Maggie's Image (Maggie McGill Mysteries Book 1)

by Sharon Burch Toner

  “I’m sure I will, Honey. Is he a friend or just a friend?”

  “Well, we’re at that sort of in between stage of relationship where we’re good friends. It might intensify or it might not.” They walked in silence for a while. “To tell the truth, I really don’t know. He’s great, but he’s geographically undesirable—you know, out of town.”

  ***

  The two blondes arrived at the party with their faces glowing and a little breathless from their walk. Allie introduced Maggie to Ed Martin, a tall, slender young man with dark hair, mustache and shining brown eyes. Greeting Maggie warmly, he held her hand for an extra moment as he shook it. “Mrs. McGill, I am so pleased to meet you. Are you enjoying your visit?”

  Maggie smiled back, liking him immediately. He seemed solid and reliable. “Oh, yes, very much. I always love visiting Allie, but coming up here to San Francisco makes my trip even more perfect. Thank you for inviting me.” They chatted for a few minutes until Ed excused himself to greet new arrivals.

  After being introduced and chatting to several of Allie’s friends, Maggie wandered off. Was something inherently amiss with her that she hardly ever enjoyed herself at cocktail parties? It seemed a shame to have so little time for real conversation just when one met a person she might really want to know better. She sipped mineral water and wondered if alcohol would help.

  Ed, who was chatting with a tall, portly, dignified looking man with white hair, caught her eye. “Mrs. McGill, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. John Albright. Dr. Albright, meet Maggie McGill. Maggie is Allie McGill’s mother. She’s visiting from Florida. Maggie, Dr. Albright has been with FLO since its beginning.”

  Shaking his hand and looking up, Maggie said, “How do you do, Dr. Albright. It’s good to meet you.”

  Dr. Albright’s blue eyes looked down into hers and he said, “Mrs. McGill, it’s nice to meet you, too. Tell me, what brings you to San Francisco?”

  Maggie smiled, “Well, it’s a happy coincidence that my visit to Allie coincided with the invitation to come up here. We drove up today.”

  “I see. And are you enjoying yourself?”

  “Very much. It’s such a beautiful and exciting city.

  Have you lived here long, Dr. Albright?”

  He cleared his throat, “Er, yes. Yes, I have. Been here for years.” Changing the subject, “So, you’re from Florida. What do you do there?”

  “Oh, I’m a therapist, a counselor.”

  “That must be interesting work. What caused you to want to enter that field?” He peered closely at her. Why did she feel as if she were in the principal’s office?

  “I guess I’ve always been interested in what makes people tick.” Maggie gave a little laugh, hoping to lighten the conversation. “Isn’t this a lovely party? Have you tried the stuffed mushrooms? They’re simply delicious. If you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll have just one more.” Maggie spoke the last rapidly and beat a hasty retreat. My, he was persistent and, well, nosy. No, she thought, it was more his attitude than the words. She sighed and headed for the food.

  The crowd parted for a moment and across the room she saw Ed greeting new arrivals. Maggie’s mouth dropped open! Unless she was mistaken they were the honeymooners from the airplane. What a strange coincidence! For a moment she thought she had caught the Frenchman’s eye, but then someone spoke to him and he turned away.

  Maggie started across the room to say hello. One of the disadvantages of being very short is that it is quite difficult to make one’s way through a crowd. How inconvenient! When she arrived at the other side of the room the French couple was not in sight. Maybe they’d gone to the bar. Again, Maggie launched herself into the sea of the party. Again, traffic was heavy. They were not at the bar either! Maggie gave up and once again looked for Allie.

  She found Allie in the ladies room. “Hi Honey. How’s the party going? The strangest thing just happened.”

  Allie turned, “Mom, I’d love to hear about it. Let’s bug out and have some dinner in a place quiet enough so that I can hear you. Are you hungry? Shall we go?”

  They headed for the door to say good-byes. Ed spent a particularly long time saying good-bye to Allie. This didn’t seem to be the right time to ask him about the French couple.

  From the party, they walked a few blocks to the Japan Center for dinner. The sun was setting, sending long dusky rays of red-gold light down the now quiet streets. Over sushi and tempura they talked about the party. Allie said, “I think Ed would like to get more serious, but we won’t have a chance even to begin if he is in Europe.”

  Maggie turned a puzzled face to her daughter.

  “Oh, Mom. I forgot you don’t know. He told me tonight that he’s been offered a job in Vienna. It’s a great opportunity for him. He’s invited me for lunch tomorrow.” Changing the subject, Allie asked, “You started to tell me something back there at the party, Mom. What was it?”

  Maggie told her about seeing the French couple at the party. “It was such a bizarre thing. I’m sure I saw them. What a strange coincidence! Was it my imagination? I certainly couldn’t find them when I looked for them.”

  Allie became thoughtful, “I’ll ask Ed about them tomorrow.”

  Leaving the restaurant they linked arms and walked through the night back to the hotel laughing, feeling happy to be alive, to be with each other and to be in San Francisco. To Maggie it felt like being eight again and going on an adventure with her best friend.

  ***

  After a morning of shopping, Allie dropped Maggie at the hotel and went on to lunch with Ed. Grateful for a chance to put her feet up for a while, Maggie ate her room service sandwich relaxing on the chaise by the window and, with heavy eyes, idly watched the traffic below.

  A horn honked outside, Maggie started, blinked and looked across at the park, thinking that she’d like to stroll over and sit in the sun. A young couple sat on a park bench. Two brown heads bent over a book. The couple seemed somehow familiar. “Really!” she said aloud. “This is just too much! Are they following me or am I following them?” Maggie scrambled into her shoes, grabbed the flat plastic room key and ran from the room. No time for the elevator. She hurried down the marble stairs, through the lobby, across the street. Once again, the French couple had disappeared. Just to be sure, she circled the park, looking down each of the streets as she did so. Nothing. “I really didn’t expect to find them this time,” she mumbled to herself. Drooping, she returned to the hotel just as Allie drove up.

  Allie’s brow wrinkled with concern, “Mom, you look down. Are you all right?” She asked as they climbed the steps into the lobby.

  Maggie mumbled, “Oh. Yes. I’m okay. I just had another visitation or hallucination or something! I thought I saw them again. I know I’ve been working hard. Could I be imagining these people?”

  Allie’s level blue eyes gazed into Maggie’s, “Mom, you’re one of the sanest people I know. If you’re seeing them, then they must be there. I can’t imagine what’s going on. But I trust you. I did remember to ask Ed about them. They are Andre and Brigitte Fouchet. Andre is a professor and is negotiating to join FLO this winter.

  They entered their room and plopped down on the sofa. Allie said, “Tell me what you know about the Fouchets.”

  Maggie said, “Well, they sat beside me on the plane and they were speaking French. You know how it is—five hours knee to knee. I almost felt I knew them by the time we arrived. He was quiet and serious with a thin French face and prominent nose. She seemed much younger than he, not as serious, and she was chattering about ‘Ollywood’. They seemed very much in love. Really, they were quite charming.”

  Allie was serious, “Okay. Let’s look at this logically. First, you sat beside them on the plane. That, we assume, was pure chance. Second, they were there last night. That had to be coincidence. Ed said they were whisked into a meeting room as soon as they arrived so that Dr. Sandoval could give them more details about the teaching position. That explains why they disappeared.
Today? Maybe just another coincidence. I don’t know. But I do know there’s nothing wrong with you!” Allie leaned back on the sofa and smiled.

  Maggie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, “Thanks, Allie. I do feel better.” After a few minutes she straightened and asked, “What next? It’s a beautiful day. We’re in San Francisco. Let’s do some sightseeing.”

  “How about Golden Gate Park? The Japanese Tea Garden is wonderful.”

  Maggie gathered up her camera and purse. “Great idea! Let’s go.”

  The Tea Garden was exquisite. Maggie and Allie wandered along shaded paths, over tiny bridges, talking softly, snapping pictures and pausing now and then to sit and contemplate a particularly lovely spot. Each turn of the path, in fact, each turn of the head, brought new and beautiful images into view.

  Allie studied a large stone Buddha, taking photos, searching for the best angle. Maggie wandered on, around a turn, along a path at the foot of a miniature mountain of stones and plantings. Sitting on a stone bench beneath the mountain, she gazed back along the path. Just for a moment it seemed as if there were no one in the world except her. The other strollers had disappeared and all sound seemed to have stopped except for the chirping of birds high over her head. She drifted into a reverie, wondering about Allie. Could Ed possibly be the one who would capture Allie’s independent and selective heart?

  A rustling in the foliage of the mountain behind her caused Maggie to turn quickly and scoot back on the bench. As she moved backwards and to the side there was a whoosh and a crash. She squeezed her eyes tight and when she opened them again there was a large, knobby rock sitting on the ground at her feet. Damn! It must have fallen from that little mountain. It just missed me! With weak knees Maggie rose from the bench and examined the rock. It was larger than a basketball and nearly as round, whitish, granite probably. How fortunate that she had shifted on the bench because it had come down just where she had been sitting. She reached down and touched the white scar left in the stone bench. Maggie’s heart beat a strange tattoo in her chest. “Jeez!” Maggie said aloud. “Jeez!”

  Chapter Two

  Allie ran along the path. “I thought I heard a noise.” Then, her voice rising in alarm, “Mother, are you all right? What happened?” She stepped over the stone and took her mother’s hands. “Where’d that rock come from?” Allie’s face was nearly as pale as Maggie’s as she began to realize what had happened. They clung together for a moment, both feeling shaky.

  Maggie drew a deep breath and was happy to notice that her voice was quite steady, “Of course I’m all right. I’m fine really. I was just sitting here when I heard a noise. I turned around and there it was! Scary, but it missed me and that’s what’s important. Do you think we should tell someone? I mean, maybe this rock should be put back in its place or something?”

  A uniformed worker hurried down the path toward them. His face was screwed up in a fierce frown. “What happened? Why is that rock there?” He rolled it off to the side of the walk.

  Maggie explained, “I was sitting on the bench and it just came down. I don’t know how. It missed me by a hair.”

  The worker became even more agitated, “That couldn’t happen. This hill was made to be very safe. The rocks are set in concrete pockets and they have dirt filled in around them. They do not fall!”

  Maggie took a breath and drew herself up to her full five feet. “Well, that one did. Fortunately, I wasn’t harmed. But you need to look it over. Someone could really get hurt.” She took another breath, “Right now I need a cup of tea.”

  The teahouse was set near the entrance to the garden, a terrace nearly covered with trellised vines, enclosed by low stone walls. Sipping jasmine tea and munching savory crunchy crackers they discussed the incident.

  Allie gazed at Maggie with concern, “Mom, let’s go back to the hotel. Maybe you need to lie down. That was a scary thing.”

  “Nonsense! It was an accident and I was frightened, but I certainly wasn’t hurt. Let’s just forget it. It’s no big deal.” Changing the subject, “How was your lunch with Ed?”

  Allie sighed, “Fine, I guess. Vienna is a chance of a lifetime for him. He couldn’t refuse to go.” She shrugged her shoulders. “There’s no point bemoaning what might have been!”

  They finished their tea with the inevitable fortune cookies. Maggie broke her cookie, read the fortune and started a laugh that turned to a croak.

  “What does it say?”

  She handed it to Allie without speaking. Allie read aloud, “Depart not from the path that fate has you assigned.”

  Allie grimaced, “Hopefully the path will not have any more falling rocks! One is more than enough!”

  Maggie attempted a smile, “Oh, Allie, I’m sure my fated path is going to be just fine—no more scares.

  ***

  Back in the Miata. Top down. Up and down through the sunny streets. They climbed a particularly steep street. At the top it felt as if there might not be any more street left and then, as they topped the crest, below them spread the city and the bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

  Maggie squealed, “Stop! Stop right here!”

  Allie slammed on the brakes and looked at her in alarm. A horn honked furiously behind them. Cars zipped around them.

  Maggie smiled, “This is too unbelievably beautiful. I just want to take it in. Can I take a picture?”

  Allie pulled to the side. Maggie stood up in the car, pointed her camera and snapped the scene. “Oh, thank you. I hope I didn’t frighten you. But it took my breath. It is so spectacular.”

  Allie agreed, “It’s breath-taking. But you did startle me.” Allie paused, then said, “I don’t understand why people get so upset. Look at that car. He was in such a hurry to pass us and now there he sits. Really!”

  Maggie glanced at the small green sedan as they passed. She thought the driver looked familiar, but she’d had enough of people looking familiar. It was becoming a habit.

  Maggie was looking forward to a quiet evening with a television movie, when the telephone rang. After a few moments of quiet conversation Allie covered the mouthpiece with her hand and said, “It’s Ed. He’s inviting us for a stroll on Fisherman’s Wharf. Do you want to go? We don’t have to if you’re not up for it.”

  “You know, Allie, I’d love to go, but I’m bushed. Why don’t you go. I’ll probably fall asleep before the movie even gets started.”

  Allie’s face showed concern. “Are you sure? It’s really not a big deal. We both could use the rest.”

  Maggie insisted that her daughter go, saying, “Give Ed my regrets and regards.”

  After dozing through the movie, Maggie was awake when Allie returned a few hours later. “Hi Honey. Did you have a good time?”

  Allie sighed, “Oh, yes, we did. We walked around Fisherman’s Wharf and had coffee. It was—I guess it was sort of bittersweet, neither of us wanting to go into the ‘might-have-beens’.”

  Allie’s smile was serious, “I learned a little more about the Fouchets from Ed. FLO is courting Andre as professor of Middle East Studies for the spring semester. You met Dr. John Albright at the party. He’s taught Middle Eastern studies for several years but he won’t be teaching this spring. He’s going to work in administration part-time, sort of working toward retirement, I guess. That puts FLO in a bind because they usually have faculty lined up at least a semester in advance.”

  Maggie looked puzzled, “There’s something I don’t understand. FLO doesn’t have a campus, right?” Allie nodded and Maggie continued, “Then where would a professor teach? How does it work?”

  Allie said, “Oh, they’re not professors in the traditional sense. They’re sort of visiting professors that travel to the various campuses around the world where there are FLO students specializing in their field. They give seminars in those locations. Probably the visiting professors are an extra bonus to the hosting school. But, more importantly, it’s a way for FLO to keep up with each student’s progress. They hope Andre will acc
ept their offer. He’s very respected in his field. Terrorism is his specialty and his latest paper on the subject apparently made pretty big waves among terrorist leaders.”

  “Oh!” It had the sound of an ‘Aha’. Maggie stared at Allie. Allie, her mouth half open, looked back at her. “Do you suppose . . .? Probably not, but it would explain some of the stuff. Middle East studies. Terrorism. Turbaned men. It does sort of go together.”

  They discussed possibilities and maybes for hours. Lying in the big four-poster bed, Maggie remembered that tomorrow she and Allie would start back to Los Angeles. Once again the little car would have a chance to stretch its legs and they would leave this mystery behind for a more carefree adventure.

  ***

  It was a beautiful day with bright sun and cool breezes. Wearing floppy hats Maggie and Allie found the coast and drove steadily south. Maggie sighed with pure pleasure, “Now, this is the life! What a perfect road for your car! I never realized a convertible could be so sensual!”

  “Sensual?’

  “Well, yes. It’s like riding a bicycle or hiking. You become part of the landscape—sounds and scents, even the feel of the air. We have them all. Those are things one misses in a closed car.”

  After a while, Allie said, “Well, yeah.”

  Their sporadic chatting was interspersed with long comfortable silences, the kind possible only between people very much in tune with one another. It was as if they could enjoy the sights and the sensations of driving through the afternoon sunshine communally, the conversation between them continuing even in the silence. So that one could pick it up and say it out loud for a while only to permit it then to go underground in silence. There seemed to be perfect communion and perfect understanding.