of the conversation. Mark had been in Camp Oro this morning? He hadn’t tried to get in touch with her. Distance—once again distance was coming between them.

  “Let’s say you get this security system in place in a couple of weeks. The thefts stop. Everyone pats you on the back for a job well-done. It sounds good as far as it goes. But—maybe we’ll never know who’s responsible. Maybe that Oakland dealer’s wife will come back and won’t be able to tell us anything about who she bought the merchandise from. If there’s a go-between—”

  Kim’s focus had been on safeguarding the museum’s valuables. Naturally Charles was concerned with bringing a criminal to justice. “I’m sorry.” She shook her head. “I almost asked what you were going to do about that, but there isn�
�t anything more you can do, is there?”

  “It doesn’t look like it.” For the second time, Charles glanced behind him. “Unless we get incredibly lucky between now and the time the system is in place, there isn’t much chance we’ll ever get any more of those, what do you call them, artifacts back.”

  “I know. That bothers me.”

  “Don’t. That’s my problem. You’re doing a good job. A damn good job.”

  Kim and Charles walked and talked for another couple of minutes. Charles was planning on taking the family fishing Saturday morning. Kim remembered going on fishing trips on the Yuba River with her father. She envied Charles and Sandy and the boys. She didn’t want Charles to leave. She didn’t want to return to her car. As long as he was with her she could think about sunburning her nose while sitting on a rock overlooking a river. She didn’t have to ask herself why Mark hadn’t gotten in touch with her this morning.

  “Do you do this much?” Kim asked as their seemingly aimless walk brought them to the museum parking lot. “Walk around town, I mean.”

  “Not as much as I’d like to.” Charles’s voice lost the casual tone it’d had when they were talking about fishing. “Kim, you take care of yourself, you hear.”

  “I will. Charles, are you all right?”

  “All right? ’Course I am. Well, almost all right. I’ve got to see Anthea later today. You’re the lucky one. You get to spend the evening with Mark. You are seeing him tonight, aren’t you?”

  “Anthea?” Kim sidestepped the question. “What do you have to see her about?”

  “Who knows.” Charles was looking up at a second-story window with its heavy curtain. “Something about needing the alley behind her place blocked off while some delivery truck’s there.”

  Anthea. Kim was almost to her car when what the woman said yesterday hit her full force. Anthea had accused Mark of trying to get to Kim through her grandmother. Margaret Revis was Mark’s client, and he had spent the other evening with a client. A client he hadn’t wanted to talk to her about.

  Had it been her grandmother?

  Numbly Kim reached for the door handle. There was one way of finding the answer. She would go to Mark’s place tonight and ask him.

  Above Kim, a second-story curtain was pulled back. The person watching had seen the police chief and Kim Revis walk away from the museum grounds together. The person had ticked off every second that they were gone, mind going a thousand miles a second, asking questions, speculating, sweating. Now the chief had come into the building and Kim was heading toward her car.

  What had the two talked about? Was it the beginning of the end? And, most important, was there any way of hiding the evidence?

  Kim wasn’t going to take a chance on calling Mark and being put off. She had no plan beyond being at his house when he got home. How and when she would ask if he’d spent the evening after they became lovers with her grandmother, she had no idea. What Kim did know was that it wasn’t a fool’s question and that the answer, if he was honest with her, would explain a great deal.

  It never occurred to her that the truth might shatter her.

  Mark wasn’t home, but Kim was patient. She sat on the front steps reading the evening paper until she heard his Blazer pull into the driveway behind her car.

  She put down the paper, leaned forward and waited. For an unguarded minute, Mark’s features came alive with an emotion that touched her deeply. Then caution and wariness settled in, and Kim steeled herself to accept that change.

  Kim waited until Mark was on the steps. Then she held up her hand so he could help her to her feet. She brought her body close to his, waiting for his reaction. First came an embrace so freely given that she almost wept with relief. Then, just as she was close to believing that all was well between them, he pushed her away and held her inches from him.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I need to see you.”

  “What—are you all right?”

  “Of course I’m all right,” Kim told him although that wasn’t the truth. “I heard you were in Camp Oro this morning. I—I guess you didn’t have time to get in touch with me. I wanted to see you.”

  “Oh, Kim. I’m so glad you did.”

  Mark was scaring her. This was a man everyone said was in control. But he was holding her so tight; the emotions flowing through him were so raw.

  They were inside before Kim was aware of what had happened. “Mark? Why didn’t I hear from you this morning?” He opened his mouth, but she waved off whatever he might say. “I shouldn’t have asked that. We…how long have we known each other? Only days.” Mark was looking down at her with his fingers laced through hers. She should know where she stood with him. If he were any other man, she either would, or it wouldn’t matter so terribly.

  But this was Mark.

  “I probably shouldn’t be here,” she went on. Kim had no idea what she was going to say. She’d planned a million witty things while she was waiting for him, but now he was here. “You’re busy. You have so much on your mind.”

  “Stop it, Kim. Nothing’s more important than you.”

  “Do you mean that?”

  “I should have dropped by the museum to see you. I was going to. And then…Kim, Charles said something I couldn’t shrug off.”

  Kim waited. She could wait the rest of the night for the right words from Mark. Please, make them the right words.

  “He said something about danger.”

  “Danger? We’ve talked about that before.”

  “Maybe not enough.”

  “Mark,” Kim said impatiently. “What does this have to do with seeing me?”

  “Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.” Mark propelled Kim into the living room and sat them both down on the couch. “Kim, what if you came across something? Something the thief didn’t want found out?”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

  “You don’t know that. We have no idea how desperate this person might be. That’s what Charles and I were talking about. If either he or I were seen spending too much time with you, well, it could give whoever is responsible more ammunition, more of a push to do something. Something rash. I’m not a policeman, but I do represent authority and the law.”

  “Mark—” Kim was going to tell Mark that that didn’t make sense, but she couldn’t get the words out. If that possibility had made an impact on Mark, she couldn’t dismiss it. “That’s why you didn’t come see me today?” she asked instead.

  “Kim, we’re dealing with someone we know nothing about. You’ve been working with the thief for days now. If the thief hasn’t done anything yet, maybe it’s because he or she hasn’t been pushed far enough yet. But what you’re doing represents the end to what that person had been free to do. If you and I are seen together, who knows what that might trigger? I wasn’t going to risk your safety Kim, either by seeing you or calling you at work.”

  Kim loved Mark for his concern. She loved him for a great deal more than that, but for this moment it was his protective instinct that won her heart. She wanted to lean into him, to let him carry her weight and let the other night repeat itself. But first… “Mark, Charles and I bumped into each other this afternoon. He wanted to go for a walk. He kept looking back at the museum. I never thought—”

  “Did he say anything?”

  Kim shook her head. “Maybe he didn’t want to worry me. Mark, I don’t want to be treated that way. Anything you and Charles are thinking, I have a right to know.”

  Mark had spent the afternoon in court. Although he and his client had come out on the winning end of a relatively simple civil trial, Mark was feeling the effect of three hours of questioning and cross-examinations. He’d wanted to go home, change clothes and then call Kim. Now Kim was in his house. In twelve years of being a member of the legal system, Mark had never let anything come before his commitment to that system.

  But that was before Kim had come into his life. She’d said something to him; he should be respondi
ng to that. But she was looking at him with her incredible honest eyes. He saw the hurt and desire in them. Hurt because he hadn’t been there for her enough, and desire because, thank God, she hadn’t given up on him.

  It had taken a great deal of courage for Kim to come here tonight. He hadn’t let her know enough, and he hadn’t given her as much as she needed, and yet she was still here.

  She was offering so much. Her eyes left nothing hidden and exposed her greatest needs. Her greatest fears. She wasn’t sure of him. He’d made her doubt what he felt for her.

  Damn! With everything in him, Mark didn’t want it to be like that for her. Unlike most of the people he dealt with, Kim was without secrets or deception. She could give him one thing he hadn’t had enough of in his life—honesty. If she was to stay with him, if things were ever going to be right between them, he had to give her the same.

  But that couldn’t be; he couldn’t give her everything.

  But maybe, for tonight, he could give her more than he’d ever given another woman. “I promise,” he whispered. “From now on, Charles and I will tell you everything we come up with.”

  “I believe you.” Was it happening? Were the hours of doubt and fear going to be swept aside? Tomorrow Kim would ask herself that question again, but not now. Now Mark was drawing her against him, and she was feeling his strength.

  “I didn’t know if I should come,” she told him from the shelter he offered. “I wasn’t sure you wanted to see me.”

  “Oh, Kim. I’ve hurt you, haven’t I?”

  Kim didn’t want to tell him yes. But if they were to be more than shadows passing through each other’s lives, she had to be honest. “I understand your job. At least I’m trying to. But I wanted to be more important than anything else you had to do.”

  “You are, Kim. You are. I should have explained. Called you.”

  “That’s all right. We’re together now.” Then, although it was the last thing she wanted to do, Kim asked her necessary question. “It is all right that I’m here, isn’t it?”

  Mark couldn’t handle her fear, her uncertainty. He might not have the words to make things up to her, but perhaps what was in his heart didn’t need words.